filmman03

Recipes 

Definitely. It is quite an accomplishment to be able to become a beer empire.

I noticed someone mentioned the usage of rice. What is that in place of?

CarnellSitka

Recipes 

I always thought it had something to that lager when compared to ales was seen as the elite drink, back in the day of course. Because it was seen as the "Rich" beer it was highly sought after, and when breweries found ways to brew it more cheaply the market gobbled it up.

sort of like coffee.

carsonwarstler

Recipes 

Interesting thought. Definitely could have played a role.

There was a tv special on the history channel one time that dove into the history of beer; I bet wed find out answers on there... Or at least one mans view of the answer that made it all the way to film.

Enoch52

Recipes 

My understanding is that Bud and Miller use corn and rice, respectively, as adjuncts as inexpensive adjuncts for some of the grain bill. Can someone correct me if I'm wrong on this?

ApothecaryBrewing

Recipes 

Someone may have mentioned but...

From my readings it appears that lagers have a longer shelf life than ales. The colder fermentation creates a more stable beer that can sit on the shelf and grow dust before it really goes bad.

I think that is the main reason most American Mega-breweries do lagers, so their turnover is minimal because a 30-rack of bud light, however terrible the flavor, won't have to be pulled off a shelf because it has gone stale. Yet again... money and time winning over quality ingredients and a love of the craft.

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Brewpothecary

billl

Recipes 

Light lagers aren't an american phenomenon. They are popular around the world. Despite the opinions of us beer snobs, people really do like them. The big companies spent lots of time "perfecting" recipes to appeal to the broadest possible segment of society. They spend just as much time driving down cost in their production chain so that their beer is about as expensive as soda.

Just think "McDonalds". Are they the most flavorful and high quality burgers you can get? No, of course not. Have they sold billions of them anyway? You bet.

BxBrewer

Recipes 

Theres a show on Netflix called Beer Wars. It was said that it cost BMC 10 cents per bottle to make. The rest of the cost is marketing.

cluckk

Recipes 

One article I read years ago about the transition from the old pre-prohiition days of assorted strong ales and lagers to today's monkey-see-monkey-do swill (aka BMC), was a reaction to the forces that drove prohibition and kind of an "If we make this stuff will you leave us alone to make a living" kind of thing. It was argued that light lagers, because of their weak taste, thin body and low alcohol appealed to women (sorry ladies, I didn't say it, the author did). Since most of prohibition was driven largely by The Christian Women's Temperance Movement, and other largely female groups, it was thought that by making a drink the ladies would find inoffensive it would keep them off the brewers backs. It is interesting that there was a great deal of cooperation between the women's suffrage groups and the temperance groups. So see what happens when you give women the vote? You're left drinking Clydesdale whiz instead of real beer. Sorry ladies, that last was mine, but was just a joke.

mikeh80

Recipes 

This. The McDonalds analogy is one that often comes to mind for me as well with BMC.

Doctor_Wily

Recipes 

I'll confirm that I also heard that in a documentary about beer.

__________________
Primary 1: EMPTY
Primary 2: Custom Cream Ale
Bottled:

• Brewers Best American Cream Ale
• Random Red Irish Red Ale
• Oatmeal Milk Stout

On Deck: Unknown...
~~Updated Dec 10, 2012~~