Overall, who has the best beers?

Which continent has the best beers? With all of the microbreweries in the U.S., it's easy to think that one day we'll rival the rest of the world in overall quality.

How are we defining "Best?"


Depending on the criteria, there are different answers to the question.

I'd say the US, but if the trend to over-hop and imperial everything continues, we lose big time. Catering to one segment of the beer drinking population resulted in BMC, we are headed towards Cascades-flavored vodka! A large variety, true to style, is what it takes.

david_42 said:

I'd say the US, but if the trend to over-hop and imperial everything continues, we lose big time. Catering to one segment of the beer drinking population resulted in BMC, we are headed towards Cascades-flavored vodka! A large variety, true to style, is what it takes.

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Well said, old chap. I agree.

US vs Germany, US vs. Belgium, even US vs. UK, maybe a fair fight. US vs. the whole ROW? Not even close. Way too many excellent styles grossly underrepresented here. Where's the ordinary bitter? Helles bock? Schwartzbier? and on and on.

hehe someone had to pick the third...

As far as I am concerned it's a question that has no definitive answer.

All answers are based upon exposure and experience, or lack of, to foreign brands. In many cases those brews may have been old and stale to be enjoyed and judged properly.

Then again, it may be a conspiracy to ensure the American consumer prefers BMC over foreign competition...

As for me, I spent 9 years in Germany. For an everyday drink I would prefer a good German lager over any other in the world. They are straightforward and you know what you are getting. Same with an English Bitter.

Dessert beers are fine for special occasions, but you really can't drink a Frambiose, Chimay (dubbels/trippels, et al) everyday.

Just my opinion.

homebrewer_99 said:

....but you really can't drink Chimay (dubbels/trippels, et al) everyday.

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Speak for yourself...... i could drink an abbey ale everyday....


But you're right about one thing, the region the beer is named for (German Lager, English Bitter) is the region that's going to do it the best...

david_42 said:

I'd say the US, but if the trend to over-hop and imperial everything continues, we lose big time. Catering to one segment of the beer drinking population resulted in BMC, we are headed towards Cascades-flavored vodka! A large variety, true to style, is what it takes.

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Well, that "trend" has singlehandedly vaulted the US ahead of every other country. If you prefer boring beers, luckily you can still brew them, but for now you can thank all of the craft breweries who are experimenting with beer for putting beer back onto the map.

I agree with the variety, but we wouldn't have the variety we do now if it weren't for the extremes.

Good question. I can't answer. I mean many countries are churning out (and have been doing so for so long) premium quality beer. Now if you talk new directions in beer and innovation, I'd go with US. Traditional Styling- Germany. The stuff from Belgium is so broad in it's own right to merit subdivisions of the question at hand, imo.

I think you can see regional (US) contention because some trends are stronger in some areas. Most of the PA breweries that I know have still held back from high hop rates in the majority of their beers. There are a few individual products...like HopDevil, Nugget Nectar and such...but in general you don't see too much of it here. We have some fairly traditional breweries like Penn and Stoudts to name a few. Troegs seems to be a bit more 'upbeat' and in the flow of adding new twists to styles without going what I would view as overboard. Up the Coast, Harpoon is more traditional. Now Belgian-American styling...Ommegang is very grounded in that sense, yet remains pretty innovative.

I also am a firm believer that there is a time and place for certain brews. Personally I like my "old friends" as Papa puts it. :fro:

The Vatican makes the best beer. It's infallible.

Since I live and brew in the US the answer is obvious isn't it?

olllllo said:

The Vatican makes the best beer. It's infallible.

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Yeah, but a lot of people don't know that the Vatican's a dictatorship. There is no freedom of religion.

homebrewer_99 said:

Yeah, but a lot of people don't know that the Vatican's a dictatorship. There is no freedom of religion.

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ROFLMAO! awesome

I like America for lots of things, beer however is not one.

i'm gonna go with the rest of the world on this one. there are some great craft beers out there, but for my taste they are few and far between. i'd prefer a good belgian ale or german weisse-bier any time.

and i, also, could drink strong belgian ales every day...and have for months at a time

Since the craft beer revolution, America has begun to do what we do best- grassroots innovation. Few countries glorify and support the grassroots innovator like America does, it's part of our culture.

With that said though, Americans tend to go off in their own directions and it seems like keeping us on a direct path is rather like herding cats. So I guess there are more Americans capable of producing awesome and great beers than any other nationality. However, how can we ever make a German beer as good as Germany?

Because we are a melting pot, we are largely a nation of copycats when it comes to old world traditions. Aviation, computers, and copiers? Sure, we're in the top few in terms of new designs and cutting edge technology. But our nation's prime has been coming about during these innovations. Germany's prime came about during the era of beer. They made it what it is and the original will always be the original. There is no comparison.

If we're talking about the best beer available in the USA (and if price is part of the equation), then clearly the USA wins: there is better beer, more reasonably priced available from here than from elsewhere.

Of course, the same is probably true in Germany, in England, in Belgium, etc.

Do you really think the US industry can compete against the UK, Belgium and the rest of Europe?

orfy said:

Do you really think the US industry can compete against the UK, Belgium and the rest of Europe?

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Are you asking me? To clarify, what I meant is that the local beer is generally going to be the best and the best bargain, if we're talking about a place with a wide variety of quality beers. So, if you live in the USA, USA beers are probably your best bet overall. If you live in Belgium, then ditto for Belgian beers, etc.

If you live in Italy, then just enjoy the wine and the scenery.

The US is the best place to brew beer, but Europe kicks our A$$ for the best beer every time. Over there, BMC is exactly BMC from America.

You can wander most of Western Europe and never taste a bad beer, but here in the States you can pick one up in the ice bin at gas station down the street.

The way I see it the US produces more volume (BMC) and more variety (craft brewers) than any other country but I can't imagine we compete with the rest of the world combined. The classic styles native to different areas are usually produced best in those areas. So I am very happy to be living in the US and have a wide variety of US craft brews in addition to a great selection of imports from Europe available at the local beer store.
Craig

I have my favorites but locally I can drink every night of the week and never repeat the same craftbrew. I think I could probaly do this for years.

I voted for US, but it really wasn't too valid. Just about every overseas beer I've had has been unimpressive but most likely because it's sat on someone's shelf for 6 months, after sitting in a hot wharehouse for two. I'd bet beers off the tap in the UK, Germany and Belgium probably rock.

McKBrew said:

I voted for US, but it really wasn't too valid. Just about every overseas beer I've had has been unimpressive but most likely because it's sat on someone's shelf for 6 months, after sitting in a hot wharehouse for two. I'd bet beers off the tap in the UK, Germany and Belgium probably rock.

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YUP!.....