History of Beer in America

I always heard that beer was full bodied in America untill prohibition made it bladder wash. Well this guy is rebuting that..

http://www.powells.com/review/2006_10_07

Maybe the author works for, or otherwise has an interest in, a B/M/C company. :cross:
the review states that Americans like the big companies' beers because they are light (paraphrasing). I think they just don't know any better.
To each his own...

Actually, I believe what this author has to say. Let's be honest, just becuase we homebrewers prefer our beer to be highly caloric and stongly malty/hoppy/etc., does not make it a superior beverage. What BMC do is a certain style of beer which happens to appeal to a large segment of the American population. I honestly believe that the development of this style is less about ignorant drinkers and ruthless capitalism than it is about brewing a beer that a lot of people will drink.

My regular bouts with 30 packs of Miller High Life always remind me that American Light Lager is a style of beer which has its own merits as a beverage. I think that it is time that homebrewers stop being so elitist about our high FG ales and embrace American Light Lager as a style worthy of drinking and a style worthy of brewing.

Just my $.02.

That is exactly the opposite that I heard on the history channel. Who here remembers the pilgrims? The first building they made in the new land was guess what a brewery! They weren't german were they? Before America was an actual country they drank porters, milds and bitters. A while after the revelution they didn't like the british so they stoped drinking those beers and started drinking whiskey thankfully the newest people off the boats at that time were germans. They started making their beers and kept the beverage going.

sause said:

That is exactly the opposite that I heard on the history channel. Who here remembers the pilgrims? The first building they made in the new land was guess what a brewery! They weren't german were they? Before America was an actual country they drank porters, milds and bitters. A while after the revelution they didn't like the british so they stoped drinking those beers and started drinking whiskey thankfully the newest people off the boats at that time were germans. They started making their beers and kept the beverage going.

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From what I read the prefered drink back then was hard cider and they also did applejacking. Supposedly beer and ale didn't become the prefered drink till many centuries later. Also the pilgrims planted the first United States apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

sause said:

That is exactly the opposite that I heard on the history channel. Who here remembers the pilgrims? The first building they made in the new land was guess what a brewery! They weren't german were they? Before America was an actual country they drank porters, milds and bitters. A while after the revelution they didn't like the british so they stoped drinking those beers and started drinking whiskey thankfully the newest people off the boats at that time were germans. They started making their beers and kept the beverage going.

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I don't think that the review of that book (or, presumably, the book itself) would deny what you say. So . . . it is not "exactly the opposite." I think that it would be pretty hard to argue that the German brewing tradition was not the single most influencing factor on the history of American beer. It was not until the recent micro-brew resurgence that American brewers returned to the English tradition. Clearly BMC and all of those other beers that dominated the market and continue to dominate the market are direct ancestors of the German brewing tradition rather than the English one.

I think that the smartest point the author of Ambitious Brew makes is that the American Light Lager is descended from the Czech Pils. Seems like a pretty good bet to me. And if we see it in this manner, BMC is less of a "cheap" beer and more of a crisp refreshing interpretation of a respected and historied style.

sonvolt said:

...BMC is less of a "cheap" beer and more of a crisp refreshing interpretation of a respected and historied style.

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C'mon, the article states that the big breweries use (or used) high-quality ingredients (I can't even taste any hops at all in their beers). And why does it taste so bad, compared to homebrew?
Other pilsners don't taste that bad. and how about homebrewed American Light? I've never made it, so I am asking here. I'm guessing that it tastes much better, but if not, I'll stand corrected.

Not really trying to start a debate, but i just think that BMC could do better. I understand that they don't need to, because they already have an established market. It's business.

Just a couple of months ago it was found out that Bud has changed its recipe over the past 40 years...less barley malt...fewer hops...more rice...more water...more profit...

Try a Budvar from Budweis (not the Czechvar import stuff) like I have on many occasions and you'll never drink another "King of Beers"...EVER!!

"The first brewers in America were German" (Doug Brown) I don't know how else to say this but the first people over here were not the germans (yeah that was native americans, but were talking immergrents) and the people over here didn't drink german lagers. I would say that comes close to the opposite I can think of.

The first brewers in America followed English traditions in brewing. Read this book:
Beer in America: The Early Years--1587-1840 : Beer's Role in the Settling of America and the Birth of a Nation
http://www.amazon.com/Beer-America-Years-1587-1840-Settling-Nation/dp/0937381659/sr=8-1/qid=1160697213/ref=sr_1_1/104-1021960-6155941?ie=UTF8&s=books

It follows brewing history in the US from the first settlement to about the civil war. German immegrants didn't come until the early 1800's. Until that time ales were the common beers, especially porter and later pale ale. After, lager caught on very quickly and became available across the country, largely in part to the new railroad system. WWII wasn't the beginning of the contempory version of American light lager. But between it and prohibition, they were a big factor in how the American public thought of beer.

I grew up in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country (though I have no ancestral claims to the PA Dutch or the Amish communities) about halfway between Yuengling's brewery in Pottstown and the little Amish schoolhouse involved in recent horrible news.

For what it's worth, Yuengling claims to be the oldest operating brewery in the US, and it was started by a German immigrant. Order a "lager" from any bartender in my hometown, and you get a Yuengling. I realize that their mid 1820's heritage is far from the first beer brewers in America, but it confirms German brewing in the US almost 200 years ago. In addition, many of the historic sites and homes with German roots in the area date back to the 1600s. I'm guessing they were probably brewing beer way back then as well.

However, the claim that English brewing traditions were among the first in the US are probably also pretty accurate. My English last name and ancestry can be traced back to the 1600s in the same area as well. I could only hope that somehow I'm reviving a centuries old family tradition!

I believe it was the history channel on brewing in the US that stated prior to WWII the pilsners in the US were pretty close to German & Czech Pils styles in late 19th / early 20th century. However with barley at a premium during the war they started doing the rice thing to lower costs. Corporate greed I'm sure decided why change back when it's cheaper than 100% barley. Thus our american BMC...

The big breweries also made beers lighter during WWII to appeal more to women since they were the ones drinking most of it while the boys were out getting killed for our way of life.

I find it kind of hard to believe that the this whole microbrews were started in S.F. with Anchor. There were lots of smaller breweries around in the mid to late
60's.

The first brewers in the U.S. were Native American. We have been here for thousands of years and ETOH madde from grain is not indigenous to Europe, it happened every where humans setteled.

Sorry about the soap box. Tired of being called primative heathen.

Is it true that the first drink of Americans / piligrams was Hard Cider?

I doubt the first thing, but probably very much so in a couple year after they landed. It takes a while for those apple trees to grow enough to make a bunch of cider. Also cider take a while to mellow, but who know what their tastes were back then.

I don't know if it was the first alcoholic beverage produced here, but rum was being distilled in the colonies as early as 1664 on Staten Island. The History Channel had a program about this a while back. Distilleries popped up everywhere in the New England states, and rum was produced in and imported from the Carribbean too. According to the History Channel program, rum was the most popular alcoholic beverage in the colonies and later in the US until the distilling of whiskey outpaced it. I think that's what they said, anyway.

Ol' Grog said:

I find it kind of hard to believe that the this whole microbrews were started in S.F. with Anchor. There were lots of smaller breweries around in the mid to late
60's.

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There were still plenty of them even into the 70's. Until mass marketing by the big three started and enabled them to start swallowing the smaller breweries up. After that started, people started monkeying with the recipes of the smaller brews and the "mainstream" brands (who just happened to own the smaller labels) took even a firmer hold. That's what's truly sad. American style beers that are lost forever. I'm not saying they were all great, but I would bet that more than a few were decent beers that are now long gone. This is how it appears, if I am wrong please correct me.

However, and I forget where I read this, it was a long time ago. But A/B is guilty of messing around with a brand when they shouldn't have. Michelob at one time was a really good beer. Then someone in the early 80's thought it would be good to mess with it. Now it's changed completely. The Mich that you get now is only BARELY close to what they produced under that name in the 60's. They tried to customize it during the microbrew craze and screwed it up.

As for the popularity of microbrews starting with Anchor? Dunno. It's a damn good beer that's for sure. But I don't consider Anchor a "microwbrew" really....

Sheesh... I should have posted this in "Drunken Ramblings".

Ize

As for BMC - I had my first Bud Light (draft even!) in a long time this afternoon. Tasted even worse than I remember! I've strictly been drinking micros and homebrew for quite some time, so that was an unwelcome change. Whether the article that sparked this discussion is true or not, its defense of the so-called "American lager" is weak at best!

Yuri_Rage said:

As for BMC - I had my first Bud Light (draft even!) in a long time this afternoon. Tasted even worse than I remember! I've strictly been drinking micros and homebrew for quite some time, so that was an unwelcome change. Whether the article that sparked this discussion is true or not, its defense of the so-called "American lager" is weak at best!

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LOL, while you were referring to the argument, the fact remains American Lagers ARE weak at best. But I think they have earned their place, as there ARE some decent American Lagers out there. (Bud Light on the other hand is NOT one.) It's our job to educate people tho and to realize that what BMC churns out is not all there is.

But in the end, and this is really the point, it's all about what you like personally.


Ize

But in the end, and this is really the point, it's all about what you like personally.


Ize

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+1:rockin:

of cours the BMCs have a place among us!!!! Who here has not had mass amounts of brew on say a game day or birthday or whatever? I am not above the coors or the buds out there. If you are going to get loaded why would you drink 10 micro brews when i am willing to bet that after the first 5 or 6 you could then start drinking the BMC brew and not tell the difference and soon after you are falling off your stool drunk.

I am willing to lay money on this as my last 5 clinical studies on this (husker games) have all proven to be true for me

G. Cretin said:

The first brewers in the U.S. were Native American. We have been here for thousands of years and ETOH madde from grain is not indigenous to Europe, it happened every where humans setteled.

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I'm aware of a South American fermented drink made from corn that dates back to the (I think) Maya. The mashing method involved certain women in the community chewing corn and spitting the liquid into jars to ferment. The enzymes in their saliva would break the corn starch into sugars for the yeast. It's quite an.... inventive way to mash grain but I don't think I'll be trying it soon. Does anyone know if the North American continent had a similar drink?

I have some problems with the premise of this guy's theory. Besides the idea that Germans were the first brewers, he also stated that Americans wanted more consistancy. The problem is that before refrigeration and rail, that would have been impossible. Beer brewing was a local craft, with each town/house brewing their own for the resident's consumption. The plans for the American revolution were conspired in town brewhouses. Cider had it's place and from what I can tell was a way to preserve apples and warm the family over the long winter months. After the Revolution whiskey really took off as an anti-British reaction. Reason being that American whiskey was made of corn, a uniquely American grain, and thus helped draw another distinction between us and those folks over the pond. Whiskey also had another advantage over beer and raw corn: It was easily transportable. A farmer could take his corn, distill it into whiskey, and sell it for more cash than the corn would have sold for.

Getting back to beer, I don't think that even rail and refrigeration would have really popularized lagers very quickly. Being such recent inventions for a novelty product it would have driven the price beyond the reach of your average American farmer. I think I recall somewhere that canned beer was a product of WWII, as a cheap way to send brew to the GIs. Apologies in advance if this post seems snotty, not my intention.

Actually whiseky took off after the revelution because we could no longer get cheep molasses (for rum) from the Caribbean and because we had more corn then we new what to do with.

Pumbaa said:

Actually whiseky took off after the revelution because we could no longer get cheep molasses (for rum) from the Caribbean and because we had more corn then we new what to do with.

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So far as I can recall, we were making whiskey long before the Revolution. While the molasses shortage may have led to an increase in whiskey demand, I subscribe to the theory that people will ferment and distill anything they can get their hands on. If you can get a copy of "The Alaskan Bootlegger's Bible", they have a recipe for horse turd whiskey (all distillation methods and recipes for historical purposes only ). My guess is that both rum and whiskey were made during the same time period.