While I do agree that it's funny, at one point in my beer life I preferred Bud Light over Coors Light because "it has so much more flavor".
For those of us who cut our teeth on "domestics" one could definitely tell the difference amongst the various American lagers, light or otherwise.
I once read a thread on another "home-brew" forum where the OP asked which was better in terms of cheap beer when funds were tight: Pabst or Shlitz. As I read through the thread all I could think of was
Wow! Craft beer has been around long enough so that there is an entire new era of American beer drinkers who never tasted "the other stuff". Or so they claimed. I thought hipsters preferred PBR?
My Bud Light swilling neighbor believes "Light" refers to the color and anything that doesn't say that is a "dark" beer.
At one point in time, it did. The ABV of Bud Lite is not too far off from the "national" beers typically found around the world even though 5% is the most common. Look at the number of British ales that fall into the mid-to-low 4.X% range.
America is probably the only country where an ABV of 5.4/5.5% can be considered "session" and 5% "lawnmower". German beers are also around 5%.
And yes, I am aware that some European beers can get up into the teens in terms of ABV.
I was at a bar yesterday and the lady asked the waitress if she had Crispin. She said no, but what is it like so I can make a suggestion. The lady said it is like blue moonand her friend said no it is more like white wine. After the waitress suggested a hoegarrden (sp? ) she said no. I was right next to them and I mentioned that Crispin is a hard cider. The waitress listed their ciders and she ordered a Bud light.
If you have ever worked in a restaurant/bar then you heard this conversation nightly.
There are plenty of bars in KC that put their "Domestics" on special, but Boulevard isn't part of the 'special'. How much more domestic can you get than 4 blocks down the street??
I got the waitress to agree with me that it should be called "Cheap Domestics Special".
I remember when Boulevard was in Lawerence, KS. They had a stout so dark that when they served it to you a Mag Lite was used to prove that "no light could penetrate".
I've always found that a bit goofy as well. Obviously some beers pour with more head than others, and that is worth reporting, but a ton of factors go into how much head you get. Glass shape and condition, temperature, how you pour, etc etc etc. I think it would be more honest to say that a beer has "lots of head" or "not much head" rather than a numerical measurement.
The typical bar is a place for drinking, not marveling over your beer like you would to approve a sample pour of wine. Nearly all bartenders pour in such a way as to prevent head from forming.
Its funny how in the UK most people think Carling Black Label is tasteless p!ss but something exotic like Coors or Budweiser is good beer. Grass is always greener
Trust me, Americans think the same thing in the U.S.
You would think they would be actually interested in the finer things in life
Well, despite the craft beer "explosion" I think it is safe to say that most Americans still view wine, scotch, and perhaps Irish whiskey as the finer things in life.
I have been in the restaurant biz for 16 years. It is perhaps the only industry in the U.S. where someone with no experience, no college degree, a police record, being an "aspiring" musician, is a gang member, has an open drug/alcohol habit, and the list goes on can gain employment.
...until the restaurant he worked for cleaned or replaced the draft equipment.
This problem is more common than you think.
