Do American's have an imature beer taste palate?

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ryno1ryno

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I am just wondering if, in general, do most Americans have unexperienced beer palates? We are so accustomed to Buds, Coors and Miller Lites that anytime we drink a European beer or IPA with a full body, the initial taste reaction is unexpected.

Does an American need to learn how to drink world wide beers with unique taste profiles?
 
McGarnigle said:
No. American beer is arguably the best in the world, and we certainly make the best IPAs. Europeans drink plenty of mediocre beer as well (Beck's, Stella Artois, etc.).
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Those two examples were originally pretty good examples of pilseners. Wasn't it InBev on your side of the pond that turned them into sh!te?;)
 
ryno1ryno said:
I am just wondering if, in general, do most Americans have unexperienced beer palates? We are so accustomed to Buds, Coors and Miller Lites that anytime we drink a European beer or IPA with a full body, the initial taste reaction is unexpected.

Does an American need to learn how to drink world wide beers with unique taste profiles?
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Not necessarily, but what harm could it do?? The more you expose yourself to, the more possibilities you open up for yourself. The same can pretty much be said for the majority of people in any other country in the world, too.:mug:
 
i had to learn this from moving to Europe for 2 years, left the U.S. drinking nothing but coors, came back and never touched a coors. At first the beer in, lets say germany, was quite different then it grew on me. Now thats all i drink and homebrew of course
 
Ogri said:
Those two examples were originally pretty good examples of pilseners. Wasn't it InBev on your side of the pond that turned them into sh!te?;)
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Maybe, but InBev was formed by the merger of Belgian and Brazilian companies.
 
I wouldn't be shocked if people all over the world drink pretty much the same stuff, even if the major brewer is different. I'm pretty sure you'll find anywhere you go it's either AB-Inbev, Molson/MillerCoors/SABMiller/whatever it's called now, Diaego, Carlsberg, and I'm sure there's some conglomerate owning the bigger Asian breweries.
 
whoaru99 said:
No. Why should anyone do that? If they try something and don't like it why try to "learn" to like it?

I don't like coconut. Why the h*ll would want to learn to like it?
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Personally, I'm not going to FORCE myself to like anything. (The last time I did that it was beer, just so I could play beer pong in college.)

However, tastes change. I used to hate onions. Now I love them. I didn't eat them until they were better, I just sampled them or didn't refuse to eat them at a restaurant or at a friend's house and eventually I got to like them.

Do you absolutely avoid anything containing any coconut? I used to until I stumbled across the Girl Scout cookies with toasted coconut. Don't come between me and them...
 
German Beers, Wheat beers, Bitter beers... heck even grapefruit can take some getting used to.

I am just sayin... I do find that a lot of the hoppy beers can be annoying to drink since I am spoiled by the clean light beers. Perhaps this is why a lot of homebrewers attempt the sweet amber ales so often?
 
Different tastes are not less mature tastes.
It's sort of an elitist thing to assume that if people don't like what you think they should like, it's because there is something wrong with them.

I don't drink the big selling beers, but that doesn't mean my tastes are more correct.
 
45_70sharps said:
Different tastes are not less mature tastes.
It's sort of an elitist thing to assume that if people don't like what you think they should like, it's because there is something wrong with them.

I don't drink the big selling beers, but that doesn't mean my tastes are more correct.
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This. I don't understand the elitist opinion that only their opinion is correct. You are only a true ________ fan if you like ____________ doesn't make sense. Eat, drink, watch, and play what YOU like. Now I recommend you try other things and I also suggest people try something a couple times before coming to a final conclusion but why do something you don't enjoy.
 
ryno1ryno said:
German Beers, Wheat beers, Bitter beers... heck even grapefruit can take some getting used to.

I am just sayin... I do find that a lot of the hoppy beers can be annoying to drink since I am spoiled by the clean light beers. Perhaps this is why a lot of homebrewers attempt the sweet amber ales so often?
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Dude, how old are you? Just curious.

Rick
 
Like all above, drink/brew what you like. I'm a hop head. I have a couple of friends who are big time brewer's (one brewing for Boulevard) and on top of being hop heads, they all almost unanimously love Belgians, stouts, and big beers including the latter. I just can't get behind Belgians and I've kind of tried, but I'm not gonna force it. Now I will say I recently had Sputnik (R.I.C.O. stout) from Austin Beerworks. Super tasty, but still not a stout guy.
 
Maybe you should stroll around town and hand out free homebrew to people. Educate the masses and free their palates from slavery. The responsibility lies with you, Neo, I mean ryno. Now go......the oracle is waiting.
 
freisste said:
Do you absolutely avoid anything containing any coconut? I used to until I stumbled across the Girl Scout cookies with toasted coconut. Don't come between me and them...
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Had some coconut shrimp one time by accident. I managed to eat a couple without gagging. I won't intentionally eat it though.
 
I like trying new things and beer is one of them. That being the case I have drank some nasty crap, but since my Dad taught me never throw away food (probably the reason I am fat) I soldier through it. But most people dont want surprises. They want to drink the same ol swill and not have to worry about it. The big brewers brew nasty beer cause its cheap to make and they are a for profit business.
 
I find it's more about what you've grown up with. Growing up in America, with my dad having attended college at chico during the 70s, there was only ever SNPA in the fridge, was my first beer, still is a go-to fav of mine, simple perfect, a taste of home. He has a friend named Bill who grew up in the sticks and only ever drinks coors light. I feel bad whenever I come home and see a box of coors next to a 12er of SNPA in the fridge: I know Bill's over and I just end up feeling like he's missing out.

Having lived in Britain now for years, I've had the opportunity to broaden my tastes with real cask ale (still think there's a market for this in US, IPA market is quite saturated inmo). While I would posit that proportionally more of the population here appreciates the local quality of and variety of ales/beers on offer, I know plenty of people like Bill: grew up with Tennents and Stella in the fridge, we go to a local Belgian Beer Bar and one of my mates gets Guinness and feels left out while the rest of us compare our Cantillons and Karmeliets and Nognes.

It is judgemental and elitist to say things about other people's tastes, but its not so much cultural, and its not so much good/bad taste, its adventurism and intelligent consumption. Some people like researching products they buy and trying new things, some people don't like to think about what they buy, they just do it out of habit. Not bad people, just not very interesting inmo.
 
DerStoff said:
Having lived in Britain now for years, I've had the opportunity to broaden my tastes with real cask ale (still think there's a market for this in US, IPA market is quite saturated inmo). While I would posit that proportionally more of the population here appreciates the local quality of and variety of ales/beers on offer, I know plenty of people like Bill: grew up with Tennents and Stella in the fridge, we go to a local Belgian Beer Bar and one of my mates gets Guinness and feels left out while the rest of us compare our Cantillons and Karmeliets and Nognes.

o.
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You have a Belgian beer bar?!? I am jealous we have tons of "Irish pubs" and thankfully one that serves some good variety but that's it.

It took me many years to get brave enough to branch out from the basics but even with that my taste is very specific. I'll try anything once and either I'll get it again or not. I personally can't stand guinness but my friends all love it I've tried it a handful of times and still haven't changed that opinion. Probably never will.
 
Kujo said:
You have a Belgian beer bar?!? I am jealous we have tons of "Irish pubs" and thankfully one that serves some good variety but that's it.

It took me many years to get brave enough to branch out from the basics but even with that my taste is very specific. I'll try anything once and either I'll get it again or not. I personally can't stand guinness but my friends all love it I've tried it a handful of times and still haven't changed that opinion. Probably never will.
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2 points your post brings up. 1) People who don't like guinness write off stout, such a shame because there are some amazing stouts out there that make you realise guinness is to great stouts (seirra nevada does a decent one, Black Isle Oatmeal Stout (scottish), Redchurch Hoxton Stout (English)) as carling is to say Pilsner Urquell or St Mungos (or a good lager or pilsner)

2) Interest creates enjoyment and enjoyment creates interest. I find I can't really enjoy/appreciate anything (film, band, music style, book, BEER) unless I know about it, how its brewed, where it's from, what are the ingredients, what was the brewer trying to achieve, what ought I be tasting, where is it in keeping with a style, deviating from a style.

I find if I am helped to understand these things, I can enjoy anything! It's really important to keep an open mind of course, but I find that the whole 'blind' tasting thing can be a bit overrated. Taste has a significant psychological component so i say embrace that element and psychologically prime yourself as best as is possible, and most of the time, your taste buds will be more open and receptive!

PS yes the belgian beer bar is awesome, never seen one outside Benelux and in Glasgow Scotland of all places?!!:mug:
 
I must be one of the odd ones because I actually like the taste of the BMC beers. Especially on a hot day on the golf course! (Is cold a flavor? ;) ). But I do tend to prefer beers with more flavor and body- addicted to Left Hand Milk Stout currently. I also choose to, when possible, not support large companies who use their power to create barriers of entry for competition. So I like the beer, dislike some of the business practices, but taste is all subjective so who am I to question what people want?
 
Frige said:
I like trying new things and beer is one of them. That being the case I have drank some nasty crap, but since my Dad taught me never throw away food (probably the reason I am fat) I soldier through it. But most people dont want surprises. They want to drink the same ol swill and not have to worry about it. The big brewers brew nasty beer cause its cheap to make and they are a for profit business.
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Well, most breweries are in it for profit, right? The reason BMC is brewed the way it is, is because it has a hugely wide appeal and can be counted on for consistency. Contrary to what most people say, BMC is probably one of the hardest beers to brew. Their profit margins don't lie so much in the cheapness of the production, I guarantee you they could make a beer much cheaper if they wanted to, but in the mass appeal. Why make $.50 per bottle selling a million bottles, when you can make $.25 per bottle selling a billion bottles?

I've never really been one to care what people drink. I know what I like and I usually either make it or buy it. As long as I have my options, I really don't care what BMC does.
 
Frige said:
I like trying new things and beer is one of them. That being the case I have drank some nasty crap, but since my Dad taught me never throw away food (probably the reason I am fat) I soldier through it. But most people dont want surprises. They want to drink the same ol swill and not have to worry about it. The big brewers brew nasty beer cause its cheap to make and they are a for profit business.
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I like me some light macro lager from time to time.

It's no cheaper than half the other styles out there to brew. I could think of other styles that would definitely be cheaper, as well as easier to consistently brew. They brew it cause that's what people want (albeit I'd say it's a chicken-before-the-egg scenario as to whether they want it because that's predominantly what's most available so that's what they know).

The cheap factor comes from scale. It's pretty well-known even on the homebrew scale that the labor increase between a 1 gallon, 5 gallon, and 15 gallon batch is pretty minimal. On the commercial side, that directly factors into labor cost. It's also established on the homebrew level that buying your ingredients in bulk (base malt in 50-55lb sacks as opposed to one pound at a time) presents considerable savings. You scale both of these up to the hundreds of millions of barrels produced annually by these big brewers, and the bulk savings are huge.
 
What is it about this forum that people fight like kindergarten kids on the playground?

Might as well get my shot in.

Clonefan94 said:
Contrary to what most people say, BMC is probably one of the hardest beers to brew.
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People regularly defend awful beer by saying it is "hard to make". "Hard to make" is not a defense and does not necessarily equate to quality or good taste. Just my opinion.
 
jasonsbeer said:
People regularly defend awful beer by saying it is "hard to make". "Hard to make" is not a defense and does not necessarily equate to quality or good taste. Just my opinion.
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You will get no argument from me on that one, and I'm staying out of the arguments that someone else will find in that statement.

Another thread that I'm not coming back to.
 
Just throwing my two cents in here, but having a discerning palate that is appreciative of many styles is kind of the point of being a beer aficionado. Plus, there is such a thing as sub par beer. Those two items mean that it is possible and not elitist for an educated palate to state truthfully that someone's tastes are limited if they only drink crap beer, especially if it's because they haven't tried anything else.

I have my favorites, but I buy a new beer or two every time I'm at the liquor store.

Everyone's preferences are valid, but that doesn't make the beer they are drinking any better.
 
Fact vs opinion:


Fact: BMC is not easy to make.
Fact: BMC is cheaper than many beers, especially due to economies of scale.
Fact: there are cheaper beers than BMC.
Opinion: BMC tastes like $h!t.
Fact: people need to stop dictating what others should like or appreciate. We homebrew because we like it and can do whatever we want.
 
brigbrew said:
Just throwing my two cents in here, but having a discerning palate that is appreciative of many styles is kind of the point of being a beer aficionado. Plus, there is such a thing as sub par beer. Those two items mean that it is possible and not elitist for an educated palate to state truthfully that someone's tastes are limited if they only drink crap beer, especially if it's because they haven't tried anything else.

I have my favorites, but I buy a new beer or two every time I'm at the liquor store.

Everyone's preferences are valid, but that doesn't make the beer they are drinking any better.
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There's definitely sub-par beer. But I take issue with the automatic BMC=sub par distinction. I've run into far more bad beer from craft brewers than I have from the big guys.

When you can pick apart off-flavors, inconsistencies, and points where it's out of style, or if you can brew THAT STYLE better yourself, then you can call it sub-par. Until then, it's a style you just don't like.
 
Not sure about the general public's palate but we definitely have a much larger variety of beers available to consume here. I rarely ever drink imports, lack of freshness mainly but really so many of them all taste the same for their style. I've spoken to multiple beer lovers from around the globe that have all said how amazing and different the beer is here. They said we experiment a lot more with flavors and don't try and just make session beers sticking to the four main ingredients (obviously the larger breweries do).
 

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