Actually, there was a great documentary called Beer Wars that argued that the only difference between the major brews was the lifestyles that the advertisements associated with the beer.
I suggest you read "Ambitious Brew" by Maureen Ogle. That will separate your opinion from actual facts.
November 30, 2006 - Ambitious Brew Part One
We learn about the history of beer in the USA from Maureen Ogle, author of "Ambitious Brew - The Story of American Beer." Part one takes us from the Pilgrims to Prohibition.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr11-30-06.mp3
December 7, 2006 - Ambitious Brew Part Two
We continue our discussion about the history of beer in the USA with Maureen Ogle, author of "Ambitious Brew - The Story of American Beer." Part two takes us from Prohibition to the present day.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr12-07-06.mp3
I was drunk and watching ultimate fighter last night and kept seeing all the beer comercials so i threw up a quick rant, so its best not to take me too seriously. but let me be more specific, it's the fact that america has been TRICKED into thinking that this is what beer should be. TRICKED by ad men into thinking that these three companies are the best of the best, and this is the gold standard. If prohibition hadn't happened and given AB the chance to get a tremendous leg up in the industry, imagine what the beer scene would look likwe today. Imagine the amount of breweries we would have locally and not paying to drink absolute ****, that no one claims tastes good (except the ads), its just "not bad", "easy to drink", "better than the other nasty yellow stuff". I'm sorry but I don't think it's ok for a company to come in and rape an industry the way that these big three have. But thats just my opinion.
How about Hulk MAKE SMaSH!!??
I chuckle whenever I hear the Sam Adam commercial talk about a pound of hops in every barrel of beer... Meh, that's less than tons of people use here in their ales. Never mind IPAs... Of course, I'm not even talking about dry hopping.
It is a bit amusing at how so many non-brewers (or home brewers) think that BMC makes the best brew out there. Of course, Revvy has a very valid point about people and DFH brews too. Personally, I've not had anything from DFH, and don't know if I ever will. I'm very happy to drink what I brew. Even more pleased that I've not bought a single beer from any store since I started brewing. When going out, I only have the option to drink what's available, so I suffer with that. At least until I get home and have a chance to drink something better (not hard to do in some cases)...
I am going to start spinning my bottles of homebrew as i pour them to create a vortex. My beer is going to taste so much better.
Marketing and advertising does actual harm to real people and I'm not as anxious as some of you to be forgiving of it.
Beer advertising isn't the worst.
Medication advertising is.
It is when the big 3's lobbyists make it so expensive to get started that pros miss out on getting started that I get a little hazy about them being harmless.
Oh, and by the way, home distilling is illegal so I don't think Jack Daniels is crushing that hobby.
The BMC/Indie attitude carries over to your favorite indie getting popular. Now it's not cool enough to just hate on BMC. We have to hate on Sam Adams and DFH. Oh, and just like your indie band better not sell out and sign on with a major lablel or you will dump them, you are also going to shun Goose Island and Terrapin for daring to take BMC dollars and get real distribution.
......
So I'm trying to figure out the rules for being an EAC (look it up) Beersnob of the "Beer Wars" Variety. As opposed to just a normal beer enthusiast or geek, like I consider myself, who enjoys great beer, but doesn't give a care what other folks choose to drink, nor has fault with making money or running a business (which is really ironic since I'm a "bleeding heart" liberal and therefore I'm supposed to not eat meat, wear leather, believe in capitalism or shave my legs.)
We have to hate BMC because they are the big evil corporate empire, and because their beer is the most popular on the planet and therefore it is crap.
But we ALSO have to hate the following micro/craft brewers mostly because they are too popular and/or they're not us and we're jealous. Maybe it's barrel size? If you are too big, meaning big sales then you suck?
We have to hate New Belgium Brewing Company, because frat boys like Fat Tire and therefore it sucks.
We Have to hate Dogfish Head and Sam Caligione because he had a tv show on discovery channel, and therefore his beer sucks.
We have to hate Jim Koch and Sam Adams because he runs commercials and sells a lot of beer, Sometimes he needs to have third party brewers contract brew it to meet demand, and therefore it sucks, DESPITE the fact that He supports homebrewing on so many levels including and not limited to making hops available to homebrewers during the hops shortage AND hosting the Longshot competition which gives a chance for homebrewers to have their beer brewed professionally, and showcased to a huge audience, but of course those folks who enter and win are actually not real homebrewers but poseur sellouts who's beer sucks (because it's not any of us who won.)
We have to hate Bell's brewery because he decided to protect his trade mark and therefore he must care about making money so his beer sucks (and he probably sleeps with sheep or something.)
Have I missed any? Do we hate Stone and Rogue because they paint their bottles and make it hard to re-use them and therefore their beers suck? Or are they for some reason "ok?"
Boy it's so hard to be a beer lover these days, with so many rules to follow. It used to be we just had to like good beer, whatever OUR definition of it was....../Sarcasm
Oh yeah and now we're supposed to hate Goose Island, because they completed a deal that they've been involved with for 5 years and partnered even more fully with AHB. So that means they're sellout bastards and even though we LOVED Bourbon County Stout...it sucks...even though it's been made under that partnership for years. It now is crap.
It is when the big 3's lobbyists make it so expensive to get started that pros miss out on getting started that I get a little hazy about them being harmless.
It is a bit amusing at how so many non-brewers (or home brewers) think that BMC makes the best brew out there.
Revvy said:Most of us who know anything about beer history, and have a little common sense have realized how much that film is propaganda, as much as commercials for bmc are. Many of us have discuounted it.
Their advertisements never seem to talk very much about the beer, but often speak volumes about the kind of people drinking them, the crowd if you will.
Revvy said:Hey anyone notice the OP just "hit an git" and hasn't been back since his rant?
when you see these big beer company ads on TV talking about "triple hops brewed, vortex bottle, never watered down...bull**** bull**** bull****" ughh every time I see one now days it just makes me angry!
I was drunk and watching ultimate fighter last night and kept seeing all the beer comercials so i threw up a quick rant, so its best not to take me too seriously. but let me be more specific, it's the fact that america has been TRICKED into thinking that this is what beer should be. TRICKED by ad men into thinking that these three companies are the best of the best, and this is the gold standard. If prohibition hadn't happened and given AB the chance to get a tremendous leg up in the industry, imagine what the beer scene would look likwe today. Imagine the amount of breweries we would have locally and not paying to drink absolute ****, that no one claims tastes good (except the ads), its just "not bad", "easy to drink", "better than the other nasty yellow stuff". I'm sorry but I don't think it's ok for a company to come in and rape an industry the way that these big three have. But thats just my opinion.
Marketing has made many people want to smoke (remember the Malboro Man, who died of lung cancer?), drink, eat junk food, and buy cell phones. But we are all born with brains and should be able to figure that out.
And just think of what the beer scene would be like if AB hadn't survived prohibition. I doubt there would be much of one, if any at all.
You think AB had to survive in order for beer to survive? Really?
To a point. Would you rather find out what would have happened if they had gone under? I wouldn't. And don't try to say that we would have had the same kind of craft beer Renaissance that we do now, but earlier if AB had closed its doors. Breweries that opened after prohibition was repealed just about all put out "yellow piss swill" or whatever the super-refined crowd on here likes to call it. It's what Americans wanted then, it's what they want now, and it's what they'll want in the future.
Whatever, I'm done with this thread. It seems for every person out there that will never turn their face away from say, Coors Light, and thinks everything else is inferior, we have one on here that thinks they're far superior to anyone who drinks an American light lager. Which one's worse? Couldn't tell you.
cheezydemon3 said:AB selling DME during the dark years does not make them saints.
I say we kill anyone that drinks miller, budweiser, or Coors.....and Phenry.
AB selling DME during the dark years does not make them saints.
I say we kill anyone that drinks miller, budweiser, or Coors.....and Phenry.
Agree with me or not, let me ask you this:
What would the beer scene look like if everyone just accepted what was given to them and never questioned if there could be something better? I think having conversations like this is important, wether we agree or not. So although sometimes the discussion can get a little heated, i'm not sorry for asking the question. cheers
But realistically it's not a bad idea, it's really no difference than the Sam Adam's glass with the rough bottom to provide nucleation sites to help kick up the co2 which in turn lifts the flavors and aroma to our nose and certain taste buds. No different that using the "proper" glasswear for the style of beer.
People get pissed off because BMC did it, but in reality it's a principle that few true beer/wine enthusiast would argue that it doesn't had merit.
The other point about the bottle is that it ALSO promotes what we beer geeks know is the proper way to drink a beer....from a glass.
If we paid 700+ dollars and pulled a vortex bottle out of a stuffed squirrel from Brew Dog first, we'd be raving about the vortex bottle as a revolution in beer appreciation, or if it came from Dogfish Head, we'd want to suck Sam Caligione's weenus for his brilliance, but because it came from a macro brewery beer snobs look at it with disdain.....Instead of the fact that it does have some merit.
Same with Triple hopped...You know most other light american lagers, and many low IBU German style beers have only ONE hop addition? My Vienna Lager only has one, for bittering. So, Miller decided to do 3 additions like many ales, and it actually does have a bit more hop aroma/flavor. So they decided to promote the fact that it's different from BUD...What's the big deal?
And how different really is it with us creaming our jeans over 30, 60 and 120 minute IPA? It's ok because it's a Micro brewery?
At least in their own way they are teaching the american populace a tiny bit more about hops then they would have known. It might even encourage some folks to try hoppier styles of craft beer.
BMC doesn't necessarily make the best beer out there. That is all a matter of personal opinion. What they do is make the most difficult style out there. So many homebrewers make a batch or two of brown ale and suddenly BMC is swill and only the most uninformed rednecks would like it. It is not swill. It is a style that you suddenly don't care for and most of the reason you don't care for it is that they are huge, and for some reason homebrewers like to think that the bigger a corporation, the worse their product is and everyone that likes it is an idiot. Fact is, they make the most difficult style out there and do it on a massive scale and reach a consistency in their product that homebrewers can only dream of. Get off of your high-horses, people. Let BMC be BMC and enjoy your hobby.
Very true. And if you use Axe products, you will have scores of gorgeous women having orgasms at the very sight of you. How come no one gets upset about that? It is just advertising.
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