Ask most people where the best beer in the world comes from, and they’ll probably say Germany or England. More worldly folks might mention Belgium. But ask a beer aficionado these days, and odds are you’ll get an answer that might surprise you – the good old U.S.A.
Just as wines from Napa Valley, Sonoma County and Oregon are giving bordeaux, burgundy and barolo a run for their money, breweries from California to New York are proving they can make some of the best suds in the world. And they’re not just copies of the old European originals. While American craft brewers have proven themselves no slouches at styles such as pilsners, pale ales and stouts, they’ve also created some of their own, often bold styles. Over the past few decades, the U.S. beer scene has exploded. In 1978, there were just 42 breweries across the U.S. In 2007, there were 1,449.
“You can find just about anything being made. They’ve taken the best of every kind of style and put their own twist on it,” says Enright, founder of bartowel.com, a site for local beer connoisseurs.
We have some excellent Micro Breweries here in Colorado, New Belgium, and SKA Brewing being two of my favorites. And by the way, Polygamy Porter is a real product I tried in Moab Utah, and no, it wasn’t very good. Probably because it was low alcohol as required by the state.
It’s too bad that most of the people in the US haven’t heard of Leinenkugel’s beer from Chippewa Falls, WI. They’ve got some really delicious brews. They’re distributed by Miller now, but still brewed in Chippewa Falls.
Meh, Utah beer. I hear that you get “Flagged” when you have more than two drinks an hour in Utah.
hey McCullough–(or anyone who knows)–if alcohol has no taste, how could a reduced alcohol beer suffer from it? I would have thought they would brew the beer the “same” as any other and then just remove some of the alcohol or do they save a step and stop the brewing short in some way that affects taste?? Stupid if they do the latter.
On my first night in Paris one time, I bought a few 18% Oranjeboom (sp?) beers from Holland I think. Tasted just like beer but put me on my backside quick. I woke up 24 hours later and claimed jet-lag.
Yes, good beer everywhere now. Just have to work on better bread and cheeses too.
Agreed. The thousands of microbreweries and their beers are as diverse as the country itself. Most of the European Beers follow a format and style. In the US, the whole recipe is up to the brewer. Check out http://www.ratebeer.com if you want to find some excellent beers.
Leine is not just distributed by Miller, Miller bought them. At the time they said all Leine specialty brews would be produced in Chippewa Falls, but the standard Leine Pilsner could be brewed in any Miller Brewery. All Leinenkugels sold in WI are brewed in Chippewa Falls.
Always loved that spring time treat when Leine Bock came out.
american beer excellent??? total BS. I’m right now having a cold one here in .de that’s being brewed the same way since 1634 (Paulaner, and that’s not even the oldest), need I say more?
#3. Boboo- I dunno, maybe it was just shitty beer. Or the fact that you have to pay join a “club” to legally drink in a bar in Utah, even if its just for one hour. Its a stupid law. Gave me a bad taste, so to speak.
@McCullough: New Belgium’s Fat Tire is awesome! Shame it doesn’t have a larger distribution area.
@#1 Sean: The Leinenkugel’s Brewery Tour is a must see. Their Honey Weisse is great for summer. Time to go buy some.
To add one of my own favorites, Big Sky Brewery in Missoula, MT makes a great brown ale called Moose Drool. Truly excellent!
#6–McCullough==I used to be able to say beer was like sex. Some is better than others, but I’ve never had a bad one. Then I bought a “beer” off the back of a truck in Moscow for 3 cents. I couldn’t finish it even though I was thirsty and sober.
Polygamy Beer–after that post last week or so (the “Try Weed” brand of beer in California) I’m surprised it is allowed because it encourages the violation of law? Clever line though.
#7. Yes Fat Tire is my favorite beer, last summer I saw it in New Hampshire so its gaining. Try some of the Flying Dog (Denver) beers like Tire Bite, or Old Scratch, or Pin Stripe from SKA.
#1 Sean – I am in NC, and I’m fully familiar with the Leinie’s product line.
Then again, I’m originally from Wisconsin, and Leinie’s was our poison of choice at UW-Madison. 😉
But yes, you’re right… Leinie’s makes great beers, and fortunately for me, their distributor is pushing their product beyond the WI borders. I can actually go to a grocery store here in NC and pick up Sunset Wheat, Berry Weiss and Honey Weiss.
I sure do miss their Creamy Dark, though. Their Red wasn’t that bad, either!
#8. Yeah, I almost bought a 6 pack (Polygamy) for the novelty.
The problem is not that American Beer is bad. The problem is the first thing anyone thinks of when you say American Beer is Budweiser.
Ah the magic of marketing.
If you ask most people in good ol’ Calgary where the best beer comes from they’ll say Okotoks, where Big Rock is brewed. Or Calgary, where the big Molson brewery is. Somewhere in Canada anyway.
When you make a mean joke about the host when you’re at a party here, a common response is, “better not say that or next time we’ll have American beer.”
I was in Hawaii a couple of years back and I went to a restaurant and asked for a dark beer. They had none! They hadn’t even heard of Guinness, much less the term Porter or Stout. I wonder if dark beer is a more northern cold climate kind of thing?
Personally, my favorite is Bell’s Porter.
Everybody knows the best brew comes from Canada! Water in the USA isn’t clean enough to make a decent beer.
I’m amazed that most of the E. USA has little in the way of microbrews. There are 3 excellent microbreweries here in Misoula, MT and some of the bars here have up to 30 different microbrews on tap. If you live west of the Mississippi, most people think corporate brews, like Sam Adams are the real deal. Not even close! I don’t know if its the local monopolies or laws that prevent the rest of the country from getting real beer, but you have no idea what you’re missing.
In 1999, we were in Chepstow, Wales, went into a many centuries old public house, asked what beer they recommended, and were told that most of the young people drank [an American mass-produced beer, might have been Bud]. We were astounded, but nonetheless tried something more local. The power of advertising? People have no taste?
In Montreal last summer we really liked the local beer “Raftman” (which probably passes the language laws because of the old folksong “Les Raftsmen”), but in lots of places that wouldn’t pass muster because it is cloudy / on its lees / contains dregs.
My father used to make beer and when I was a young tyke, I was allowed to have a sip. Over the years I got accustomed to other beer tastes, but suddenly on a trip to Europe it was like a slap across the face: here was the taste of the beer my father made! It was Stella Artois, a well-known Belgian beer.
Even the much-reviled Cooper’s beer kits from Australia can make a pretty good beer, IMHO. So whatever bad news the day might bring, the world is still a paradise for beer drinkers.
Let it be known that this article has nothing to do with Bud, Miller, Coors, or any of the other mass produced football beers. We’re talking about craft brewed beers that their makers take pride in, makers that you can actually sit down and have a beer with, if you’re lucky.
DL Beard – I don’t know where you were in HI, but I live on the Big Island and we have not one, but two excellent micro-breweries; Kona Brewing Company on the West side and Mehana Brewing Company on the East side. Kona Brew has both a porter and a stout. Come back and try them out.
Think Globally, Drink Locally. I like Guinness, Fat Tire, et al, but when I go out I try to drink something made within 30 miles. Now living in Madison, that even rules out Leine’s, but thankfully we’ve got many, many excellent breweries within 30 miles. And I hope they stay small and local, so that every town in America can have its own local brew.
DL Beard, I live close to the Kalamazoo Brewing Co, who makes Bell’s, and they have several OUTSTANDING brews. Hopslam is amazing.
Oh please for the love of God! US beer? Is this a joke? I mean it might be ok if you are a bum or homeless but still…US beer?
BTW, it is US NOT America. America is a fine continent. US is a ____ country
#22. Were you BORN an asshole or was it an evolving process?
There are several excellent microbreweries in DFW. Two brew stouts and porters as good as Guinness. But I’m hitchin’ a ride on a Gulfstream G5 and heading to join #5 Joe.
I sure miss the draught beer in Műnchen.
I drink an eclectic selection of beer. That means no crap beers (read Bud, Miller, Coors, Corona, Heineken).
I find the imported version of Stella Atois to be awful. I have had it in Amsterdam on tap and it was good, but there are so many better Belgians that it is not even worth talking about Stella.
The company “Stone” makes a number of great beers. Their IPAs and Belgian style beers (one is called “Trouble”) are quite good. Sam Adams actually makes a couple of really good specialty beers. The Winter Ale and Summer Ale are quite good as is their Ocktoberfest.
Munich style beers are the hardest to find in the US and are not so ironically the ones I crave the most. I have found a few at BevMo and my local specialty store but they are seasonal to a degree and generally not carried in any large quantity.
In Pasadena, there is a bar called Lucky Baldwin’s that has Belgian Beer Festival every year. Many of the entries are made in America and most are quite good.
When someone says that American beer sucks they are almost always referring to Bud, Miller etc. While there are good beers in Canada, they have their fair share of piss beers (actually, Molsen comes to mind).
I’m going to pretend I’m surprised that no one has even mentioned Shiner, yet.
Most of their beers stand up well against european brews. the stuff most Americans drink (Bud, Coors, etc.) is pretty much detestable to me. Shiner Bock was the first beer that actually swung me over to drinking beer at all. same is true for my wife. And the new Shiner Black is my new favorite beer.
Does Germany still have super strict laws regarding beer ingredients? Or is that only for mass produced beer? Are the Germans doing microbrews too?
Over in Australia, they love Budweiser. To them, it is an exotic beer. And of course Fosters is pure crap. You can’t even buy it in most pubs since they would never lower themselves to selling such swill.
I did notice that the few Buds I drank in Oz tasted better than the Buds they sell in the US. And although I can’t say for sure, one might assume that the Fosters sold in the US is not the same Fosters sold in Oz?
That all being said, it seems that you can’t trust a beer label, or at least you can’t when it comes to mass produced beer.
I’ve managed to live in St. Louis, Madison, and Salt Lake: Clearly, all beer towns.
The home of Polygamy Porter: http://www.wasatchbeers.com/
They’ve changed the liquor laws in Utah recently and made them even more confusing. A single drink can now have 1.5 oz of alcohol (up from 1 oz), but you can no longer order a “sidecar”, so the total amount of liquor really in a drink went down from 2.75 oz to 2.5 oz.
You’ve got to love this state.
#29. Right I remember ordering a beer with a neat whiskey and was told that was illegal in Utah. So my wife got the beer which I of course tasted for her, cripes!