A small, but sweet, moment of vindication over the weekend.
I am often mocked by my friends for liking warm, flat beer. Of course, I consider it my duty as an Englishman to mock them right back. With the honorable exception of some excellent micro-breweries, American beer is utterly without character. I’m talking here of the Budweisers, Coors, and Millers of this world. (Scandalous stuff around these parts, since Budweiser is based in St. Louis – even if the company is now owned by – whisper it – foreigners.)
By and large, as long as it’s cold and fizzy, people don’t seem to care what their beer tastes like – which, on the whole, is just as well. I have long maintained that in fact most American beer doesn’t taste of anything at all – an unpopular opinion, but one which is now backed up by empirical evidence.
![bud bottles Big, but not very clever](http://ahgeorge.com/wp-content/uploads/bud-bottles.jpg)
Big, but not very clever
There we were, in the parking lot of Memorial Stadium, tailgating before the MU football game (note to English readers: yes, I’m afraid this means American football. But don’t worry. I’m OK.) I was talking with three friends, all of whom were drinking American beer (I was not.) Then I noticed what they were actually drinking: one had beer with added lemon and lime; one had beer with added tomato juice (really); and the third had beer with added pomegranate and cranberries. In other words, not one of them was drinking un-messed with beer. Why are these poor people forced to drink these god-awful sounding concoctions? Obvious, really: because the beer itself doesn’t taste of anything.
Ha. QED. Case closed, etc.
Right. Let the bottle-throwing commence.
Comments 2
I shall not be throwing bottles at you, Ah George.
You are, of course, spot on in your assertions. American lager, like a lot of Mexican stuff, is basically yellow soda water – more a refreshing seltzer than a beer. As such, rather like your friends at football (sic) seem to think, it’s little better than a mixer, such as in a Michelada, around to which I am very gradually coming (think Bloody Mary with lager for tomato juice).
While I salute some of the US efforts to get decent beer on the go, such as some “microbrews” and the tasty Anchor Steam, I can’t really see them catching on hugely or ever taking on a Broadside, Bombardier or even the now-popular organic, light, sweet Honey Dew from Fullers.
Pip-pip.
Alex:
Please keep an eye out for my blog on why I can’t understand why people go to Midwestern Waterparks when tests show that the “water” is actually 90% kid pee (allegedly).
Mike