Why do Americans like their beer cold?

JoeTheJuggler said:
While this account of history might be true*, it's largely irrelevant today, where those big-selling beers are actually made and intended to be served cold.
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You say "irrelevant," I say "the central point."

The big-selling beers are made and intended to be served cold. That's because there's a fifty-plus year history of drinking American beers cold, because American lager tastes terrible at cellar temperature. And the reason that American lager tastes terrible at cellar temperature is because when Prohibition ended, the people who started making beer again didn't know how to make lagers that tasted good at cellar temperature.

America used to be one of the biggest craft beer producers in the world; every region had its own style (e.g. "Kentucky Common Beer," a kind of steam beer similar to the modern California common). Most of these types vanished during Prohibition; the breweries that survived (e.g. Anheuser-Busch) did so by branching into other grain-based products. Most of the small suppliers, such as hop growers, failed completely. When Roosevelt repealed Prohibition in 1933, most of the recipes and ingredients necessary to make the various craft beers were no longer available. The only beer that anyone was prepared to deliver in any sort of quantity was American-style lager... and not especially good lager at that.

So from 1933 to 1985, American beer meant American-style lager. Few people were making anything else, so few people were drinking anything else. Since American-style lager tastes terrible at cellar temperature, people drank it cold. Since people were drinking beer cold, the breweries started focusing on making beers that could be drunk cold. And a whole industry grew up around the idea of cold beer.
 
Also, I just want to tell you all that it's hilarious watching you discuss beer the way you are. Hilarious.

I like to transpose the names of various soft drinks for the names of the beers in your arguments. "RC is nothing but a bunch of slopping foam; nothing like the robust and full-bodied flavor of Coca-Cola."
 
Gawdzilla said:
American beers can be a bit "ordinary", but I've had "foreign" beers that should have died in the womb. Kloster, for example. (Kloster as sold in Thailand. There may be others.)
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Kloster! Is that stuff real? Having never been to Thailand, I only know about it from Spalding Grey's Swimming to Cambodia.
 
Checkmite said:
Stands to reason, given that "microbrewery" is defined as a brewery whose product distribution is limited.
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No, it's defined as a brewery that produces a relatively small amount of beer; it can sell the beer coast-to-coast if it can find appropriate distributors. The cutoff in the United States is about 15,000 barrels of beer, or roughly a half-million gallons.

And brewpub chains (e.g., the Firkin chain) can brew an unlimited amount of beer, as long as they're brewing less than 15K barrels at each location.
 
IMST said:
Why was damn near every ale I tried, and in two weeks touring with a band I drank almost nothing else and never had the same one twice, at near 3% alcohal? Why did all but 1 that I tried seem to completely lack hops?

I know you guys take your beer very seriously, but despite that I have to say you seem to be doing it wrong.
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I've been to London 5-6 times (and am going again tomorrow), and have probably been in close to 50 different pubs, and I've never encountered what you describe.

Now, by "lacking hops", if you mean the "macho one upsmanship" game that some microbreweries like to play - let's see how bitter we can make this beer, even though it is undrinkable - then yes, I have not found those beers in London. That seems to be a strictly American thing.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
I've been to London 5-6 times (and am going again tomorrow), and have probably been in close to 50 different pubs, and I've never encountered what you describe.

Now, by "lacking hops", if you mean the "macho one upsmanship" game that some microbreweries like to play - let's see how bitter we can make this beer, even though it is undrinkable - then yes, I have not found those beers in London. That seems to be a strictly American thing.
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I enjoy the taste of hops in beer and am disappointed in supposedly bitter beers that lack such. I can be made happy by a well crafted beer with at least about 30 IBU. And I've not complained at 110.

ETA: I am NOT a supertaster, obvs.
 
Checkmite said:
Stands to reason, given that "microbrewery" is defined as a brewery whose product distribution is limited.
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Actually, whose product quantity is limited.

Brewpubs are limited to how much they can make, and it must be served on premise. This allows them to bypass the three tier distribution system in the US. The amount they can brew varies by state, IIRC.

As far as the microbrewery distinction goes, I think that is just a label applied by trade associations. Like the big boys (AB, Miller), they must distribute via a wholesaler.

ETA: I think the laws in MO (and other states?) may also allow direct distribution to retailers for non-brewpubs, but I'm not sure what the volume cutoff is.

(Side note: Don't be surprised to see the 3 tier system go away some day, perhaps in the not to distant future. There are some court challenges going on now.)
 
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Cainkane1 said:
On occassion I talk to a Brit or german working here in Atlanta ga. They don't like their beer as cold as we do. Theres nothing wrong with drinking room temperature beer but I like it cold myself. I talked to a Polish girl at my watering hole and she told me that some cultures like their beer warm enough to steam a bit.

Here in the American southeast I can understand. It gets darn hot here so we drink cold soda, iced tea and we prefer our beer as cold as we can get it without it actually freezing.

Ok Most caucasian americans ancestors come from England, Germany etc. Why do we like it as coold as we do? What changed us?
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Taste, eurofolks dont do it right, simple.
 
Why do folks from the southern states drink their iced tea with enough sugar to send one into instant Hyperglycemia?
 
Alferd_Packer said:
Why do folks from the southern states drink their iced tea with enough sugar to send one into instant Hyperglycemia?
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I don't think that is an accurate stereotype.

Some folks feel they have to ask for sweet tea. Others ask for iced tea, no sugar.

Lemon wedges are also optional
 
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Gawdzilla said:
Between the sweeping generalizations and the tired cliches this thread has it all.
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That's crazy talk.

Well, I'm off to hire a Mexican to mow my lawn and a big fat black maid who says stuff like "Yasm Suh, I'll git supper on da table!" They're all like that yknow. And why are Brits always walking around with those silly monocles and droopy mustaches going "tally ho old bean" - ?
 
I'd figure it had to do with the fact that we like most of our drinks cold, our beer would naturally follow the trend
 
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