HomebrewandBeer.com forum

here in America most if not all corporate beer is pee water(stock holders care about profits and water is cheep). whats the corporate beer like down under? I love British beers,German,ect..ect..always looking to expand my tast buds..anything good I should try??or try to clone..

buzzkill wrote:here in America most if not all corporate beer is pee water(stock holders care about profits and water is cheep). whats the corporate beer like down under? I love British beers,German,ect..ect..always looking to expand my tast buds..anything good I should try??or try to clone..

Sorry but I have to disagree strongly with the comment that "most if not all American corporate beer is pee water". In fact I would say very little of it is. You can find beers like that in every country, Australia, America, and even your beloved Germany and England have some pretty terrible brews!

Beer comes in all sorts of styles, and while I would not want to drink Miller or Bud on a daily basis, there is a good time and place for both.

Also there are many smaller corporate breweries (Sam Adams, Leinenkugels, Anchor, etc.) which make excellent beers in mass quantity in the US with the same goals. I mean lets face it, the goal of any good business is to make money!

It is unfortunately the consumer that demands the product, and evidently that is what the majority likes. Sure you could say this was forced on them by cost cutting etc. but I blame the average teens-20's women for our tasteless beer! They guzzle Michelobe (now thats water! no piss can be found in this drink) and Pure Blonde (see description of Michelobe) like it is going out of fashion, but put a real beer anywhere near them and they instantly start to b*tch and beg for cruisers... so I guess in the end it is our need for pleasing women that makes us drink tasteless beer with them... so we can only blame ourselves?

PS: My lovely wife is a hop head and drinks every beer I make, but this is not usual in my experience!

I do love Sam Adams..

Just enjoyed a Sam Adams Boston Lager last night. Good brew, horribly expensive over here though.

Again, I go back to the case of Pigs Fly Pale:

These were bought by my boss as a friday afternoon sweetener before the weekend, so that we can do our last few hours with a beer available. My junior - seemingly a wealth of good taste - said:
"I prefer a beer that DOESN'T taste like cat's piss"
So I asked which beers don't. To which, he replied:
"Anything... Fosters, Extra Dry, VB... you know, good beers"

I understand that others her may even enjoy these beers, and I don't begrudge anyone for it, but given the choice - I know what I would be drinking. I have never seen any of these beers win awards... funny that.

Dan

Bizier wrote:I have never seen any of these beers win awards...

Yet they all fly off the shelves as fast as they can be stocked... funny that.

Kevnlis wrote:

Bizier wrote:I have never seen any of these beers win awards...

Yet they all fly off the shelves as fast as they can be stocked... funny that.

I think that times are a changing though.

Slowly but surely, I am converting my relo's & friends over to decent beers.....

Hardest thing though is that one of my mates buys the cheapest catpiss he can due to the $ value and not the taste value....yet when I give him some dearer beers, he loves them......maybe cause they are free

Cheers

Boonie

Slowly but surely, I am converting my relo's & friends over to decent beers.....

Its a long road though isn't it. I was at a BBQ on Saturday night and took some Pilsner Urquells along to share from the carton I got at DMs. A couple of mates tasted it and agreed it tasted pretty good.

One of them who has had it before and will occassionally sample other beers and my brews says 'Yeah I like it because it tastes like Kilkenny but doesn't make me feel bloated". Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. I tell myself at least he's trying different beers and thinking about it so thats good.

The other one tells me he like trying different beers but really means trying platinum blond, extra dry ...., I tell him I've got a spare Urquell that he can have later but instead pour one of my homebrewed Golden Ales into the glass instead without telling him. He drinks it and likes it and tells me he's going to have to buy a carton, still thinking its an urquell (uneducated palate). I then let on. Sometimes preconceptions play a big part in what people think of beer.

times sure are changing, I can definitely see a shift in consumer tastes towards better quality brews with more flavor, even in my own friendship circles.

I think a big part of helping to shift people's buying habits from macro-lagers to craft brews hangs in the government providing Beer Excise Tax assistance to micro breweries, just like it does with wineries.

this kind of move would help open people's eyes to enjoying their alcohol rather than just tipping it down their necks, and would be much more effective in curbing binge-drinking than Kevin's current ideas IMHO.

Sometimes preconceptions play a big part in what people think of beer.

I think this is so true, and its not sometimes preconceptions, its much of the time. The big brewers, who produce the megaliters of corporate pee in Australia use massive advertising budgts to give consumers the preconception of how good their corporate pee is. Look at the rubbish that Carlton tell everyone about VB for example. They tell us all the time that the best cold beer is Victoria Bitter. what rubbish that is. It has to be probably the worse of the lot if you ask me.
And beer drinkers are creatures of habbit. So once they are convinced a certain brand of corporate pee is their thing, and their mates all drink it as well, they will swear black and blue that this is the best beer out.
Luckily people are discovering other less popular microbrew and home brew beers out there that are much better. Better taste and better quality.
I find the same thing when it comes to getting people to drink something other then their favourite corporate pee. They are usually reluctant, because their preconception of what is a good beer is restricted to the brain washing they have got from the producers of the megaswill. But once they have tried some decent beer, they at first seem reluctant to admit its better then their usual rubbish beer but in the end I find they tend to end up drinking more of the good stuff then their usual rubbish beer if both are available to drink. So what does that tell you?
This is annoying, because it means those of us, who know good beer end up with a fridge full of left over corporate pee we don't want to touch.
Its a slow process, but I urge everyone who knows people like these poor misguided souls who think that Carlton or Tooheys make the best beers, to give them a taste of something better. Maybe spot them sone of yor good brews, or buy them a variety pack of microbrew beers for their birthday or christmas. Its the only way we are going to show them the truth about beer.
And yes you are right guys, where are the awards for these so called great megaswill corporate pee beers if they are so good? Thats a good point to use on the misinformed next time they try to convince you that Extra Dry or Pure Blond is a great beer.

scanman wrote:

And yes you are right guys, where are the awards for these so called great megaswill corporate pee beers if they are so good? Thats a good point to use on the misinformed next time they try to convince you that Extra Dry or Pure Blond is a great beer.

Tooheys Extra Dry took the gold medal in the World Beer Cup for best American Style Lager

My father in law always likes the beer I brew when he comes around.
I can't drink the beer he has in his fridge though, Hahn Low Carbohydrate. I tell him it's a Why Bother type of beer (if that's what it is).
I tried to educate him last year by buying him a slab of Coopers Sparkling, and I think I might now have got him onto our local micro brewery's Wicked Elf Wit, but only because my brother-in-law likes it (after I put him onto it).
It's a slow process, but the more people we can influence, the wider the message will spread eventually.

Well done warra.

Yes it is a slow process, but in ten years from now I hope to see the big breweries suffering in their jocks from lack of sales because people have woken up to decent beers like the Europeans do.
After all, we seem to be ten years behind in everything in this country.

Wishfull thinking maybe, I don't know, but it certainly is happening, even if its slowly. One beer drinker I know has give up on Aussie beers and now only buys euro style lagers. His current brew is Heinekin, which is still an improvement from his previous Tooheys new addiction, but give him time. he is only a young fella, so is still developing his tatses!!!

Why are homebrewers always trying to convert the masses?

And what happens when they are all converted?

Do we then re-discover extra light lagers and then start converting the masses once more?

la resistance!

Tipsy wrote:Why are homebrewers always trying to convert the masses?

Stirrer.
Want a job on my mash paddle?

Tipsy wrote:Why are homebrewers always trying to convert the masses?

And what happens when they are all converted?

Do we then re-discover extra light lagers and then start converting the masses once more?

Hopefully the big brewers will then go bust, or actually brew something worthy of being called beer. In the mean time everyone else will be drinking beers from microbrewers or home brew, and everyone will be enlightened and happy!
Our work will be done, so we can all sit back and have a decent beer together

If we convert them all to HB, the corporate guys will "Ask" the Government to start a smear campaign because their revenue in taxes would be diminished....

Headline....I can see it now.

"IS HOMEBREW ANY GOOD FOR YOU, THE TRUE FACTS"

Doesn't work for the take away people. So I cant see that happening! Home cooking, is it bad for you??? Naaaaa. Don;t think that would wash.
Yes they would loose out paying all that tax to the government, which is good, as we apy way to much tax in this country anyway.
Least I pay very little tax on my beer.

Boonie wrote:If we convert them all to HB, the corporate guys will "Ask" the Government to start a smear campaign because their revenue in taxes would be diminished....

Headline....I can see it now.

"IS HOMEBREW ANY GOOD FOR YOU, THE TRUE FACTS"

They would simply just tax the shit out of HB supplies to the point where it would be dearer than commercial which would force the masses back anyway