EvanB wrote:Dr. Hess wrote: How am I supposed to know which ones are, you know, actual BEER and not full of weird stuff like wheat, or (horror...) rice?Look at the label?
The places near me sell variety packs. The current Summer pack is pretty good if you like more American/German style beers (vs darker British Isles type stouts and whatnot).
Ian F wrote: I never liked Becks, but I agree about SA Cherry Wheat. That's my lunch beer most of the time when we go out. I'll probably have one tomorrow.
I am so working in the wrong industry.
Curmudgeon wrote: Not at all impressed with Fat Tire. Yick.
I love Fat Tire.
Dr. Hess wrote: Anyone else realize that Beck's Beer is now a "Product of USA?" Yeah, it seems to have stopped being a product of Germany in the past month or so. At least here. Tastes different as well. I think it is rather sneaky marketing. I mean, it is still better than, say, Budweiser or Miller Lite, but, seriously, when I purchase a German beer, I would kinda like it to be made in Germany under German beer purity laws, whatever they are called, and not "made in the German style" or whatever they have on the label now. I mean, I buy American whenever I can, but I just kinda feel ripped off by this. I prefer my motorcycles made in Milwaukee (OK, I'll accept York) and my Beer made in Northern Europe and I'm not fond of the deception.
Beck's is owned by ABInBev. That is what they do. The process of contract brewing is very common (that Sam Adam's you're drinking... probably made at a Miller brewery, not in Boston). For a light lager, it will also taste much better made in the U.S. rather than shipped from Germany. Shipping across the sea provides all sorts of opportunities to develop off flavors in beer.
A contract brew of Beck's should be virtually indistinguishable from the original. I'm fairly certain it will meet the same Reinheitsgebot purity laws, it just won't be labeled with them if brewed in the U.S. They might source different malt and hop extracts (the purity law allows for the use of hop extracts).
Really almost every beer you buy (except for light American lagers, which may use rice or corn) will be made from barley malt, hops, water, and yeast.
All that said... Beck's is the beer I hate the most and believe the world would be better if it were just wiped off the planet. It is not a good beer. At best it is very mediocre. Every bottle I've had is complete crap. Yet, it is marketed as a premium product and charged a premium price. And it's so well marketed, this pointless swill is EVERYWHERE. Yes. There are worse beers out there. But they're cheap. When you buy a bottle of beer that costs 40cents, you know you're buying crap beer. You know what you're buying, and the beer delivers exactly what it promises. Beck's promises a premium product, and delivers swill.
93EXCivic wrote:Curmudgeon wrote: Not at all impressed with Fat Tire. Yick.I love Fat Tire.
Depends where and how you get it. I think they've had a number of issues with their shipping in the bottles. They never taste right for me. Tried Fat Tire from a can... and it was totally different. It was finally the beer it was always supposed to be.
For the most part, I drink Mich Ultra or Yuengling. I like St Pauli Girl and occasionally an Amstel Light. Yeah, go ahead and tell me what a backwoods goober I am. I accept my gooberness. 
But my all time favorite is:
Fantastic stuff. If it gets warm, it still tastes great. Too bad it's so damn expensive.
German Purity Law - Quasi Rant
Okay, I typed out a long rant, because I think most of the German purity law is absurd. It mattered in the middle ages when people put hallucinogens in beer, but not so much anymore. At this point, I think the primary purpose is to protect the German brewing industry by making it extra difficult for breweries from other countries to export beer to Germany.
At the end of the day it is just marketing. It is less about what you can put in a beverage, and more about what can be labeled as "Bier" (and taxed at a lower rate). Some of the things it forbids are really innocuous, and some of the things it allows offend my brewer sensibilities.
And wheat malt is not a weird ingredient in beer. It actually makes hardly any flavor difference (the characteristic wheat beer flavors come from the yeast, not the wheat), and mostly just adds protein for better mouth feel and foaminess.
Dr. Hess wrote: OK, so what "good" American beer, made from nothing but malted barley, water, hops and yeast, is sold at Sam's Club liquor stores or Walmart for a reasonable price?
Well, I think around 10 cents a pop would be a "reasonable" price for becks. If you want to get drunk cheap, drink vodka (I'm doing it right now!) or natty light. I'll add a big +1 for Sierra being a good "gateway beer" lol. Pretty sure it was the first IPA I ever had, and we usually have it in between big beers when the nerdery gets together.
Becks? Ugh.
I'll stick with Shiner and Yuengling thanks.
My main reason for wanting real "beer," made from, you know, the stuff that makes beer and NOTHING ELSE, is that I DON'T want chemicals. Whatever it is in Bud, for instance, will give me a migraine. I don't need that. Beers like Heineken and Beck's don't give me migraines. Near as I can figger, it's the "non-beer" ingredients that are the problem. Being a 1st and 3rd generation Dutch-American (hey, we can all have hyphens, then we're all protected classes,) I just do better with Dutch or German beers. And I don't like the taste (or lack of taste) of non-beers like Miller Lite.
I also find Dos Equis Amber to be pretty good.
Any beer in clear or green bottles will be crap. Scientific fact.
(I am being like 90% serious when I say that.)
Dr. Hess wrote: My main reason for wanting real "beer," made from, you know, the stuff that makes beer and NOTHING ELSE, is that I DON'T want chemicals. Whatever it is in Bud, for instance, will give me a migraine. I don't need that. Beers like Heineken and Beck's don't give me migraines. Near as I can figger, it's the "non-beer" ingredients that are the problem. Being a 1st and 3rd generation Dutch-American (hey, we can all have hyphens, then we're all protected classes,) I just do better with Dutch or German beers. And I don't like the taste (or lack of taste) of non-beers like Miller Lite. I also find Dos Equis Amber to be pretty good.
That is odd, and I'm not sure why that would be. Really no special chemicals added in non-purity-law beers compared to purity law ones. It's fairly common to add a little bit of organic acid solution (something like, lactic acid) when steeping your grains... but the purity law allows for them too, it just has to be from bacteria cultured in media that meets the purity law.
I normally associate headaches with higher alcohols. Those can be increased through certain processes during fermentation control, rather than being from the raw materials. I know Bud is fermented extra rapidly ("beechwood aging"), it is possible your problem is with some fermentation bi-products produced from this.
poopshovel wrote: Well, I think around 10 cents a pop would be a "reasonable" price for becks. If you want to get drunk cheap, drink vodka (I'm doing it right now!) or natty light.
I can't drink Natty fast enough to get drunk.
Speaking of German beers...Does anyone here drink the Wernesgruner that Aldis carries? I think it's pretty good for the price.
Dr. Hess wrote: Whatever it is in Bud, for instance, will give me a migraine. I don't need that. Beers like Heineken and Beck's don't give me migraines.
My dad has the same problem with English beers now. He gets horrible migraines if he has one.
Walgreen's sells this stuff at something like $.46 a can. I'm sure it's awesome.
Quick! Get it before the hipsters drive the price up!
In reply to Appleseed:
In my college days, I got that once..... That was a mistake.
93EXCivic wrote: In reply to Appleseed: In my college days, I got that once..... That was a mistake.
Eh... You get what you pay for. I figure that at $3.19 for a sixer (tax included) it didn't matter how bad it was.
I haven't gotten it since the first time though.
As much as I like Yuengling, it will give me a thumper of a headache too.
Haha. Kids.
Back in my college days (yeah, it's a ways back) we could buy a six-pack of Ortlieb's at Kroger for 99 cents when it went on sale. Regular price was like a buck thirty-nine. Was it good beer? Uh, no. Did I ever buy it? Um, yeah.
Salanis wrote:93EXCivic wrote:Depends where and how you get it. I think they've had a number of issues with their shipping in the bottles. They never taste right for me. Tried Fat Tire from a can... and it was totally different. It was finally the beer it was always supposed to be.Curmudgeon wrote: Not at all impressed with Fat Tire. Yick.I love Fat Tire.
I have this issue with Fat Tire, as well as ANY New Belgium beer. I've never had a New Belgium beer out of a bottle that didn't make me want to vomit and then rinse my mouth out with ANYTHING else.
Salanis wrote: Any beer in clear or green bottles will be crap. Scientific fact. (I am being like 90% serious when I say that.)
Rolling Rock = Best cheap "drinking beer" EVER. I drink that stuff like it's water in the hot months.
Appleseed wrote: Walgreen's sells this stuff at something like $.46 a can. I'm sure it's awesome.
NASTY NASTY NASTY.... I made the mistake of buying a 6pack. Couldn't drink it.
Beer brewed in GR, MI!
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:Salanis wrote: Any beer in clear or green bottles will be crap. Scientific fact. (I am being like 90% serious when I say that.)Rolling Rock = Best cheap "drinking beer" EVER. I drink that stuff like it's water in the hot months.
Lies. Miller High Life.
All that said... Beck's is the beer I hate the most and believe the world would be better if it were just wiped off the planet. It is not a good beer. At best it is very mediocre. Every bottle I've had is complete crap. Yet, it is marketed as a premium product and charged a premium price. And it's so well marketed, this pointless swill is EVERYWHERE. Yes. There are worse beers out there. But they're cheap. When you buy a bottle of beer that costs 40cents, you know you're buying crap beer. You know what you're buying, and the beer delivers exactly what it promises. Beck's promises a premium product, and delivers swill.
I tried to be diplomatic about it, but yup, you nailed it.
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