Why do most American drink swill lager?

[William Brand]

Do you ever get off the craft beer train and talk about average swill --- like beers for baseball, or Asian beers?

This question from someone I work with has bugged me for the last three days. Best word I can find to describe my condition is "flummoxed". My first thought was, "Sure, and let's get our wine columnist to write about the "best of Gallo and other 'great' jug wines."

Why is it that the idea of a wine columnist writing about jug wines seems utterly absurd, while a beer columnist writing about crappy beer seem normal and appropriate.

Damn you Budweiser, Coors and Miller and all the rest of you corporate lager-sellers and your funny, sexy commercials. You've stolen the soul of beer.

After an initial burst of sarcasm and consternation, I got serious. If the beer we like is so good, then why are American beer drinkers still imbibing cheap lager?

This isn't a rhetorical question. I'm asking all of you reading this to tell me what you think. Post a comment here or shoot me an email at [e-mail].

For research, I turned to one of my kids, who is grown, teaches film at an Oregon university and has traveled the world and is very sophisticated.

Basic answer: Alcohol delivery vehicle in an unobjectionable format. He admitted to drinking 10 beers this past Saturday night out with his friends: 2 Japanese 22-ouncers (equals nearly 4 beers) plus, 6 or so Coronas. I guess when you're fairly young, are 6-1 and weigh 240, 10 beers is nothing.

But, I persisted, why not drink something decent?

He thought about it for a minute. "I don't like dark beer," he said. "I really like Corona, because -" he thought for a minute - "it doesn't leave a bad taste. It's not bitter."

Whew. What can you expect from someone raised on Slurpies.

I gave that some thought.

I believe we can expect a lot, but until very recently, we've left the discovery of good beer to chance. That's why craft beer and other good beer has somewhere between 4 and 10 perrcent of the total beer market and swill lager has the rest.

I grew up much like him, drinking sodas. I hated beer. Coors tasted like water and Budweiser tasted bitter; it burned my tongue. I went into the Navy right out of high school and did my share of under-age beer drinking, but like our kid, it was just being social. The beer -- all bland lagers -- was tasteless.


My epiphany came at a German restaurant in Washington, D.C. when I was 19. I got served a glass of Wurzburger, a Bavarian lager. Still remember it: rich, golden, silky malt that flowed across my tongue and just a bit of spicy tingle from what I now know were Hallertau hops. I became a convert. I realized there was beer and there was real beer.

It was pure chance. The waiter might not have served me, I could have decided not to go into downtown Washington that Saturday. We need to stand up and shout about good beer, I think. The way it's going is way too slow.

What do you think? Opinions anyone...

[David Tambeaux]

I try not to let the masses preference for bland beer bother me, as my hypothesis for why they consume what I consider an inferior quality product, is similar to yours. My theory is that the masses do not really like beer, it is just their alcohol delivery source of choice. They would probably snort the stuff if it came in that powder form. However your post brings to mind a much larger issue that I feel fuels the bland swill beer market as well as other markets for decidedly bland offerings which are low quality and can be consumed cheaply. I call this the blanding of the American landscape. It is especially prevalent in consumer goods and has become predominant in the restaurant business, entertainment, retail and book business to name a few. Where I live in Columbia, Maryland the franchise sit down restaurant has come to roost. Many of the locally owned restaurants are getting creamed by these bland offerings which are moderately priced, but whose appeal is lost on me. I am talking about Olive Garden, Fridays, Ruby Tuesday, Houlihans, Red Lobster, On the Border, Macaroni Grill, Don Pablo, you get the idea. These places are run as if by committee, with hostesses repeating their mantras as you arrive like some kind of Mattel See It and Say it toy from the 1960s. These stamp out restaurants camp out on the parking lots of Big Box malls, like some kind of like pilot fish. I guess their appeal is mediocre consistency and convenience for on the go people with low expectations and whose interest in food is limited to its capacity as a fuel source. These kind of vanilla offerings are what has become preferred. Heck the entertainment business has been going to the same model, focus grouping endings to movies in order to insure that the audience preference for a happy ending is taken into consideration. What ever happened to the director (or chef) as impresario and creative genius. The craft beer industry has amazed me in its ability to swim against the tide of blandness that has crept over the land. It has certainly sent shots across the bow of the BMC corporate beer titans (well maybe more like a Greenpeace Zodiac spinning circles around some massive whaling ship, but you get the idea). I am just fascinated at the creativity in the craft beer business, making the US probably the most consistently innovative in the brewing business worldwide. It does not surprise me though that in a country where we have a national newspaper, doling out stories in bite size portions, who addresses its readers as we, that Budweiser is the beer of choice. Personally AB is a marketing company that just happens to make beer. It would not surprise me (hell they probably already do it and I just do not know which brand is theirs) if they are in the energy drink business, because it is such a hot market and would appeal to those that they hope move up to Bud someday, like the US automakers with their multiple brands at varying price points. I just know we got lucky here that my local burrito joint turned into an awesome beer bar. I play trivia on Tuesday nights there and my teammate who was only into corporate swill, is about a year into moving up to craft brewed beers and especially likes the broad spectrum of IPAs. I for one think over time the craft beer market will continue to improve. Hopefully they will not try to be more like their behemoth competitors with crazy marketing campaigns taking precedence over making the highest quality product available. Cheers to having lots of great beer choices during our lifetime. I know I will drink to that.

[William Brand]

Yeah the one we have out here in the San Francisco Bay Area in abundance --- besides all those you named is Appleby's, which bills itself as l:our neighborhood restaurant." They're strictly a Budweiser house, with sometimes Sam Adams. And the damn things are everywhre,. Do a search for Applleby's and almost any city of any size you can think of and there they are. Bingo. And he same beer, Always, always, the same beer.

[David Tambeaux]

I know I could go on ad infinitum on this subject, but I know somewhere in there is that these kinds of beer are like an old blanket. Comfortable and soothing, without any harsh edges. It eliminates any risk or real adventure, but then again these are not adventurous people. I think you will find Disney World or the Hard Rock Cafe at the top of their list of must see places to visit before they die. Their lifestyle says please do not challenge me, or expect me to think or make conscious choices.

[Virgil G]

You mention the creativity in chef's... olive garden doesn't have a chef; applebee's doesn't have a chef. The chain's don't employ chef's at each restaurant. They have kitchen staff. People who open the bag of frozen food and heat it to whatever the directions say.

It's easy to see why a place that has no creativity at each location, would have no creativity in the beer selection.

Compare that to a brewpub. Original beers and original menu. Every time a new brew comes out, the chef might add something on the menu specifically for that meal.

I've found that bars with larger beer selections also have more creative fare than a place with 6 taps (3 bud, 2 miller, 1 blue moon) and the complete line of Macro bottles.

But then, most of us probably don't routinely go to the 6 tap bars.

As to why do people drink it.

I've got a friend who would say that people are too dumb to know anything good.

[David Tambeaux]

Precisely, but real restaurants do have people who cook not just for a living but because preparing a quality meal is important to them, a craft if you will. Why do people put up with mediocrity? I agree with BP's point that the herd mentality is part of the problem, but I also believe people do what they see and seldom step off the ledge to try something new and different. Its as if they would get some sort of disease if they were to go against the flow. It is pervasive in our society. I think I will drink a craft beer and think about this some more. Carpe diem, craft beer lovers.

[Chipper Dave]

I’ve had similar experiences to those commenters above. I started drinking around age 17 my self. I vividly recall my first taste of beer that my Dad offered me at a family gathering. It was a mass market beer and my first reaction to it was ‘meh’ it was ok. I had been a kid who grew up drinking soft drinks and the bitterness of beer was the furthest thing from my palate experience that I had ever encountered. When I started drinking beer with my high school buddies, we simply drank what was cheap since we didn’t have very good jobs at the time, plus we usually had to have someone else buy it for us and the beer they usually grabbed was the stuff that was most common and cheap.

My first experience with a more flavorful beer was a Guinness Stout. I had seen someone drinking that dark brew and wondered what it was like. They let me try it and I thought that it wasn’t bad at all. Sure, it was more bitter but it was also a lot more flavorful. This made me wonder what other kinds of beer were out there. It didn’t take me long to see that there were other beers hidden in the corner of the liquor store cooler that had strange unknown names. I bought a brown ale just out of chance. And you know what, I really liked it! And after that experience, any time I happen to be offered a mass market beer I didn’t like it as much.

I believe the best way to get America to change it’s taste for mass market beers is to simply start offering people a better beer to drink. If you see someone order a Bud or Miller or Coors - offer to buy them a craft beer instead. I’ll never forget the time that I was in the Canadian Rockies and walked into a small local bar. The bar had several beers available but I foolishly chose the only American mass market beer that was on their list. A grizzly looking local came over to me and asked me why I was drinking that stuff and put down one of their local Canadian beers for me to try. I hesitantly tried it but was pleasantly surprised on how good it tasted. From then on, I decided that whenever I was traveling that I’d first try a local beer instead. I continue that tradition to this day. I now actively seek out new beers.

Changing America’s old habits won’t be easy. But as long as they keep filling the majority of the beer shelf space and offer it up at cheaper prices than the craft beers, America won’t be easily be weaned off the mass market beer nipple.

[Shawn, the Beer Philosopher]

Living in the shadow of the mass-marketing machine that is Anheuser-Busch, you see a couple of interesting factors that play a part in the typical American's choice in beer. First of all, there is an entire culture built around A-B. In and around St. Louis (I actually live about 100 miles from the city proper), "The Brewery" is so woven into the fabric of the community that there seems to be a sense of obligation and expectation to drink A-B products. You find this at the major sports and entertainment venues, especially - although A-B no longer owns Busch stadium and Tom Schlafly has his fine beers available there now - the Anheuser-Busch "pedigree" is still all over the place. Show up at almost any restaurant, pub, or club and you'll see A-B signage everywhere. You'll also see that the lion's share of the taps are also dedicated to A-B products. I realize this is, maybe, somewhat unique to St. Louis but there is a real sense that you are somehow something other than a true "local" (or at least a good one) if you don't support A-B wholeheartedly. So, there are geographical influences at work here.

A corollary to this phenomena is the herd mentality - people tend to drink what most other people tend to drink. Sometimes it may be because they've just always done it, or it may be that it is perceived that a particular brand is "the socially acceptable" one for the present company. Bottom line, people follow the crowd and have a natural propensity to want to fit in ... especially young people. If everyone is drinkin' Bud, guess what you're drinkin' ... ? Yep. That is unless you happen to be one of those counter culture youth who like to do the exact opposite of everyone else and make some sort of statement ... but, I believe, these are the exception to the rule and don't represent anything that even comes close to the majority. These are your PBR drinkers among a room full of Bud Light drinkers ... no one is really impressed.

We Americans drink swill because it's there. It's everywhere. And, as much as we who have a passion for good beer might not like to admit it, most people are quite happy in their ignorant beer bliss. I wrote about this a while back, referencing Plato's Cave. They like their swill just fine thank you. Those who do not recognize their need to change are, de facto, the most difficult to sell the idea of change to ... sounds obvious, but it's true. The marketing onslaught brought on by mass-produced beer giants has convinced us, by and large, that it is cooler, easier and sexier to drink [insert macro lager of choice here]. Why bother with some obscure, harder to find beer?

[Rob DeNunzio]

Everything the other folks here have said has tons of merit, but I think it would be unfair to exclude economics as a powerful defining factor. One of the key words in your question alludes to it: cheap. When the primary role of beer in one's life is the "alcohol delivery mechanism", it would only make sense that you'd want to get a deal on it at the same time. Craft beer, single malt scotch, boutique gin, and fine wine all carry a price tag that assumes the consumer is paying for more than a quick buzz.

It's cheaper to go to McDonald's for a hamburger than to buy quality ground beef, cheaper to go to KFC than to buy quality poultry, and cheaper to go to Taco Bell than to buy a can of refried beans and a pack of tortillas. Likewise, it's often cheaper to buy a couple cases of Budweiser than it is to make a nice craft beer at home.

(Devil's advocate aside: In fact, if you want craft beer to make a real impact - have it stand up and shout about itself in a way that no number of bloggers could - maybe it's time for us to expect the types of dollar mark-ups that winemakers and distillers have relied upon for years as a key element of their cachet, a singularly powerful way to tell the consumer that what they're getting is damn special and they ought to respect it.)

There is one caveat to the economics issue: Of course, these same people who are looking to not spend a heck of a lot on their beer often have made other concessions about how to spend their income - big TVs, big trucks, big houses, etc. - so what you're really asking people to do is re-prioritize quite a bit of their lifestyle decisions. And with that, I expect you'd find yourself asking some nice, Middle American, average hard-working family Joes to please put alcohol higher up in their hierarchy of needs, a concept that is still very foreign and complex to people whose recent ancestors lived in a country under Prohibition.

On top of that, I don't think this is a purely American phenomenon, this battle for the attention of potential craft beer enthusiasts. The industrialization of what used to be a community-based endeavor - brewing - has had a huge impact everywhere that brewing has a history. You think all those young Germans are kicking back with jealousy-inducing amounts of locally-brewed, picture perfect pilsners? Think again. And upstart Belgians, tastefully sipping their Deliriums over plates of moules et frites? Not so much. Coffee, water, alcopops, soft drinks, but not so much beer.

But I'm not totally convinced that we're totally out of luck, and think that people like Garrett Oliver are on the right track by tapping into the world of the foodie. Gourmet food - especially made at home, in this nesting phase we Americans seem to be into - could be the meal ticket for craft beer to really make an impact. It worked for wine in the 60s and 70s, through that industry's efforts to drive home the concepts of "food and wine pairings" that were nothing more than marketing gimmicks. We all here know that beer actually pairs much better than wine with a number of foods - cheeses being the big one - and should take advantage of that knowledge and share it. Next time you're in a restaurant, when you order your food, ask for beer pairing recommendations. When they can't do it for you, offer to send an email to the owner pairing the craft beers they might already have on hand with some of the dishes on the menu. Next time you walk past the dusty craft beer shelves in your neighborhood market, offer the business owner to write up food pairing ideas as shelf talkers. The more inroads you can make on craft beer being part of a larger lifestyle choice - not just the one you make about how you get your buzz on - the better the chance craft beer has at earning itself a permanent place on the American supper table.

Whew. Damn, Bill, you really know how to get us commenters ranting! Look at the length of these responses...

[Virgil G]

Of course, these same people who are looking to not spend a heck of a lot on their beer often have made other concessions about how to spend their income - big TVs, big trucks, big houses, etc. - so what you're really asking people to do is re-prioritize quite a bit of their lifestyle decisions.

And camo... lots and lots of camo.

If beer is the alcohol delivery system, and it's about not spending a lot of money, then these same people would actually be better served by drinking craft beer.

A six pack of most craft beer is normally not twice the price of a six of bud light, but it normally IS twice the ABV.

most people are lemmings, and they are also resistant to change, so at first they followed the crowd to a macro; then they don't leave. Brand loyalty, something we snooty beer drinkers don't have much of.

[Scott]

It seems to me that most people don’t like to step out of their norm or leave the comfort of that norm. I have a friend that I and my beer tasting buddy Virgil took out one night. We went to a bar that has a hundred or more different beers, and my buddy order a Pabst (not that there is anything wrong with that). After having a few he said order me a beer, so we ordered him an Avery Collaboration which is one of my favorite brews. He liked to have died drinking that beer. He just could not wrap he mind around what he was drinking because it was such a departure from what he was use to. I think; like everything in life you need to be open minded to enjoy a new experience and most mundane beer drinks are a closed minded lot.

[Jinja]

I think the cost issue is a factor like Rob said.

If you consider that most people start experimenting with beer and drinking in high school or college, and that most students are poor, and looking to catch a buzz, and have a low tolerance, they're going to try to get the most bang for your buck. For us, it was Natty Lite or Busch - you could buy like 6 12-packs for $1.

I exaggerate, of course, but our goal was copious amounts of beer for the least amount of money.

You grow up a little, start making actual money, but your palate is trained to the beer taste you know. And some overeager beer enthusiast pours you an Arrogant Bastard and your palate is all, "Hell no, that is not what beer is supposed to taste like!" so you go back to the non-arrogant, non-bastard beer you're used to.

The craptastic chain restaurants are the same thing - here's food that is familiar to me, that I recognize, it's not too expensive, I can bring the kids who are still in the mac and cheese phase and we have a night out without breaking the bank.

I think that if you are the type of person who wants to explore the finer things in life, or try new things, you are going to have more of a tendency to pay $10 for a 6 pack, just like you pay more for your artisanal cheese or 10-year-old port or organic bread baked in a brick oven on a commune.

But you kinda have to work up to it, train your palate, and be willing to try the one local or craft beer on tap. You'll probably get a few stinkers, but the potential of something fabulous keeps you experimenting. And I don't think most people are all that adventurous.

I'm in the Bay Area too, and I didn't realize how spoiled I was in being surrounded by small, creative, non-chain restaurants until I recently was in the Dallas suburbs. We did not see one restaurant that was not a chain. We don't go to fancy restaurants, and there are franchises like Gordon Biersch where we are regulars, but we have a LOT of options besides Olive Garden and Appleby's. And all the places we go, why we choose to go there, is because they have decent tap lists.

But Texas? We went into a bar and they had about 6 taps - Bud, Miller, Coors and their Lites, plus Shiner Bock. So I asked what they had in bottles. The bartender said, "Aw, honey, we got everythin'. Whaddaya want?" I asked if there was any craft beer. She said, "Draft beer? It's raht thar." I clarified, eventually asking for a microbrew. "Oh, no, we got none-a that stuff."

Jinja Out