OH FUCK MUTHERFUCKER NOW YOU'RE WINDING ME UP Because beer fucking sucks right now. You know it, you just don't want to admit it - beer is straight-up bullshit at the moment. Yeah, sure there's a million tiny shitty little breweries out there but they're all being bought up one by one by AB InBev or SAB Miller and they all make fucking IPA. You know what IPA is? It's the beer you make when you don't have the room to make beer - IPA requires no refrigeration to make. It's that shit you made in your dorm room when the RA wasn't watching. It's that swill that tastes the same whether it's turned or not because they sell it to you pre-turned. It's that shit you drink because hefeweizens are too heavy - you know, the beer that they've convinced you to put an orange slice in it so it doesn't taste quite so much like pruno. Fortunately for the beer companies, your tiny shitty little IPA from bumblesquatch colorado can be sold for fuckin' $2.50 a bottle because it says you need a lumberbeard to drink it or some shit, as opposed to $1.25 a bottle for pilsners that you're shipping from Canada or Copenhagen (or brewing down the street, but as we all know your dad's macrobrews have been fucking terrible for decades, that's why we started down this road). Unfortunately for the beer companies, nobody wants to spend fucking $9 for a sixer of Fat Tire anymore and the alternative you're offering them is fucking Michelob Ultra Organic or some shit which tastes about the same as Zima without the sugar, assuming you remember what Zima is. Fortunately nobody remembers Zima or Bartles & Jaymes so let's try selling them "summer shandy" or "radler" because a wine cooler by any other name would taste as cloyingly sweet. LOOK AT THIS PICTURE. LOOK AT IT. Bud. Light. Lime. STRAW ber RITA. "Try it over ice!" What. The Actual. Fuck. This is AB InBev throwing their hands in the goddamn air and saying "we never knew why they liked our swill in the first place, mix a Kool-Aid packet in there and see if they buy it." Meanwhile the beer that everyone drank forever is fucking gone, yo. When was the last time you saw an Anchor Steam? I mean, I live 150 miles from the brewery and I have a hard time finding Weinhard's. I used to drink Kirin Light. Now I can't even find Kirin. I used to drink Amstel Light. I haven't seen it at the market in three years. I'm drinking Sam Adams Light - and that'll work - but it is literally the only drinkable light beer left at my supermarket. They generally have three cases of Sam Adams, two cases of Sam Adams Light, five cases of Heineken, two cases of Heineken light, and an entire aisle of various and sundry IPAs. And those fucking "summer shandys." You know what I drink down here in LA? They've got me drinking Russian beer, yo. I live in goddamn America, home of the macrowbrew and because the industry is pushing trasherita premix I'm drinkin' shit that's been shipped from SAINT FUCKING PETERSBERG. Let's drive a stake through the heart of the whole goddamn industry. I'm so completely fucking over the direction it's taken. Kill this bitch so we can bury it and move the fuck on.
Lol, I was joking about millenial hater articles rather than the beer industry. Guess I hit a nerve. I still drink a shitload of beer, and I'll run the gamut of ales and lagers, but I'm right there with you vis IPA. There are some good English bitters, but it doesn't translate well across the atlantic. Microbrews have been stepping up their lager game recently, which is positive, but some are doing "hopped lagers" which is a negative. Mostly I still drink macrobrews though--lots of Labatt, which is piss, but my kind of piss; a little Urquell here and there if I'm feeling fancy; and actually Bell's has a new lager that is titties (Bell's is a large size "microbrew" out here--don't know if they're findable on the west coast but they have a pretty big regional to national distribution). Anyway, I'll drink shitty beer any day of the week (especially if it's on special) over a $14 ethanol water (aka vodka) with a burnt strip of citrus rind and elderflower essence. Fuck that shit all day.
I saw an Anchor Steam last night! For, like $1.50 a bottle!
I spent my night drinking Vienna Lagers and Doppelbocks. It was awesome.
I spent my night drinking Vienna Lagers and Doppelbocks. It was awesome.