Newcastle Brown Ale

[-Asdfgh-]

American beers have a reputation as pee-water and it's well deserved. Our mass produced beers have their own official style category called "American Light Lager". The reason for this is of historical significance.

From our colonial period forward, America had a rich tradition of quality beers that were brewed locally by skilled craftsmen everywhere and there was a huge variety as the brewers were all immigrants or children of immigrants from various parts of Europe.

In the 1920's Prohibition ended that tradition abruotly. The beer and wine industry shut down overnight and the only alcohol available was black market booze of dubious quality.

Prohibition ended and the legal beer trade had to start from scratch. The market was quickly filed by several companies that opened giant beer factories which all made beer as simply and cheaply as possible. They developed a beer with with minimal body, taste, and alcohol content and substituted corn for as much as half of the barley.

Then, WWII started and many men went overseas, leaving an abundance of women as beer consumers. The big beer factories aggressively marketed their products as being delicate and easily drinkable which resulted in beers that were even lighter in body, taste, and alcohol.

Unfortunately, things didn't change after the war ended and government regulations made it extremely difficult for small breweries to compete with the megabrews with higher quality (and more expensive) products.

By the 1970s, Americans were so used to their "Light Lagers" that they had no idea what they were missing.

Then, in 1979, homevrewing was finally legalized and millions of Americans began making their own beer. This sparked a renewed interest in a variety of European styles and allowed craft breweries and microbreweries to enter the market.

Today, American beer from these smaller breweries is as good as can be found anywhere in the world, although most Americans still drink the pee-water that we are infamous for.

So you're saying mass-market US beer is literally for girls? The traditional beer of women in the UK in the 1940s was stout

 

[hbarcat]

So you're saying mass-market US beer is literally for girls? The traditional beer of women in the UK in the 1940s was stout

I don't know why, but when Prohibition ended, the big beer factories that opened up were almost entirely making weak copies of German lagers.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I don't know why, but when Prohibition ended, the big beer factories that opened up were almost entirely making weak copies of German lagers.

I think technically those beers were still compliant with prohibition

 

[fretter]

I don't know why, but when Prohibition ended, the big beer factories that opened up were almost entirely making weak copies of German lagers.

Didn't those brews originate from WWII rationing recipes?

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I've been a homebrewer and a fan of craft beers since '85 and I've experienced many beers having their flavor change and evolve.

Every brewery from the smallest to largest has a "house flavor" thst is a result of the common internal environment, equipment, processes and individual brewers, themselves. For example, I can always recognize a Sam Adams beer, no matter what style, because it has a unique Sam Adams character. It doesn't matter if it's their cream stout or Boston lager or Octoberfest, they all taste like a Sammy's.

I would suppose that when Newcastle moved its facilities, their beer developed a new "house flavor".

This.

Yuengling is a good example of a beer that is brewed in two different places. The batches from Pottsville are good for a relatively inexpensive beer. The ones from Florida (can't remember which city) are nasty tasting.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Didn't those brews originate from WWII rationing recipes?

The British were probably making beer from potatoes, old teabags and cabbage. That's pretty much how Fanta originated, as an ersatz cola. It's also the recipe for Christmas pudding

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I had a bottle of Heineken for the first time in a couple years the other night. I thought it was good for a refreshing and easy to drink dinner beer.

Personally, I've grown tired of today's overalls hoppy west coast style IPAs. Lagers and sours are what tickle my fancy in the now rare occasion that I have a drink.

 

[fretter]

Beck's is another one that's now brewed in St. Louis. What's bizarre is that St. Pauli Girl, which is purely an export brand, is still brewed by Beck's in Germany.

In the 80s, there were two version of Löwenbräu in the U.S., one brewed by Miller in Milwaukee (?) and one imported from Munich.

 

[GBBSbassist]

I grabbed some Newcastle just last week and I felt it wasn't quite the same, but I just assumed since I hadn't had it in a few years, I was just used to different tasting beers.

 

[MJ5150]

This.

Yuengling is a good example of a beer that is brewed in two different places. The batches from Pottsville are good for a relatively inexpensive beer. The ones from Florida (can't remember which city) are nasty tasting.

Totally on the Yuengling. Florida Yuengling is bad, real bad.
We did a side by side taste test a few years ago, and everyone in the room could tell. It was 6-7 of us total.

Up this way, Red Hook was my favorite beer. A local favorite that to me was really good. The ESB is always what I had.
The Double Black Stout was seasonal and included shots of Starbucks espresso. That there was a really good beer too. Both companies are too big for their own good anymore, so you can no longer get the Double Black Stout.
They got bought out years ago by one of the big breweries, opened a facility in New Hampshire, and now the beer is almost everywhere in the USA.
It's not the same anymore.

-Mike

 

[toowrongfoo]

Wait, I live near "Newcastle Ca, , what gives here? I thought it was local, man, I'm outta reality or what?