FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[MUC57]

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY 

And to you and all my friends on this board - the very best to ya!  🍺

The other 57

[57Johnnie]

DUFFMAN
I'm sure you know that tomorrow is:
National Go Fishing Day 

[Mr.MIAC]

I just read that Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors control over 70% of the US beer market, with the majority of sales being light lagers. I was sort of surprised since all you hear about nowadays is how micro-brews are growing in popularity. I can't remember the last time anyone in our group ordered/brought over Busch Light, Miller Light, or Coors Light. We aren't exactly beer snobs either. What sort of consumers are still buying all these big-brewery lagers?

[gbpuckfan]

But MillerCoors owns brands such as Leinenkugel's and Blue Moon. InBev owns Rolling Rock, Goose Island, and several other craft brands

So even if some aren't drinking Miller or Bud, could still be customers of the big guys...

[MUC57]

I just read that Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors control over 70% of the US beer market, with the majority of sales being light lagers. I was sort of surprised since all you hear about nowadays is how micro-brews are growing in popularity. I can't remember the last time anyone in our group ordered/brought over Busch Light, Miller Light, or Coors Light. We aren't exactly beer snobs either. What sort of consumers are still buying all these big-brewery lagers?

Rev

I guess I'm not very sophisticated . Switched from Milwaukee's Best (I know, but it's cheap) to Busch Light. Now, drink mostly Bud Light. Will have an occasional Coors Light. Hey, you Minnesota guys know your beers. But we had a river that caught fire some years back! Match that.  🍺

[Mr.MIAC]

But MillerCoors owns brands such as Leinenkugel's and Blue Moon. InBev owns Rolling Rock, Goose Island, and several other craft brands

So even if some aren't drinking Miller or Bud, could still customers of the big guys...

Yeah, that's another interesting part--the big brewers buying up the little guys and/or presenting their products as true micro-brews. The 70% figure includes that stuff too.

My local pubs will have one or two of the more common offerings, and the rest of the tap beers will be true micro-brews or imports. I get the sense that if they didn't offer the more unique options, they'd be out of business. My three local grocery stores--Whole Foods, Safeway, and Giant--have just as much shelf space dedicated to micro-brews as the big brewery stuff. I just don't see people gravitating toward the big-brewery stuff (outside sports venues), but that must not be the case given the numbers.

[Mr.MIAC]

I just read that Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors control over 70% of the US beer market, with the majority of sales being light lagers. I was sort of surprised since all you hear about nowadays is how micro-brews are growing in popularity. I can't remember the last time anyone in our group ordered/brought over Busch Light, Miller Light, or Coors Light. We aren't exactly beer snobs either. What sort of consumers are still buying all these big-brewery lagers?

Rev

I guess I'm not very sophisticated . Switched from Milwaukee's Best (I know, but it's cheap) to Busch Light. Now, drink mostly Bud Light. Will have an occasional Coors Light. Hey, you Minnesota guys know your beers. But we had a river that caught fire some years back! Match that.  🍺

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't turn one of those down if you offered. I'm not sure it's a matter of sophistication.

[MUC57]

Rev

Thanks, I needed that. I took no offense. Know what you're saying. I'd have any beer with you anytime. We can talk about whose team is better. But with a few beers, who cares? 🍺 🍺 🍺 ..........

[Gregory Sager]

I just read that Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors control over 70% of the US beer market, with the majority of sales being light lagers. I was sort of surprised since all you hear about nowadays is how micro-brews are growing in popularity. I can't remember the last time anyone in our group ordered/brought over Busch Light, Miller Light, or Coors Light. We aren't exactly beer snobs either. What sort of consumers are still buying all these big-brewery lagers?

It's actually easy to understand why the big-brewery pale lagers have dominated the U.S. market since Prohibition. Even though beer has been around for 13,000 years and was one of the founding staples of civilization, most people don't naturally have a taste for it. It's an acquired taste for most, even for a lot of connoisseurs. That's because, of the five basic tastes, the human tongue is most sensitive to bitterness and thus ordinarily has the least amount of tolerance for strongly bitter compounds. That's an evolutionary development; most poisonous compounds -- including alcohol, which is a poison (note the "toxic" in "intoxicated") -- have a bitter taste, so the hypersensitivity to bitterness in our tastebuds is a protective adaptation that has evolved in humans. And, whereas wine dilutes the bitterness of alcohol through the sweetness of grape fructose, beer actually intensifies it through the added bitterness of hops.

Because most beer drinkers don't have a natural predilection to enjoy the taste of beer, and they don't see the need to school themselves in how to discern tastes within beer varieties, they basically use beer strictly as a cheap vehicle for delivering alcohol into their bloodstream as quickly as possible. After all, people don't typically chug or swig drinks whose tastes they enjoy.

Thus, the distinction between a beer snob and a Bud or Miller or Coors Light drinker is basically that of two utterly different purposes behind consuming the beverage. That's not to say that those who enjoy the taste of a Belgian lambic or an oatmeal stout or a good Czech pils or British brown ale as a rule don't enjoy getting buzzed. But they don't regard what's happening with their tastebuds as something best avoided by quick and copious swallowing, or at best to be an afterthought.

I've had Bud or Miller drinkers tell me how much they like the taste of their preferred brands. But I'm pretty sure that, given the relative blandness of mass-produced American pale lagers, that's a conditioned response: Taste the beer, anticipate the buzz. The low price tag of the big-brewery pale lagers, which use cheap six-row American barley and lots of grain additive (such as rice and corn), the universal access to said big-brewery lagers through the magic of refrigerated delivery as well as the proliferation of multiple breweries making the same product across the U.S., along with the canny use of advertising dollars, thus explain their popularity.

I think that a lot of this is a fairly familiar set of facts to most of us. But it's usually stated in a way that makes Bud or Miller drinkers sound like low-IQ knuckle-draggers. It doesn't have to be that way if you realize that it's simply a matter of what people require out of the product that they're consuming.

[Mr.MIAC]

I just read that Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors control over 70% of the US beer market, with the majority of sales being light lagers. I was sort of surprised since all you hear about nowadays is how micro-brews are growing in popularity. I can't remember the last time anyone in our group ordered/brought over Busch Light, Miller Light, or Coors Light. We aren't exactly beer snobs either. What sort of consumers are still buying all these big-brewery lagers?

It's actually easy to understand why the big-brewery pale lagers have dominated the U.S. market since Prohibition. Even though beer has been around for 13,000 years and was one of the founding staples of civilization, most people don't naturally have a taste for it. It's an acquired taste for most, even for a lot of connoisseurs. That's because, of the five basic tastes, the human tongue is most sensitive to bitterness and thus ordinarily has the least amount of tolerance for strongly bitter compounds. That's an evolutionary development; most poisonous compounds -- including alcohol, which is a poison (note the "toxic" in "intoxicated") -- have a bitter taste, so the hypersensitivity to bitterness in our tastebuds is a protective adaptation that has evolved in humans. And, whereas wine dilutes the bitterness of alcohol through the sweetness of grape fructose, beer actually intensifies it through the added bitterness of hops.

Because most beer drinkers don't have a natural predilection to enjoy the taste of beer, and they don't see the need to school themselves in how to discern tastes within beer varieties, they basically use beer strictly as a cheap vehicle for delivering alcohol into their bloodstream as quickly as possible. After all, people don't typically chug or swig drinks whose tastes they enjoy.

Thus, the distinction between a beer snob and a Bud or Miller or Coors Light drinker is basically that of two utterly different purposes behind consuming the beverage. That's not to say that those who enjoy the taste of a Belgian lambic or an oatmeal stout or a good Czech pils or British brown ale as a rule don't enjoy getting buzzed. But they don't regard what's happening with their tastebuds as something best avoided by quick and copious swallowing, or at best to be an afterthought.

I've had Bud or Miller drinkers tell me how much they like the taste of their preferred brands. But I'm pretty sure that, given the relative blandness of mass-produced American pale lagers, that's a conditioned response: Taste the beer, anticipate the buzz. The low price tag of the big-brewery pale lagers, which use cheap six-row American barley and lots of grain additive (such as rice and corn), the universal access to said big-brewery lagers through the magic of refrigerated delivery as well as the proliferation of multiple breweries making the same product across the U.S., along with the canny use of advertising dollars, thus explain their popularity.

I think that a lot of this is a fairly familiar set of facts to most of us. But it's usually stated in a way that makes Bud or Miller drinkers sound like low-IQ knuckle-draggers. It doesn't have to be that way if you realize that it's simply a matter of what people require out of the product that they're consuming.

Great post. +K.

Your points on bitterness are interesting. If humans are disposed against bitterness, then why are bland beers so reviled in some other parts of the world? The Brits love their cask ales. The Belgians are all about a good tripel. Most people I've met in these countries say US light lagers are disgusting. I wouldn't say these people are all aficionados either. Most just want to get a little tipsy over a few pints after work.

I get that some people in the US and elsewhere use beer as a cheap vehicle for delivering alcohol. I wonder why these folks don't just buy some grain alcohol, add a little tap water, and call it a day.

[Gregory Sager]

Your points on bitterness are interesting. If humans are disposed against bitterness, then why are bland beers so reviled in some other parts of the world? The Brits love their cask ales. The Belgians are all about a good tripel. Most people I've met in these countries say US light lagers are disgusting. I wouldn't say these people are all aficionados either. Most just want to get a little tipsy over a few pints after work.

It's not the bitterness, it's the blandness. IPAs, for example, which are heavily hopped beers, are highly bitter -- but they don't tend to be bland. They simply take some getting used to, as the sharp bitterness of IPAs requires a palate to gain some tolerance before one can really begin to sort out the flavors.

The blandness of big-brewery American pale lagers is more a matter of inferior ingredients, watery content (hence, the ol' "making love in a canoe" joke about American beer), additives that are designed for non-taste reasons such as a sturdy foam head, longer shelf life, or color, and recipes that are designed for expedience and uniformity rather than for flavor.

I get that some people in the US and elsewhere use beer as a cheap vehicle for delivering alcohol. I wonder why these folks don't just buy some grain alcohol, add a little tap water, and call it a day.

I've often wondered that myself. But I'm sure glad that, for the vast majority of Americans who seek intoxication, beer is their preferred means to get drunk. Countries whose drinking traditions center upon spirits rather than beer or wine -- I'm looking at you, Russia -- tend to have catastrophic, societally-destructive problems with alcoholism and all of its various and sundry effects such as domestic violence, absenteeism, self-imposed poverty, fetal alcohol syndrome, mob behavior, high suicide rates, workplace accidents, declining life span, etc.

[sjusection105]

I just read that Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors control over 70% of the US beer market, with the majority of sales being light lagers. I was sort of surprised since all you hear about nowadays is how micro-brews are growing in popularity. I can't remember the last time anyone in our group ordered/brought over Busch Light, Miller Light, or Coors Light. We aren't exactly beer snobs either. What sort of consumers are still buying all these big-brewery lagers?

I typically buy IPAs from various micro-brews for myself because no one else in the house will drink them. I always have major brewery offerings in the beer fridge for family & friends.

[OzJohnnie]

Science makes it true.  The miracle fluid.

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/10/scientists-suggest-beer-after-workout/

Researchers at Granada University in Spain have found that beer can help the body rehydrate better after a workout than water or Gatorade.

And the miracles continue.

https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/a19538721/new-uses-for-beer/

Is there any more functional liquid on the planet?  WD40, perhaps, but there's little competition beyond that.

[MUC57]

Interesting discussion of beer. But take your single malt Scotch whisky...................!   

[BDB]

What sort of consumers are still buying all these big-brewery lagers?

As someone who has his name on 5 Class A and multiple Class B liquor licenses in the beer capital state of Wisconsin, let me clarify.

People who drink a lot of beer, like college students, care about price. There's a reason all these college guys are hauling around 30 packs of Busch Light and it isn't for the taste. It's cheap. Price sells. Back in my college days it was Olympia Beer. Yuck!