583195 Sat Dec 27 19:17:22 -0800 2008 32 35 Beer 0 4276807 http://www.maxim.com/Maxims-Beer-Guide-The-Big-Boys/Maxim-Stuff/blogs/599/47190.aspx In their own words: "Beer nerds need not apply" I threw up a little in my mouth when I read the descriptions. Heineken: "Don’t let its uppity import rep spook you" Hahahahahaha! Michelob Ultra: "Rainwater light" um. um. uh. yeah. Miller Genuine Draft: "fond memories of high school parties" hurl gag hurl Blue Moon: "Hints of Bazooka gum" gag barf ralph Note that they say that Blue Moon is from Toronto. When did Coors start brewing beer in Toronto? Or is it an old urban legend that Coors was making it in Golden along with their regular stuff? Of course, this is the same Coors that makes a traditional Irish ale under license from a French brewery, so who knows? I think Maxim has gone out of their way to try to set beer-drinking back a good 40 years. Sad. Here's the whole list. No comments necessary. I just thought I would give all y'all an idea of how strong the forces of evil are, so that we're prepared to fight them. The Big Boys: Michelob Ultra Heineken Miller Light Michelob Miller Genuine Draft Bud Light (AL bottle) Amstel Light Stella Artois Harp Michelob Light Blue Moon Miller High Life Bud (AL bottle) The Crisp Crew: Peroni Carlsberg Tennant's Lowenbrau (original) props for that at least Beck's St. Pauli Girl Warsteiner Light Pilsner Urquell Kirin Ichiban Fischer Amber Modelo Especial Tiger Staropramen (possibly the only good call on their list) Duvel Fun Punch from Paradise: Gordon Biersch Blond Bock Sierra Nevada (pale ale) Carta Blanca (possibly Mexico's third worst beer) Anchor Steam Sol (possible Mexico's fourth worst beer) Brahma Pacifico Clara Primo Island Lager (Hawaii's answer to Bud) Presidente Red Stripe Corona Extra (unquestionably Mexico's worst beer) Blue Star The Redheads: St. Pauli Girl Special Dark (when did German darks become redheads?) Sam Adams Boston Lager (no comment - y'all know how I fee about this one) Brooklyn Lager (no doubt included quite by mistake) Newcastle (again, when did brunettes become redheads?) Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale (again with the color) Michelob Ultra Amber Light Bass Pale Ale Dos Equis Amber Yuengling Traditional Lager Michelob Pale Ale Great Lakes Eliot Ness Budweiser American Ale Best of the Bottom Shelf (these are the shirt-tail beers): Labatt Blue Rolling Rock (from Chicago? What happened to Latrobe PA?) Ballantine Ale St. Ides Malt Liquor Old Style Light Olde English 800 Colt 45 Dixie Kronenbourg 1664 (which in Europe is actually a fun drink) Schlitz (why is this, and not Bud and Mich, a bottom-shelf?) Lone Star (San Antonio? They moved out of Texas two decades ago) Bad Name, Good Beer: Leffe Blond Scrimshaw Tsing Tao Bohemia Harbin Smithwick's Asahi Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat Kingfisher McSorley's Ale Hoegaarden Chimay Rouge Saison Dupont And no, I don't subscribe. Chowspouse is a freelance magazine writer, and it's one of the ones that keeps showing up here despite our best efforts. Reminds me of the glory days of Playboy, where they would pick the worst and most commercial crap as their "recommendations" for what to consume for cars, stereos, scotch, whatever. What they were doing wasn't really recommending. What they were doing was mirroring back to their tasteless zombies what they thought they already knew. Yeah! Chivas is great scotch! Bose speakers sound great with tube amps! Shovel it on! Sat Dec 27 19:17:22 -0800 2008 13136 Loren3 1 4276917 Blue Moon has been brewed in Canada for a while now. Sat Dec 27 20:23:31 -0800 2008 4276807 10998 Jim Dorsch 2 4277269 <g> (Loved the deadpan, 1 sentence reaction to that post, JD). __________ "Lone Star (San Antonio? They moved out of Texas two decades ago)" Well, I suppose that depends on who "they" are. Lone Star, the brewing company, did indeed change ownership frequently during the final decades of the "beer wars" (Olympia > Heileman > Stroh IIRC) but the beer's always been brewed in Texas. After the actual Lone Star brewery was shut down by Stroh, they brewed the beer at a former Schlitz brewery in Texas. When the beer became a Pabst-owned brand, they brewed it for a short time at their Pearl brewery (sacrilege, I suppose). After they closed all their breweries and became a "virtual brewing company" Pabst moved both it's "Texas" beers to the Miller brewery in Ft. Worth. I mean, it's not much but for folks who like their "hometown" light lagers to come from home, it must mean something. "Rolling Rock (from Chicago? What happened to Latrobe PA?)" Er, maybe somebody else should break this news to you... _________ But, really, the beers covered, for the most part, make up 96+% of the US beer market- not very surprising that a "general, non-beer aficionado" magazine would put the emphasis on those well-distributed, easy to find brands in something called a "Beer Guide". Sun Dec 28 05:41:22 -0800 2008 4276917 11059 JessKidden 1 4276971 Don't be aggravated. If they recommended the good, but relatively unknown stuff then either the price would go up or the quality would go down or both. There are way too many people who read and follow the advice of magazines like Maxim.There's about a dozen brews that I know and enjoy on that list and they're all pretty popular already. It would be nice if they did a little research on beer styles though... Sat Dec 27 20:54:32 -0800 2008 4276807 12396 tastinglife 2 4277217 You've heard the term "The dumbing down of America"? Maxim is spearheading the movement. Sun Dec 28 04:10:28 -0800 2008 4276971 185685 Whisper 1 4281593 Maybe the writer was working on a deadline and wrote down the first 40 beers he ran across in the store (though I'm not sure I've seen Ballantine Beer since I was filching beers from my dad 30 years ago). Mon Dec 29 18:37:53 -0800 2008 4276807 227406 JohnE O 2 4282233 Ballantine Beer was around until the mid-1990's, at least- tho' it had been reduced to a discount brand. But it's Ballantine *ALE* on the list, which has always been brewed, tho' it's bounced around from brewery to brewery as the owner (S&P Corporation) closed breweries and bought other brands (including eventually the Pabst, Stroh and Heileman collections). In fact, it's currently brewed in your backyard, at the Trenton, OH Miller brewery (as well as their NC facility). Distribution, tho', appears to be limited to the Northeast. (It's also not the same beer as it once was.) Tue Dec 30 04:34:50 -0800 2008 4281593 11059 JessKidden 1 4282343 By the way, the tradtional Irish ale licensed from a French brewery is a lager these days, and I believe (Jess, correct me if I'm wrong) the situation is that both Coors and Pelforth in France have licenses from the Killian's folks in Ireland, who haven't brewed in decades. Tue Dec 30 05:53:58 -0800 2008 4276807 10998 Jim Dorsch 2 4282423 The way Coors officially phrased the deal when they first started marketing "Killian's Irish Red" , circa 1982 was: "Coors acquired the rights to brew and advertise George Killian's Irish Red ale from George Killian Lett (the last independent brewer in Ireland), and the Pelforth Brewery of Lille, France." So, somehow Pelforth (now a Heineken owned brewery, IIRC) does (or did?) get something out of it, too. Up until a few years ago, George Killian Lett (heir to the brewery that closed in the 1950's) would still do promotional appearance for Coors (maybe that was way back when their had the short-lived "Brown Ale"?) Notice that "ale" was not in the official name nor capitalized- I don't know, does that mean anything <g> but, yeah, seems to me they rather quickly reformulated it and it became a "lager" not too long after it's initial release. I kinda like these interesting bits of trivia that are created as the consolidation of the big international brewing companies continues- one gets all sort of strange situations like this one where MolsonCoors is paying Heineken a license to brew their beer. Or InBev making Guinness Extra Stout in Canada for Diageo. How many different companies have the rights to a brand like Carling Black Label these days? Rolling Rock (the brand) winds up back in the InBev portfolio a couple of years after they got rid of it. Altho' it appears that the beers are no longer being brewed under license for the US, for a brief time there one could say that Boston Beer Co. was brewing two beers owned by A-B-InBev. Hmmm...well, maybe it's not interesting to *everybody* but I don't follow sports, so it's something to amuse myself as I drink my Victory Hop Devil... Tue Dec 30 06:31:23 -0800 2008 4282343 11059 JessKidden 1 4283440 seriously, this is just a list of the most widely distributed beers in the US. I can't see how anybody would find this useful in any way--my supermarket has a far more interesting beer selection than this list. What is the point? Tue Dec 30 12:22:52 -0800 2008 4276807 16728 kenito799 2 4297977 I was thinking the EXACT same thing reading this list. Notes: 1. Yes, Blue Moon is brewed in Canada; I prefer Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat, personally, which I'm glad made the list. Actually, for Hefeweizen I reach for Franziskaner - NO FRUIT PLEASE! 2. Are Saison Dupont , Duvel, and Chimay Rouge a.k.a. Premiere - but not Grand Reserve a.k.a. Bleue - typos? 3. Guess what? Guiness is conspicuously absent... Mon Jan 05 12:06:24 -0800 2009 4283440 247242 BeerWeezil 3 4300776 quoting BeerWeezil "I prefer Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat, personally, which I'm glad made the list. " Ok, I'm thoroughly confused. BeerWeezil, if you, like kenito799 think that this is an uninteresting list of the most widely distributed beers in the us, are you glad that Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat made the list because that beer is uninteresting, or because this list has some merit. You can't have it both ways. "Guess what? Guiness is conspicuously absent..." and your point? This list is just worthless. What does it matter one way or another? Tue Jan 06 10:10:34 -0800 2009 4297977 60603 TroyTempest 4 4301190 Well, the inclusion of Chimay, Dupont, Duvel, and Brooklyn seems to say that "interesting" beers really DO get around. However, I actually find Rogue and Stone along with Pete's and Magic Hat in more places - stores as well as bars - than I find any of the four above but that's a separate issue. I agree with kenito799 that this group reads like the list of basic beers you get to choose from to stock your shelves when you first open a liquor mart or boozery. It's wide-reaching, generally appealing, and mundane overall. Yet, the market allows for niche tastes, i.e. the stuff we all seem to drink and are lamenting that aren't included herein, to poke through once in a while. That's how the market works. I like Leinenkugels otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it. I'm surprised because I personally don't find it very often, and I see it much, much, much less so than Blue Moon which is becoming ubiquitous even at old man dives that only have Pabst, Miller, and Bud on tap. Guinness is very widely distributed, well regarded, and drunk by amateur and snob alike. I stand by my statement that I'm surprised its not on this list, "uninteresting" or not, whatever that means. Now, if you want a really debateable list, check out the readers' list that was recently published in Beer Advocate Magazine which you can find a PDF of on Stone's website. Tue Jan 06 12:04:54 -0800 2009 4300776 247242 BeerWeezil 5 4358864 I enjoy Beer Advocate, but I think their lists can be nearly as worthless as Maxim's......the writers/founders, and Beer Advocate members, are so hung up on big, over-hopped, "extreme" beers that I have trouble using their recommendations/ratings as well. Mon Jan 26 11:04:16 -0800 2009 4301190 135447 boingo2000 6 4360471 I also visit Beer Advocate and have discovered a lot of good beers and beer establishments through them. However I completely agree with you that many of them are hung up on the huge overhopped and unbalanced extreme brews. Sometimes I feel a little out of place there really, but there are still a small number of folks on that site who have a pretty good grasp of things and make it worth going back there once in a while. But overall yeah you're absolutely right, it's mainly a bunch of young hopheads who haven't quite grasped the nuances of better beers. They seem to favor the in-your-face style of brews. There are a few other beer related sites around that are quite interesting. Some of them are in other languages but most are pretty easy to understand after a while, or use the Goggle translator tool which works pretty well. Mon Jan 26 18:54:34 -0800 2009 4358864 185685 Whisper 7 4360597 If you look at the top beer lists on beer advocate and ratebeer, you'll see an amazing number of imperial stouts, etc. clearly, the members of these sites tend to judge to personal taste, and not to style. I'm a big fan of huge beers myself, but I don't pretend they're the best in the world by virtue of their hugeness. Mon Jan 26 19:39:03 -0800 2009 4360471 10998 Jim Dorsch 8 4394486 For plenty of reasons, ratebeer is kinda not a good example of what good beer culture is all about. For instance right now, the 2008 number one brewery in the world is Struiss. A great brewery but certainly not the best in the world. Fri Feb 06 15:47:36 -0800 2009 4360597 261382 mrgrotto 6 4394546 Boingo2000: "I think their lists can be nearly as worthless as Maxim's......the writers/founders, and Beer Advocate members, are so hung up on big, over-hopped, "extreme" beers that I have trouble using their recommendations/ratings as well." Totally not true. They've been espousing the virtues of a good lager for eons. As well as plenty of other session beers. I'm a member and I'll yell and scream about how awesome Prima Pils is as much as I'll yell and scream about how awesome Southern Tier's big beers are is. Fri Feb 06 16:11:28 -0800 2009 4358864 261382 mrgrotto 7 4445300 Well, there may be yelling and screaming, but it's not enough to crack the lists there. The proof is in the pudding...and I don't say that I don't love some of these big beers, but it really does seem that for most BA members, the bigger and more "out there" the better. http://beeradvocate.com/top_beers.php Mon Feb 23 15:43:23 -0800 2009 4394546 135447 boingo2000 8 4448762 Not to beat a dead horse, but "out there" is a very different thing than "big, over-hopped, 'extreme' beers." Having just been to Extreme Beerfest, I can attest that there are plenty of "out there" beers that aren't "over-hopped," "big," or would be considered "extreme" if you were from, say, Lembeek. And agreed, BA members do like the "out there" stuff. We drink a lot of beer and like to be surprised. BA founders do as well but have rallied behind well brewed, "balanced" beers loudly and frequently to the chorus of a good number of their members. BA's reviews are exponentially more useful than Maxim's beer list. Perhaps a triple-IPA-drinking loud mouth BA member rubbed you the wrong way but that's no reason to condemning the whole site to the level of Maxim's hilarious effort. Tue Feb 24 14:44:58 -0800 2009 4445300 261382 mrgrotto 9 4448792 Boingo's original quote "I enjoy Beer Advocate, but I think their lists can be nearly as worthless as Maxim's." Mrgrotto, Is that what you call "condemning the whole site to the level of Maxim's hilarious effort."? Wow. sorry, I just couldn't resist pointing out the obvious Tue Feb 24 14:54:27 -0800 2009 4448762 60603 TroyTempest 10 4448879 Heh. Totally. Except I had some shaven-chest dude guy w/ a Maxim subscription spill his Redbull and vodka all over me. Tue Feb 24 15:22:49 -0800 2009 4448792 261382 mrgrotto 11 4450094 Yeah, I hate it when that happens. On a side note, to me reading Maxim is kind of like going to Hooter's. I mean, if that's what you want, just go to the topless bar (not saying you'll find me in either place), or in the case of Maxim, just buy the Playboy. Wed Feb 25 04:27:04 -0800 2009 4448879 60603 TroyTempest 3 4394518 Ugh. Sunset Wheat? I'll take my Fruity Pebbles with milk for breakfast... actually, no I won't. I don't like Fruity Pebbles. (And it's funny you said "NO FRUIT PLEASE!" because there's something fruity added to that beer. There's definitely some orange peel and according to BA (who used a quote that was at one point on Leinie's website) "a top note of blueberry added".) Fri Feb 06 16:00:04 -0800 2009 4297977 261382 mrgrotto 1 4303240 Did you see the comment from "branson" at the end of the article? "Hey dipshit the light in bud light doesn't stand for calories. It stands for the shade of the beer" Someone should educate him. Wed Jan 07 05:04:35 -0800 2009 4276807 90915 1stand3rd 1 4354564 Hey! Tiger is good stuff! Had it recently in a vietnamese place. Tasty!! Sat Jan 24 16:21:19 -0800 2009 4276807 46332 mwerkharder 2 4373970 In Singapore, it's served on the rocks alongside satay or chili crab. MMMMMM good. Fri Jan 30 14:42:28 -0800 2009 4354564 13136 Loren3 1 4362880 Uhhh... you were expecting something different from Maxim? Come on. Look at the target audience. How many pictures of scantily-clad women were there alongside the list, perhaps posed with a Michelob Ultra or whatever? And Anchor Steam is a good beer, too, so there. Tue Jan 27 13:04:06 -0800 2009 4276807 98500 Bat Guano 1 4378568 Dumbest list I've seen in along, long time Sun Feb 01 16:30:14 -0800 2009 4276807 28122 zin1953 1 4394478 Honestly? That's perfect! Let all the knuckle heads who shave their chests and devour the advice of a glossy magazine drink awful stuff. It's like when they were drinking Gröslch in About a Boy. Two ex-friends of mine started craving it after they saw that movie. Now we don't talk. Fri Feb 06 15:44:00 -0800 2009 4276807 261382 mrgrotto 1 4408300 whoa... don't mess with yuengling Wed Feb 11 14:25:55 -0800 2009 4276807 259971 cockscomb 1 4422900 Sure, I read it for the articles. Mon Feb 16 16:05:23 -0800 2009 4276807 22801 bkhuna 1 4425804 can you say, advertising revenue? how much money do you think these shills can squeeze out of Dogfishhead or Drakes or Hebrew or Russian River Brewery? this list is to suck up to advertisers rather than inform consumers. We know better, thank goodness, but the majority of beer drinkers in the u.s. are shamefully uninformed Tue Feb 17 13:15:13 -0800 2009 4276807 74192 chuckl