UqT - Beers of The United States

Burgers, Boobs, Bruce Springsteen, Baseball, and of course, Beer.

In America, beer is an integral part of the blue collar, working man's ethos. Beer is a way of life, a means of escape, a way to rekindle old friendships, a remedy for a long day's work, and most importantly, it brings people together. In America you're spoiled for choice. Though more than 2,500 breweries exist in the United States today, the industry was brought to its knees and nearly killed off forever with the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution on January 16th, 1919: The nationwide prohibition of alcohol. This pinnacle achievement for the US Temperance Movement meant that the US was legally dry for a period of over 14 years, until the amendment was repealed with the ratification of the 21st Amendment of the Constitution. Still, all was not settled as many states, towns, and US territories had their own laws enacted prohibiting the transportation, retail, or possession of alcohol. Most of these states were in the south and great plains regions. Today, state and local laws dictate the behavior of alcohol distribution, and others including New Hampshire, and Utah control the entire distribution completely. Laws can vary considerably by state, even in neighboring states like South Carolina, and its neighbor with the same namesake where beer is sold 24 hours in the former, and completely controlled by state distributors in the latter. But let's rewind for now.

Beer in the United States has a dramatic history that can be rooted to Native American tribes, which brewed a rudimentary version of beer out of corn (maize), tree sap (birch), and water. Adjuncts like rice and corn were introduced when colonialists brought european brewing styles to North America. Colonialists first started brewing beer in 1587. The first commercial brewery in the United States was established by the Dutch East India Company in New York City in 1632. Both traditions from the Netherlands (hence New Amsterdam) and England (hence New York) helped ensure that beer was the dominant alcoholic beverage of choice (aside from the fact that the then settled parts of the future country had less than ideal conditions to grow grapes for wine). Ales were the choice for English and Dutch settlers until German immigrants brought the lager in the mid-1800s. Lager quickly became the dominant style in America primarily because of its longer shelf life and its higher brewing margins for commercial brewers. Initially, brewers used European lager brewing processes, but as stated earlier, adjuncts were introduced (since America had a ton of corn until useless ethanol powered vehicles came along) as a cheaper alternative to barley.

This domination of lager created massive breweries which were the result of several layers of consolidation. Most of these, including Anheuser-Busch, Miller Brewing Company, and D. G. Yuengling began producing beer in mass-produced scales in the early to mid nineteenth century. Yuengling also happens to be America's oldest surviving brewery, and the largest American owned brewery. Many smaller breweries existed during this period, but they fell after the prohibition of alcohol became a harsh reality. It was a long and slow recovery for the beer industry after the amendment was repealed in 1933. It wasn't until the Carter Administration that things began to pick up. In 1978, then President Jimmy Carter made homebrewing legal. Though initially this didn't seem like much of a game changer, what happened after was massive. Interest in what is known today as craft beer took off, with now major players in the craft beer market like Sierra Nevada in Northern California rekindling passion for new, old, exotic, and traditional beer styles across the country.

Today, beer in the US represents a multi-billion dollar marketing industry, a cash cow for thousands of grocery and convenience stores, the most widely consumed alcoholic beverage in the home and at the bar, and a huge source of tax revenue for local municipalities, state budgets, and the federal government. US breweries produce nearly 210 million barrels of beer every year, a figure unsurpassed by any other country. And while the US is only 16th in the world by consumption per capita, it still consumes more beer than any other nation except China.

Pale lagers are still the dominant style, accounting for more than half of all beer sales. Craft beers are on the rise, increasing in total consumption by 8.5% on average each year. Blue Moon (a witbier) is a major example of a major American brewery's attempt at tapping into the expanding craft beer market. Corona Extra is the biggest import beer (with Heineken in second). Just remember, it's not always the beer with the biggest superbowl ad that tastes the best. Perhaps the reason why AB Inbev needs to promote Bud Light so much is because it takes more than just the quailty (or lack thereof) of the beer to convince people to spend money on it. Sadly enough, most bars will still only serve beer whose sales are driven by the entertainment value of their animatronic frogs, and the ambitiously attractive portrayals of the American public, but if you come across a venue that serves great beer on tap, please indulge. America has much more to offer than bottled fermented urine.

Cheers.