Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for December 21, 2011

Riiight….

Many of my friends are beer snobs. In the past I would always try their fancy beers. Now I proudly order the cheapest domestic beer available. It taste better to me.

What’s with the chef’s hat and apron?

He’s barbecuing.I drank enough of that American weasel-whizz to float a ship. Now I only drink micro-brews. Thank heavens.

Many Americans only drink beer to get buzzed or drunk. They don’t care what it tastes like as long as it cheap.

walruscarver2000 said,

@Sisyphos

Saw it. It was just OK. Now next Wednesday’s…that’s funny.

Plus, once they’d had enough of it, nomad scavenging got much harder to do. Finding your knees can be pretty hard after enough.

Once I overheard a comment in a University-town bar: “I really like those good German beers like Heinekens.” Heinekens is, of course, Dutch.

In Canada we like to refer to American beer as pony piss.

Hugh, I’ve never tried Canadian beer (yet). Most American beers are made more for quantity than quality though. There are some good American beers, but the big players in the game (the now Belgian owned company, one owned by a UK company, Colorado Kool-Ade) are not our best products. Actually, I’ve referred to them as goat piss.

I was in Brussels, Belgium a few years ago and was dragged to a tavern called “Mort Subite” which offered a beer of the same name. The term means “sudden death” and since it tasted like vinegar, the name was most appropriate.

And that pony pee you call beer in canada is better…feh.

Cock and Bull makes a great ginger beer and it’s American.

And here all I was going to point out is that it must be a Bud.

“In Canada we like to refer to American beer as pony piss.”

In the U.S. we rarely, if ever, refer to Canada.

@c001: “Root beer” is also known as “sarsaparilla” try looking for that instead

Rat is wearing a chef’s hat and an apron to represent BARBECUE.

The best beer in the world is that fine British product, “Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout”.

My German mother in law drank only Heinekens………and Milwaukee’s Best. Said they were the two best beers in the world, and she drank plenty of a lot of different beers.

I’ll admit to being a beer snob, but I prefer an American microbrew made right up in Oregon… Rogue’s Morimoto Soba Ale (and it’s sister, Morimoto Black Obi Soba) to anything else, foreign or domestic. I’ll agree with the great people of Canadia, however, with regards to alcohol content…if you drink to get drunk, you can’t beat a foreign beer. If you drink for the taste and sheer enjoyment of a beer though, you can’t beat an American microbrew. Oh, and Budweiser is horse piss, but Nattie Light is liquefied horse sh*t… -MF www.actuallydaddy.com

‘Joke about English beer: “Drink your beer before it gets cold”.’

++++

Of course, American lagers have to be served cold, or the lack of flavor would be too noticable.

But some microbrews do have better flavor.

God Forbid if ANY American is proud of ANYTHING American-made…. (I know they’re aren’t many American-made things anymore.)

Pabst Blue Ribbon is owner by an American citizen.

To the dickens with “And hows your bush”

Used to live in Germany and I do prefer German beers. Unfortunately, what’s imported into the US is not nearly as good. My favorite was Einbecker made in (you guessed it), Einbeck. Real root beer is quite good, but it’s nearly impossible to find here nowadays. Most of what passes for root beer is actually soda.

Pastis has option 2, Rat option 3. Option 1 is the microbrewed American beer that doesn’t advertise. Real, local, delicious. I do not approve the message.

Other people have said it, but I have to reiterate for those that don’t like American beer. There are literally hundreds of micro breweries across the US. And many of them are very very good. We can be proud of those people that craft their beer with care and love.

Beer in America is traditionally served cold to numb the taste buds. If you realized how bad most beers tasted, you wouldn’t drink them. A properly served beer, that tastes good, is served just below room temp. So the joke about ‘English beers getting cold’ is kinda stupid. They’re warm by comparison, but cool. I’ve had a few pints in English pubs and enjoyed them. There are places that serve their beer cold, though.

On the root beer vein … I like ginger beer even more. And the other day I discovered an alcoholic ginger beer out of Quebec. Yum.

I think nearly any country has good micro-brews these days. There are some great ones in both the U.S. and Canada. The problem is that many of the real micro-brews don’t get distributed much outside of their local area.

BTW I’m Canadian. But my favourite U.S. beer right now is the Maui Brewing Company’s Coconut Porter. Unfortunately, it seems impossible to get outside of Hawaii.

Enough, y’all! Just pop an ice cold Corona and shut up! Don’t forget the lime.

Rat is now a Bitweiser.

“Back in ancient Mesopotamia, brewing enabled farmers to preserve the nutritive value of their grains past the normal rotting point . . .”Not only that, but maybe even more importantly, the alcohol in beer killed water-born infectious diseases and parasites. Drinking the water in ‘civilized centers’ in Mesopotamia and Egypt in 3000 BC was a virtual death sentence.

There are some fine American micro brews, and some fine beers from Britain and Belgium, but for consistent widespread excellence it’s Germany by a landslide.

I don’t know if it’s still the same, but when I was in Germany in the 60s, beer was available by home delivery, just like milk used to be. The beerman would come and pick up your empties and replace them with full bottles of German goodness. A benchmark of modern civilization, in my opinion.

As a non-drinker all I can say is…BFD. No nyucks here stevie!

I’m with you on the beer but not on the wine. German reds are, well, at best, not half bad.

By “American Beer” I assume y’all are referring to mass produced stuff. The local brewers here tend to produce some good beers (and I’ve consumed them from Europe to India to Australia). Everything thing from a good Coffee Porter to Polygamy Porter to a Messiah Nut Brown Ale.

Can’t drink American beer. Once in a while, at a friend’s, but why buy? Nothing there.

Not all American beer is bad, just avoid the big chain factories, like always. Sam Adams is a great beer and widely available, along with many limited distributed area beers. Just shop a bit.

My fave rave? My own home-brewed Bavarian Bock. #2? An ice cold Dos XX. Bud? It’s piss water. Same with Molson. I heard Stella Artois is replacing the Clydesdale with a Citroen being pulled by poodles (We spit on you Americans! Poo!)

FYI, Anhauser Busch is now European owned, which is probably what the strips is referring to. But you wouldn’t know that from all their flag-waving ads. When most people refer to “American beer” they’re probably talking about that company’s Busch or Budweiser or Michelob, all of which are made with a bunch of rice instead of more expensive barley, which is one reason they taste bad now.

ok

Did you, Rat?

LOL xxx

The people who have flags waving from their car/truck doors and bumper stickers that say “America Bless God” are the very people the FBI should be investigating; nobody puts up that big a front unless they’re hiding something.

Now, really…not all American beer is swill. Samuel Adams puts out some good brews.

The thing about beer is that it tastes the same going in as it does (I assume, no actual test here) going out. It’s okay for kids trying to act like grownups. Me? I’ll take my coffee – Cuban coffee – strong. Strong enough to put hair on your chest, so ladies, be advised. Save the beer for fried-fish batter, or for the plants outside.

Long Live Stout Ales…!!! Cheers!!!

Pabst is still American owned & red, white & blue labeled. It’s usually been one of the cheapest, & not bad for the price.Coors in now Canadian owned.

Apparently y’all haven’t gone beyond Miller, Coors and Bud to say American beer is bad. Try Summit, Tallgrass, Schell’s, Goose Island, and so on. I can’t stand Coors Light either, but rather than complaining, I search out the good stuff. BTW, a lot of European beers aren’t that hot either, and quite a bit of Canadian beer has a skunky quality, eh.

Yuengling is still America’s oldest and American-ownedest brewery, and it ain’t bad for a beer you can see through.

Good beer is good and bad beer is bad, regardless of where they come from. Let your taste buds tell you – nothing else.

True, Germany doesn’t have root beer, but WE don’t have Spezi – oh, how I miss that soft drink! And, I miss the beer delivery truck, nordic skiing, volksmarches, dirndls, Christkindles Markt…

Commercial American beer sucks while micro-brews like Anchor Steam bring the flavor.

There’s a cure for that!-

http://www.yuengling.com/

You tell him, Steph!

You want real American beer? Go to your local brewery or try a Sam Adams, always a good decision.

it’s in the USA that’s what makes it great

wow rat wow

Fortunately, I live less than 75 miles from Pottsville, PA, and I’m enjoying a Yuengling Lager while I’m typing this. An amazingly good beer at an amazingly good price (66¢/bottle if one shops it a bit…)!

I never much cared for “Buttwiper”. Give me an Abita ;)

Recommended American brews.

Samuel Adams:

Pale AleScotch AleBoston AleI.P.A.

Flying Dog:I.P.A.Pale Ale

There are more.

It’s fun how when some people don’t like what you like….they need “educating”… yes I am American…my favorite beers are Dos Equise, Blue Moon, and Kilians Red…snobery of any kind breeds disdain…stop it…I bet Hitler used to talk crap about what the Jews liked to drink ;)

Yuengling is just another crap rice beer that is slightly better than Bud/Miller/Coors.

What does it say about PBS’s readership that there is such an extensive discussion about beer and beers? (Including me—mass-produced American beer is like drinking bad-tasting water, but there are now a lot of good micro-brews). I loved living in Germany and their variety of beers. Japan’s mass-produced beer is still way better than the major American brands.

What a great bunch of comments! There are some good US beers – like there are good German and UK beers… there are also some major duff ones across the globe too! For a US challenge – try the OTHER Budweiser (clue: it’s European). That said – I loved the fact that at Busch gardens I could have beer and ride rollercoasters… something unheard of in the UK when I travelled; so I tip my hat to you chaps on that one!

Canadian beer FTW! (not all of it, but there are lots of great ones). American beer, especially when you’re actually buying it in the States, is watered down crapola.

German beer has been brewed in accordance with the purity law for more than 500 years. The purity law requires that ‘nothing other than barley, hops and water be used’ to produce beer. … The importance of yeast was not known at the time and was added later.