Why does cheap beer taste better than expensive beer?

[NAC4EV]

You should brew your own beer actually, it's cheaper...

If you have the space, it's cheaper and better

It's also a ton of work, I think a lot of people try it thinking it'll be a fun hobby but give it up after realizing how much work it is. Plus if you have a bad batch suddenly you have a bunch of shitty beer laying around. Some styles are pretty easy to make though, I've made a good pale ale and mild that weren't much work and turned out really well. Tried making an imperial porter once and it was a lot more work and didn't turn out very well.

Nope! the yeast does all the work.

 

[VashHT]

I like heavily hopped beer. Sometimes... What irritates me, is that seems to be the default anymore. Even "regular" beers are hopped like an old school IPA. "Modern" IPAs are like hop extract. Which is fine. Sometimes... But craft beer is getting kind of one dimensional.

Yeah the hipsters around here in the Chicago area seem to go apeshit over breweries that make a bunch of different hoppy IPA's, places like Three Floyd's or Pipeworks have crazy followings and they do a lot of really hoppy IPA's which end up all tasting similar. I've noticed a lot of IPA's now though that are less hoppy and more kind of floral or citrusy depending on the hops used and I find those a lot more enjoyable to drink. Of course there are still quite a few breweries doing other styles as well so it's not too hard to avoid IPA's and drink other styles.

 

[VashHT]

If you have the space, it's cheaper and better



Nope! the yeast does all the work.

Haha I mean yeah it does all the fermentation, but getting it to that point is a good bit of work and if you're bottling it that's really time consuming as well.

 

[NAC4EV]

I associate Bud Light, Coors Light, Bush Lite, Molson Lite, Miller Lite, and all other Lites to = Less

 

[NAC4EV]

Haha I mean yeah it does all the fermentation, but getting it to that point is a good bit of work and if you're bottling it that's really time consuming as well.

At one time I had 55 gallons in bottles.

I was very popular with my buddies.
They gave the the nickname "Everybuddy's Buddy".

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Life's too short to drink bad beer.

 

[Carson Dyle]

The vast majority of beers in North America were lagers prior to the imported beer craze of the 70s and 80s and the micro and craft beer revolution that soon followed. Because most of the brewers who started breweries in the 1800s and early 1900s came from Germany. But early lagers weren't nearly as flavorless as those today. Even the beers that I recall from my childhood and teen years were more full flavored.

I really enjoyed Schlitz ("Classic 1960s formula") when it was re-introduced a few years ago, but it didn't have much success in the local market and was pulled. A couple of mainstream lagers that I still enjoy are Molson and Yuengling.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Recently had some 3 Floyds Gumballhead, its relativly cheap/midpriced, and so friggin good.

 

[VashHT]

The vast majority of beers in North America were lagers prior to the imported beer craze of the 70s and 80s and the micro and craft beer revolution that soon followed. Because most of the brewers who started breweries in the 1800s and early 1900s came from Germany. But early lagers weren't nearly as flavorless as those today. Even the beers that I recall from my childhood and teen years were more full flavored.

I really enjoyed Schlitz ("Classic 1960s formula") when it was re-introduced a few years ago, but it didn't have much success in the local market and was pulled. A couple of mainstream lagers that I still enjoy are Molson and Yuengling.

Yeah I think lagers have a bad reputation in the craft beer community from the American lagers that have dominated the market for a while. There's a brewery in Chicago that only does lagers and they have some really good ones. A little more flavor than the macro brewed ones but still really light and crisp, they're called Metropolitan.

Recently had some 3 Floyds Gumballhead, its relativly cheap/midpriced, and so friggin good.

For a while Gumballhead was really scarce and super overpriced, I'd see people going from store to store trying to buy cases of it and when I did see it it was like $16 a 6 pack. Their other really popular one Zombie Dust was $20 a six pack at the time too, a guy at my work would give me money to buy it for him since I was able to get it. I like their Robert the Bruce, it's a pretty solid scotch ale.

 

[vi edit]

Recently had some 3 Floyds Gumballhead, its relativly cheap/midpriced, and so friggin good.

As far as "hoppy beers" go Gumball is one of the more interesting ones. Let it sit on your tongue and there's some funky flavors going on there.

 

[BurnItDwn]

As far as "hoppy beers" go Gumball is one of the more interesting ones. Let it sit on your tongue and there's some funky flavors going on there.

I always thought of it as a more interesting version of like a Hefeweisen.

 

[BurnItDwn]

For a while Gumballhead was really scarce and super overpriced, I'd see people going from store to store trying to buy cases of it and when I did see it it was like $16 a 6 pack. Their other really popular one Zombie Dust was $20 a six pack at the time too, a guy at my work would give me money to buy it for him since I was able to get it. I like their Robert the Bruce, it's a pretty solid scotch ale.

Ehh, I know like a LONG time back it was more expensive because we could only find it in the bomber sized bottles, but, on tap its usually like the same price as most other regular microbrews. Its not truly "cheap", but, I dont recall having every paid too much more then like 10 bucks for a 6 pack in recent years. It's never been super pricey like most barrel aged brews.

Robert the bruce is a fine Scotch Ale indeed. To me expensive is like when my idiot friend bought a bottle of Tres Fontinen for 70 bucks while at Hopcat in Grand Rapids a number of years back. Or expensive is a bomber of Chimay for like 25 bucks.

 

[VashHT]

Yeah for the past few years the prices haven't been bad, I want to say this was like 6-7 years ago when I'd see them for around $20 a 6 pack.It might have just been that the stores by me at the time (down in Palatine) were gouging so that's why I could find it there. Wouldn't buy it myself for that price but some of the guys I work with are crazy about it so they'd give me money to buy it. I agree though whenever I see it on tap it's pretty cheap.

Robert the bruce is a fine Scotch Ale indeed. To me expensive is like when my idiot friend bought a bottle of Tres Fontinen for 70 bucks while at Hopcat in Grand Rapids a number of years back. Or expensive is a bomber of Chimay for like 25 bucks.

Wow $70 is a lot for one beer, can't say I've ever spent that much on one. Did you get to taste some of it at least? The most I've spent is around I want to say like $30 for some barrel aged stuff. I know back when Goose Island used to do bombers of BCS the variants were like $25-$30, and some other of the rarer barrel aged stuff is up there too.

 

[jtvang125]

Have a 750ml bottle of Gulden Draak in the fridge. I know what I'm drinking tonight.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Cheap alcohol is always better because you can have more of it.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Cheap alcohol is always better because you can have more of it.

Pounding your head with a brick is even cheaper and has the same effect. I drink beer for flavor.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Cheap beer tastes better because you drink the expensive stuff first and are drunk by the time you get to the cheap stuff.

 

[Exterous]

I like heavily hopped beer. Sometimes... What irritates me, is that seems to be the default anymore. Even "regular" beers are hopped like an old school IPA. "Modern" IPAs are like hop extract. Which is fine. Sometimes... But craft beer is getting kind of one dimensional.

Yeah the amount of IPAs gets a little excessive sometimes - like the sampler packs from breweries who make a range of products that only contains a lager, an IPA, a Lite-IPA and an 'Extra hopped' IPA.

Expensive but delicious.

Have a 750ml bottle of Gulden Draak in the fridge. I know what I'm drinking tonight.

Belgium beers are my favorite kind. We're going there in August and I plan to see if its possible to survive for a week on nothing but waffles, chocolate and beer.

 

[Zeze]

Cheap beer is not literally "watered down" so much as not "brewed up."

Think of it like you might think of coffee. First, the ingredients matter. GIGO: Garbage in, garbage out. And then, beer is brewed. Brewing is a process. Good beer uses premium hops and malt and grains and such, commodity beer doesn't. And, with commodity beer, shortcuts and outright BS are taken in the brewing process. Think of the egregiously disgusting ICE beers. Ugh.

Anyway, in order to save the corporation brewing it pennies on each . . . can . . . crap materials and a hurried, cheap-ass process are used.

The result? This BUD's for YOU!

I don't mind plain Budweiser... good with steaks.

But I cant stand bud light or Coors or any of that crap. I haven't tasted those more than once in my life since teens.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Pounding your head with a brick is even cheaper and has the same effect. I drink beer for flavor.

Good analogy.

I prefer full-bodied american lagers to the lite beers when it comes to drinking. They typically run in the 140-180 calorie range per beer, but it's hard to argue with beers under 100 calories that still taste decent. The problem is, I can't go back to a light beer after having had a full-bodied beer. Going to Miller Lite or Coors Light or Mich Ultra after drinking a Budweiser or Coors doesn't work. That's about the only way I can detect how watered down those beers are because watered down beer when you first drink it, still tastes like beer....

Now, for other styles...my favorite styles of beer are some Oktoberfests, Helles Lagers, and Vienna Lagers... Basically, I like the German-styled stuff best. Ales are ok...but once I started actually making Oktoberfest beer...I mean true Marzens that went 6-7 months, it was hard to drink anything else. Even microbrews have trouble making those beers because it takes too much space in cold storage....too costly to produce.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I don't mind plain Budweiser... good with steaks.

But I cant stand bud light or Coors or any of that crap. I haven't tasted those more than once in my life since teens.

Don't lump Coors in the can together with Coors Light. They're totally different things. Budweiser also makes a really good sacrificial beer when simmering bratwurst.

 

[Zeze]

Don't lump Coors in the can together with Coors Light. They're totally different things. Budweiser also makes a really good sacrificial beer when simmering bratwurst.

I think blatant lazy 'craft' IPAs deserve some flack too.

Everyone does IPAs now - well it was already exploding few years ago. IPA and hoppiness (overbearing hoppiness) allow you to hide the cheap ingredients/brewing.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Yeah for the past few years the prices haven't been bad, I want to say this was like 6-7 years ago when I'd see them for around $20 a 6 pack.It might have just been that the stores by me at the time (down in Palatine) were gouging so that's why I could find it there. Wouldn't buy it myself for that price but some of the guys I work with are crazy about it so they'd give me money to buy it. I agree though whenever I see it on tap it's pretty cheap.


Wow $70 is a lot for one beer, can't say I've ever spent that much on one. Did you get to taste some of it at least? The most I've spent is around I want to say like $30 for some barrel aged stuff. I know back when Goose Island used to do bombers of BCS the variants were like $25-$30, and some other of the rarer barrel aged stuff is up there too.

Yes, this friend was crazy, but he wasn't greedy Indeed he shared the bottle.
3 of us went for KBS day on a Thursday and then spent the weekend draining our bank accounts at various breweries and beer bars. This was a number of years back, before I married.

I'm in Wauconda but work in the Deerfield area. Usually I buy beer at Binny's in Buffalo Grove, Lake Zurich, or Mchenry, or at places like DiCarlos in Mundelein or Liquor Barn in Wheeling. These are all within a 20ish mile of Palatine as well. I guess I simply do not remember Gumballhead being that expensive, but prices certainly can fluctuate a lot.

 

[Muse]

Duh... "if you have to ask you'll never know."

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Why does cheap beer taste better than expensive beer?

Same reason people sit on cheap toilets vs a golden thrown. It is almost as good or better and it does the same job... Now if beer goggles came in different prescriptions....