International Beer Brands?

AmazonQueen said:
Traditional English beer is ale which is a murky brown colour and served warm. Horrible stuff.
Strongbow is to cider as Bud is to lager.
Click to expand...

Yeah we have a 4% ale here that was our local. Options were a lot more limited 25 years ago.

I don't mind APAs and IPAs, two last night were 5.8% IPAs.
 
Socrates99 said:
Yep, and he sees founders as his main competitor. Top two breweries in MI and all.

On topic, Bells Two Hearted is literally one of the best West Coast IPAs available. I don't know if Bells is international but if you can find it fresh and tolerate hoppy beers grab it. I'm not sure they're as widely distributed as founders. They just stay on top by having 2 hearted on tap at every other bar in the region.
Click to expand...

Oh I misread you, I thought you meant Bell was petitioning on behalf of founders. I guess losing the micro brew tag is a disadvantage. I think it has something to do with your licensing to serve food at your brewery in Michigan.

Yes we are very spoiled with microbrews here in Michigan. Bells and founders are two of the oldest and two of the best. But we also have Griffin Claw, Shorts and New Holland just a couple others you maybe heard of, plus tons of very small local ones. I have two microbreweries within 5 miles of my house that are both pretty decent though they lean heavily on the ale and stout side.
 
Socrates99 said:
Yep, and he sees founders as his main competitor. Top two breweries in MI and all.

On topic, Bells Two Hearted is literally one of the best West Coast IPAs available. I don't know if Bells is international but if you can find it fresh and tolerate hoppy beers grab it. I'm not sure they're as widely distributed as founders. They just stay on top by having 2 hearted on tap at every other bar in the region.
Click to expand...

I have yet to see Bell's abroad anywhere. I think the most surprising place I saw it was like 6 years ago in Disney World (Two Hearted and Oberon). All Day IPA outsells like every craft beer combined (not really but it's absolutely dominating the market and has for years) and I know Founders became the first brewery in Michigan to hit all 50 states, so I have to believe they're looking at Europe, but I haven't seen them overseas either.
 
I looked it up. Michigan has 3 distinctions and it affects where you can sell your beer.

Over 60,000 barrels, you are a brewery and can only sell beer at a maximum of two brewery locations (and of course to licensed retailers).
Under 60,000 is called a microbrewery but still has two separate distinctions:
30,000 - 60,000 barrels you can sell at 3 locations.
< 30,000 you can sell at any amount of brewery locations.
Brew pubs have a special distinction, they must be under 18,000 barrels, cannot sell to retailers, and 25% of their gross sales must be from food or non alcoholic beverages. So the breweries by my house are those, you can only get their beer at their locations and both sell food.

The taxes differ too but it seems to be brackets so everyone pays a lower tax on the first 60,000 barrels, then it's higher beyond that.
 
GoodEnoughForMe said:
I have yet to see Bell's abroad anywhere. I think the most surprising place I saw it was like 6 years ago in Disney World (Two Hearted and Oberon). All Day IPA outsells like every craft beer combined (not really but it's absolutely dominating the market and has for years) and I know Founders became the first brewery in Michigan to hit all 50 states, so I have to believe they're looking at Europe, but I haven't seen them overseas either.
Click to expand...
Bells still sells about 50,000 more barrels a year than Founders. I think they just do better on draft.
civvver said:
I looked it up. Michigan has 3 distinctions and it affects where you can sell your beer.

Over 60,000 barrels, you are a brewery and can only sell beer at a maximum of two brewery locations (and of course to licensed retailers).
Under 60,000 is called a microbrewery but still has two separate distinctions:
30,000 - 60,000 barrels you can sell at 3 locations.
< 30,000 you can sell at any amount of brewery locations.
Brew pubs have a special distinction, they must be under 18,000 barrels, cannot sell to retailers, and 25% of their gross sales must be from food or non alcoholic beverages. So the breweries by my house are those, you can only get their beer at their locations and both sell food.

The taxes differ too but it seems to be brackets so everyone pays a lower tax on the first 60,000 barrels, then it's higher beyond that.
Click to expand...
America has this goofy 3 tier distribution system that was put in place after prohibition where breweries have to sell to a distributor who then sells to the retailers (bars, stores, etc). Essentially states self regulate a lot of it so the mi laws you're talking about allow a taproom at the site where the actual brewing is done and one off site.

Distributors generally hold contracts with breweries for specific regions. The brewery I work for is pretty small but we still sell through about a half dozen distributors. We can't sell to two distributors in one region and we need a contract to distribute anywhere.
So this thing I was talking about with founders and San Miguel, it was to get distribution contracts in a wider area, initially anyway. A lot of the instances where craft brewers sell out to big guys it's the owners cashing in for retirement. Getting wider distribution is a pain because you need enough third party retailers to order your beer for a distributor in that area to take you on. Selling a portion to a bigger company can open up markets in new regions/countries. Its weird. I mean you'd probably need some kind of middleman shipping co to distribute but it's kind of off that you're forced by law to do it.
 
civvver said:
American Bud is awful however I have toured the Budweiser brewery in St Louis twice now and the samples you get are outstanding. I swear the beer tastes completely different when it's less than 24 hours old. It's really weird.
Click to expand...
We have a thriving beer scene here considering the city's size, but you can do better than Bud. The only stuff I like there is the Belgian and German stuff!
 
Phrossack said:
We have a thriving beer scene here considering the city's size, but you can do better than Bud. The only stuff I like there is the Belgian and German stuff!
Click to expand...
Have you tried Kreftig? You can only get it in St Louis, started by one of the Busch clan that defected when Bud was bought out by Inbev. I really like it.
 
hobbsyoyo said:
Have you tried Kreftig? You can only get it in St Louis, started by one of the Busch clan that defected when Bud was bought out by Inbev. I really like it.
Click to expand...
I haven't had any, I don't think, and it's no longer being made.
 
Zardnaar said:
This is our founders it's probably a different company.

https://www.foundersbrewery.co.nz/
Click to expand...
Yep, that is different. Only 3 beers? Are they pretty new?

I was trying to think of imported mass produced yellow fizzy beer and the only one I really like is St Pauli Girl. It's been a while since I've had it though, may not be as good as I remember. I used to buy 22s of it all the time in college.
 
Socrates99 said:
Yep, that is different. Only 3 beers? Are they pretty new?

I was trying to think of imported mass produced yellow fizzy beer and the only one I really like is St Pauli Girl. It's been a while since I've had it though, may not be as good as I remember. I used to buy 22s of it all the time in college.
Click to expand...

Idk how new they are I noticed them a few years back. Reasonably new.

They used to do six packs of IPA, APA, pilsner at least.

The two big breweries here bought up some craft beer companies one of which is a local here and founded in 1993. Cheap APA/IPA are about the same price as Bud.

Craft ones are things like cloudy IPA or whatever. Some weird flavours like fruit infusions have been done like apricot and mango.

This brand here is somewhat expensive ($12 USD 6 pack) but is very good, decent range.

https://emersons.co.nz/
 
Last edited:
A shelf in NZ bottlestore with various brands. New brand in Baltika 5 currently in the fridge.

IMG_20191206_182611.jpg
 
Has anyone heard of Toña, or of Victoria? I hadn’t before here and it’s all there is.
 
<~<~~~~

Or if you’re on mobile tap my name.
 
Zardnaar said:
Derp I have read that before. Anywhere near San Juan Del Sur?
Click to expand...
Yes but you have to go through Rivas and it takes an hour. I haven’t been but I was planning to go today. But everyone was hungover except me so I stayed home.
 
Craft beer is generally better but costs more. Alit of international lagers kinda taste similar. Big difference is how bitter or sweet they are.

Out default beers are terrible although one rates higher than Bud. I prefer Bud it's easy to drink, bit tasteless/watery though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Disgustipated
Beer poll
3 4 5
Replies
85
Views
6K
madviking
madviking
Back
Top Bottom