Which country produces the best beer?
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Germany - Germany stands as the most popular beer travel destination in the world thanks to the Bavarian traditions of Reinheitsgebot and Marzen/Festbier. Who doesn’t love Oktoberfest? In addition, Bock, Doppelbock, and Eisbock are widely revered styles of beer.
Czech Republic - Per Capita, more beer is drank in the Czech Republic than any other country in the world. The beer of choice? Pilsner, which originated in the Czech Republic and is by far the most popular type of beer in the world.
Belgium - If you’re going to drink beer, try to drink beer made by men that believe it’s their mission from God… Belgium is the home of most Trappist breweries, with multiple styles of ale including Saison (Farmhouse or Blond), Tripel, or Quad… One of my favorite moments every year is during every Christmas Eve/Morning at 2 AM, after wrapping all the presents, assembling all the toys, and loading up the tree, sitting on the couch and drinking a bottle of Abbot 12 with Karla snuggled up and dozing in my arms and listening to Vince Guaraldi…
British Isles - English Browns, Scottish Reds, and Irish Stouts… There’s not really any other type of beer quite like these. What really is remarkable is the way they work so well with whiskeys… Nothing like drinking a Smithwick’s Irish Ale along with a tiny glass o’ Jameson…
US… It’s not just Budweiser anymore… Over the past 25 years, the US beer scene has just exploded…. In the colonial and early days of the US, German brewing traditions held sway, though British Isles brews and styles weren’t uncommon. After prohibition, very weak versions of German Pilsners became the defacto definition of beer for decades, but over the past 30 years, the American Beer scene has just taken over, with IPA and Pale Ale styles developed in the US becoming prominent throughout the world, and the recent phenomenon of microbreweries now dominating the landscape around the world. In addition to the bold new styles of American Beer, the microbreweries ability to clone foreign styles of beer is uncanny!
So which nation produces the best beer? Have I missed any?
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Indeed.
One big change that occurred in my lifetime was a vast improvement in the coffee and beer landscape in the US.
Really all beverage and culinary categories. But those two stand out.
"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."
-Cormac McCarthy -
I agree about the beer. The microbrewery scene in the US is amazing.
I'm not so sure about the coffee, though. Drip coffee still often tastes like dishwater. Starbucks, the big American coffee success story, produces something with the consistency of polyurethane foam for $7.
The one American coffee invention I like is the invention of the Ladybug Bikini Espresso Drive Thru.
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@jon-nyc said in Which country produces the best beer?:
You can get decent espresso all over the country now, that wasn't true 30 years ago.
Not to mention a decent cup of joe at most convenience stores. For a buck.
The one thing I do not understand is McDonalds coffee. It has been uniformly awful for 50 years and people still buy it.
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I agree about the beer. The microbrewery scene in the US is amazing.
I'm not so sure about the coffee, though. Drip coffee still often tastes like dishwater. Starbucks, the big American coffee success story, produces something with the consistency of polyurethane foam for $7.
The one American coffee invention I like is the invention of the Ladybug Bikini Espresso Drive Thru.
@Klaus said in Which country produces the best beer?:
I agree about the beer. The microbrewery scene in the US is amazing.
When I was in the US almost a decade ago, I remember being very impressed by some microbrewery beers. Good stuff! And I’m a Belgian fond and proud of our local beers
The coffee… not so much… What came out of the coffee machine at my former employer’s offices was something hard to describe… the taste of coffee was in there somewhere, but it was mostly hot water. And my American colleagues drank it throughout the day as if they were addicted to that stuff. The 2 double espresso’s I went to buy there each morning at a local coffee shop, was decent though.
The Starbucks shops here in Belgium have good coffee too, but I’ll never EVER order an Americano again!!
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Indeed.
One big change that occurred in my lifetime was a vast improvement in the coffee and beer landscape in the US.
Really all beverage and culinary categories. But those two stand out.
@jon-nyc said in Which country produces the best beer?:
Really all beverage and culinary categories.
(Nodding.) Before the advent on the scene of James Beard and Julia Child, USA was nowhere. The French were top dog.
Then everything changed. <G>
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@Klaus said in Which country produces the best beer?:
I agree about the beer. The microbrewery scene in the US is amazing.
When I was in the US almost a decade ago, I remember being very impressed by some microbrewery beers. Good stuff! And I’m a Belgian fond and proud of our local beers
The coffee… not so much… What came out of the coffee machine at my former employer’s offices was something hard to describe… the taste of coffee was in there somewhere, but it was mostly hot water. And my American colleagues drank it throughout the day as if they were addicted to that stuff. The 2 double espresso’s I went to buy there each morning at a local coffee shop, was decent though.
The Starbucks shops here in Belgium have good coffee too, but I’ll never EVER order an Americano again!!
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(Nodding.) Before the advent on the scene of James Beard and Julia Child, USA was nowhere. The French were top dog.
Then everything changed. <G>
I think a lot of the folks in New Orleans and South Louisiana may not agree with you.
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(Nodding.) Before the advent on the scene of James Beard and Julia Child, USA was nowhere. The French were top dog.
Then everything changed. <G>
I think a lot of the folks in New Orleans and South Louisiana may not agree with you.
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I have no idea where we rank globally.
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@Jolly
No . . . I meant that before James Beard and Julia Child, the USA had no standing globally. Those two put the USA on the map.Of course there were important regional influences before their advent, but those were more among Americans than throughout the world.
