Almost all light beers taste the same

[Raxxman]

Originally Posted by why

No this is impossible. It has been proven by a scientific study that different beers do not taste different.

I did a pub med search, but there are 100's of articles on taste and beer.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6645528

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2316416

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8342438

I mean if studies suggest that people can't tell the difference between lite and regular beer, it's not a stretch to believe that some people can't tell the difference between 2 lite beers.

 

[edinatlanta]

Originally Posted by Raxxman

yet some people will absolutely swear blind extra cold tastes better.

Because the beer, if cold, will hide imperfections and dull the flavor.

 

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by acidboy

mmm... beer...

make no mistake I love the premium/artisan/snobbish beer. but I hate the people who flap their gums talking about it.

This. A thousand times This.

You know what - I LIKE Blue Moon Wheat beer and turned a few friends on to it. I don't care that it's made by SABCoorsMillerBud - it tastes good. If you're offering me a Paulaner then I'll take that as well, but don't look down on me because I'm drinking something domestic.

 

[Raxxman]

Originally Posted by edinatlanta

Because the beer, if cold, will hide imperfections and dull the flavor.

I'm well aware of the theory, just the practice shows that cold and extra cold beers aren't different enough for people to notice. Very few people can tell the difference between 0.5 degrees C, which is the difference between a regular cold draft beer, and an extra cold after 5 mins in the glass.

Just to clarify, I'm not talking about warm beer vs cold beer, but rather the 'extra cold' branding, which people will swear blind tastes better than the 'regular' brand even though if asked to sample blind they can't tell the difference.

This was work I did, it's not 2nd hand knowledge, neither the proffesional taste pannel, work force, or random trials could tell the 2 apart, and after 5 mins there isn't really a difference.

 

[frenchy]

Originally Posted by ScottMan

Agreed. I love the "I'm sorry, I just can't drink it and I can't believe you can either."

I love both. Right now I have a case of Bud Light, Rochefort 10, Koningshoeven Quad, Left Hand Milk Stout, Allagash Curieaux, and a couple of different homebrews. I love great beer, but I love cheap beer too for totally different reasons. Cheap beer isn't really beer to me. It's alcoholic water with a little bit of a beer flavor. It's great for watching the game between whiskey and cokes, play beer pong, extend an evening when people are drinking but I don't need much more alcohol, etc. I like both, and that makes me much more versatile than you. Haha.

dude thats a LOT of beer,cheers

 

[ScottMan]

Haha, well all those except the Bud Light are singles and when I don't have a keg in the kegerator it serves as my beverage fridge.

 

[GrillinFool]

Lite beer serves a purpose. To continue a buzz. To get drunk. That's pretty much it. Oh and to save money over premium beers. Almost forgot the calorie savings.

While I drink wine much more often than beer anymore, I do this when I buy beer. Usually I buy in 18 bottle increments. Six of good ****. 12 of cheap crap. I drink a couple from the good 6, then 3-4 from the crap. After two O'Fallon Pumpkin Ales, does it really matter what I'm drinking after that? My tastebuds are essentially numbed at this point. They aren't totally numb, but my ability to decipher taste at that point is diminished which is why they spit at wine tastings. I don't spit out booze, normally. I drink it.

I'm 37, just had a second kid, giving me two under the age of 2.5. Cash is somewhat strained right now with the bills from the delivery rolling in. Also, the older I get the harder it is to keep the weight off the midsection, hence more wine than beer and hence a couple high calorie, expensive beers to appreciate the nose, flavor, and finish and then transfer to the cheap stuff when the good **** is wasted on me as I get wasted...

I might just head home and get a 6 of the Pumpkin and a 12 of the High Life. That's right. Been rocking the High Life lately and I live 12 miles from the Anheuser Busch HQ and have never lived more than 30 miles from it...

 

[word]

Originally Posted by Listi

The only time I get called a beer snob is by people who literally COME UP TO ME and TRY TO START **** because I'M DRINKING SOMETHING DIFFERENT THAN THEY ARE. It's the same people who try to start **** because you wear different clothes. It's like what the **** do you care, you wanna start **** because I do my own thing? I don't care at all about what you drink, or what you wear. I swear to god, the people who care most about this sorta **** are the ones who know least about it and think it's a "good idea" to confront anyone who has it as a hobby. That being said:

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM SNOBBY BEER.
Yay St. Bernardus. I'm not a beer snob tho, but I always try different things when I go out. So it can come off that way. I remember the taste of St. B quite well but I forgot which one I had, been a year or so.

 

[Don Carlos]

Originally Posted by Raxxman

Hey guys, I worked in the science lab for Bass (now Coors) brewery Burton on Trent. Some people have a highly developed sense of taste, I knew a brewmaster/head brewer/whatever who could tell a barrel change in draft after 12 pints. Same beer, different barrel. Some other work people came up with was the cold beer fad (like Carling extra cold etc). We found that people in general can't tell the difference between extra cold and regular cold (2C difference) straight from the draft (Well i could, but that wasn't normal) and after 5 mins the difference in 2 pints was 0.5 C, yet some people will absolutely swear blind extra cold tastes better. A lot of beer descrimination for most people is entrely misperceptions, because most people can't taste the difference blind. But the people who can tell the difference aren't that rare in the world. Me I can drink anything, my 2 fav largers atm are Grolsch and Becks Vier. Other than that I like me real ale, in Sheffield there was a local brewer that did a beer called absolution, it was a pale ale, and it was the ****. Oh Listi, I am jealous.
I don't know if I'd be able to reach jedi mastery in beer tasting, but I'm a "supertaster" myself. I can detect flavors extremely well, and truth be told, it's usually more annoying than fun. Most food at restaurants -- even the nice ones -- is incredibly overseasoned for my palate (and probably overseasoned in general). And imagine if every glass of orange juice you drank tasted like you were sucking a block of pure concentrate. It's like that with many things. On the plus side, it makes alcohol and cigar appreciation pretty awesome.

 

[acidboy]

Originally Posted by Thomas

This. A thousand times This.

You know what - I LIKE Blue Moon Wheat beer and turned a few friends on to it. I don't care that it's made by SABCoorsMillerBud - it tastes good. If you're offering me a Paulaner then I'll take that as well, but don't look down on me because I'm drinking something domestic.

the other night I had below freezing point kirin to wash down the taste of the salt and vinegar potato chips, last night I had ridiculously cheap tsingtao beer when I got home after a steak dinner in a friend's house who do not drink, tonight I'm probably going to my friend's bar/club and drink san miguel light beer. this weekend (if it pushes through) I'll be in hongkong stocking up on japanese rice beer in the hotel room and probably obscenely expensive european beer in lkf.

bottom line: every beer has its purpose.

 

[ad_infinitum]

While I agree that Bud can be the best beer in the world at certain times, I wish they all tasted at least like Hoegaarden or Pilsner Urquell.

 

[Don Carlos]

Originally Posted by ad_infinitum

While I agree that Bud can be the best beer in the world at certain times, I wish they all tasted at least like Hoegaarden or Pilsner Urquell.

I'm pretty happy that Hoegaarden is staging a fairly serious entry into US bars. It's a really good everyday beer. I prefer Urquell, and while it's now almost ubiquitous at better liquor stores and supermarkets, it can be hard to find fresh and un-skunked (green bottle FTL).

 

[ad_infinitum]

Originally Posted by Arrogant Bastard

I'm pretty happy that Hoegaarden is staging a fairly serious entry into US bars. It's a really good everyday beer. I prefer Urquell, and while it's now almost ubiquitous at better liquor stores and supermarkets, it can be hard to find fresh and un-skunked (green bottle FTL).

+1, It is a bit worse here in Canadia, but nevertheless it is nice to order a pint of Hoegaarden on tap in your neighborhood pub. And there is something about their almost/kinda garish giant beer glasses. Ok, I want a Hoegaarden now.

 

[whiteslashasian]

Originally Posted by Arrogant Bastard

I'm pretty happy that Hoegaarden is staging a fairly serious entry into US bars. It's a really good everyday beer. I prefer Urquell, and while it's now almost ubiquitous at better liquor stores and supermarkets, it can be hard to find fresh and un-skunked (green bottle FTL).

I thought Hoegaarden is pretty common in the US now. There's a bar back in my po'dunk town that's had it on tap for many years. I used to like it a lot but recently have found it a bit too sweet for session drinking. I'll still pop one open from time time though.

I'm not really one to talk, I have a feeling that this weekend will be a throwback to college days and Edward 40 Hands will be performed...

 

[GrillinFool]

Hoegaarden isn't all that prevalent in St. Louis. I see it here and there but then again, I don't get out as often as I used to. Now that the little one is settled into a routine, time for more happy hours, but over the last few months it's been bleak. So unless they really made a dent in that time it's really only available at the grocer, but I see it at nearly every grocery store...