Beermerica

America’s Beer Doesn’t Suck

OpinionsTakeo Kushi — Published January 25, 2011

—not to mention Belgium and the Netherlands. At the very bottom of the barrel lies the United States, with a piss-poor reputation and an oft-mocked tradition of crappy beer.

In fact, the United States produces the best beer in the world, and it’s definitely not the beer you’re thinking of. Those PBRs, Buds, and Millers? They’re made in Canada, by Canadian factories, often the only way cross-border brews can make it up north. Those beers, in fact, are a better reflection of corporate hegemony than American tradition—though you may content yourself in thinking they are the same thing.

It is the exploding world of microbrews and craft beers—the ‘indie’ market if you’d like—where Americans can plant their flag as number one. You won’t have to take my word for it, though.

Every two years, brewers from the world around compete in the World Beer Cup, also known as the Olympics of beer. Like the actual Olympics, the U.S. has built itself quite a lofty mountain of medals.

There were more participating states at 47—including Hawaii and Alaska—than there were participating countries at 44. On top of that, American breweries shook up traditional strongholds, outclassing Germany in German-style beers and cleaning up specialty categories such as smoked, extreme and spiced.

While those numbers are from the most recent cup in 2010, the outcome is the same year after year: the United States dominates individual categories and takes the lion’s share of the top-five champion awards. Since 2000 they have gone four out of five each year, except in 2004 when they took all five. Keep in mind, too, that the majority of the judges came from outside the States.

Microbrewing possesses all the stalwart characteristics of a creative movement born in the United States. It is a community driven by invention, experimentation, vigorous creativity, a love for the craft and the product, and new breweries are popping up and forever changing the way the beverage is made and regarded. It is the indie movement writ beer and, like many things indie, the beer you haven’t heard of is often better than the one you have.

But within this culture, there are some standout names—some of which may be familiar to fellow expats. Dogfish Head Brewery out of Maryland (named for the owner’s three favorite things), Harpoon Brewery out of Boston, Rogue out of Oregon, Magic Hat just south of the border in Burlington, VT, and one of the original microbreweries, Sierra Nevada Brewery out of California.

To be fair, the movement isn’t at all restricted to the States; in Montreal there are outstanding microbreweries as well. Boreale and Griffon are fairly mediocre, but St. Ambroise is decent and Unibroue, with it’s award-winning Fin du Monde, can stand head to head against the best the states has to offer.

Brutopia, while a great establishment, doesn’t quite cut it.

If you want a taste of the types of beer coming out of the U.S. then head straight to Dieu Du Ciel on Laurier Avenue (try the IPA).

This article originally appeared in Volume 31, Issue 20, published January 25, 2011.