Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Lagers vs Ales

Last week, we ran a little Poll regarding preference between Lagers and Ales.
And thank you all who participated.
The question was...

Which of these are you most likely to drink next?

Lager (e.g. Pilsner, Helles, Dunkel, Bock, Oktoberfest, etc...)
Ale (e.g. Pale Ale, IPA, Porter/Stout, etc...)

and 85% of you replied Ale.
I'd like to think our viewers have great taste, because I voted "Ale" as well.

Here are some startling statistics of national and worldwide sales of these two styles of beers.

National (USA) :
98% Lagers
2% Ales

Worldwide :
95% Lagers
5% Ales

Beer in general was discovered over 2700 years ago.
And the original beer was an Ale. A top fermenting yeast was used and though accident or miracle, something special was discovered.
Over time, and through many accidents and tremendous patience, Lagers (bottom fermenting yeasts) were made and the trend in beer drinking shifted to this lopsided statistic we have today.

Great lagers are delicious. But for the most part, we have (bad lagered beers) Budweiser, Heineken, and Corona doing their thing here in the states and taking up a lion's share of the sales.

A bit of trivia...
-In the US, Budweiser commands 52% of the market share.
The produce over 100 million barrels of beer a year.

-At the brewery, Anheuser-Busch reports a 1.5% spillage during bottling.
That in layman's terms means they spill more beer than a Craft Brewery like Sam Adams makes all year.

Latest News...
Budweiser and InBev
Does this mean no more original Bud? Or just that Budweiser now has more markets to sell their watered down beer?
For those of you who may not know... InBev already owns many familiar names.
Beck's, Bass, Hoegaarden, Stella Artois, Leffe to name a few.
And now, all of Anheuser-Busch's repertoire.

2 comments:

Metalbass said...

My buddies and I use to say, "Bud Light............ two wrongs do not make a right!" Bud is awful beer. Maybe the Europeans will improve that slop.

Anonymous said...

The lagers of the world serve a purpose. There's nothing nicer and more refreshing than a nice cold lager after moving the lawn or an intense frisbee game on the beach. They're not as complex and interesting as a good ale, and as such when I want a 'beer' (instead of a generic 'i'm thirsty' drink), I'll grab an ale.