Does specialty beer ruin your taste for commercial beer or is it just an ignorant bias on my part?

[Steve]

I had a debate going with some friends that specialty beer (I know they hire marketing companys to advertise but can’t afford television ads but they would be commercial too if they had the cash), was better than commercial beer (Bud Light, Budweiser, etc.) I'm the kind of person that always brings my own 6 pack of high quality Budweiser to a party and they say it is too smooth, citrusy, you name it. Has their taste for actual beer been ruined by craft market beer? I mean, great lakes is not bad, but after drinking a Coors Light, it really did taste like watered down crap. We are in college, naturally.
I was not quite satisfied with my first question
Very nicely put Beau. I do get it but its so difficult to teach it to the potheads and "thick brain" people so I let it ride and look down on them with hope that they some day can rise to our level of beer excellence. No bias
Dr. Brule,
You are a loser and what D. Fingers said is spot on about you.

[mim]

I find that when you switch to micro brew or specialty beers your tastes do change. It's like growing up on Wonder Bread and trying home made. It's still bread/beer but more than likely you will find one you really like and prefer drinking. Some have higher alcohol content so you don't need as much if it is the buzz you are after. I also find that finer beers are more like good wine. You just don't chug them down. I feel I am saving my liver by consuming less better quality beers that aren't laced with chemicals used in most large commercial beer making facilities. I've also made my own beer and loved it. Screwed up the recipe and it was still better than most beers I have ever had. Cheap to make too.

A personal favorite is Rochefort #8. Dark, smooth, rich. Like a loaf of bread in a bottle. It is like Guinness but not bitter. Three Philosophers is good too. If it's a lighter beer you like with a straight ahead beer flavor, a recommendation is to try Boddingtons or Duval. They are not cheap but one once in a while is a treat.

I grew up on Bud, Miller, Linenkugels etc. but when a bar in my small home town opened with imports on tap, my tastes did not take long to prefer a beer that was not skunky like Heineken is to me or watery like others. The complexities of a good beer can be appreciated in time and definitely worth exploring.

Cheers

[I Like Stories]

There is no such thing as "brings my own 6 pack of high quality Budweiser"

To be honest, this is a ridiculous debate. You like whatever it is you like. Some people like craft beers, some people like Budweiser. It's a matter of personal taste.

Same discussion can occur with wine or whisky(whiskey) or even bread.

I like prefer craft beers myself, but there is nothing like an ice cold Bud/Coors after you've finished mowing the lawn on a hot/humid July afternoon.

[hollowcan574]

You make a great point. The difference really is perception and bias. Both Bud and craft brews are great. I believe you when you claim that Bud is a better made beer but that the craft makers put more flavor in their beer. That is the fact of beer. I have drank more beer then I could possible remember and have never hated one. Some were more interesting and others too flavorful from a company that was so worried about strong flavor they forgot to make the beer good. There is nothing more overall important then the fact they we can all have different tastes no matter the product/item and ague what is best. That will happen all the time.

[Dr. Brule]

bud/millers/coors etc wouldn't exist if there wasn't a market for bland, dry beers. 50 years ago there were heaps of small breweries, then companies like InBev and SABmiller came around and started mass-producing beers and keeping the quality and flavour more consistent than a small brewery could.

you mention things like "actual beer" being ruined by the craft beer market--this sh!t gives me a headache. big beer ruined micro breweries and is only now starting to lose some of its market share to these smalls producers...and about fuck!ng time too.

"high-quality Budweiser?" seriously dude, quality and taste aren't the same, albeit related. it is high quality like all mass produced beers, but that doesn't make it taste citrus-y or smooth.

stay in college dude, you need the education, in quite a few ways.

[Dynamicdust826]

I hear ya on the citrus bro, I always though Bud had a lemon appeal to it. No matter what is hollered out here the Bud's of beer are a fine product. I happen to like the craft beer cause it has more to offer. That sad, there are those making craft beer that make crap too. I find it easy to have a Miller then a crafty but not so great to have a crafty then a Miller. This makes me believe that it (question) is true going both ways. More flavor does not equate to better.

*** Eating feces does not make it better then drinking urine.***

[oikoσ]

It's not a matter of specialty vs commercial. It's a matter of quality vs crap. However, you are more likely to find quality from craft brewers and crap from the commercial mega-breweries.

[Josh]

The first beer I had other than a "light" was a Sam Adams. I remember how bitter and hoppy i thought it was. But I was open to trying different beers, and the more I tried the more I liked craft beer. I think you just have to let your taste buds get used to the different flavors and enjoy them.

A lot of people don't want to taste their beer. Just whatever gets them drunk the fastest.

[Beau]

I had a cheap craft beer that was alright but the better Budweiser suits me. See some people don't have sensitive enough taste buds and so they need heavy flavors and strong bitterness to get any flavor through to their thick brain. I have a developed palate that can detect flavors even in the most subtle levels. So when you say citrus, I say yeah man. When I say yeast you say , wow I get it.

As for commercial distinction all beer sold in an open market are commercial beers. When it comes to advertising today, you will find that at an ever greater degree the small brewer is advertising trying to claw the next guy. Its called free trade democracy.

Some people need to feel that they are special because they lack self confidence so they mock others. This need to bully is a sign of social anxiety and should be looked upon much they way we look at those with "special needs."