Is all Macro Beer Really that bad?

[Leann ull]

SA raised a point that we do a lot of Macro bashing.
Do we, if so why?
If you had to choose 1 which would it be?

[irish_goat]

Guinness Foreign Extra is very good, although it's a bit more special than a bog standard beer. Of the standard pints in a pub I think Beamish is the best on offer. It's not a great stout but its normally a lower price so at least you can feel like you're not wasting a fiver on a pint of macro when you can get a pint of craft for the same.

I think the Sorcerers Apprentice hit the nail on the head in the other thread though, it's not that the macro beers tend to have anything wrong with them, they just don't have enough flavour for what our palates now prefer.

[Leann ull]

Why have Semi skimmed when you can have cream kinda thing?

[Qs]

I'll happily drink any of the macro Irish stouts if there is no craft on.  Occasionally even if there is depending on what the options are.  Macro lager can go to hell though.

The real problem with the macros is their business practices though. Trying to push competition off the shelves and taps.

[JDC]

This is like going to confession  . I actually don't half mind Smithwick's Pale Ale on Draught.  I hope my membership is not subsequently revoked now  .

[Bubbles]

There's a number of macro beers that I'd have no problem drinking: Tiger or Cobra when I'm eating Thai or Indian. I quite like a Corona when there's nothing else available and the mood is upon me. I'd drink Guinness if I was stuck.

I agree that we have a tendency to bash the small craft producers for their lack of consistency while ignoring that the macros do consistency very well. SA hits the nail on the head of course, the macro beers themselves are just bland for us folks. We shake our heads in disappointment when we taste Smithwicks Pale ale, thinking what a poor effort it is, but the fact is that it's carefully designed to appeal to those who would run a mile from assertive flavours.

There's always going to a place for bland, mass-produced beer. I don't mind that. However, I do mind when macro breweries re-badge their bland efforts as craft - Open Gate, orchard Thieves etc.

[Qs]

I'll always have a soft spot for Smithwicks PA because I drank loads of it when there was no craft available on tap around here.  Just having a pale ale to drink was enough. We are really spoiled now, there is almost nowhere in Wicklow now that doesn't have a tap or 2 from your new of the local micros.

I was a t a gig in Vicar St a few months ago too and they had it on tap too. I was happy to see it in a setting like that.

[Leann ull]

Or what happened in Cork and Kerry recently

[Bazza]

Like Bubbles, I like a big glass of Cobra when out for an Indian. Good tasting craft beer is wasted when you're eating hot and spicy food, in my opinion.

I sometimes feel a little guilty for turning my back on Guinness; it was my pint of choice for over 2 decades and still would be when there's no craft on offer.
Was persuaded by a waiter in a restaurant recently to give Guinness Nitro IPA a go. Oh dear me; we were sitting there holding up our pints going 'where's the hops??  Where's the flavour??' It honestly tasted like watered down Guinness stout. Awful. My point being, however, I gave it a go.

Now to a real problem. We had friends round for dinner last Friday and we bought in bottles of Bud for the bloke, knowing that's all he drinks. Bloody forgot to make sure he took the remaining bottles and cans home with him when they were leaving so as a result my fridge is now infested with containers of horrible bland pi$$ The tight Tyrone man in me doesn't want to simply throw it out so if someone can come up with a really good alternative, there's a selection of, ahem, premium American lagers in it for you 

-Barry

[Leann ull]

Please tell me you didn't buy that in the Vineyard, they know me in there.
I'm sure they put it in brown paper bag when you bought it and you left out the back door?
Make a hop tea?

As a beer for a homebrewer it's really hard to make as is miller, corona is easy though, alledgedly.

[irish_goat]

Cobra and Tiger to me are just bog standard lagers. It annoys me that you can go to a pricey Asian restaurant with an extensive wine menu and their beer options are all cheap rice lagers. Likewise when you go to a Mexican place and they only serve Corona. Ethnic food = great. Ethnic beer = generally crap.

IPA goes great with spicy food too.

[BrewDorg]

Have to agree. Spicy chicken wings and a glass of GBB Goin' Out West DIPA was one of the tastiest beer/food combos I've ever had

I can remember when I thought Guinness and Smithwicks had plenty of flavour in them, it wasn't that long ago being honest. I'd still fall back on those if there's nothing else available, because macro lagers are the absolute worst. Whereas I consider Guinness to be unexciting but inoffensive, I'd consider Bud offensively bad.

[molc]

Leffe and a bunch of the other  "macro" Belgian beers for me. Quite a fan of London Pride when I can find a fresh bottle. Does the O'Haras red count - that stuff is lovely?

[BrewDorg]

Forgot about Leffe. And Hoegaarden is another I do enjoy on tap.

[Qs]

Or what happened in Cork and Kerry recently

Heineken seem to be one of the worst offenders. That Cute Hoor stuff is vile too.