Sounds like a lot of potential meetups to me...
You're out in New Mexico, aren't you? I'm doing NYC, Ann Arbor / Detroit and Redmond / Seattle. If you find yourself in any of these places, I could use some guidance on drinking American beer.
Seattle, with ButterflyEffect, goobster and snoodog. America is currently dealing with a bizarre chain of events: (1) InBev used private equity to take over Anheuser Busch, makers of Budweiser (2) AB-InBev rationalized that boutique microbrews were more profitable than Budweiser, so threw all their purchase power and marketing into scooping up boutique microbrews (3) The shelves of every grocery store filled with $3/bottle IPA which no one wanted to drink (4) White Claw and others realized that no one really liked IPA and no one could make any beer but IPA anymore so they started selling "hard selzer" (wine coolers) (5) AB-InBev flooded the market with non-beers, which no one wanted to buy, because for some reason White Claw is cool but Hamm's Hard Iced Coffee is not (imagine that) It is my considered opinion that the only drinkable American beer left is Sam Adams. Meanwhile the beer landscape is so degenerate that it's difficult for me to find anything other than Corona or Heineken. Like, you simply cannot buy Killian's or Kirin without hitting a specialty store. When I was in LA I drank Baltika 7 for the simple fact that it was cheap and not half as wretched as anything else I could find. Wherever you are you're likely to find something "local" that you should drink because the locals will think it is good. Nod politely.
I was at a standard micro brewery yesterday. 12 different IPAs on tap. One Kolsch. One Amber. One dark amber/porter. One oatmeal stout. Two ciders. I had the Kolsch first (thank god people are making this amazing, highly drinkable and pleasant beer!), and then the amber. But, by and large, American beers are a waste of time. Undrinkable pucker-inducing bitter swill. Brewing has been around for centuries, and there's a reason people made pilsners and kolsch and dark beers; they were drinkable by anyone at any time. And there's a reason people make IPAs; they are the easiest and shortest time to brew, so you can churn out more of it in less time with less skill than any other brew. It's just economics with good marketing backing it up. But it still tastes terrible.
All right. I'm staying in the middle of Redmond. If you or ButterflyEffect or the gang anyone feel like a drink on the 14th - 17th, let me know. I might well be able to do this.
Somebody tag me, or kb can text me, if there’s a meet up! Making these kind of things is easier for me now than in the past, because reasons, with the exception of when I’m off in the mountains.
Everybody's drinking Foster's right now, there are no other beers available. Every microbrew brews two: a Foster's Lager inspired homebrew and a Foster's Premium mimic homebrew. You are going to feel right at home! kleinbl00 was actually the first to introduce me to this delicious type of native beer, first brewed by the aborigines. He'll be in touch!
I do not believe I have seen Foster's for sale in Australia since I was a teenager. How is it possible that people in the United States are still drinking it?
He's making a funny. Foster's very much exists in the USA because it's like buying a 40 of Budweiser except you can pretend to be cosmopolitan. It does not, however, have much in the way of market dominance any longer. Carlton bought out the Olympia Brewery in the mid '90s, as well as Clearly Canadian. Thus, Foster's was produced indigenously from 1994 to 2003. It still has shelf presence, but no more so than Asahi, Chimay or Saporro.
Yeah sorry, I had to, it's like a running joke with my sister in Melbourne. There aren't many places here you can buy a Foster's, either. There are plenty of non-IPA (and IPA) local microbrews that you'll get into here. But yeah you might have to visit some of the breweries directly or go to a somewhat-specialty store, but there are plenty of both. I hope you have a good time! You should do a trip report, I'd love to hear about your experience. Call everyone "cunt"! (no, don't)