Barrett Garese

Beers you thought were indie, import or craft beers but are actually just Anheuser-Busch InBev (AKA Budweiser) brands

Stella Artois

Beck’s

Leffe

Hoegaarden

Bass

Michelob

Boddingtons

Bohemia

Labatt

Lowenbrau

Murphy’s

Spaten

St. Pauli Girl

Widmer Brothers

Redhook

Rolling Rock

Kirin

Chechvar

as well as fake microbrews like:

SkipJack

ZiegenBock

Wild Blue

Redbridge

I knew all of these except Hoegaarden and Widmer. I’m now disappointed with the former and enh about the latter.

Now the thing is I have nothing against some of these beers. Hoegaarden, Boddington’s, and a few others are good beer. There’s nothing wrong with the quality of the craft. And I’m not making a stand saying that I refuse to buy them because of some beverage version of “Damn the man!” I just think that the further conglomeration of huge beer manufacturers isn’t a good thing for those who like a healthy selection of beer. AB, Miller/Coors, InBev, and the other conglomerates at the time nearly killed craft brewing in the United States a decade or two back, and they’re now doing their best to finish the job.

Now, we’re in a good place right now, due to a record number of craft breweries opening up in the United States, and a welcoming - if faddish - palate from the public at large. I would even go so far as to say that it’s the best time in history to be a beer fan in the United States. So long as craft brews remain in fashion that’ll remain, but once that fad ends, and only it’s the people who enjoy beer for beer’s sake and not fashion’s sake, we’re going to be in a very bad place. Hopefully I’m wrong, and people will have gotten used to variety - or a whole new generation will begin to love beer and demand more styles and variations - but I’m not confident that love of beer will be any less faddish than when gin, tequila, or rum were in fashion for 4-5 years each.

So I try not to patronize AB or InBev brands, not because the quality is low (in some cases it is, in others it’s not) but because I love beer and I want to continue to have variety. Less “Damn the man!” and more “Save the Empire!”

Source: ericmortensen