The "Myth" of Beer and Adjuncts
Someone who heard the interview on Basic Brewing Radio's podcast wrote and asked me a very good question (see the comments section under the blog piece titled "Here's to Homebrewing").
Here's the gist of the comment/question from Gabe:
"First, James Spencer talks about the "great American myth" that brewing companies (like Anheuser-Busch and Pabst) pushed smaller competitors out of the market, used cheaper additives in their beer like corn and rice, and helped facilitate the demise of more flavorful beers leading the U.S. into a dark age of bland beer from the middle of the 20th century until recently. I was one who generally believed that assumption to be true as well. Your book, however, disputes that myth and explains the history of American beer in a completely different way. My question then is why do you think this myth exists? How did it start? Were there marketing change during WWII causing the general public to believe that major breweries had changed their product in a detrimental way? What are your thoughts?"
Great questions -- and if only I knew all the answers.
But let me give this a shot. First, for WHY I think this myth exists (or at least part of why I think), see the piece I wrote for Powells.com. It's here. Scroll down to the entry titled "Beer As Myth. Myths R Us."
So that's my take on why the myth has such power.
As to Gabe's other questions: I think the brewers may have inadvertently fueled this myth AFTER the fact.
Here's what I mean: back in the 1950s and 1960s, it's just a fact that MOST beer drinkers wanted a light-bodied, pale yellow beer. So a brewery's advertising often played up the lightness, the paleness, the smoothness of the beer. Americans wanted a smooth, light beer (and smooth, light cigarettes and smooth, light liquor!)
When craft brewing came along, some of the fans of "new" beer remembered all those old ads. Remembered the "smooth" and "light" beers of their youth.
That plus the younger fans who grew up with craft beer and heard horror stories about "old" beer -- well, a myth was born!
So there you have it: my version of "the beer myth."
Comments
Hi Maureen,
By the early 1990s you had plenty of brewpubs - and these were the folks getting press in local papers - trumpeting the fact their beers adhered to the German beer purity law (the Rheinheitsgebot).
The idea that malt, hops, water and yeast are the only proper ingredients for beer (since totally violated by the most innovative brewers) drew attention that mass produced beer included "something else."
Prosit - Stan
Posted by: Stan Hieronymus | December 7, 2006 01:23 PM
Stan's correct of course.
But I'll just add that we need to be careful not to confuse cause and effect.
That first generation of microbrewers, starting with Maytag and McAuliffe in the early 1970s, touted their brews' lack of "additives." That became Jack McAuliffe's biggest selling point, and when interviewed, always denounced the mainstream brewers for their use of additives.
Also, Michael Jacobsen's rant against beer makers in 1972 and Mike Royko's famous columns in 1973 did as much as ANYTHING to highlight the fact that brewers relied on various additives (like food coloring).
Oddly enough, the mainstream brewers themselves inadvertently played into Royko's hands: When Miller began making a domestic version of Lowenbrau in the 1970s, A-B immediately filed a federal petition to force them to stop.
Why? Because, A-B said, "real" Lowenbrau from Europe contained only four ingredients and Miller's Lowenbrau contained stabilizers, food coloring, corn, and other additives. That fistfight generated a LOT of press at the time, which again raised awareness of the actual ingredients of beer.
So by the 1990s, when craft brewing was well underway, it had become standard operating practice for craft brewers to advertise their beers' lack of additives. They knew that their intended audience was aware of the "ingredients controversy."
Posted by: Maureen Ogle | December 7, 2006 02:37 PM
I thought it was interesting that you said the bland beer was demanded by Americans. There is some supporting evidence from English brewing history. While visiting my parents in England (I currently reside in Houghton, Michigan) I read Martyn Cornell's book where he talks about how the American Soldiers/pilot demanded the British Brewers develop something that was light, yellow, and fizzy. I assume you are familiar with his book.
Posted by: Paul Charlesworth | December 14, 2006 09:50 PM