Franconian Beer Message Board

Knoblach in Schammelsdorf
Posted by Nick B. on 2016-03-22 06:12:18

It seems that our tastes are generally affected by those that we become accustomed to when growing up, so beer should be no exception.  I recall writing a few weeks ago about the new wave of flavoured beers, many which appear to be more at home in a coffee bar/milk bar, whatever they call such places nowadays.  I hazarded a guess that their popularity was due to the increased consumption of very sweet drinks by the young ... 

But not in my case, having grown up with Schmidt, Schlitz, Pabst, Heilemann's Special Ex ("green death") in Minnesconsin. Bland and also often a bit nasty, these adjunct lagers were, but that's all we had growing up. When I was a kid, I think I averaged about a can of soda per day, maybe less, from my pocket money. 

Then along came pale ale, porter, stout, coffee stout, imperial stout, IPA, Belgian beer in its great variety, Doppelbock, &c. These represented a huge variety of new flavours and beer experiences for someone like me, deprived of proper beer as a youth. Maybe you're right, the sweet teeth of youngsters make them crave even more exotic flavours. Maybe their growing up with "Boring Brown Bitter", being so much more flavourful than Heilemann's, gives them a higher threshold of flavour excitement.

Or maybe they're just silly, rebellious yoof.