Why I'm Crying in My Beer

I like my brew.

I drink German lagers, Czech pilsners and English browns (as well as the occasional domestic microbrew) not because I'm a snob, but because most American beer is piss water churned out by mega corporations far more concerned with how much of the stuff they can sell than how it tastes.

It was not always this way. Prior to Prohibition, there were any number of tasty brews made from recipes that brewmasters had brought to the U.S. from their homelands. But after Prohibtion, one major brewer after another locked into the notion that if they diluted the quality of their product, people would have to drink more of it. And so they did.

One of the few American beers that I have imbibed over the years is Rolling Rock, which is been a cut above the dross turned out by Buttwiper, Miller and Coors.

But in a sad day for beer lovers, Anheuser-Busch has bought Rolling Rock and will close its historic Latrobe, Pennsylvania, brewery. What are the chances that Augie Busch will screw up Rolling Rock?

I'd say about 100 percent.

My old friend Joe Sixpack has the whole story here.