I’m brewing one on Friday. I’ll be sure to document.
thanks guys ;D
maybe I should ask the questions I have been dying to know “Hi majorvices, what exactly is your major vice? blondes perhaps?”
Help me out here please…
What the heck does the BMC mean that I keep seeing?
My inferred guess from the context in these posts is that it is short for Budweiser/Miller/Coors.
Is that correct?
Yes, BMC = Bud/Miller/Coors
Thanks, Santoch.
And though I am not a fan of either 3, I cannot in all seriousness knock them. After all, I have been drinking Budweiser for many years with the occasional Coors thrown in. I am a new brewer with only 2 completed batches under my belt. I now have an APA conditioning in bottles and a stout in the fermenter.
As someone else has said, the BMC do have their place in the sun. I may scoff and call them swill but who am I to judge. After all, I have been a repeat customer for many years.
Now, one I really get this little microbrewery going in my apt I do hope to never purchase them ever again!
Reviving an old thread. The American Blonde is no longer missing. According to this article it’s the next big thing with 62% increase in sales in 2015 and 41% gain in 2017. Their just called Golden Ales now.
The Washington Post: For the first time, the three best-selling beers in America are light beers. Can craft brewers catch up? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2018/01/13/for-the-first-time-the-three-best-selling-beers-in-america-are-light-beers-can-craft-brewers-catch-up/
PS. You have to read about 1/3 through the article to find the part about Blonde Ales.
We’ve reached a critical mass where younger yuppies now drink craft beer without having a taste for flavorful beer. This is the same demographic who elevated Corona and Heineken at the expense of BMC back in the ‘90s.
So now we have a place in craft breweries for more watery styles like “Mexican Lager” and “Golden Ale.” They can still be good beers, but they are usually more marketable product than work of art. I like to think that the $6 Mexican Lager is subsidizing my $6 IPA.
I am more surprised by the disappearance of wheat beer (American and Bavarian) from the market. I live walking distance from Widmer (and 6 other breweries) and they’re the only brewery in town that does one consistently.
I think the “watery” styles, as you say it, are attractive for another reason: lower ABV. The craft beer world has utterly failed the consumer who wants to be able to have a couple beers and still be able to stand. Sadly, I’ve been buying Miller High Life, alongside my staples of Guinness and Yeungling, just because it’s another decent (though admittedly far from great) option that’s under 5% abv.
The ABV levels of craft beer are just silly. I realize profit margins drive that to an extent, but that doesn’t really help the consumer.
To each his own, I like Blonde Ales, Cream Ales, Kolsch’s, Light lagers, etc. I often buy them in tap rooms.
Don’t be sad, Phil. I will confess my own secret: I too have a weakness for Miller High Life. It may be made by processes that are highly, well, processed, but the result is a decent beer, however unsensational it may seem to those whose palates have been completely stripped by caustic triple imperial whatnots. Then again I brew Pilsner and other pale lagers, so you see my baseline.
+1 …when I can find them in the sea of hop blasters or high ABV taps. To me they’re more interesting because there’s nothing to hide behind.
I have a 5% ABV Irish Blonde Ale planned using 84% UK Pale Ale, 8% Flaked Barley, and 8% Malted Oats with 30 IBU Palisade hops that I am looking forward to.
The sad thing is when those are available from the few local places, they’re usually in the upper 5% range. Last time the local brewpub had a Kolsch it was 6.0%, and not very kolsch-y.