Climate Crisis Will Make Europe's Beer Cost More and Taste Worse, Say Scientists (theguardian.com) 118
Climate breakdown is already changing the taste and quality of beer, scientists have warned. From a report: The quantity and quality of hops, a key ingredient in most beers, is being affected by global heating, according to a study. As a result, beer may become more expensive and manufacturers will have to adapt their brewing methods. Researchers forecast that hop yields in European growing regions will fall by 4-18% by 2050 if farmers do not adapt to hotter and drier weather, while the content of alpha acids in the hops, which gives beers their distinctive taste and smell, will fall by 20-31%.
"Beer drinkers will definitely see the climate change, either in the price tag or the quality," said Miroslav Trnka, a scientist at the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences and co-author of the study, published in the journal Nature Communications. "That seems to be inevitable from our data." Beer, the third-most popular drink in the world after water and tea, is made by fermenting malted grains like barley with yeast. It is usually flavoured with aromatic hops grown mostly in the middle latitudes that are sensitive to changes in light, heat and water. Climate-induced decline in the quality and quantity of European hops calls for immediate adaptation measures (Nature).
"Beer drinkers will definitely see the climate change, either in the price tag or the quality," said Miroslav Trnka, a scientist at the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences and co-author of the study, published in the journal Nature Communications. "That seems to be inevitable from our data." Beer, the third-most popular drink in the world after water and tea, is made by fermenting malted grains like barley with yeast. It is usually flavoured with aromatic hops grown mostly in the middle latitudes that are sensitive to changes in light, heat and water. Climate-induced decline in the quality and quantity of European hops calls for immediate adaptation measures (Nature).
But (Score:2)
Guess more incentive to stick with the local stuff.
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It already cost more and taste worse.
That's also what happened with chocolate in the US once manufacturers began replacing cocoa butter with PGPR. You would assume there'd be some huge backlash over it with people dumping their chocolate into the Boston harbor or something, but nope. People are remarkably accepting of the enshitification of their food. Similarly, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Europeans get used to flavorless beer; Americans already have.
Re:But (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:But (Score:4, Insightful)
These days mediocre beer is no longer mandatory for Americans. It's just an option. In inexplicably popular option.
Ask the Yakima (Score:2)
The Yakima tribe and some of the non-tribal people around them used to be major growers of hops. (It was one of the few crops the land there was suitable for.) Then a few decades back several major commercial brewers switched to something else instead of actual hops. Their market dried up and the area has only a little hops production now.
Beer made in the US using actual hops is mainly products of microbreweries these days.
Though hops grew especially well in the northern tiers of states there are beer-wo
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British Isles I'm not familiar enough with: Maybe they'll have to import hops from somewhere in Europe.
Heck. If global warming really takes off there's a LOT of land in Iceland that will be freed of ice and should be GREAT for hops cultivation.
Re: Ask the Yakima (Score:2)
I see you've never grown hops.
I have.
If the weather doesn't hold then you get soggy, moldy hops.
AGW is making weather more severe and chaotic.
It is not going to turn the north into good hop growing land.
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I consider those beers to be bulk beers. Ie, the people who buy them at Walmart tend to also be buying a minimum of a 24-can carton.
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I see a lot of microbrews, or attempts at pretending to be microbrews even at the larger chain stores. Generally, people buying Snow or Bud either are buying it in large quantities or it is their preference. However, there are a lot of interesting brews popping up all over the place, and available in a lot of locations.
Ten years or so, I'd assert that the US was a vast wasteland to be mocked by the world for lack of beer choices. These days, with some pubs having 100+ things on tap, there is something de
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I'm doing all-grain....makes a difference!!!
It's nice to have bottles and kegs around....right now I'm starting to brew some heavier darker beers to let them age and be ready for the winter months.
Sure, they're good anytime, but I like them just a bit more when it starts to get cold outside.
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Well, not that it was any good before...but now, FAR less people are drinking BL....
There's a TON of alternative, really quality US made beers that are out there...no need for the swill.
Growing Areas Will Change (Score:4, Insightful)
Why would this not happen with hops too? As the climate warms the best hop growing locations will move further north. So where were grow hops for beer now may become regions where we grow grapes for wine etc. Indeed, given that we have clear evidence that not only has this happened in the past but that it is also happening in response to current global warming it seems a bit foolish to assume we will never change where we grow particular crops.
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Re: Growing Areas Will Change (Score:2)
The Romans used to sweeten that shitty British wine with lead.
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The conclusion that beer will taste worse is even more ridiculous. There are already differences between the current areas and between different years. It's not like all hop produced today is somehow always at the perfect level of iso-alpha acid content, yet nobody has noticed any difference in the taste of commercial beer over the years (unless recipes were changed intentionally, of course).
Gee, I wonder whether one of the oldest food related industries in the world, producing an incredibly limited set of
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So that is why all US "chocolate" tastes like dried crap...
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It already cost more and taste worse.
That's also what happened with chocolate in the US once manufacturers began replacing cocoa butter with PGPR. You would assume there'd be some huge backlash over it with people dumping their chocolate into the Boston harbor or something, but nope. People are remarkably accepting of the enshitification of their food. Similarly, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Europeans get used to flavorless beer; Americans already have.
For those of us over this side of the pond... He's talking about Polyglycerol polyricinoleate being added as an emulsifier. Also called E476. Dark chocolate is less likely to contain it.
However that's not the worst abuse Americans have visited upon chocolate, the addition of Butyric acid surely takes that crown and predates E476 (PGPR) by some decades. It's a natural enzyme that is also found in, amongst other things, Parmesan cheese and human vomit, which gives both their distinct aroma. It was added by
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People are remarkably accepting of the enshitification of their food.
I doubt that is true. I am betting that most people do not like it but realize there is nothing they can do about it.
We have been very effectively divided as a society. It remains to be seen what the concentration of power such devilry brings us.
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It remains to be seen what the concentration of power such devilry brings us.
Whatever makes them more money.
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Didn't know that about PGPR, yikes. In the book Salt Sugar Fat there's an interview with the creator of Velveeta cheese. The dude recounts spitting out his usual afternoon snack of Velveeta and crackers and rushing to the phone to scream at the company for replacing the 20% or so of actual cheese the classic recipe used to contain. According to him the modern formulation tastes like axle grease.
one of the things I've found is that the processed food industry has their shills and paid defenders fucking E
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I'd just be happy if the bros stopped putting in so many hops until it's undrinkable. They need to do more with quality of hops rather than quantity.
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I'd just be happy if the bros stopped putting in so many hops until it's undrinkable. They need to do more with quality of hops rather than quantity.
I like beer to have flavor, but some American craft breweries seem to have the belief that the only flavor worth brewing is bitter.
I do like hoppy beers, but that's not the only flavor you can have in beer. I was in a brew pub a couple of weeks ago, and they had I think eight different kinds of IPA, a pilsner, and one dark beer, a porter. So, I ordered the porter... and they were out of it.
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they had I think eight different kinds of IPA
Thankfully this trend is dying. It can't go fast enough.
lolol (Score:2)
Speaking as a hophead this whole idea that you can't find another kind of beer in American microbreweries is total horseshit. Some of them only even have one IPA and it's not all that hoppy. A bunch of them focus on sour beers, which is a million times more inexplicable than IPAs. If you want a sour alcoholic beverage just drink wine already.
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I was going to post that most of the best beer in Europe has very little hops at all compared to American crap. The really super strong Belgian Ale's for instance have VERY little hops in it. I'm really not a huge beer drinker, but I severely despise our crap in the United States. The only beer that I really enjoy is the Belgian trappist Chimay blue label grande reserve. Very strong alcohol content, very dark, very little hops. Beer in America is trash, especially lager, but even the ales are crap.
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Chimay Blue is for sipping, otherwise you get too dizzy too fast.
This will make people take notice (Score:4, Interesting)
Forget rising temperatures, forget an increase in weird weather, forget droughts. You mess with people's beer and action will be taken.
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I do not really care what it takes as long as the politicians wake up and start to follow through on climate change commitments and policies.
The UK government seems to be pretending that climate change will fix itself if we stick our fingers in our ears and sing La-La-La. I said as much in my 4th email to my MP in 3 weeks on this topic; the governing Tory party is in complete denial. This, for me, makes them completely unelectable.
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Beer has CO2.
It's only a matter of time until it is illegal.
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In the future only Guinness will be legal. :)
"Guinness beer, a dark stout beer, is pressurized with nitrogen gas."
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There is always Guinness, which is nitrogen charged.
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Beer CO2 comes from carbohydrates, which are produced from CO2 removed from the atmosphere by plants.
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That's the worst part.
It was sequestered. Now it's not
I wonder how many people die as a result of each CO2 atom humans release?
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Forget rising temperatures, forget an increase in weird weather, forget droughts. You mess with people's beer and action will be taken.
No. Action will not be taken. There will be a few 'troubles', but everything continue as it has. I do not think you realize how powerful it is to have your information selectively given to you.
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Unless you load their diets with endocrine disruptors, seed oils, and fake meat... then they'll hold still for pretty much everything
A sign from the God Pub (Score:1)
Finally something that will motivate conservatives to back solutions!
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We must immediately start pumping out more CO2 to improve the heat tolerance and productivity of those crops!
https://www.nasa.gov/technolog... [nasa.gov].
Nope, just grow hops further north (Score:2)
Finally something that will motivate conservatives to back solutions!
Nope, just grow hops further north. Sorry Bavaria and Bohemia.
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Putting some places into a more temperate instead of too cold climate is not magically going to cause better crop yields because the soil just isn't there. Soil isn't just some kinda dirt and it doesn't matter that it was permafrost the past couple hundred years.
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Is that why they raided Ukraine? For their black soil?
That's an even more outlandish reason than wanting to corner the sunflower oil market, but hey, I've heard worse conspiracies.
If... (Score:2)
Researchers forecast that hop yields in European growing regions will fall by 4-18% by 2050 if farmers do not adapt to hotter and drier weather, while the content of alpha acids in the hops, which gives beers their distinctive taste and smell, will fall by 20-31%.
Farmers are not stupid. What ever it takes to keep their yields they will do. Beer drinkers are safe.
Re:If... (Score:4, Interesting)
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Hahaha, no. The little problem with climate change is that it exceeds the current adaption ability of the human race in basically all aspects. There is no reason to believe this will change anytime soon. (Well, except as a "ignore the problem" "strategy" that makes everything even worse...)
Things change (Score:3, Interesting)
Monks have been brewing certain beers in Europe since before the last Warm Period and into the Little Ice Age, theyâ(TM)ve survived through wars, droughts, the Black Death, severe weather. The temperature changing a degree over the next 100 years is minor, there have been bigger fluctuations in the history of eg. Affligem (a beer brewed since 1054).
The reason costs are driven up in Europe is regulation, pure and simple. The weather has had very minimal effect on global market operations.
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What are you talking about? Everyone agrees any problem in the world today is because of the climate change crisis. Don’t be a climate denier!
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Yeah, I have tasted beer brewed with medieval means. It's one of the "joys" of having an experimental archaeologist as a friend (another one is being used as a mechanical crane operator, ya know, the guys that ran in those huge hamster wheels...).
You know why they drank beer? Because the water was even dirtier and more likely to give you the shits. It was absolutely, positively and CERTAINLY not for the taste.
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My wife would say we still don't drink beer for taste today and I have to kind-of agree with that.
That being said, we have evolved, as you point out, in far worse conditions than whatever the issues of today are. I'm not saying they don't need fixing, I'm just saying things could be worse, to worry about a slightly different tasting beer (as if anyone would notice) is a bit far fetched and fixing climate issues cannot be done by regressing back to the stone age on the levels of sanity, medical progress etc
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Sure, conditions were worse in the past, but people also died earlier and to much more trivial problems than today. Quite frankly, If this was another age, e.g. the 1800s, I'd be dead by now.
I don't really long for the "good ol' days". They were anything but good.
For a sufficiently high definition of "middle" (Score:1)
It is usually flavoured with aromatic hops grown mostly in the middle latitudes....
1. Redefine "middle latitudes" to some number closer to 90.
2. Grow hops mostly in the newly-defined "middle latitudes."
3. ???
4. PROFIT!!!!
The joke is, sadly, that this is not a joke.
Simon says (Score:4, Interesting)
Julian Simon says costs will continue to drop, and quality, including taste, will continue to increase. [juliansimon.com]
Sans government interference.
This isn't really disagreeing with the scientists prognosticating physical problems, only that, in spite of them, clever humans will continue to adapt faster than problems become problems, often using such science to help adapt. As long as some politician doesn't decide beer needs command and control and rationing.
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I hope someone else handles your investments for you, because past performance is no guarantee of future results!
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That's where climate change will make a dent. The EU has a lot of legally-protected brands/styles (beers, cheese, wine, etc, etc) which are tied the climatology of a limited geographic range, and climate change is going to move those areas (and possibly make the style irreproducible through traditional methods).
Which sucks, but it's arguably one of the less troublesome aspects of climate change. Unless you're a producer of one of those prot
And very little will change. (Score:3)
For all the snobbery in alcohol appreciation (and I do love scotch), the price going up and the quality going down isn't going to make people walk away. Their tastes will adjust.
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Their tastes will adjust.
You sound like someone who drinks beer to fit in rather than drinking beer for the enjoyment and the taste.
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What a strange conclusion. No idea how you got there.
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What a strange conclusion. No idea how you got there.
Simple, people don't adjust their tastes of something they really appreciate because of price. They do so for things they don't appreciate. If you're a person who thinks beer is beer then your taste will adjust. If you're a person who appreciates the intricacies and really enjoys the one specific flavour and style of that special DIPA made by a specific Estonian craft brewery you will stick with the price rise, but not the change in taste. The change in taste will make you walk away.
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Sure. But I was more commenting on walking away from liquor in general. By taste changing I meant that they'll move to something else. But I don't believe people have a "my preferred thing or none at all" stance when it comes to booze. If beer in general gets worse, people will move to the best beer available... but I don't believe they'll stop drinking beer.
Does anyone that is not european have a problem (Score:1)
I don't know. (Score:2)
I don't know if I can take any more bad news.
so they will have to rename it american beer (Score:1)
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What's the difference?
How about wine instead? (Score:1)
This was about the time the Vikings colonized Greenland (and Iceland) and found Vinland (Nova Scotia).
Then came the little ice age and Britons turned to beer (cause the grapes wouldn't grow anymore), Vikings abandoned Nova Scotia and Greenland (too cold).
And the Anasazi disappeared (I assume these little climate change were all across the northern hemisphere, not just western europe), pre
Ok, that's it! (Score:2)
Enough is enough! So far, I didn't care and tossed the styrofoam containers for my grease burgers into the natural reserve, but if that's the price, it's time that we pick up recycling!
America way past Bud (Score:1)
We've had good beer in the US for a long time and it's not going anywhere. I suppose my EU friends can import some fine ale from the US.
Finally, I have been converted (Score:1)
In other news, new hop farms further north (Score:2)
These dumbass articles are good for a giggle, but farmers are keen to grow crops where they'll grow. So the hop farms will move further North. In Europe hops are grown as far south as Spain (which is quite toasty) and as far North as Poland. Perhaps the Spanish hop farms will shut down and Denmark will grow them.
green gaslighting? (Score:1)
Darn it (Score:1)
Thats fine (Score:3, Interesting)
Besides "climate breakdown" being a loaded biased term (there is no breakdown, climate can never be static), hops are a recent addition.
There are plenty of styles that don't use them. Personally I'm not too fond of hoppy beers at all.
Mead, Ale (the original ale, not the beer kind), wine (a benefit of climate development is wine is on the up again in the UK, maybe we will be back to the Roman climate!) can all be made. Too many to list.
Also having worked for a brewing company, one thing I noticed is the lack of hops. We barely grow them in the UK. We import them from the US mainly.
Europeans will adapt (Score:2)
climate (Score:2)
The climate is causing my car to be more expensive. I had to give up beer.
Globalist-Fascists are really reaching on this one (Score:2)
Not the big bad boogeyman of Climate Change! I've heard he'll kick your puppy and steal your socks!
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Have a glass of water, for Pete's sake.
If everyone drank water, none would be left for the beer.
Re:How dare they (Score:4, Funny)
If everyone drank water, none would be left for the beer.
That almost sounds like a German proverb...
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Drinking water? Drinking? Fish fuck in that stuff!
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so that we may know you aren't just some right-wingnut foaming at the mouth.
Didn't the frothy mouth already give it away?
Re:Beer tastes disgusting anyway (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Beer tastes disgusting anyway (Score:5, Informative)
Painting all beer as 'bland' and 'bitter' while championing wine rather misses the point my friend. Would you accept it if I labeled all wines as sweet hangover creators? Beer runs the gamut as much as wine does. I've lived in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th States by wine production. There are wineries less than 15 minutes from my house. I've traveled to California, Italy, Argentina, and France and toured their wine regions. Every one of these locations had unique to them wine varieties, flavors, and experiences. Some weren't to my liking, my native State (New York) produces a lot of sweet wine I've largely outgrown, but I've found great wines virtually everywhere I've bothered to look.
Beer is no different. It can range from pale to stout and everything in between. It includes types (e.g., sours) that don't neatly fall on a taste graph. I don't like them all. You called out bitter, so I'll talk about IPAs, one of my favorites except these days they have been massively overdone, because it's easy to cover up a cheap/bad beer with hops. Still some good ones out there but they're hard to find amongst the bad.
Regardless, point is, there's a huge range of beer flavors that are neither bland nor bitter. You don't have to like beer but don't assume it's all the same.
Re: Beer tastes disgusting anyway (Score:1)
Whatever flavour a beer has is masked by the hops. It's like some fizzy drinks which just taste of sugar regardless of any underlying flavours.
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If you don't like beer, well, that's fine. Though it probably means you haven't tasted very many given you don't like them. It's kind of weird to make assertions about something you don't drink and has a lot of regional variation.
There are many and, they taste quite different. There are different varieties of hops which impart different flavours and different brewing and preparation methods also impart wildly different flavours. Mild for example is both heavily roasted and very lightly hopped.
Unless you liv
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If you're drinking a stout and taste the hops it's a bad stout or you have the most's most unique taste buds. There are also beers that do not use hops at all.
Like I said, you don't have to like it, not trying a hard sell here, but you would benefit from broadening your horizons a bit.
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Painting all beer as 'bland' and 'bitter' while championing wine rather misses the point my friend. Would you accept it if I labeled all wines as sweet hangover creators? Beer runs the gamut as much as wine does. I've lived in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th States by wine production. There are wineries less than 15 minutes from my house. I've traveled to California, Italy, Argentina, and France and toured their wine regions. Every one of these locations had unique to them wine varieties, flavors, and experiences. Some weren't to my liking, my native State (New York) produces a lot of sweet wine I've largely outgrown, but I've found great wines virtually everywhere I've bothered to look.
Beer is no different. It can range from pale to stout and everything in between. It includes types (e.g., sours) that don't neatly fall on a taste graph. I don't like them all. You called out bitter, so I'll talk about IPAs, one of my favorites except these days they have been massively overdone, because it's easy to cover up a cheap/bad beer with hops. Still some good ones out there but they're hard to find amongst the bad.
Regardless, point is, there's a huge range of beer flavors that are neither bland nor bitter. You don't have to like beer but don't assume it's all the same.
When it comes to beer, you do not really appreciate the full gamut of flavours available until you've delved into cask ale.
I've highlighted the places you've mentioned because none of them are cask ale (A.K.A. real ale) producing regions, the UK and Germany with a few others amongst northern Europe. As cask ale is brewed and stored at cellar temp (rather than temp controlled like modern lager styles) they only tend to be produced in certain climates. I'll wager this is the kind of beer they're talking a
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I never got the appeal of this bland bitter tasting drink. Is it just machismo to pretend to like it?
The recent popularity of hard seltzers is a testament to the fact that yes, a lot of people don't care much for the taste of beer.
Re: Beer tastes disgusting anyway (Score:2)
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Are we talking beer or the dishwater that's sold under that name in the US?
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Your head is obviously so far up your culo, all you can taste is your own shit.
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I never got the appeal of this bland bitter tasting drink. Is it just machismo to pretend to like it?
No I'm not tea total, a love a good brandy or wine. But beer? Blech.
Bland? Sound like you had whatever cheap yellow piss your local city/state serves. I don't judge all of American cuisine by a McDonald's cheeseburger either.
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Guinness and ales tastes even worse. HTH.
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I agree. Now that you've addressed maybe 3% of beer on the world, what's your opinion on the rest of the many styles?
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I never got the appeal of this bland bitter tasting drink. Is it just machismo to pretend to like it?
No I'm not tea total, a love a good brandy or wine. But beer? Blech.
A person who comes home from work and just wants a cheap and effective way to disconnect from stress and simply have some happy feels is not machismo. It's just trying to enjoy life a bit.
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I never got the appeal of this bland bitter tasting drink. Is it just machismo to pretend to like it?
I used to think the same. Until one summer day I hiked along a railroad track for a few miles until I got really thirsty - and upon reaching a commercial area side-tripped a couple blocks to a bar and asked for a water or soda. But this bar had none, and recommended their on-tap beer.
It tasted REALLY good, like it had just the right mix of electrolytes, vitamins, and other nutrients to restore my body afte
Re: Beer tastes disgusting anyway (Score:2)
Weed smells like a combination of body odour and boiled cabbage to me. But I guess if you're high you wont be smelling much anyway.
Re: Beer tastes disgusting anyway (Score:2)
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if you like the smell of marijuana
I'm convinced the only people who like that smell are the ones who have associated it with getting high. I've never done weed and to me it's easily in my top 10 most revolting smells. I'd describe it as smelling like something between a roadkilled skunk and that acrid smell you get when a computer PSU has a capacitor blowout.