A taste for temperance: how American beer got to be so bland

ABSTRACT

This article examines the historical origins of bland American beer. The US was not strongly associated with a particular beer type until German immigrants popularised lager beer. Lager, refreshing and mildly intoxicating, met the demands of America's growing working class. Over time, American lager became lighter and blander. This article emphasises America's uncommonly strong temperance movement, which put the industry on the defensive. Brewers pushed their product as ‘the beverage of moderation,’ and consumers sought out light, relatively non-intoxicating beers. The recent ‘craft beer revolution’ is explained as a backlash aided by a changing consumer culture and improved information technology.

Keywords:

• Beer
• beer tastes
• temperance
• prohibition
• craft beer
• lager

Acknowledgements

This article would not exist without the insights and inspiration of Eline Poelmans. The helpful comments of two anonymous reviewers have greatly strengthened this article. Thanks also to Justin Pytlak, session participants at the 2014 Economic and Business History Society conference, participants at the SUNY Oswego Economics Department Workshop, the staff of the Beer Institute, and librarians at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, the Erie County Public Library, and Cornell University.

Notes

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4. Ogle, Ambitious Brew.

5. Ogle, Ambitious Brew, viii–ix, 72–84.

6. Ibid., 227.

7. Mittelman, Brewing Battles, 122, 190, 204.

8. Choi and Stack, “The All-American Beer,”79, 80, 82–83; Krugman, “Supply, Demand.”

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10. Krugman, “Supply, Demand,” 32–33.

11. Swaminathan, “Entry Into New Market.”

12. Ogle, Ambitious Brew.

13. Carroll and Swaminathan, “Why the Microbrewery Movement?”

14. McCluskey and Shreay, “Culture and Beer.”

15. Flack, American Microbreweries; Schnell and Reese, “Microbreweries.”

16. Smith, An Inquiry, 419.

17. Ibid., 422.

18. Downard, Dictionary, xv–xvi.

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28. See also Rorabaugh, The Alcoholic Republic, Table A1.2.

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30. Rorabaugh, Table A1.2.

31. Ibid., Table A1.2.

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34. Rorabaugh, Table A1.2.

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51. Ibid., 68.

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