And lets not forget the great social experiment called Prohibition. The
larger breweries were far more financially capable to turn to the production
of other foodstuffs while the small local and regional breweries were forced
into closure and / or bankruptcy.
While I agree that stiff competition and mergers / acquisitions in the
middle to late 1900's aided in the homogenization of American beer, it
really started much earlier.
As for the predominance of German styles in American brewing, I feel that
also has a lot to do with WWII. Not to sound sexist, but I've met very few
women that prefer darker or fuller bodied beer (traits more typical of
British styles). With the number of men abroad in the late 40's and early
50's its not surprising that breweries would change their production to
match the remaining demographic's tastes.
-aric.
-----Original Message-----
<snip>
The transition to the mass produced German style beers really came about
in the latter part of
the 19th century. This mass produced product was so cheap it crowded out
the local brews so the
local breweries went out of business (the one in my home town finally died
in the 70's).
<snip>
Greg Petrolati
Greg Petrolati Champaign, Illinois 1962 TR4 (CT4852L)
That's not a leak... My car's just marking its territory...
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