Decent American Beer

I could use some help with an upcoming event. My boss wants American beer at the bar. However, this is an international conference, so she says (and I quote) "They think American beer is garbage. So no Bud."

I know next to nothing about beer. A co-worker agreed with my suggestion of Goose Island, but we should offer more than one thing. What other beers are American, not microbrew, and both good quality and reasonably priced?

https://youtu.be/VxejH0s4qdY?t=28s

Also, wine. I know about as much about that as I do about beer. There seem to be hundreds of possibilities in terms of vintage, etc. Are there any reliably good American wines I can point to?

Thanks!!

I've seen plenty of Half Acre at conference receptions at major hotels in downtown Chicago, but that doesn't meet the "no microbrew" criteria. Being strict about that definition means you might not even be able to serve Sam Adams. Goose, Sam, and Half Acre offer interesting alternatives to Budweiser; I'd add New Belgium, Lagunitas , Metropolitan, Two Brothers, Revolution... but none of the latter would meet a strict "no microbrew" criteria.

If it has to be macrobrew, just get those miniature kegs of Heineken

I would love to host an event and serve local beer to a bunch of Euros who thought that "American Beers are crap". These would rock their lame taste buds!

Im not sure what you mean by "no microbrew". No one uses that term anymore and most of the best beers you can find locally are going to be locally made, craft beer. No Bud, Blue Moon, etc.

Id consider the following brews:

Half Acre Daisy Cutter
Pipeworks Lizard King
Three Floyds Zombie Dust
Revolution Fist City
Off Color Troublesome
Solemn Oath Fun Sponge
Temperance Gatecrasher
Penrose Devoir
Urban Chestnut Zwickel
Destihl Wild Sour Flanders Red
Two Brothers Domaine Du Page

champs2005 wrote:Im not sure what you mean by "no microbrew". No one uses that term anymore...

Ha! News to me. You see I'm not much of beer cannoisseur.

Ah! Sam Adams! I forgot about that guy.

I'm going to give out some of these names, like Sam, Revolution, Three Floyds, Half Acre and Lagunitas, and see what happens. I'll post my progress.

Good idea, I dont think you can go wrong with that list of brewers! Most of these should be readily available at the downtown hotels. The local craft breweries have infiltrated the beer lists of even the most stodgy establishments in town for the most part.
Good luck for a fun event...

Thanks! I think a taste test is in order!

Just to add one, Lagunitas is local, by association at least, and most of their stuff is quite decent. A bit high in ABV (alcohol level), though. Which is a factor to consider, probably, with all the suggestions above (which are all excellent). For an international conference, maybe good to try & not get everybody schnockered too easily.

Two Brothers Domain Dupage for sure! It found it's way onto our "house beer" tap at the Pub for good reason. Completely accessible to most any beer drinker, not over the top in any way, clean, and great flavor to pair with most any menu you toss it against.

I was relieved after our move to Alaska to find Alaskan Brewery's "Amber Ale", it's mighty close to as good...not there, but close enough till Two Brothers starts shipping up North.

I will throw my two cents in as well. I think that the beers listed above are all very tasty; however, for an event where you are only going to probably have a couple of options (and a crowd of indeterminate beer interests), I would say that picking one of the more standard IPA or pale ale choices (Daisy Cutter or Laguinitas IPA would probably be my pick) and a Domaine DuPage, which is a little maltier, would cover a pretty broad beer spectrum. Additionally, all three of those should be fairly easy to get.

As much as I personally love really hoppy or funky beers, they aren't necessarily everyone's cup of tea.

Roger Ramjet wrote:For an international conference, maybe good to try & not get everybody schnockered too easily.

I think I should count on a schnockering. When there was a hint that we may have trouble getting a bar in order, you should have seen the looks on their faces. "We simply MUST have a bar!"

I like it here.

I'm really excited to see if I can get these. I hope we're told before the date. I appreciate your help, everybody!

Good point on just going with two beers: A hoppy floral APA/IPA like Daisy Cutter or Revolution Fist City or Anti Hero and then Domaine DuPage to offer the malty flavors. It isnt a beer tasting event per se and to offer locally crafted options in two distinct styles (at sessionable alcohol level) would be very nice for a work conference.

and yeah those Lagunitas beers can sneak up on you!

I'd agree with Northcenter Joe. For recent work events, I bought Founder's All Day IPA and Revolution Bottom's Up Wit.

As for your wine question, there are lots of great options. Personally, I'd spend some time talking to the folks at Vin Chicago or Binny's to get suggestions.

I'm curious why the "no microbrew" decree? FWIW the posters above have offered up some excellent beer suggestions.

We just think it will be a pain to get through our source. Or over budget. It's also an easy way to slim down the choices, otherwise I'd have to whittle a list a mile long.

bobbywal wrote:I'd add New Belgium, Lagunitas , Metropolitan, Two Brothers, Revolution... but none of the latter would meet a strict "no microbrew" criteria.

Since Lagunitas is now 50% owned by Heineken, that might take it out of the microbrew realm, just as Goose Island really isn't a microbrew, since it's owned by AB.

What is your source? Are you going through a single distributor, or is it at a venue served by all the key distributors? Maybe you could get a good deal with a nanobrewery (arguably, not a microbrewery, since they're even smaller), but they generally self-distribute, so there's no independent distributor to take a cut of the cost. For the record, Sketchbook is my favorite nanobrewery, but there are plenty of others in the area.

Pie Lady wrote:We just think it will be a pain to get through our source. Or over budget. It's also an easy way to slim down the choices, otherwise I'd have to whittle a list a mile long.

Revolution Brewing, Two Brothers, and Lagunitas (and probably at least some of the others named above) are carried by places like Peapod and Binny's, so I would guess they're not so micro as to be tough to get via your supplier.

We use Sodexo, and I have no idea who their vendor is. Basically if I don't ask, we get what they send, and everything else will have to be ordered. We have to go through them due to their contract with the University and our insurance.

Late to the party, but I vote Dovetail Brewery. So far they only brew a lager, rauchbier, and a hefeweisen, but I love what they're doing. And it's what you call local, plus it's BYOF (Food) and BYOD (Dog). Might even be a called a microbrewery in my idiolect.

Why has everybody forgotten Leinys ..Also New Glarus with its Spotted Cow

jerryg wrote:Why has everybody forgotten Leinys ..Also New Glarus with its Spotted Cow

I love Spotted Cow but it and everything from New Glarus is simply not available in IL.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:I love Spotted Cow but it and everything from New Glarus is simply not available in IL.

Woodman's in Kenosha isn't that far. They also carry the hard to find and vastly underrated Lake Louie beers.

nr706 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:I love Spotted Cow but it and everything from New Glarus is simply not available in IL.

Woodman's in Kenosha isn't that far. They also carry the hard to find and vastly underrated Lake Louie beers.

Yeah, Woodman's is where we go for it. I'll have to try the Lake Louie stuff next time we head up that way. Thanks, for the tip.

=R=

What did you end up going with, or is the event still to come?

If you can provide us with Sodexo's list, we can help you pin down those things that are drinkable and those that are not worth your money. There are lots and lots of good American wines, but you are unlikely to encounter them on a list provided by Sodexo. What is your budget and the number of people you expect to have to provide drinks for?

The event is over, and it was a success.

The beers we offered were: Budweiser, Bud Light, Goose Island 312, Guinness, Heineken, Stella Artois, McKenzie's Cider, and Bud-Ritas...though I honestly don't remember that one being there.

I had McKenzie's and it was fantastic. We could not get the others I tried for, above: Lagunitas, Three Brothers, etc. because that was in a higher bracket. No amount of wrangling was getting me anywhere; there was to be no mixing and matching. And some of those are imported...so I pretty much had to toss up my hands at the whole thing. I felt bad for our Irish contingent about the Guinness since it came out of a bottle. No proper pour for them!

The budget was tiny (we didn't really have a specific bar budget) and we estimated 95 people.

Pie Lady wrote: I felt bad for our Irish contingent about the Guinness since it came out of a bottle. No proper pour for them!

"Draft" Guinness nowadays is nitrokeg rubbish, no better than Bud or whatever. The bottled stuff is actually more likely to taste the way stout is supposed to (but beware the "draft in bottle" junk which is designed to have the same "taste" as the draft (i.e., not any).

Now, if you can get your hands on a bottle of their FES/Foreign Extra Stout ... that's worth drinking!