Beer Styles: The Classic Imports

Early in my beer drinking career there were far fewer choices than there are now, and most of these choices were American pale lagers. Budweiser and its higher status cousin, Michelob, Miller and local varieties like Schmidt's and Schaeffer's. However, for the adventurous among us, there were the imports.

During the sixties the notion that European-brewed beer was superior to American beer took hold. Returning servicemen who had been stationed in Germany sang the praises of German beer in particular and imported lagers began to develop a following in the United States. The imported beers that I recall from my youth are Heineken, Becks, Lowenbrau and Guinness. Back then, I really didn't know squat about beer, and drank imports because they made me seem more knowledgeable and sophisticated than I actually was.

Guinness was possibly the only stout that I encountered before the craft beet explosion of the last twenty years. A lot of people that I knew drank Guinness on St. Patrick's Day, but I didn't see a lot of consumption during the rest of the year, although it was considered by many to be one of the "good" beers. A persistent misconception about Guinness is that it is stronger than "regular" beers, which is not true. The alcohol content is in the same general range as an American pale lager and in my opinion it's not appreciably heavier than run-of-the-mill lagers. Their is a noticeably higher hop content and a roasted malt character that differentiate it from pale lagers. Guinness is what most people are referring to when they think of "dark beer", whether they like it or not!

Heineken, Becks, and Lowenbrau were all pale lagers, although they all made dark versions; Heineken was from Holland and the others were from Germany. I remember thinking, when drinking a Heineken, that there as something wrong with it. Part of it was that the European beers were hoppier and had more flavor than an American beer, but part of it was that the beer had skunked. The main reason that a beer can go bad is the influence of ultraviolet light which will cause the beer to take on a "skunky" aroma and taste. Since these beers were packaged in clear glass bottles there was ample opportunity for UV contamination, especially since they did not sell as fast as cheaper-priced American beers. For years I thought that this was just how German and Dutch beers tasted and eventually moved away from them. However, now Heineken can be purchased in cans - I notice that the canned version tastes a lot better than the glass version.

Other imports that have gained in popularity, but that I did not see much in my younger days are Fosters, Corona and Negra Modelo. Fosters is Australian in origin and comes in their signature 24 oz. cans. Corona and Negra Modelo are Mexican brews.

These days you can get imports from all over the world. Specialty beer stores carry beers from the U.K., Russia and Japan as well as Germany and Belgium. But back in my younger days, there wewre few to choose from.