[Rick Lee]

Another forum I post in once in a while got talking about good beer places in Phoenix. Lots of us lamented there are few, and then some folks chimed in about how craft beers are so great and ours are the world's envy. Kidding me? If you like craft beer, that's fine. But I do plenty of int'l. travel and the only American beer I've ever seen in Europe is in some American-themed novelty diner or saloon, usually having to do with Route 66 nostalgia. I've seen Pabst and Budwesier in China, but all American stuff there is fashionable.


IMHO, Pilsner Urquell and Budvar (the original Budweiser from CZ) are the best. If you're into that kind of beer, then Germany and CZ are hard to beat in that area. I spent a week in the Czech Republic in May and don't recall seeing anything other than PU, Budvar and Staropramen. And I drank a LOT there every day. In Germany I tend to stay away from the big national brands and drink the local stuff. Though some of it has recently become nationally popular, so it's no longer just local.

I have never had a craft beer in the US I cared for. To me they all taste like an IPA, no matter what they call it. And I hate IPA. My default beer in the US is Stella when they don't serve anything I know is better. And I don't really love Stella, but it's ok.

As for Chinese beers in the US, I like Tsing Tao and Harbin. The few others that are available here I think are pretty light. As I type this I'm drinking Krombacher, which is pretty big in northern Germany. Last night I had two bottles of Steigl, a pilsner from Salzburg, Austria. I'm very lucky to have a huge beer dist. nearby with many great European beers for reasonable money.