American beer
From ArticleWorld
The United States has always been a beer drinking nation, an American Beer drinking nation, they are also one of the top beer producing countries of the world. As of now, the United States has more breweries than even Germany.
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History
The brewing traditions of England and the Netherlands (as brought to New York) ensured that the colonies would be dominated by beer consumption instead of wine. Up until the middle of the 19th century, ales dominated American brewing industry.
This changed as the lager styles, brought by German immigrants, turned out to be more profitable for large-scale manufacturing and distribution. Names such as Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz became known through the breweries they founded or gained, and many others followed. Czech immigrants also made their contributions to United States beer.
The lager brewed by these companies was not the extremely mild lager that is now associated with modern US megabreweries. This American pilsner was a significantly stronger beer, both in flavor and alcohol content, that was designed to meet the appetites of both native Americans and central European immigrants of the time.
Prohibition
All of this came to a halt when Prohibition was imposed upon the land. Only a few of the largest breweries were able to stay in business, by manufacturing near beer, malt syrup, or other non-alcohol grain based products.
Additionally, to soft drinks such as colas and root beers. Production and shipping of alcohol was largely confined to illegal operations, which could deliver hard liquors, such as smuggled rum and domestic moonshine, much more efficiently and safely than bulkier products such as beer.
World War II
Before the American Beer industry could re-establish itself, World War II began. This further inhibited the re-emergence of smaller breweries, pushing lower cost ingredients that were not rationed.
For more than fifty years after the end of Prohibition, the United States beer market was heavily dominated by large commercial breweries, producing beers more noted for their uniformity than for any particular or special flavor.
Macro brewery
Beers such as those made by Anheuser-Busch and Coors followed a restricted style, with large-scale industrial processes and the use of low-cost ingredients. The dominance of the so-called "microbrew" led to an international stereotype of "American beer," as poor in quality and flavor.
The '80s
However, since the resurgence of the commercial craft brewing industry in the 1980s, the United States now features wide variety of beers, offered by over 1500 brewpubs, microbreweries, and regional brewers such as Anchor Brewing Company of San Francisco and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, and contract brewed brands such as Samuel Adams.
The oldest
In much of eastern Pennsylvania including Philadelphia, the word "lager" is synonymous with Youngling Traditional Lager, a flavorful beer from a regional brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania which was founded in 1829, making it the oldest American family owned operating brewery, surviving prohibition.
While in volume the microbrews still dominate, smaller producers brew in a variety of styles influenced by local sources of hops and other ingredients as well as by various European traditions that the passed down from generation to generation.