[Robert]

Some folks don't like some beers.   De gustibus non est disputandum,  chacun à son goût, &c.

[HopDen]

WTH is BMC? Im absolutely clueless here and a bit embarrassed.

[jeffy]

WTH is BMC? Im absolutely clueless here and a bit embarrassed.

Bud/Miller/Coors

[dmtaylor]

I actually drank a couple of Bud Lights warm from pitchers last night at a party.  Tasted a bit like banana and maybe a slight hint of pineapple.  Didn't taste like a$$ but there's definitely some low esters in there.  I've tasted that before, but really only when it's warmed up for a half hour like this stuff was.  Meanwhile I avoided the Coors Light like the plague.

[KellerBrauer]

WTH is BMC? Im absolutely clueless here and a bit embarrassed.

Bud/Miller/Coors

Ahhh Haa - now I know what BMC stand for.  My opinion has not changed on these brews.  However, I can say that many-many years ago, Coors was not sold east of the Mississippi River.  At that time, Coors beer was very good and I enjoyed it regularly - or at least whenever we were able to drive to Iowa to buy it.  I heard it could not be sold east of the Mississippi because it was not pasteurized. Once it was approved to be sold to the east, it didn’t have the same flavor characteristics at all.

[goose]

WTH is BMC? Im absolutely clueless here and a bit embarrassed.

Bud/Miller/Coors

Ahhh Haa - now I know what BMC stand for.  My opinion has not changed on these brews.  However, I can say that many-many years ago, Coors was not sold east of the Mississippi River.  At that time, Coors beer was very good and I enjoyed it regularly - or at least whenever we were able to drive to Iowa to buy it.  I heard it could not be sold east of the Mississippi because it was not pasteurized. Once it was approved to be sold to the east, it didn’t have the same flavor characteristics at all.

Agreed!  I used to bring back cases of Coors Banquet beer from St. Louis when I worked my radio engineer career (before I started homebrewing).  Once they opened a brewery east of the Mississippi to handle the increased demand for the beer in this part of the country, the flavor of the beer changed a great deal.

[Todd H.]

I actually drank a couple of Bud Lights warm from pitchers last night at a party.  Tasted a bit like banana and maybe a slight hint of pineapple.  Didn't taste like a$$ but there's definitely some low esters in there.

Having done the brewery tour at Labatt in London ON a few times (where they brew all of the Bud for the Canadian market), the banana is intentional, even pointed out during the tasting you so at the end of the tour, hence not a flaw.  I don't care for it personally.  I do love PBR though.

[Visor]

   I have read several places, I don't recall where, that the majors have significantly reduced hopping rates on their lagers over the past 4 decades, and this didn't come from conspiracy theorists but rather from people within the companies - Bud and Coors IIRC. The hopping rates have been falling in response to evolving tastes of their customers, not just to save on production costs. I'm not defending the big bad boys, just relaying what I have read.

[reverseapachemaster]

I think a lot of it comes down to creating beer intended to be consumed cold that doesn't taste as great at a different temperature. Chicken soup is delicious warm but cold it's not so great.

I wonder how much of this is psychological built out of marketing that beer is supposed to be frigid and warm beer is really bad. As a result tasting the different grains or yeast character is treated as "bad" flavors when that would be a positive in most other beers. If you have been convinced those types of beers only taste great when they taste like cold white bread then you would reasonably expect to consider other normal beer flavors as bad or off.

I also wonder, conversely, how much of that is disdain for BMC. Lots of breweries are making corn and rice adjunct lagers calling them creative names like Japanese-inspired rice lager. I wonder if these craft versions of industrial lagers inspire the same disdain at warm temperatures.

[Robert]

   I have read several places, I don't recall where, that the majors have significantly reduced hopping rates on their lagers over the past 4 decades, and this didn't come from conspiracy theorists but rather from people within the companies - Bud and Coors IIRC. The hopping rates have been falling in response to evolving tastes of their customers, not just to save on production costs. I'm not defending the big bad boys, just relaying what I have read.

I have read that some of the "drift" has been unintentional or unconscious.   AB even had a longstanding practice,  dating from the early 80s when they became aware of this general trend, of freezing cans of Budweiser in liquid nitrogen, to be opened at intervals of 5 or 10 years and tasted against current product, to ensure flavor consistency over the long term.   That was when a Busch was always at the helm;  I don't know if the practice has been continued since 2007. At any rate, Bud does continue to be the most estery of the bigs, as ToddH notes, although it is a character I've never cared for.

About Coors,  as discussed by Goose and KellerBrauer:  Is the Banquet brand produced at the VA site, or is it still all from Golden?  If it is being made at a different plant, that might possibly explain my perception of a change in it in the last decade.  (Thought it was just my aging taste buds.)  As for the mystique it held before national distribution,  I always figured it was just that: mystique.   Forbidden fruit,  greener grass other side of the fence,  you know.  But I defer to those of you who actually made heroic Smokey and the Bandit runs out west to retrieve it!

[rodwha]

I use 2 lbs of flaked corn along with 6.75 lbs of 6-row and it doesn’t taste like that when it’s warm. That’s close to 20% adjunct. Not sure what percentage BMC beers run. Of course my cream ale runs 20 IBUs and not 8-12...

[HopDen]

WTH is BMC? Im absolutely clueless here and a bit embarrassed.

Bud/Miller/Coors

Ahhh Haa - now I know what BMC stand for.  My opinion has not changed on these brews.  However, I can say that many-many years ago, Coors was not sold east of the Mississippi River.  At that time, Coors beer was very good and I enjoyed it regularly - or at least whenever we were able to drive to Iowa to buy it.  I heard it could not be sold east of the Mississippi because it was not pasteurized. Once it was approved to be sold to the east, it didn’t have the same flavor characteristics at all.

Agreed!  I used to bring back cases of Coors Banquet beer from St. Louis when I worked my radio engineer career (before I started homebrewing).  Once they opened a brewery east of the Mississippi to handle the increased demand for the beer in this part of the country, the flavor of the beer changed a great deal.

So now I know!!
It's on a rare occasion that I drink Budweiser, I like it still and I crushed a million of them in my life. I haven't had a Miller in the better part of 40 years and IMHO Coors really sucks! Of course I'm typing this while sipping on a Ommegang Hennepin Saison Ale.

[ethinson]

I think a lot of it comes down to creating beer intended to be consumed cold that doesn't taste as great at a different temperature. Chicken soup is delicious warm but cold it's not so great.

I wonder how much of this is psychological built out of marketing that beer is supposed to be frigid and warm beer is really bad. As a result tasting the different grains or yeast character is treated as "bad" flavors when that would be a positive in most other beers. If you have been convinced those types of beers only taste great when they taste like cold white bread then you would reasonably expect to consider other normal beer flavors as bad or off.

I also wonder, conversely, how much of that is disdain for BMC. Lots of breweries are making corn and rice adjunct lagers calling them creative names like Japanese-inspired rice lager. I wonder if these craft versions of industrial lagers inspire the same disdain at warm temperatures.

The marketing is certainly part of it.  Not only are they supposed to be drank cold, but as quickly as possible, so who cares about taste? Coors Light commercials use the word cold 16 times and never once reference taste.  Those commercials drive me nuts, because they aren't lying at all, but they focus on "cold filtering" and "cold packaging" as if they were the only ones doing it, rather than the industry standard that every brewery on the planet does.  I'm sure there's a word for it, but it's deceptive.  It's not untrue, but they aren't "special" or different for it.

My father-in-law and brother-in-law are Coors drinkers (sometimes Miller Lite) and I would agree to the "thinking normal beer flavors are bad" is true, because you give them anything with dark malt or hops in it and they make bitter beer face.  I think they could eventually like it because it is an acquired taste, but they are pretty set in their ways and likely aren't going to change. I'd imagine most B/M/C drinkers are such, they've been drinking it for 40 years or are new to beer and like Coors Light specifically because it's flavorless.

As far as other lagers, I think it's half perception and half that some of the other ones are simply better. I'll admit I do like Pacifico a lot, and most of the Japanese beers like Sapparo and TsingTao which are also rice but in my opinion "cleaner".

[rodwha]

For me it’s not disdain for BMC. I just prefer more character if I’m buying/making it, though I have made a couple of cream ales (initially just to see) and blondes. I’ll buy a Coors if I’m somewhere that craft beer isn’t sold.

But a requirement for me, as I typically am a slow supper taking up to an hour to consume a beer, can’t have something that needs to be nearly frozen and kept in a koozie.

[Lazy Ant Brewing]

I agree that warming up beer changes the taste perception.

What astounds me is that the mass market breweries can still sell the vast quantities of their "swill."

I go to a local casino that has a nice bar with 20 or so craft beers on tap.  About nine out of 10 guys or gals will order a Bud, Bud Light, or Coors Lite in a can for $4.50 and for a buck more they could have a real draft beer with great taste.

Guess I'm just prejudiced for good flavor and variety!