ABSTRACT - "National Beers" and the problem with exports

"National Beers" and the Problem with Exports

A lot of beer we drink in England is a foriegn import. Estrella, San Miguel, Peroni, even Guiness are all prime examples. All popular beers in England but all imported from factories based largely in mainland Europe or (in the case of Guiness) Ireland. To the average beer drinker this makes no difference. I´ve been trying beers imported from other countries and have tried beers in the countries that produced them.

All of them taste better in their home countries.

This isn´t surprising, but it is somewhat annoying. On the surface, knowing that San Miguel tastes better while sitting in this study in my hotel in Barcelona than it does from a tap at my local in England does little to phase me, but knowing that I could be tasting superior flavours to what I get in England is more than a mere annoyance. The popular (and unattributed) saying "life´s too short to drink shit beer" comes to mind - why should I have to drink a lower quality beer than what it was intended to taste like?

And this is my point. When I visited the Guiness factory I tried Guiness there and it was amazing. The flavours were exactly how the tour guide had just described them to me and I was certain this was the best generic beer I could aspire to taste with my mortal taste buds. Returning to England and cracking open a fresh bottle from the local co-op I was shocked to find not only is it a lower ABV (a requirement for exports) but it just didn´t give me all the flavours that the tour guide had spoken to me about. I didn´t feel like I was drinking Guiness, more "Guiness Lite".

If we´re going to allow exports of beer, why do laws exist that regulate the ABV of beer, and indeed the methods and ingredients used to produce them? Surely the creativity and development, the study and effort that goes into producing every drop of beer desrves the respect of being delivered to anyone in the world exactly how the brewer intended?

Till these laws change, you´ve not had a real pint of anything brewed off our tiny little island until you hit Europe. Generic beers suddenly taste less generic and more how they were meant to taste. So to any budding beer tasters out there, come to Europe, the pint glasses are ready for you here (well, litre jugs, but who´s counting?).

And finally, if we really want to develop a true art in beer making on a wordlwide level, can we really achieve this when we so closely regulate the export and import of even the most common beers on the market? Food (or drink) for thought.