Greetings Beer Enthusiasts!
Food for thought while you nurse your St. Paddy's Day After Hangover.....
I hope most of you have been enjoying this year's NCCA Mens Baseketball Tournament. Yesterday was exquisite with a number of contests decided in OT, including the 2OT matchup where the WSU Cougers fell just short against Vandy; and VCU came soo close to sliding Cindirella's Slipper into the Sweet 16 before acquiessing to Pitt.
However, one thing has been bothering me during the whole tournament.....a commercial where a banner displaying Miller Lite as a 2006 World Beer Cup Gold Medal Winner is hoisted to the rafters along w/at least 2 other banners for '04 & '98. This weighed heavy on my conscience since no true beer festival would ever grant a medal to any cheap american swill beer.....would it?? So for the beer enthusiasts of the world, I've done some research...
The World Beer Cup is held every 2 years in Boulder, CO; and in 2006 over 2200 beers from 540 breweries in 52 different countries were entered into 85 different categories....this feels like a real beer festival, and not just a festival owned by Miller Brewing (Miller Brewing is not listed as an official sponsor)......but I digress...
If you scan through the 85 categories, along with styles ranging from Baltic Porter, to German-Style Heller Bock/Maibock, to Belgain-Style Dubbel you will also find Category 30: American-Style Lite Lager. According to the judges for this category - whom I must imagine represent the mid-50s, pork-rind eatin', baseball watchin', France hatin', God fearin' (but can't miss the game for church), American bretheren that we all know and love - actually chose Miller Lite as the best of 22 different entries in this particular category. Lone Start Lite (Pabst) received the Silver and Michelob Lite (Anheuser-Busch) the Bronze.
Without attending the event, I can't confirm that any of the remaining 19 entries were from any non-macro-swill brewers but if I BELIEVE that these beers (and those in the American-Style Lager & American-Style Premium and Special Lager categories) were all from macro-swill producers and Miller Lite is the least evil of all evil brews, I guess I can accept that.
It's after 5 somewhere - Happy Hair of the Dog for your Hangover!
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