While not the cheapest, IPAs are relatively easy to make and extremely easy to iterate on. IPAs in general allow brewers to fine-tune flavors and thus pump out multiple novel flavors quickly in order to find a market. If you go the stout or lager route, there's really only so much wiggle room as they're mostly 'solved' beers; as in buyers know exactly what they want to taste, and you better deliver that taste. IPAs are also really, really easy to dial in alcohol content without giving up flavor, where as lagers like Budweiser can only lower alcohol content while lowering the overall taste profile, hence the term 'piss water' for low alcohol lagers.

[–] bemenaker@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ipa allow brewers to mask brewing mistakes by burying them in hop flavor. And if you think Budweiser is the only example of a lager, you shouldn't be talking about beer. You can create 5-6% lagers without sacrificing flavor. There are tons of good lagers out there, Budweiser isn't one of them.

[–] eestileib@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

I was with you until the very end. Budweiser is a good lager, like Imagine Dragons is good pop music.

This does not apply in any way to Bud Light.

[–] escapesamsara@discuss.online -3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I think most people would agree, in general, lagers are the worst beer; but sure there could be a good low alcohol lager somewhere out there. Stouts will always win out in my book so maybe my tastes don't align well with others.

[–] negativeyoda@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Saying lager is a style is kind of a misnomer, lagers use a different type of fermentation that takes longer than ales. Budweiser is a mass produced riff on the (Czech) pilsner style which is a lager. The thing with Bud is a lot of these sorts of beers use adjuncts in the malt bill which gives them a light body/ flavor. Instead of high quality wheat, there's a lot of filler gains like rice and corn to the point where some can almost be considered gluten free. At the end of the day those sorts of beers are impressive in that they can create so much of it in different facilities and have it be so consistent.

Saying pilsners are bad after drinking only Bud is like eating McDonald's and thinking all beef is terrible

Side note: Baltic Porters can be brewed as ales or lagers and they're probably right up your alley

[–] Thetimefarm@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

This is just ignorant lol. If you don't like lager you don't like lager but that doesn't mean it's the worst beer. I don't really like stout but I'm not going around saying it's the worst, it's all preference. There are tons of different types of lager if you actually look, plenty of micro brewers make them.

[–] bemenaker@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Considering lagers are the number 1 selling beer in the world, you're wrong. You know that lager is a broad term that actually covers several styles, including some of the most popular specialties. The fact that you think a lager means Budweiser shows that you don't understand the conversation. Helles, maibock, bock, Vienna's, Octoberfest, pilsner, are all lagers and that's not the full list. American macrobrew is not the definition of a lager, which is why a class was made called.american light lager to cover those.