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The Myth Of "Free Beer"

 Free beer, free beer, that's my favorite brand, sing Da yoopers, if I didn't have to buy it, it's the best beer in the land.  So, too, says Your Favorite Uncle At Thanksgiving.  Warm, flat, funky, it don't matter to me, the greatest beer in this whole world is the one you buy for me.

But then, the side comments set in:
"Sam Adams?  That tastes like shit."
"Founders?  Yeah, I worked there when they were brewing.  The hops smelled like sewage - they smelled like sewage!  I called my guys off because I thought we broke a sewer line!"
"Want a Bud?  No?  You brought your own?  You're a beer snob now."
"I don't drink that yuppy beer."
"I like Busch because Busch Light is too redneck for me"

I'd like to posit the idea that Baby Boomers don't really even like beer.

By 1910, before Prohibition, there were 1,498 breweries in the United States.  By 1979, that number dwindled to fewer than 50.  While the quantity of beer consumed had increased, the companies had consolidated their offerings into beers that were bolstered by adjuncts to increase alcohol content while reducing flavor and mouthfeel - the market wouldn't bear anything from a small market, as economies of scale and transportation advances allowed beer to be shipped from St Louis and Milwaukee across the nation for less than a regional brewery could produce beer.  The product was more consistent (consistently bland and flavorless), so you knew the beer you drank at home would be the same beer you'd drink at every single venue that you'd stop at while following The Grateful Dead on tour for a summer.

With that consolidation came cheaper and cheaper beer - including Your Favorite Uncle At Thanksgiving's favorite story from the 70s:  The generic white can with "BEER" written on it in a crappy Times New Roman-esque font.  Beer had become generic.  Miller Lite came to prevalence in the mid-1970s, with the moniker "Great taste, less filling."  Miller Lite led the way to 1993's Miller Clear, a sort of proto-seltzer that was water-clear, stripped of all the flavor by carbon filtration, and left with just a fizzy alcoholic water...because, again, beer with flavor was your Grandpa's drink.  Cool Baby Boomers, from Woodstock to Wall Street, focused on nondescript beer when they had to have it, but otherwise focused on other inebriants.

That's right:  Boomers killed beer.  Don't let 'em fool ya with "my favorite beer is free," because that's a lie.

For further reading, check out the histories of American beer here:

Alworth, J. (2015). The beer bible: The essential beer lover's guide. Workman Publishing Company.

Mosher, R. (2017). Tasting beer: An insider's guide to the world's greatest drink. Storey Publishing.

Oliver, G. (2012). The oxford companion to beer. Oxford University Press.

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