The state is to blame!
The large US brewing corporations such as Anheuser-Busch and Miller were originally even founded by German immigrants and thus, as painful as it is to say, stand more in the German than the British brewing tradition - the problem is:
With Prohibition, brewing culture in the USA was effectively completely wiped out once.
After that, people mainly wanted something with an effect again. The well-known US lager beers are therefore optimized for cost (e.g. by adding rice as an unmalted adjunct instead of brewing entirely with barley malt) and weak taste.
But why does the market not sort this out over the years?
Quite simply: because it barely exists.
Even after Prohibition, alcohol distribution in the USA remained significantly more heavily regulated than in Europe and still is today.
The biggest problem is the so-called "three-tier system":
- producers
- distributors
- retail
are strictly separated by law. A brewery simply may not directly supply a supermarket chain or a pub.
Due to so-called "franchise laws" (somewhat different depending on the state), distributors are not subject to normal market pressure. A brewery cannot easily switch distributors.
Better beer primarily shifts demand between beer brands and beer and other alcoholic beverages instead of really increasing total sales. Distributors therefore mainly have the incentive to optimize their effort and cost structure, not to place the best beer in retail.
Where does the craft beer hype of recent years come from?
Most states have introduced exceptions to the three-tier system for direct sales over the years. This typically allows, for example, a brewery that sells at least 25% of its total volume through its own taproom to distribute directly to consumers.
Small breweries are therefore relatively easy to operate again and have now also emerged in large numbers, but they continue to be prevented by the three-tier system from growing beyond a taproom + some direct sales.
This then also leads to the fact that in the USA you can now get entirely drinkable IPAs etc., but you still search in vain for beer styles that are technically more demanding, such as a good Pils.
