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Revolution of 1978: The Battle of Bunk or Ale - Steve Segletes
Greetings and Carbonations! I've spent a little more time looking over "The [1978] Great American Beer Book," by James D. Robertson, that I reported on in last month's newsletter. This month, I concentrated on the actual head-to-head comparisons, as they were perceived in 1978. The domestic category winners included Augsburger Lager (Huber, Monroe WI), Prior Double Dark (Schmidt's, Phili PA), Black Horse Ale (Trenton NJ), Genesee Bock (Rochester NY), and Mickey's Malt Liquor (Heileman, LaCrosse WI). Kind of scary, isn't it? I'm not even sure how many of these beers are still even made!There were some interesting head-to-head's in the course of the double elimination competition: Carling Black Label over Bud, Hull over Michelob, National Boh over Piels, Yuengling over Bud, Oland's Export over Bass, Albani Porter over Guiness, Peroni over Becks... the list goes on. It goes to show: a superior beer will not always win in the market and sometimes not even survive.
When analyzing the results of his competition, Robertson even evaluated the raw scoring data in terms of cans versus bottles. As we would today guess, bottled beer won by a decisive margin. Bottled beer was twice as likely as cans to fall above the 1st round scoring cutoff that qualified a beer for the head-to-head competitions.
And I've learned that there was actually a beer brewed and sold under the name of Old Frothing-slosh, by the Pittsburgh Brewing Company. Apparently, hype-over-substance was alive and well back in 1978, as well. Old F-S was reviewed to have a "faint grainy aroma... little flavor, light body, watery." He concludes the review by noting that "of course the taste of this product is really secondary to the package." Not only with this product, but across the market, advertising hype was pervasive, Robertson noted. The use of adjectival "buzzwords" carried the day then as now. Whereas buzz terms today are things like "Red," "Dry," and the like, the 1978 versions included "Premium," "Export Quality," or "Special."
In summing up the collective American beer palate of 1978, Robertson noted that his tasters "preferred beer that was zesty but not highly hopped, beer that was naturally and lightly carbonated, beer that was richly flavored with a high percentage of barley malt, and, above all, beer that was balanced." On the flip-side, his tasters did not favor "very pale, very light, or low-calorie beers; soda-pop, winy, and highly carbonated beer; highly hopped beer and ale like those so popular in Great Britain (Harp, Double Diamond, etc.); and so-called house flavors." Highly hopped British beer? My ass. Nonetheless, the basic trend of preferring more flavor over less was apparent even then, and we all know today that hops just take some getting used to. We've come a long way in terms of beer savvy, America, and I hope it continues. Most fascinating of his conclusions, Robertson found that his tasters "did not approve the vast majority of American beers that have arrived on the market in the past half decade" [1973-1978]. Sounds to me that the seeds were already sown (and germinating) in 1978 for the American microbrew revolution. I find this truth to be self evident.
Cheers!
