Why does no one understand that all major brands of beer I.E. : Bud, Miller, MGD, Coors etc. contain 70% rice?

Question

Almost all imports contain the only 4 correct ingredients required; yeast, hops, malt and H2O. Just wanna shout this out : )

minnesota_cold, no disrespect, but you are waaaaay off. There is NO wheat in your beer, that would make it Hefenwiesen (Wheat beer) It's not. I'm a brewer at a Microbrewery and have been doing it for 17 years. Just posted this question to show someone how. Thank-you all for your good responses!

Answer 1

I don't think it's 70%. There is corn in there too. And yeah, I agree with you, beer should be 100% malt.

Budweiser even has a blurb on the label saying something like 'This beer is made with the finest rice, corn and hops'. Which is like a label on a bottle of wine saying 'This wine is made with only the very finest potato-peelings and corncobs'. 8^P

I think it partly has to do with cost, but also American beer is made really weak. I think people in Europe and Japan drink one or two beers, but American beer is made for people who sit in front of the TV and down a whole six-pack.

You know, Anchor Steam Beer was at one time the only all-malt beer made in the US. But in the last 20 years or so there has been a revolution. Now many big breweries are making all-malt product, it's just not their most popular product so you have to look for it. And today we have lots of little microbreweries and local or regional brews that are very good.

(I once said in a discussion like this that rice has no place in beer. I got a letter from a Japanese guy who said his people had been making beer from rice for thousands of years. Which is true, and it's very good too. But LAGER beer should be made from barley!)

Answer 2

Miller is made from ALL wheat. Bud and Coors are the only two major American brands of beer that use rice. That is blasphemy and that is why I don't drink Bud or Coors. Pretty much every other American brewer makes beer the right way. The only beer makers that know how to make rice beer are the asian brewers like Asahi, Sapporo, and Kirin Ichiban.

And for your info, Miller makes MGD.

Answer 3

Just to point out: people throughout the world have historically made beer from whatever grains they had on hand. I don't see why the German definition should become orthodoxy everywhere.

That said, the beers you mention are lousy not because they're brewed from rice (you can make a perfectly decent beer from rice if you invest the effort) but because they're made in factories by faceless corporations that have no pride in their products.

Answer 4

I'm guessing it's the same reason why most vodkas are made of corn and not potatoes as people like to think:

For the company's bottom line (cost vs profit). It probably costs less to make it with rice, therefore they can produce more, therefore more will be purchased, therefore profits will be exponentially higher.

Answer 5

honestly, it is because they don't care to worry because they have been taught for years that "American Beer is better becasue it is American and Union Made"
they dont care that it is almost Saké
Personally the only domestic beer I can tolerate is Miller Lite and that is cause I get it free at work.

Answer 6

I like MGD. I could care less if it has rice in it. I also make my own mead (without rice)

Answer 7

Yep.....when nothing else to do I start around page 6 and work backwards.

Answer 8

Really, if they drink it because they like it they aren't going to care-and if they drink it because it's what they can afford, they can't do much about it.