Sucking down a few tall ones with the boys during a sweaty, sultry summer is one of America's favorite pastimes. Out by the sizzling grill, by a pool with flamingo floats, or in the dripping heat of a baseball stadium – as Kendrick would say, it’s inside our DNA. Whatever the type of beer (Pilsner, Ale, Lager, Porter, Stout, etc.), some are more traditionally “American” than others.
Your Belgium IPAs are a far cry from Eagle and ‘Merica-level brew, but a bottle of Yuengling or Sweetwater 420 was fermented with red, white, and blue. Here's a list of 11 beers, ranked based on how “American” they are.
#SpoonTip: Spoon University does not support binge drinking or underage drinking. So, 21+ friends, please drink responsibly!
11. Stella Artois
Sorry Pilsner lovers, this beer is not American at all. Although a six-pack is available at any Publix or Walmart, its regal lettering and impressive founding date (1366) heralds from Belgium, not the United States.
Stella is golden and commercialized, and its only American-ish quality is its owner: Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev). A beer conglomerate based in Belgium, AB InBev is the largest beer brewer and distributor in the world.
10. Beck's
This green-bottle Pilsner is most famous in Germany, although it has an American distribution center in St. Louis, Missouri. It makes the list because of the controversy that occurred in 2015, in which the brewery was sued for deceiving American customers.
Most of these customers thought it was imported from Bremen, Germany (where the headquarters are), when really, it was produced in the same complex as Budweiser. It was also acquired in 2008 by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Belgium-based company that owns household brands such as Bud Light, Corona, and Port Royal.
9. Corona
Corona (“crown” in Spanish) is omnipresent in American bars, despite its origins in Mexico. Most likely to be in a Kenny Chesney song, this lager is the fifth most popular beer in the US according to VinePair. Corona Extra has been imported since 1981 and is marketed as “Beach in Can." It may be Spanish, but Americans sure as hell love this pale cerveza (¡salud!).
8. Budweiser
This might come as a shock, but Budweiser isn’t as American as it seems. Littering every tailgate parking lot and low-tier frat house, this beer is also owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
The product of commercialization, Budweiser also stole its name from Budweiser Budvar Brewery, a Czech Company that brewed the original lager. In the EU, American Budweiser is relabeled as “Bud” so as not to infringe upon the name of the OG Czech beer.
7. Miller High Life
Branded as the “Champagne of Beers,” this wannabe-luxury was introduced in 1903 by the Miller Brewing Company. Although ownership of Miller is confusing and big-business (i.e. Miller Brewing Company to SABMiller to AB InBev), the amber liquid is as inexpensive and easy-to-drink as ever.
It’s the American dream in a kitschy bottle — who could refuse? However, I tend to also confuse it with Coors, another run-of-the-mill American beer that has been commercialized.
6. Natural Light
Although this beer is owned by AB InBev, I had to rank it higher because of its integral importance on American college campuses. This is the beer of frat house kegs and nights of bad decisions. I mean... just look at the picture!
The 80s movies with beer pyramids (not to mention the real-life ones) were all Natty Light: the beer cheap enough to get hammered inelegantly. Chugging a Natty to "I Love College" is the quintessential American experience.
5. Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR)
All you need is a can of PBR and a Zac Brown Band song to be a real American. The “Blue Ribbon” part was added to the Pabst name after it won the Blue Ribbon award at the Columbian Exposition in 1893.
Back in the day, blue silk ribbons were hand-tied around the cans – a true USA icon. Although sales declined in the 1980s, they revitalized in the 2000s and the company remains American-owned.
4. Genesee Cream Ale
Although not as famous as Yuengling or Sierra Nevada, the Genesee Brewing Company was founded in 1878 in Rochester, New York. Its flagship beer, Genesee Cream Ale, is a light beer that’s easy to guzzle down while still retaining a distinctive flavor.
Besides cream ales being staunchly American, this beer is a poster boy for patriotism because the water used to ferment the beer is from New York. The traces of sulfur give the beer its smooth, “American original” taste.
3. Samuel Adams
Named after an influential Founding Father, how could this beer not be hella American? It’s brewed by the Boston Beer Company, the “second largest craft brewery in the US."
Their main beer is the Samuel Adams Boston Lager, a beer with a chiseled portrait of Adams floating in the background. No other beer will make you feel more in tune with middle school American history.
2. SweetWater 420
Although SweetWater brewery was founded recently in 1997, it’s an authentic American company loaded with Georgia charm and craft brews. The founders, Bensch and McNerny, met at the University of Colorado at Boulder and named their Atlanta brewery after the Sweetwater tributary of the Chattahoochee River.
Even their most famous beer, Sweetwater 420, got its name from Interstate 420, an Atlanta bypass that was never built (among other innuendos).
1. Yuengling Lager
This homegrown beer is as American as it gets. Branded as “America’s oldest brewery,” it was founded in 1829 by David Yuengling during the Andrew Jackson presidency. To survive during the prohibition, the company founded Yuengling Dairy and sold ice cream to their dry customers.
Since then, it has been family-owned and still bears the patriotic Eagle on its labels – and no party is complete without a bucketful of Yuengling Traditional Amber Lagers. They can be found at any grocery or wine/beer store and taste best outdoors.
Is your mouth watering with lager lust? Dying to get those lips around a Yuengling? Patriotism doesn’t have to be confined to sparklers on July 4th or not wearing white after Labor Day. Stock your fridge with American beers and drink up.