Raise a Glass to National American Beer Day!
by David Klemt
American beer drinkers, rejoice! National American Beer Day arrives on Thursday, October 27.
Celebrating America beer on this holiday, as you’re likely guessing, is fairly simple.
After all, the most important element of National America Beer Day is enjoying—*gasp!*—American beer. This is the holiday your beer program has been waiting for!
However, that begs an important question: Does America brew its own styles of beer?
German Beer Styles
People tend to most closely associate beer styles with Germany. And why shouldn’t they?
Just look at the beers Germany pioneered or otherwise made famous, not to mention Oktoberfest and German beer purity law:
- Altbiers
- Berliner Weisses
- Bocks
- Dunkels
- Dunkelweizens
- German Pilsners (It’s widely accepted that the Czech Republic invented Pilsner, also known as Bohemian Pilsner. German Pilsner is normally more bitter than Czech/Bohemian Pilsner, and a bit lighter-bodied. Also, remember that all Pilsners are Lagers.)
- Goses
- Hefeweizens
- Kölsches
- Lager (This is the most popular style of beer in the world. Depending on who you talk to, Britain, Bavaria, Germany or Austria invented the first lager.)
- Märzens
- Schwarzbiers
- Weizenbocks
That’s a whole lotta beer styles, and that’s not even every style of beer credited to Germany. Therefore, it wouldn’t have been right to simply jump into American beer styles.
American Beer Styles
So, did German brewers leave anything for Americans to invent or make their own?
Of course they did! Americans have taken to beer brewing like macaroni takes to cheese (what? just go with it):
- American Adjunct Lagers
- American Amber Ales
- American Blonde Ales, aka Golden Ales
- American Brown Ales
- American Hefeweizens, aka American Pale Wheat Ales
- American Pale Ales, aka APAs
- American Red Ales
- American Stout
- Cream Ales
- Imperial Pilsners
- Imperial Porter
- India Pale Ales (Before you aim your pitchfork at me, I know the first IPAs were brewed in Britain. However, there’s no denying that the American craft beer scene has put their fingerprints all over this style with a vast array of substyles.)
- Session IPAs
- Steam Beers, aka California Commons (Of all styles, this is considered a wholly American creation.)
Now, before the beer snobs say that brewers in the US can’t just put “American” in front of an established beer style and claim it as their own, that’s really not what’s happening.
American brewers find inspiration in the “original” beer styles. That’s undeniable. That doesn’t mean they don’t innovate; American brewers have made some styles even more famous.
As stated above, a perfect example is the IPA. American IPA is a distinct style, differentiating itself from the original style. Additionally, it has been joined by Black IPA, Double IPA, White IPA, and other creative variations.
Celebrate National American Beer Day
Unlike debating who first brewed what beers, which countries should get to claim which beer styles, and what constitutes a unique beer style (should triple and quadruple IPAs be seen as actual styles?), celebrating National American Beer Day is simple.
At this restaurant and bar holiday’s core, all you have to do is showcase the American beers you have on offer.
If you want to go deeper, highlight the village, town, city or state each beer calls home.
And if you’d like to really go hard, pair them with uniquely American fare. Truly go HAM by pairing select beers with their hometown delicacies.
Make sure your draft lines and glasses are beer-clean and beer-ready, tap your guest database to send out marketing emails and texts, promote your celebration on social media, and let the beer flow.
Image: Meritt Thomas on Unsplash