Quote Originally Posted by Colr View Post
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Rolling Rock was nice when they imported it. Really refreshing. Then they started brewing it under license in burton-on-Trent and it tastes like all the other slop that comes out of that town.
This is becoming quite a problem for many beers. Finding beers that are genuine imports from Europe or North America is getting increasingly difficult. One of my favourite beers has always been Leffe, but I noticed the 4 pack x 330ml bottles have started being brewed under license in the UK and there's a notable difference in taste.

I've always been a sucker for Czech lagers, but again, finding a genuinely produced Staropramen or Budvar from Czechia is becoming increasingly difficult. Pilsner Urquell remains superstar tier for me, and thankfully that still seems to be genuine import still...

The craft beer revolution that swept the US happened about the time I started drinking and we used to get all sorts of truly lovely stuff readily imported from the US, but the options have been significantly throttled in recent years - even finding previous staples like Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn is becoming harder - even then, I think both Sam Adams and Brooklyn are both UK produced!

It all comes down to the water - the chemistry of the UK's water sources is completely different to that which produces beers in Belgium, Germany, East/West of the USA, so you can replicate the brewing process to the letter, but with a change in the base ingredient, you're never going to properly recreate these beers.