Flavorful beers declined in the U.S. after World War II. The Haffenreffer brewery closed in 1965, and with it went Pickwick Ale, perhaps the last of the tasty American beers. Miller Lite was introduced in 1973, and it soon became the leader of the ongoing attack on beer with taste. Not only were more light beers introduced, but mainstream beers were dumbed down to compete.
The turnaround was started by companies such as Redhook Ale Brewery in 1981, and the Boston Beer Company in 1984 (Samuel Adams Beer, now called Boston Lager). Since then, an explosion of craft breweries has tickled the palettes of beer lovers across the country.
Once again, flavorful beers are coming under attack, from a different quarter. The attackers are IPAs and other over-hopped brews. The export style of pale ale, which has become known as India pale ale, was developed in England around 1840. It needed extra preservatives to keep from spoiling before it reached the customers. Hops are the natural preservative, along with alcohol. IPAs are intentionally unbalanced — lots of back-of-the-mouth bitter taste.
Go into any bar offering beers with flavor, and you are likely to find the majority of beers on tap to be IPAs. Bars often cannot keep a balanced, flavorful beer on tap, because the keg is likely to spoil before it is sold. If they pretend to offer a brown ale, it is often Guinness, which has great mouth feel, but little flavor. A city may offer exceptions, such as The Haven in Jamaica Plain (Boston), a Scottish gastropub, but not so much in the burbs.
Expand your horizons, and seek out some of the better brews on this page. If you complain, your pub may at least start carrying some in bottles. (Or you can self-quarantine in style!) Most of the brews listed here are brown ales, bocks, stouts, porters, Oktoberfests and Belgian-styles.
Update Jan 2023: After reading last year's article condemning alcohol, I decided I liked my one drink with dinner too much to change. This year, I decided to cut back - skip the drink sometimes, pour out some of a high-alcohol beer, etc.
Reference: Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health, The New York Times.
I mostly enjoy beer (or wine) with dinner, instead of a drink at some other time. My strong preference in beer is for a balanced flavor, with taste in equal amounts from the front to the back of the mouth. The more taste, the better, but milder tasting beers can be good, too. I consider any 3+ star (Good+) brew acceptable in a pinch; I do without when faced with a lesser brew.
Challenge: Try as many of these beers as you can. Let me know if I should give any of them a re-try, or provide other comments, to pete dot 3nt at gmail dot com. Thanks!