pseudoswede

The only place I've seen it west of the Mississippi in the US is at the Venetian--at an eye-watering $12 per bottle.

I'm in Sweden right now, and I have been consuming it as much as possible.

pseudoswede

Is this also why OP hears "Bud Light" always mentioned first.

BamaVol

BamaVol Jr #3 is a manager in one of those chains. I will ask him. I get the tap charge, but unless the server comes out with a "Can I start you off with a cold Bud Light draft?", I don't think it trickles down. In most cases, I'm the one who brings up the subject of draft beer.

BamaVol

Ouch. About $2.25 retail here when you buy the fourpack.

dolcevita

Why do they always start with Bud Light?

Anticipation. Things just have to get better, right?

Unfortunately, they rarely get good enough. As someone who loves Belgian and German ales, Mr DV doesn't even bother asking what's on draft, skipping directly to the list of bottled imports. Even then, he orders water more often than not.

chgoeditor

Wow...that's sad. I had no idea Nashville was such a lousy beer town. You should move to Chicago. He'd be in heaven here.

BSBD

Nashville is NOT a lousy beer town. DV must be avoiding the places that serve good beer. There's even a brewery in town that specializes in Belgian-style ales.

lhrsfo

The wait staff described above remind me of the staff who man wine tasting rooms in Napa and Sonoma. They know the script but absolutely nothing about wine.

dolcevita

Other than places like the Flying Saucer, where would you recommend for Belgian (not -style) Blondes, Tripels, or Witbier (aside from Hoegaarden), German wheat beers, or perhaps anything from Samuel Smith on tap?

BSBD

Pharmacy in East Nashville. Check out their beer list on their website.

chgoeditor

I don't know why your husband -- who apparently is open to drinking a pretty broad spectrum of Belgian and German beers -- would be so opposed to Belgian-style or German-style beers, particularly if his only other option is drinking water. That said, I just took a look at 12 South Taproom and they seem to have a several options that would fit his requirements. (Maybe this is a place "like the Flying Saucer," but having had a drink in Nashville, I have no idea.)

BSBD

Flying Saucer is awesome - one of the biggest beer selections in the country. Lots of other places have great beer selections too, as long as you stay out of the Broadway tourist traps; although even the tourist zone has the Broadway Brewhouse Downtown, which has 72 taps, and most of those taps are crafts and imports. You can get just about any kind of beer you want in the Nashville area without looking too hard, even if your tastes are sectarian. There are also a bunch of local breweries, with more popping up all the time.

I could quickly come up with a list of reasons to dislike Nashville, but lack of access to quality domestic and imported beer would not be on that list.

Of course, Bud Light is always the first thing on the beer list

dolcevita

Thanks for the recommendations. What he means is that the Flying Saucer and similar are beer destinations and not places where we'd go for food. Yes, you can find great beer in Nashville but finding it at a "normal restaurant" is pretty rare. The Taproom's menu is more extensive than he recalled though.

Taking one for the team as the DD on one hand and poor results experimenting with American analogues on the other. Too often the "-style" beers are things like Shocktop or cherry-flavored wheat beer. He's not a hophead either, which puts him further out of the mainstream.

u2fan

If you ask him, he will probably tell you that if one expects raises, promotions and good bonuses controlling costs are very important to the chains. Draft Buds are much higher margin (or lower cost) then most high-end beers and drinks. To an 'empty suit' in a corporate office your costs are lower and you look better selling the Buds.

Of course, this logic is flawed: this is no way to build and grow sales. In addition, this logic rewards selling a high margin drink rather than a lower margin but more expensive drink where the bar makes more $ on the expensive drink.

ou81two

I thought I had posted here. They lead with Bud Light because it's the number one selling beer in America. They wouldn't lead with McEwans as they know 99.9% of the people would say either no or what's that followed by no.