2LaneCruzer
Super Member
Around 1970 I tasted my first German beer, Lowenbrau, and it immediately became my favorite but because of its high cost, being imported, just one I got on rare occasions. Then in 1975 Miller Beer bought the North American rights to Lowenbrau and started brewing it in Texas, Different recipe, different taste, horrible. Over the years different companies gained the rights and it was brewed in Canada and elsewhere. Never the same.
That was the best tasting and best selling German beer and this was the forerunner of name brand products being sold to different countries where they could make it cheaper and live off the reputation of its name being a quality product although now it is inferior to the old product. Think of quality names live Frigidaire, Magnavox, RCA, etc. that were so good until their names were sold out to Asian manufacturers.
I had a co worker who was stationed in Germany; he said much of the German beer was not pasteurized, and as a consequence had to be stored for a year before it could be sold. My assumption is that it would have an effect on the flavor also. I can't imagine an American company doing something like that. Of course being from Oklahoma, 3.2 Bud is about all I ever knew.