Without the large supply of ice necessary to
make lager beer, San Francisco brewers used
the yeast and techniques appropriate to cool
bottom fermentation, but brewed at top-
fermentation temperatures. The result: a full-
flavored and gassy beer that gave off a lot of
foam when the keg was tapped.
Beer Today Today, the countries with the
largest per capita consumption of beer are
mainly traditional European beer producers:
Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and
Britain and its former colony Australia. In the
United States, beer accounts for more than
three quarters of the alcoholic drinks
consumed. Most American beer remains bland
and uniform, produced by a handful of large
companies in largely automated factory-like
breweries. The 1970s brought a revival of
interest in more flavorful alternatives, and a
flourishing of “microbreweries” making
specialty beers in small quantities, brewpubs