I think with big beer, you get consistency of product and usually pricing. That's great for some people who don't want to be fussing with beer. I used to care about tasting every obscure beer from a location, but over time I've started to care a lot less.

For wine and vintages, the absolute consistency is less of an issue. They aspire to some consistency, but a little variation is part of the romance.

The great thing is that in wine and beer, you get both ends. You get the familiar brands and the loony craft beers with outrageous labels. If I favour smaller producers, a good part of it is that I like to support younger businesses. Big producers pretending to produce young-business products is a bit meh though.

Well, one local example relevant to TFA and that I know of is the Bay Area.

Anchor, Drake's, 21st Ammendment, Lagunitas, Das Brew, Altamont, and Fieldwork all make better tasting beer than Heineken.

Funny, Lagunitas is now owned by the Heineken company. Heineken became the second largest brewer in the world after the merger of Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller.

Just about every major metro in the US likely has a brewery making better tasting beer than Heineken. That’s not what Heineken is going for.

Which is why I was refuting OP's statement:

> How many locally-produced lagers actually taste better than Heineken?

Yes, I was indeed agreeing with you.

Orrrr people have different tastes, and that’s ok. And generally the craft beer people are a bit snotty about it.

Heineken is a fine mass produced beer, but there are tens of beers that I would prefer.

I'm really confused at the general lack of knowledge about this topic on HN. Heineken is one of the worst beers made, and local beers, while mostly not great, are certainly better. Look at untappd for statistically significant ratings.

A fresh Heineken from the brewery is as good as a Pilsner Urquel of Budvar - very, very good. It’s not the same stuff you buy at any gas station.

> Pilsner Urquel

Another middling green-bottle beer. Better than Heineken easy, but typically still worse than your local brewer will make.

> How many locally-produced lagers actually taste better than Heineken?

In my opinion: most of them. Heineken is not a good beer. It tastes similar to other mass-produced stuff: inoffensive bordering on flavorless. I'm actually stunned at the comment. It's like if I asked how many local restaurants make hamburgers better than Wendy's (Budweiser is McDonald's in this analogy).

All of them?

I was with you until you said Heineken tastes good

I’ve never had a Heineken that wasn’t skunky.