What in the World Is GenZ Doing to Beer?

Summer is still in full sway in much of the country (here in Alaska, not so much), and in these warm, pleasant days of late summer, there's not much better than an ice-cold beer. OK, for that matter, there's not much better on a chilly, drizzly autumn day in the Susitna Valley than an ice-cold beer. We Boomers grew up in the halcyon days of cheap American lagers that were best drunk ice-cold, and after a long, hot day out in the sun, there was nothing quite like an icy-cold can of good old American lager. In 1996, though, I was recalled into the Army and sent to Germany, which experience lent me an entirely new outlook on beer.

Today's American beer market is an embarrassment of riches. There's a beer for every taste - lagers, pilseners, IPAs, hefeweizens, you name it. But there's one rule that should always, always apply: If you have to adulterate a beer, then it's not good beer.

Gen Z, apparently, hasn't learned this yet. They are committing beer sacrilege on an astounding scale.

From spiritless spirits to refusing to open up a bar tab, members of Generation Z are continuing to challenge alcohol traditions.
Now, the generation born between the late 1990s and mid-2000s is stirring debate by giving new meaning to the term "cold brew" – and it has nothing to do with coffee.
Gen Z drinkers are generating buzz online for adding ice to their beer, a practice some say is refreshing. Pub purists, meanwhile, are cringing.

Adding ice? To beer? For the love of all that's good, right, and decent, why? What's next - salt and lime juice?

"This is the most refreshing way to drink a beer," one TikTok user said as she poured a Modelo over ice, added lime juice and salted the rim of her glass.
In another clip, a young influencer taste-tested Athletic Brewing's Lemon Raddler, a non-alcoholic beer, but decided something was missing.
"Wait a second, I think we need a cup with some ice," she said.
"It's super refreshing," she added after a few sips.

Oh, for the luvva Pete. Kids these days!

Look, any beer you have to fiddle with to enjoy is not good beer. I've managed to instill this in the servers up at our favorite dining establishment/watering hole to stop bringing my Alaskan White with a lemon or lime wedge affixed; I don't know why that's the case with white ales, but Alaskan White is fine without that. And, yes, I know Corona is always served in a bottle with a lime or lemon wedge in the opening, but I'm reliably informed that the original purpose of that, in Mexico, was to keep flies out of your beer (yuck), and besides, Corona tastes like river water anyway, so a lime or lemon wedge could only help.

No, I'm talking about good beers. My favorite, Alaskan Brewing's Amber Ale, is great the way it is. While Alaskan Brewing's products are available in the lower 48, if you can't find them, heck, Samuel Adams is a respectable beer you can get anywhere. East of Ohio, you can get Yuengling, a nice lager for which I developed a fondness while working in New Jersey. There are so many good beers out there that bandwidth does not permit a comprehensive list.

But adding ice? Salt? Juice? No! It's wrong! Stop doing it! Enjoy your beer in accordance with the iron law of beer drinkers throughout history: As it was brewed.

Gen Z: Friendship Is Too Expensive. Boomers: Wait, What?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go make sure nobody in my family is committing such vile beer abuse.

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