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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3181 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 20, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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What's your preferred type of Millennial beer (non-alcoholic barely-flavored carbonated water)? I'm partial to the lacroix limoncello and sunshine flavors, but it's not like any type/brand is much more than tv static + a hint of flavor.

Hey, I'll eat a lot of shit for my peers, but millenials are the triple IPA artisinal 15% beer and ironic PBR generation. Blame the zoomers for your flavorless alcoholic seltzers.

millenials are the triple IPA artisinal 15% beer and ironic PBR generation.

"Are" should perhaps be "were." As a bunch of us cruise solidly into our 40s, I've noticed the move from 18% imperial stouts to non-alcoholic fizzy waters.

Traitors!, Jezebels! Heretics! You move from 18% Imperial Stouts to nice 12% Barrel Aged Tripels and Quadruples!! Maybe a sleepy 4% Honey Kolsch or Helles Lager depending on the situation

Hear, Hear! Millennials are the Craft Beer generation. We popularized it.

"turned it into a bitter hopfest", I think you mean?

Please, Millennials brought the resurgence of German Beers, Meads, Trappist, Darks, and Sours back into style. Just because hop ODing is easier does not define our grain-juice palette.

German beers and various dark types were a mainstay of first-wave craft brewers in the late 80s -- they were occasionally too malty (especially the dark ones) but some persist to this day!

IDK where you are going that meads are in style, and in any case the ones I've had are very much not beer -- that leaves Trappist and Sour which (assuming you mean sparkling-monk-style due to EU regulations) are pretty far from mainstream IME?

Whereas whenever I go to a restaurant since the dawn of the millenial, I typically have twenty disgusting IPAs with colourful labels to choose from, and can maybe find one each of decent lager/ale/stout. Sometimes the brewers are even sneaking extra hops into those though, so ordering something you've never heard of is not safe.

I assume somebody is buying this stuff, and my money is on the dudes (still) wearing the ironic facial hair.

DK where you are going that meads are in style

Idk places around me, there are 3-4 meaderies in my local area. I consider them beer adjacent because it's really only craft beer drinkers that tend to get them. Wine drinkers just get wine. Yeah Trappists as in Doubels, Tripels, and Quads, as the beer type. From the sparkling-ale region of my local breweries. And Sours, Farmhouse Ales, Goses, etc have absolutely flooded my local beer stores that it's almost gotten to the point that if I see a barrel-aged bottle of expensive beer, its a 50/50 flip between an Imp Stout and a Sour.

Whereas whenever I go to a restaurant since the dawn of the millenial, I typically have twenty disgusting IPAs with colourful labels

Depends on how hip honestly. We have local beer stores and local breweries that have wide varieties. When I was in Chicago I frequented Beermiscous and Beer Temple a lot. Restaurants around here often have locals which are fairly wide in variety, my current favorite is a nice ESB that is spreading, but yes boomer establishments where the average age of the clientele are 50+ stock mostly disgusting domestic/Macrobrew IPAs

Don't get me started on the Boomers...

Coors light

Nein.

We've reached a generation where ppl don't drink beer. I should probably die soon.

Spindrift tastes noticeably better than its competitors to me.

Agreed, spindrift actually tastes good, not merely “more interesting than water.” It’s a little expensive but also head-and-shoulders above any competitor I’ve seen. Both of those are probably because they rely on diluted juice instead of extracts or flavors, afaik.

I've gotten a lot of utility out of my sodastream. Running the numbers it might not be particularly cheaper than buying cases of seltzer, but I appreciate the ease of flavoring (I'm partial to just pouring in some lemon juice) and the ease of re-carbonating a bottle if it goes flat before I finish drinking it.

Lacroix key lime is also kino.

I typically abhor any kind of seltzer water, but I've found I have a very specific taste for Topo Chico's Lime and Mint. Very refreshing, no sugar/sweetener, zero calories.

I usually opt for whatever is cheapest. I guzzle the stuff because it scratches my carbonation itch and my need for hydration, so buying in bulk is important for me. If price was no object though, if you have a Wegmans nearby, they have some really interesting flavors. I'm partial to the Cherry Vanilla and especially the Ginger.

My parents were telling me to drink grape juice diluted with seltzer water before it was cool.

Traubenschorle!

Very interesting.

Is the carbonated grape juice in the US typically bought as something other than a non-alcoholic alternative to a wine-drinking event? The white variety I've seen before at weddings and parties and such for kids when the adults are drinking sparkling wine (champagne, or other types). Not that anyone would object to an adult choosing it too (pregnant, alcoholic, religious objections, just a non-drinker).

I'd bet you can charge more for something people are already buying with much more expensive sparkling wine.

I'm used to apple cider being the default there and plenty of parents just letting their kid have a small quantity of wine or champagne, with sparkling grape juice being used as a punch, served out of a bowl?

Sparkling apple juice is available as well.

I don't think it would make sense to put a carbonated drink in a punch bowl.

Is the carbonated grape juice in the US typically bought as something other than a non-alcoholic alternative to a wine-drinking event?

It does always seem to be dressed up in a fancy glass bottle with foil on top, so I guess not.

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