You’d think when the upper echelons of back-of-house kitchen staff reach for a post-shift beer, they’d pick something matched to their highly-attuned palates, right? Wrong. After grueling shifts and hours of tasting and seasoning fussy food, cooks beeline—almost ubiquitously—for Budweiser. First We Feast reasons that Budweiser is an “overwhelmingly bland” (as the Beer Bible puts it) tradition, somewhat patriotic in its ability to engender camaraderie between all stations of the restaurant hierarchy giving everyone “from dishwashers to sous chefs, bussers to somms, to kick back a few cold ones together.”
Of course, any crappy American lager or ale will do. Miller High Life is what we religiously stock for post-Burgundy tastings and too many Brandy Crustas and Vieux Carré recipe tests. For others, it’s Coors, Modelos or Tecates—as long as its the temperature of a meat-freezer, doesn’t require thought beyond popping a tab or cap and pairs best with salty bar snacks. Craft beer is a beautiful thing, but at quittin’ time, it just can’t beat Bud & friends. [First We Feast] [Photo: Flickr/comedy_nose]