Hi folks: I'm a 59 year old GM retiree from central Indiana. As i mentioned in another post , I tasted a Millers "211 Steel reserve beer" and rekindled a 15 year turn from brewed drinks. I have felt that many things where being adulterated by corps. and they disagreed with me, they just didn't taste right.Anyways the idea of doing things myself to improve quality includes beer. I have a few questions that I will post and hope for answers from those experienced brewers who like to share and teach, I realize that is a rare combination in any field. I also am interested in the philosophy of the pleasures of this life: I find it intriguing that at times 2 beers captivate, elevate, heal and bring amazing imaginations to the mind, and at other times rhis does not occur. More of any physical delight is the natural response but is always a failure, in the long run: ask any heavy drinker, smoker, eater or whatever.On another completely different topic I've noticed my teeth are tighter and stronger since I've been drinking 5 or 6 beers a week. Well , that's a piece of my mind. Take care Fran

Welcome to the forum! I hope you find it helpful. There's a lot of knowledge here, and everyone is willing to learn from each other.

As curlyfat said, Welcome!
While it's true that the big American breweries have been doing their best to dumb down beer for the last several decades, it's worth noting that this hasn't necessarily been the case worldwide. If you can find a decent bottle shop nearby, I recommend giving some of the overseas beers a try. If you are into light colored, high alcohol, dry beers, I can highly recommend beers of the Belgian variety. Duvel immediately comes to mind.
And not all of the American breweries are guilty of the sins of the Big Three. There are several very highly regarded craft breweries in the U.S. worth trying. Here's a map showing the location of several craft breweries:
http://www.sloshspot.com/photos/blog/fu ... 263133.png
Of those, I can recommend New Belgium, New Glarus, Full Sail, Sierra Nevada, and Magic Hat. I'm sure there are several other great breweries listed, but these are the one's I have tried and enjoyed.
I saw your post about 211 Steel Reserve. I wish I could help you out, but I haven't tasted this beer to have any sort of reference to try to come up with a recipe for it. I'm afraid that anything by Miller is not high on my list of beers to try. What I can tell you is, you will spend more money trying to clone a Miller beer (or Bud or Coors for that matter) than what it would cost to just buy it. If you're in it just for the fun of experimenting, I'm sure someone will be able to help you out.

Take it easy!

Don't forget Dogfish Head.. They have some of the best (yet most expensive) beer going.