Keenspot

Don't kid yourself, Scrubs. Miller either owns the German brewery or has an exclusive with them. You won't find any Lowenbrau in the US that doesn't taste like every other bottle of US Lowenbrau. The problem and probable difference comes in that old-style lagering and filtering methods don't produce a beer that travels well. This is why the Coors company limited their distribution range (they refuse to license satellite breweries) until they were able to ship the beer quickly and properly (there's still a huge difference between in-range Coors, and Coors on the East Coast).

The only way to get the Lowenbrau he way it's supposed to be is to travel to Germany. I advise doing so at any time other than Oktoberfest. Those guys take their beer-and-sausage holidays seriously.

Actually, according to wikipedia they have started shipping the real german brews into the US a few years back. I have never seen it, but supposedly it can be had.

Yeah, I understood that, my point was that a lot of European imports end up tasting like swill when the get to the States just because they aren't made to travel and they don't travel well.

I used to know an Irish fellow who explained to me that Harp Lager (which has always been imported) was a better beer in Ireland than the swill they serve here. The same can be said for Heineken, Tuborg, Ki-Rin, and any number of others (except Red Stripe...it's just swill).

Actually the travel issue is what killed the microbrewery fad (Sam Adams in the Northeast is a nice, mellow pale ale, in Texas it's something you might use to clean ceramic surfaces if you don't mind having your bathroom smell like rancid urine).

But, as far as it goes, good luck on your quest. There are traditionally-German settlements in cntral and western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, so a local lounge there may be importing it.