Most people don't realize that people with German ancestry make up the largest ethnic group of people in the United States. Before prohibition there were all kinds of local breweries all over the United States. During prohibition most of those did not survive. What did survive were almost all larger German breweries. The German beer of choice was... You guessed it... Lager!
From prohibition until the relatively recent changes in beer alcohol content laws, Americans have mostly been drinking some form or another of lager beers. Even the beers that weren't lagers were beers like Bock. Darker German beers.
Almost all Mexican beers, Dos Eques, Corona, Tecate', etc... Are all actually lagers. The Mexican's learned how to make beer from Eastern European immigrants in Texas. This is why Tejano music sounds like Polka and has accordions in it. Lagers weren't just popular in Germany but in all of Eastern Europe. Budweiser is a Czechoslovakian beer for instance.
Once the laws were changed and the beer alcohol limit was changed and the beer brewing laws were relaxed a cottage industry began to blossom. People began to revive long forgotten (In the United States) beer recipes and started trying out beers that were new to most American's pallets.
Lots of the old recipes that are now very popular are of course IPA. Stouts, Ales, Porters, and Imperials. Most of which are higher alcohol content British and Irish style beers.
Most people don't understand the origins of IPA or India Pale Ale. No they are not brewed in India. India was once part of the English Colonial Empire. Of course you had to have lots of English people running the place, you know, "The White Man's Burden" and all that stuff. Well... Those people liked English ales. The problem was that by the time beer made it from England to India on a boat it was skunky as all hell. But guess what? Hops is a preservative! So they figured out that if they increased the alcohol content and hopped the hell out of the beer it stayed good longer during the long shipping times. Well the ex-patriots living in India began to acquire a taste for it, and when they came back home wanted to keep drinking it. The rest is history.
My current favorite beers are Stouts, IPAs and Porters I also like the Imperial versions of all those beers. About the only time I drink a light lager is in place of water.
A few of my favorite widely available beers that I can think of off hand are Monkeynaut IPA, Stout at the Devil, Snake Handler, Sweet Water 420...
Lots of german pilsners survived too.
