PNW brewers all seem to aim for very strong flavors and amber is about the lightest color that's common. (I like it, but also wish I could get some light, bright IPA that wasn't all "balanced" with malty and dark flavors.)
The favored PNW beers of this era are the exact opposite of every beer that I encountered in Texas back in the 1980s. I puzzled everyone when I asked if they had any dark beers. The closest anyone came to admitting they knew about "dark beer" was one waitress who figured that "dark" meant "not Bud Light", so she offered regular Bud as a "dark beer".
Since then I've guessed that Texas is so hot that they need hydrating beer, which I think of as "one part beer plus two parts water".
But it all drowns slugs. And I like Bud OK - I just like craft beer five times better.
Once I was a New Guy in a West Australian bar, and asked what they had on tap (that they would call "bitter", I guess. Try marketing "bitter" in the USA!)
Anyway, the bartender said "we have Emu Bitter and (some other brand that I forget)" .
It was like the scene in "An American Werewolf in London".
Everyone within earshot stopped talking and looked at me.
Luckily, I guessed right and asked for Emu Bitter.
Then everyone smiled and I was OK with them. It seemed that western Australia drinks Emu Bitter and eastern Australia drinks That Other Brand.
