I'll stand up for Miller High Life as a decent beer. It's not knock-your-socks-off incredible but it's a reliable choice you can find pretty much anywhere.
I mean I'd put all of the beers you listed under the drinkable category - with Miller High Life marginally more flavorful than its compatriots in that list.
Nevertheless I wouldn't call any of them good beer. Impressively consistent flavoring for the volume they make, sure, but that's the only thing interesting about them.
They're also pretty much agreeable to everyone in a way that whatever favorite beer you have probably isn't. My favorite beer is Cuvee des Jacobins but it's a very love-it-or-hate it kind of thing and probably wouldn't be a great choice for a party.
Maybe not a hoax, but perhaps what the person above meant is “gimmicky”. How else do you explain beer that tastes like peanut butter or whatever other crap these breweries put out?
A beer is a hoax if it tastes terrible but beer critics fawn all over it and it costs $9 for a pint. Hazy/cloudy beers are the recent pinnacle of this style. They are the all-white paintings of the beer world. Brewers spent centuries learning to clarify beer, for a reason. Coffee stouts are another example of a dumb joke that many brewers have copied.
I'm not against innovation in brewing. I like Alvarado Street Peninsula Pilsner a lot, despite the fact that brewery makes dozens of beers, most of which are terrible. I only think if a brewery can't make a pilsner or lager or other standard beer, then I'm not interested in trying their joke beers either.
