Since I mentioned Lagers first, that is what  I'm going to talk about (yes, it's that arbitrary).  I know that we have all heard the term "Johnnie come lately."  In the beer world, the pinnacle of this saying is found in the Pilsner style of beer.  As you might or might not have guessed, Pilsner is actually an appellation that denotes where the beer came from.  Pilsners came from a Czech town called Pilsen.  A few factors really led to the dominance of Pilsners.  Here they are. One: Pilsners picked up steam because of advances in malting techniques.  Grains were now more evenly cooked, and this led to lighter colors in the grains and, therefore, in the beer.  Two: The mass usage and availability in glassware allowed these new phenomenal beers to be seen in a different light, so to speak.  Before this time, glassware was not able to be mass produced.  In addition, there was not a great deal of continuity in glass size (in that they were blown by mouth).  Three: Advances in refrigeration allowed these Lager beers to be clean and crisp in the mouth.  Prior to the advances in refrigeration, there was not the ability to ship and spread these beers around the world.  These three really led to the almost hegemonic dominance of ...