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The Great American Saloon Series
All the King of Beers’ Men
Does anyone still drink real American beer?
Beer is the new wine. Where does that leave the blue-collar brews that have ruled cooler and barroom for more than a century?
Ten days from now Anheuser-Busch InBev unleashes a new beer, Budweiser Black Crown, with a deeper flavor and more alcohol than traditional Bud. The company charged its twelve domestic brewers with devising a variant of the King of Beers. Among the dozen creations, drinkers universally preferred the 6-percent-alcohol deep-amber lager produced by Anheuser-Busch’s Southern California brewery. But when given a choice beyond that dozen, drinkers increasingly prefer something other than Budweiser.
The new brand is the latest gimmick — Bud Light Lime, Budweiser Select, Budweiser American Ale — employed by Anheuser-Busch to reclaim a market that no longer exists. “Anheuser-Busch would call them innovations, not gimmicks,” Eric Shepard of Beer Marketer’s Insights explains. “AB peaked at a 49.6 percent share in 2003. They are just a little over 46 now. They’re doing what they can to stop the erosion.”
AB claims a smaller piece of a smaller pie. Beer sales, like many beers, are stagnant. U.S. consumption fell for three consecutive years starting in 2009. And the three beers dropping most precipitously all live under the Anheuser-Busch roof. Between 2006 and 2011, Budweiser Select experienced a 61 percent decline, Michelob Light moved 66 percent fewer beers, and Michelob, a high-end beer to the high school me, lost 72 percent of its sales. Weekends were made for Michelob, indeed.
“People don’t drink their father’s beer,” Shepard explains. They sure don’t. The legalization of home brewing, tax breaks for small brewers, and consumer demand for variety has increased the number of U.S. beer producers from less than 100 in the late 1970s to more than 2,000 today. There are more people making beer. There are fewer people drinking it. Coincidence?
Beer drinkers have come half circle. Store-bought singles, once the domain of skid-row drunks, now find companions among beer snobs.
A recent trip to the local liquor store revealed something called Hoppin’ Frog Hop Heathen at $11.49 for a 22 oz. bottle. Clown Shoes Vampire Slayer, complete with a drawing of a man driving a stake through Dracula’s heart on its label, retails for $8.49 for a bottle containing less than two normal-sized beers. A Mephistopheles Stout, featuring a picture of the man downstairs on the packaging, goes for the hellish price of $10.99 for a 12 oz. bottle. Other brands — Arrogant Bastard Ale and Supremely Self-Righteous Ale — seem to really understand their audience.
Who buys? People insecure about their standing as sophisticates. The subliminal message behind the cartoonish packaging, gonzo names, and inflated prices is that you are superior to the man who drinks Miller Lite. Consumers aren’t buying a beer but status. Microbrew labels may resemble a child’s juice box but their pricing looks like a bottle of champagne’s. Elitism doesn’t come cheap.
Americans increasingly drink beer as though it were wine. The craft beers may compliment free-range hen pâté. They don’t compliment a stomach after a four-hour session of power drinking. We flee from Budweiser as though Hepatitis C were among its ingredients.
Budweiser has gotten in with the wrong crowd — Schaefer, Stroh’s, and Milwaukee’s Best. Perhaps that’s why it lost its top sales spot to Bud Light just as Schlitz lost it to Bud. When drinkers spot you at the left end of the cooler, they tend to leave you there. In the beer aisle — as in the school cafeteria — who you sit with sadly matters. Anheuser-Busch still dominates. But for how long?
Budweiser Black Crown may appeal to Budweiser drinkers. It won’t win back that six percent (and growing) craft-beer drinking share of the market that would sooner bedizen themselves in the fashions of K-Mart than publicly imbibe a Busch.
They make beer like they used to. Beer drinkers are another matter.
About the Author
Daniel J. Flynn, the author of The War on Football: Saving America’s Game, blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (217) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Daniel J. Flynn
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rlranger907| 1.11.13 @ 6:58AM
I thought one of the core values of conservatism was support for the free market. So, what's the problem with people making "beer the new wine"? People are making choices, and brewers and merchants are responding to them. Is this a bad thing? Is this another sign of the decline of the American culture, that beer drinkers in my neighborhood are passing up InBev Bud for Fat Tire, Shiner Bock, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, or - heaven forfend - an IMPORTED beer? Earth to Mr. Flynn: millions are made persuading potential customers to purchase products based on how they might adjust the prospective customer's self-image. That's why God created BMWs. Anyone is still free to purchase a case of Bud and put it in the passenger seat of their Ford F-150. Choice remains someting to be celebrated, not disdained.
Bob Grant| 1.11.13 @ 9:16AM
He only stated his opinion.
I don't believe Mr. Flynn would favor government intervention to prevent Douchebagsim.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 11:08AM
Sayin you think David Beckman is the cutest dude in the best sport in the world is an "Opinion".
Calling Jews, Who when God had His entire Creation to pick who would bear His Son, he chose one of our bee-otches, an inferior race that deserve to be gassed, is an "Opinion"
"Opinions can get Mutha Effas shot" I'm pretty sure Samuel Jackson said that somewhere...
Frank
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:38PM
Your chosen example to explain the meaning of the word "opinion" is interesting.
But not at all surprising...
Occam's Tool| 1.11.13 @ 6:11PM
Amusing, though...
It is interesting to note that Nero Wolfe drank beer preferably, not wine...
Since I always had my girlfriends begging for it after the first time, and always deliberately avoided getting them drunk that initial time (I knew about what would happen after that first, and never wanted the first to occur when she was anything but clear headed), I always avoided drinking in my mating rituals, and thus never developed a taste for it. I have never been drunk in my life. Drank a few drinks to celebrate getting into med school, but that was it.
I detox drug addicts.
Crassus| 1.11.13 @ 11:03PM
So did Inspector Maigret. And he was French.
Cobalt| 1.11.13 @ 7:28AM
No new flavored beers for metrosexuals?
No pink lime ale, or cherry light beer?
Designer beers with a Banana Republic, Calvin Cline or Polo label might be a hit.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.11.13 @ 7:33AM
It is hard to believe that it has only been slightly more than 25 years ago when Frank Booth, the character played by Dennis Hopper in "Blue Velvet", offered his opinion:
"Heineken? F*$% that S#&t! Pabst Blue Ribbon!"
CJW| 1.11.13 @ 8:33AM
Back when Pgh had steel mills, the drink at the bars surrounding the mills was an "Imp and Iron," a shot of Imperial whiskey and draft of Iron City beer.
Job| 1.11.13 @ 1:23PM
with the Steelers on the can
Dagny Taggert| 1.11.13 @ 9:53AM
Picked up a 12 pack of PBR bottles last night. Only one store around me has the bottles regularly. $9.98 with all taxes and deposits. Those 30 packs of cans are a deal too, often
Dagny Taggert| 1.11.13 @ 10:06AM
Von Mises Jr| 1.11.13 @ 10:20AM
Looks like Dagny passed out cold. Call a doctor. I think Frank is a doctor or perhaps Doctor Right.
Bob Grant| 1.11.13 @ 12:02PM
Heh :-)
Perhaps we should finish her sentence.
"Those 30 packs of cans are a deal too, often I'll drink all of them at one time and attempt to blog at 9:30 in the morning.
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:24PM
I can only treat Dagny's need for beer...not the liver disease.
Bob Grant| 1.11.13 @ 9:58AM
And to think, Blue Velvet was one of David Lynch's more mainstream movies.
An entire thread could be dedicated to Frank Booth.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.11.13 @ 10:31AM
"A candy-colored clown they call the Sand Man!"
Yes, Mr. Lynch got even weirder when he teamed up with Nick Cage in "Wild at Heart", and then there was "Mulholland Falls".
The late Dennis Hopper was often thought to be interchangeable with Frank (Booth, not Drackman), though I thought he peaked as Mr. Worley in "True Romance" ("Could I get one of those Chesterfields?).
Bob Grant| 1.11.13 @ 11:45AM
Al,
I'm sure a joyride with Frank Booth would be as fun as one with Frank Drackman.
Just remember to bring your oxygen mask.
markenoff| 1.11.13 @ 2:27PM
Love letters straight from my f*&^%ng heart!
Bob Grant| 1.12.13 @ 10:23AM
Beer at Ben's, 2:00 a.m. Sharp!
ray bob| 1.11.13 @ 7:34AM
when the cost of the twelve pack of Bud is only marginally lower than a twelve pack of Shiner (many varieties); i'll pick up the Shiner .... if your drinking American beer, the cold clean taste ... well, price does matter ... as for craft beers, they have their place, on sale only please ... if i want to pay champagne pricing, i'll buy the bub-bly ...
Virtue| 1.11.13 @ 7:36AM
Oh come now. Mabe the slippage is because mass produced beers taste like urinated water when compared to micro brewed beers with both body and flavor....
chuck| 1.11.13 @ 8:08AM
Agreed. Try drinking a Bud Light after you've been drinking a good ale, and it's like drinking water, or as you say, recycled beer.
Bud, Bud Light, and the rest of the piss-water at the end of the cooler is for the guys who go home and drink a 12 pack or 2. For those of us who drink 1 or 2 at night, I'll spend a little extra and get something with some flavor.
On a side note, I had a dear friend who passed about the time that beer sales started slipping. He drank 3 6-packs a night, and 30 beers on each day of the weekend. Think there was a connection?
RIP "Pappy" King........miss you.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 9:39AM
so you know what urine tastes like?
whatever turns your freak light on...
Frank
SUBVET| 1.11.13 @ 10:04AM
That reminds me why do americans put a lime in a Corona beer ?..........give up....to get rid of the mexican piss taste.
Ya I know don't get your panties in a knot it's an A.B./InBev beer.....but still who could drink this crap.
Lime/no lime..........still tastes like pi@@ ask "golden showers" Frank D.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 10:08AM
Umm you know what the "Corona" is anatomically???
Frank "No Coronas near my lips" Drackman
SUBVET| 1.11.13 @ 10:28AM
Good morning "Dear" Frank I figured you would hangout on this article for a while. Is it me or is everyone here a tight a@@ and can't have a little fun.
I guess TLP has no beer experience..........
Wonder if any trolls will cruse by to insult the fun.
Bob Grant| 1.11.13 @ 10:55AM
I thought that was your nickname in college, Glans Penis?
What's that you say: Oh, SANS Penis. Gotcha.
My hearing's not what it used to be...
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 11:03AM
neither's your penis, according to your wife.
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:41PM
Another penis-reference from Frank.
Occam's Tool| 1.11.13 @ 6:13PM
Dr R: they can be fun occasionally.
Drunken Sailor| 1.11.13 @ 11:23AM
Frank,
Want to bet Purp and a few of our trolls drink Corona just for that reason?
Hell I like Mich amberbock, Sam adams, Killians among others but the best beer is the one someone else paid for.
Bob Grant| 1.11.13 @ 12:11PM
Purp is a Bartles and Jaymes guy. When he's feeling sophisticated, he might reach for a Zima.
chuck| 1.11.13 @ 1:06PM
LOL, what's that line in the one movie, "of course he's gay, he's drinking Zima!
Yep, purp's definitely a Zima drinker.
Ronsch| 1.11.13 @ 1:00PM
No, Purp and company drink PBR...That is the "hip" beer of the faux bohemian crowd now days...It makes them feel like they are relating to the "lower classes." Seriously, the bars in town sell that in cans at $4.00 a can...You have to stand around wearing a newsboy cloth hat, scraggly beard, and speaking in clipped metrosexual man-child voices all while gabbing on your cellphone...
Sam Adams rocks! Getting a 12 pack of bottles for around $16.00 of mixed flavours is still a pretty good deal up here.
"The fun never stops 'til you buy your own beer.." Bowling For Soup
markenoff| 1.11.13 @ 2:32PM
Favorite beer - free & cold
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:39PM
NOTE: Frank makes sure to convince everyone that he is NOT a homosexual.
Occam's Tool| 1.11.13 @ 6:16PM
C'mon, Frank, it can also refer to the tip of a number of things....
Subvet: thanks to his primary career as a catamite to jihadists, Cheesehead Jack tends to be fairly loose and prolapsed...
markenoff| 1.11.13 @ 2:32PM
Back in the days of the sailing ships they would keep barrels of lemons and limes on board to help stave off scurvy. Over time the lemons and limes would shrivel up so they would cut them up and add them to their beer ration to rehydrate them. That is the only reason I can think of for ruining a perfectly good beer by throwing fruit in it. Of course, Corona isn't really beer anyway.
If you want Mexican, Negro Modelo. Enjoy Warsteiner. Lienenkugel (sp) Octoberfest. Sam Adams not too bad. For alcohol content Bud Light Platinum if I can't get Molson Canadian. Sometimes you just want a buzz.
Lawrence Kennon | 1.11.13 @ 7:58AM
Don't drink Bud much. In Texas prefer Shiner and Real Ale Brewing out of Blanco, Texas. One thing you absolutely don't want to touch with a ten foot pole though is Lone Star beer.
markenoff| 1.11.13 @ 2:34PM
Agreed. Tried a Lone Star when I first came to TX. About the only thing I don't like about the state.
CJW| 1.11.13 @ 8:05AM
Rolling Rock was very popular here in Western Pa when produced in Latrobe, home of Arnold Palmer. Iron City Beer was the beer in Pgh years ago.
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 8:09AM
I love American beer, but I don't drink the factory swill made by Budweiser, Miller, etc, if I can avoid it.
And why would I? There are fantastic small breweries and microbrews in this country, like Brooklyn Breweries, Smuttynose, Weyerbacher, Harpoon, Long Trail, Leinenkugels, Ommegang, Shiner, etc, that offer fantastic beers and ales.
Otherwise, give me a nice Belgian ale like Chimay or Abbay Leffe, or in the summertime, a Franziskaner or Paulaner hefeweizen.
But Bud? No thanks.
Simon Templar| 1.11.13 @ 9:00AM
Samuel Adams!
Simon Templar| 1.11.13 @ 9:01AM
Can I drink it for breakfast or is that too early?
Simon Templar| 1.11.13 @ 9:03AM
Long live the regional and local breweries!
irish19| 1.13.13 @ 12:14AM
Hear! Hear!
Drunken Sailor| 1.11.13 @ 11:25AM
Told my sons that if the price of milk keeps going up they wer going to start eating their cereal with beer instead. I think they are hoping the price up milk keeps climbing.
Occam's Tool| 1.11.13 @ 6:18PM
Goodness, DS, the Seniors from the Tom Brown Dorm at TCU would have the Breakfast of Champions on the first day of Study Week before finals, if I remember---Wheaties and Beer.
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:25PM
It's never too early...or late...for beer.
irish19| 1.13.13 @ 12:15AM
Right. It's not just for breakfast anymore.
old white guy| 1.11.13 @ 9:38AM
yuck.
Simon Templar| 1.11.13 @ 10:15AM
Hey, to each his own. No one is asking or forcing you to drink it.
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:26PM
Sam Adams has unfairly acquired a reputation as the Budweiser of micro-brews.
IMO, it's undeserved. A nice bottle of Boston Lager goes down well with just about anything.
chuck| 1.11.13 @ 1:09PM
Sam Adams, Leinenkugels, or even Yuengling.
Rhoetus| 1.12.13 @ 12:54AM
Sam Adams, Fat Tire, Kilt Lifter, Mirror Pond IPA and the list goes on. Budweiser sucks.
Von Mises Jr| 1.11.13 @ 10:17AM
Smuttynose brewery in NH is great along with Woodstock Brewery that has "Pig's Ear" Brown ale. As you travel into Vermont, Magic Hat, Otter Creek and Long Trail are good along with Harpoon. As you travel into Upstate NY, Lake Placid Brewery and Ithaca "Brown Ale" are served in the Dinosaur Barbeque and available in bottles. DE has Dogfish and NJ has Flying Fish Breweries. Our local stores carry Shiner from Texas and Lakefront from WI.
I not only like to buy different brands, but many offer assorted 12 packs so when you open your refrigerator, it's like a smorgasbord of beer. That's exactly what my next two days will look like as I watch the NFL Playoffs (before the Metro-sexual girly men ban real men's sports).
They won't be happy until all men throw a baseball like Dear Leader.
Pecos Pete| 1.11.13 @ 10:31AM
Von: Will you be watching the game or the cheerleaders? Be careful with your answer as ESPN may turn of their telecast.
Von Mises Jr| 1.11.13 @ 10:36AM
While I was a linebacker, I always envied the guys on the cheerleader team for obvious reasons. If it were not for football, they would get slapped or arrested for doing that in public.
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:27PM
A local pub has Smuttynose Winter Ale on tap...
...Nirvana.
lost| 1.11.13 @ 12:27PM
You do know Leinies is owned by MillerCoors right?
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:28PM
Owned by, but not started by.
irish19| 1.13.13 @ 12:17AM
And at least as far as I can tell, not screwed with by.
Recusant| 1.11.13 @ 10:07PM
I must admit Dr., you have good taste in beer, though I'd go for a Franziskaner dunkel over the hefe, even in the summer.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.11.13 @ 8:32AM
I will generally drink whatever beer my host is offering. When I am buying, I usually start with a Yuengling Lager.
OP4| 1.11.13 @ 10:12AM
Yes!
Bud (rice beer) always tasted awful to me.
I will either drink micro/craft beer or traditional real American beer from America's oldest brewery.
Von Mises Jr| 1.11.13 @ 10:17AM
I swear Coors taste like recycled Bud, if you get my drift?
THKrupp| 1.11.13 @ 10:20AM
+1 on the Yuengling. I never drank beer when out I always opted for scotch or a mixed drink. Since Ive had Yuengling Ive become a beer drinker. Bud, Miller, Coors....they just all kinda suck...its taste pure and simple.
JimH| 1.11.13 @ 8:35AM
Many excellent small breweries were wiped out by Prohibition. Some made it through, making near bear and other abominations; nice to see some returning. In the fifties and sixties the nationals had not yet dominated. I grew up in NY and remember the old commercials for Piels, Rheingold and Ballentine. My grandfather drove a Ballentine delivery truck. Before it had national distribution Coors had a bit of an aura to it. It even featured in Smokey and the Bandit. On a trip to Colorado at the time I got to try it. It seemed like pleasantly flavored water.
SUBVET| 1.11.13 @ 10:08AM
Jim.......Rheingold ? the only reason you drank Rheingold was to enter the contest to name miss Rheingold 1964.
OP4| 1.11.13 @ 10:24AM
JimH - You are correct. What we have today, lots of small breweries competing with quality (not just bikini girl commercials), is "traditional". It is how we drank beer a century ago.
Citizen Jerry| 1.11.13 @ 10:41AM
That reminded me of a friend who said ... "Whoever called it near beer had a lousy sense of direction."
Seapuss| 1.11.13 @ 8:51AM
Flynn, you've got to be kidding! 20 years ago, the American beer market was a vast wasteland. Now, it's a beer drinker's paradise.
The flavorful (and reasonably priced) brews made by regional microbreweries (I'm from Wisconsin) such as Sprecher, Lakefront, Leinenkugel, Capital, Ale Asylum, Central Waters, Keweenaw, and Schell's, are far superior to the horse pee produced by AB.
Even when AB tries to branch out into a new beer category, they inevitably water down the final product. Budweiser American Ale and Michelob Amber Bock are prime examples. It seems AB is deathly afraid of waking up anyone's taste buds.
lost| 1.11.13 @ 12:38PM
What about Point?
But then some of the small ones needed to die, like Oshkosh and Peoples. At the end they were making skunky beer on purpose
Seapuss| 1.11.13 @ 1:05PM
Point is a good one too. I often stock Point Amber in my fridge.
Ryan| 1.11.13 @ 9:01AM
For those looking for a good budget beer, go with Yuengling, America's oldest brewery. $10-$12 for a 12-pack, and better than anything else in that price range.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 9:03AM
Heck yeah I drank my Father's Beer(PBR, or for special occasions, Old Milwaukee), his Crown Royal too.
Well I used to anyway, when I was old enough to drink, you know, 13.
Now that 120 mile round trip sort of makes it economically unsound...
But when even the Marines have to accept limp wristed lisping fairies,
No Homo-Fobia, I'm talkin about the Air Force Exchange Pilots, its only Natural(Tastes Great! Less Filling!) that it spreads into Civillian life, like a pee stain....
Frank ' No Homo" Drackman
markenoff| 1.11.13 @ 2:36PM
Used to drink my dad's Stroh's or Olympia.
Pecos Pete| 1.11.13 @ 9:14AM
Santa Fe Pale Ale resides in my refrigerator.
For the strangest named: "Santa Fe Chicken Killer Barley Wine Ale"
SFCMikeJ| 1.11.13 @ 9:17AM
I am surprised that AB held it's place for as long as it did. To bring politics into my drinking, the last AB product I purchased was the day before I discovered that the company and ownership was strongly supporting gun control. How was the beer of rednecks everywhere gonna stay in business telling their customers they can't have their toys?
Well I remember Yuengling Black and Tan when you had to be in central PA to get it.
Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)
SUBVET| 1.11.13 @ 10:13AM
Mike.......then you better stop drinking starbucks....along with their no guns stand they refuse to support the troops with coffee...along with ben & that fag jerry.
markenoff| 1.11.13 @ 2:38PM
Unless something has changed:
http://www.usacarry.com/why-i-.....starbucks/
SFCMikeJ| 1.11.13 @ 5:54PM
Well SUBVET I would have to start drinking Starbucks in order to stop drinking it. Never been very trendy and it makes no sense to me to pay five bucks (or more) for what tastes like yesterdays truck stop coffee for it's strength and bitterness.
Additionally, I try to avoid establishments that have a higher than average quota of annoying liberals.
Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 9:23AM
OK, with all you Homo Micro Penis(its an acutal condition, look it up) Pansies sippin your Ying Yangs, I know the chance of anyone knowin this quote is about as likely as Dick Chaney(He ain't drinkin no Queer Beer)bein named "Gun Safety Tsar"....
" I only came here to do 2 things, Kick some Ass, and drink some Beer (Pause).
Looks like we're almost outta Beer"
Movie and Character Name
Frank "The first step is getting her drunk" Drackman
THKrupp| 1.11.13 @ 10:24AM
Dazed and Confused I think...not sure on the character
Drunken Sailor| 1.11.13 @ 11:32AM
Bruno
Do we get to split the prize?
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 12:05PM
it was "Clint"
dumbass
Frank
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:30PM
1 reference to penises.
2 homo-erotic references.
Reliable staples of your posts.
Self-awareness is a beautiful thing, Frank...
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 12:38PM
spoken like a true Shrink....
and you know whats sad?
I mean besides your "marriage"
I probably did better on the Psych part of the Boards than you did..(can you prove I didn't?)
Anesthesis wasn't even that lucrative when I trained, in fact it was gonna be all CRNA's by 2000, you know, like how they said there would be an over-supply of physicians.
OK I know there is in your "Specialty"
See, no references to Penii, or Homos, except I'm talkin to one.
Frank
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 1:18PM
Tell me about your mother, Frank...
Occam's Tool| 1.11.13 @ 6:24PM
Dr R: yeah, it is. I actually think he's usually funny. But I like being six when I'm not working.
Occam's Tool| 1.11.13 @ 6:22PM
"Brew Swillis (Bruce Willis): Hudson Hawk?"
Bob Grant| 1.11.13 @ 9:27AM
"A recent trip to the local liquor store revealed something called Hoppin’ Frog Hop Heathen at $11.49 for a 22 oz. bottle. Clown Shoes Vampire Slayer, complete with a drawing of a man driving a stake through Dracula’s heart on its label, retails for $8.49 for a bottle containing less than two normal-sized beers. A Mephistopheles Stout, featuring a picture of the man downstairs on the packaging, goes for the hellish price of $10.99 for a 12 oz. bottle. Other brands — Arrogant Bastard Ale and Supremely Self-Righteous Ale — seem to really understand their audience."
----
Oh how true.
Beer is friggin' beer.
For me, it breaks down in 3 categories: Everyday Beer like Miller Lite; Beer to accompany a meal e.g. Negra Modelo, Tsingtao, or any good Bavarian Bock; and Miller Lite.
I'll pass on the beer with the "special" names. I got over that phase in the 90's. Not that there's anything wrong with...
Seapuss| 1.11.13 @ 10:18AM
"Beer is friggin' beer."
That was certainly true back in the 70's and 80's. All the beer tasted the same.
And if you think it doesn't get any better than Miller Lite, you don't know what you're missing.
Bob Grant| 1.11.13 @ 11:02AM
I know what YOU'RE missing: What I wrote.
markenoff| 1.11.13 @ 2:39PM
Tsingtao is actually a German recipe from when Tsingtao was the German trading concession in CHina.
rlranger907| 1.11.13 @ 9:33AM
What Doctor Right and Seapuss said.
But there are some times when a cold one that is simply a cold one is just the trick. Maybe it's the context, but after a day of skiing in the Rockies, a cold Coors (Banquet - NOT Coors Light) on a bench in the afternoon sun is the pause that refereshes. Or a Bud after youve spent a whole summer afternoon working in the yard or helping a friend move.
Thank heaven and thank a free country that our liquor stores have coolers full of variety.
Richard
Teflon93 | 1.11.13 @ 9:33AM
Who wants to drink weak, watery pilsner? Any beer which must be served ice cold is lousy beer---the cold is necessary to deaden your taste buds.
Bob Grant| 1.11.13 @ 9:49AM
Do you slosh the beer in your mouth before swallowing?
Ice Cold Beer is refreshing, nothing more.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 10:06AM
Try a 40 oz Olde English 800, weak and watery it a'int,
Frank
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 9:34AM
am I the only (Real Man) here who still likes Malt Liquor???
Or who actually had sex with a (Real) Woman last night?, lets here it for the XX's!!(can't live with em, can't bury them in a shallow grave) Seriously, this topic is Queer-er than a Football Bat....
Frank
rlranger907| 1.11.13 @ 9:43AM
Funny how American Spectator threads default so quickly and so often to chest thumping about manhood. Have at it, Frank. I'll go find a Belgian tripel ale and toast your manhood. Over and out.
Bob Grant| 1.11.13 @ 9:51AM
That's just his schtick.
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:34PM
Another word for "schtick" is "disorder."
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 12:39PM
wrong, are you really a Shrink?
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 1:19PM
Wrong how?
Go on, Frank...explain.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 10:02AM
Lets see, I dabled a little in Cryptology....
So your call sign was "R(ecta)l Ranger, let me guess P-3 Pilot???
Umm no, only the threads whose participants make Barney Frank look like Clint Eastwood in "Dirty Hairy", its BEER for cryin out loud, and if you'd paid attention in school instead of looking at gay porn, you'd spell "Triple" right.
Frank
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.11.13 @ 10:35AM
The Doctor comments on spelling? The Mayans must have been just a few weeks off in their prediction.
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:35PM
2 homoerotic references...both completely unsolicited.
What's on your mind, Frank?
Stan Redmond| 1.11.13 @ 3:43PM
He likes to hijack threads. Just ignore his posts
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:32PM
Who are you trying to impress, Frank?
Us, or yourself?
(And yet another requisite homo-erotic reference)
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 12:40PM
Your Wife, oh wait, that was last night...
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 1:20PM
Doubtful; I'm fairly certain you have performance "issues" with women.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 1:47PM
1: Your wife doesn't seem to mind.
and timeout, did you ever play sports "Doctor" Right?? cause you leave yourself more open to ball shots than Rock Hudson in his prime, its almost like you enjoy being humiliated by your better(paying specialty)
2:Really?because to be "fairly certain" you'd need to have seen my Penis, as they say "in action"...
Lets just say Mrs. Drackman calls me "Old Faithful"....
I thought I heard someone looking through the windows last night...
Frank
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 2:58PM
Yeah, I played sports most of my life, from 1st-grade through NCAA Division 1.
How about you, Shecky?
And would you like me to see your penis, Frank? Is that what you're driving at? Do you want other men to see your penis "in action"? Do you want to look at their penises? Is that what you're trying to say?
You're very uncomfortable in your own skin, Frank. Like I said, you have issues.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 3:19PM
Wow, didn't know "Cum Guzzlin" was a Sport, would explain your fixation on my Penis though...
You played 1st Grade Sports??
Too bad you were 54....
I don't know, would you like me you see your "Penis"?
isn't that how you Shrinks do it, just repeat what your patients say? sounds like a sweet gig...
Thats strange that you would talk about skin as something one could just take on and off,
I GET IT, YOU'RE BUFFALO "IT PUTS THE LOTION ON IT'S SKIN" FROM "SILENCE OF THE LAMBS"
it all makes sense now...
Frank
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 5:36PM
Getting frustrated, Frank?
Don't. I'm a professional. This is easy for me.
Occam's Tool| 1.11.13 @ 6:37PM
Doctor Right is a psychologist, Doctoral Level. (And a nice guy, and a good writer, c'mon Frank, be nice)
Dr R: Division I. That's great! I was always too slow and small, although I was told I might have made a good wrestler, once...
At any rate, Frank, might I suggest as a Board Certified MD shrink: try to write, and live your life, as though you are trying to piss off only those you INTENTIONALLY want to piss off. For example, here, I routinely piss on (and therefore piss off) Cheesehead Jack and C. Bowen. Occasionally Purp.
Otherwise, consider this: life is short, and unpredictable. One of my favorite nurses had her husband die suddenly at a picnic, at age 56. If I were to go tomorrow, I would be thrilled to have Jack and Bowen think poorly of me, and Dr. R and TLP and Ken think well of me, here. I enjoy reading them and being nice to them, as I find it enjoyable to me. My work is socially worthwhile and intellectually interesting, as I'm sure yours is. I've got two fantastic kids and a great wife.
You're a brilliant guy, and funny. Try to avoid Blue-on-Blue, especially when unnecessary. Note: it is always necessary to slap Jack in Wi. and Purp.
But I have found some lovely people here, like Ken and the good Doctor, and Tim, and you. G-d Bless.
Frank Drackman| 1.12.13 @ 7:41AM
Psychologist?? Explains alot...
One of your "Favorite" Nurses? so does that mean your (redacted) her? Sorry, its my Ass-burgers.
So are you? Dead 56 year old Husband, probably be best to wait till the flowers from the funeral have wilted...
Frank
Hardcard| 1.11.13 @ 9:50AM
It's all panther piss. Whatever happened to Miss Reingold 1961, I voted for her. My beer is Reingold the dry beer, think of Reingold whenever you buy beer, it's not bitter,not sweet, it's an extra dry treat, makes you want to crack open a 24 pack.
CJW| 1.11.13 @ 10:01AM
I have not heard the term "panther piss" since the movie "JOE" in the late 60's, with Peter Boyle, playing a regular guy who hates hippies.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 10:04AM
it was also used in "Heartbreak Ridge", 1986, with Clint Eastwood playing a hippie hating Marine Gunnery Sergeant.
Tina B| 1.13.13 @ 1:19PM
Yes! I had it! I thought when you said dirty Harry I was wrong but I wasn't. There are a few Eastwoodisms that will always bring his face to my mind and that was one of 'em. That and the entire "Make my day" quote,"well, do ya?" as well as much of his dialogue in "Grand Torino." thanks for clarifying who/what you meant, Sir Frank of Drackman.
SUBVET| 1.11.13 @ 10:19AM
Oh I see someone from my time.........what was her name ?
SUBVET| 1.11.13 @ 10:39AM
Janet Mick 1964
In 1965, the Times asked, "How does a white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Miss Rheingold sell Rheingold beer to Negroes? Or Puerto Ricans? Or to Italians, Greeks, Chinese or to the Irish for that matter?" Times were changing.
Kilgore Trout| 1.11.13 @ 12:17PM
A. EASY! ALL those ethnics WANTED a white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed,
big chested Miss Rheingold AND STILL DO! ME, TOO!!
That said, my beer is Dos Equis, Amber, but then, I AM the most interesting man in the world.
OP4| 1.11.13 @ 10:19AM
I received some Innis & Gunn for Christmas. Scottish beer aged in previously used oak whiskey or rum casks. I was suspicious until I tried it...
Why isn't everyone doing it that way!? (Other than the fact that my head is swimming after one of them.)
Cobalt| 1.11.13 @ 10:24AM
I don't know anything about their beer, but I always liked the posters they displayed in stores.
St. Pauli Girl
https://www.google.com/search?q=st+pauli+girl&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=mC3wUJX1A4fG9gTV04HwCg&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=678
Pecos Pete| 1.11.13 @ 10:35AM
Ooorah! Best post of the day.
SUBVET| 1.11.13 @ 10:46AM
Ya..........page 13 first pic..............
Drunken Sailor| 1.11.13 @ 11:45AM
Hell Page 13, 5th pic got my attention
Pecos Pete| 1.11.13 @ 1:26PM
Us sailors know a good thing when we see it.
markenoff| 1.11.13 @ 2:57PM
Is that Frank D's wife bottom of page 5, 3rd from right?
Hardcard| 1.11.13 @ 10:32AM
boyle is dead and so is Reingold Breweries all the breweries where local and had beer gardens (taverns) to dispense their wares. Reingold, Knickerbocker, Schaffer, Ballantine were some NY beers, All are DOA, but their label names are still around used by giant brewers to sell their stuff. There are realities beyond the hollywood, in the Bronx of the 50's and 60's panther piss or gargle were pretty common terms. I don't use the stuff any longer, too many one-point landings.
Guimo| 1.11.13 @ 10:37AM
I don't care about the political or philosophical aspects of this thread. As a beer drinker for over 50 years, I'm here to tell you about the most exquisite U.S. beer there is. Mix in equal parts Dogfish Head Raison d'Etre and Dogfish Head Chicory Stout. I could be wrong but I believe that the result is a porter. Not to worry: what matters is the taste.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 11:01AM
Real (hetero) Men don't call Beer "Exquisite".
Frank
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 12:37PM
NOTE: Frank is making sure everyone thinks he is a heterosexual.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 12:42PM
NOTE" "Doctor Right" is trying to convert me from my 100% Heterosexual-ness, FOR THE LAST TIME DR. RIGHT, I DON'T LIKE GUYS!!!!!!!!!!
Frank
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 1:22PM
NOTE: Frank is trying even harder to make sure everyone thinks he is a heterosexual.
Rhoetus| 1.12.13 @ 11:04AM
Ha ha
Guimo| 1.11.13 @ 1:03PM
Frank has too much time on his hands. Is he a law school professor?
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 1:49PM
Gas Passer, pays better. And what other job can you suck in a fresh Vital Capacity Lung Full of Nitrous Oxide every morning, and not only get paid for it, ITS ON THE CHECKLIST!!!!!!! if you don't do it, its I don't know, a Hippo violation or something
Frank
Occam's Tool| 1.11.13 @ 6:41PM
Actually, some do. I don't drink beer, but I can see people doing this. Nero Wolfe would, for example.
C'mon, Frank. Remember to mix in some oxygen with the mix, my friend.
Bob Grant| 1.11.13 @ 11:14AM
Oy vey!
I think I'll head to the fridge and start drinking early today (Miller Lite, thank you very much) and TRY to get this post out of my head.
Patzer| 1.11.13 @ 11:06AM
One of my iron-clad rules for buying micro brews is, the more elaborate the artwork, the worse the beer. Similarly, excessively clever names usually are hung on mediocre beer. Arrogant bastard is a fine product, however- and I'm in no position to deny any accusations along those lines in any event.
A friend of mine has an extensive supply of elaborately-named and occasionally good microbrews in his garage fridge- with the lower shelf devoted to "lawnmower beer": Bud Light, Schlitz, Miller Lite, etc. I find myself drinking off the lower shelf more often than not when I'm over there.
My father drank Hamm's and Old Style- and my mother still buys the latter out of habit. When I'm at her house to help her with something, there's always a cold Old Style ready for me. But my main beer, in the privacy of my basement, is Beck's Dark.
kurt2022| 1.11.13 @ 11:17AM
New Castle brown ale in the 5 liter pony keg is the best I have found after a multi year trial of many brands! Their pony keg is pressurized and will last up to 30 days! Pour it in a frozen thick glass mug and enjoy!!!
Hardcard| 1.11.13 @ 11:56AM
Trendy names, from far away lands and hot chicks with leather jumpsuits slithering around the tap, it's still just panther piss, beer was brewed because if you drank the water way back when you died PDQ and the fish flucke in it (WC Fields).
Stan Redmond| 1.11.13 @ 3:49PM
Exactly. I was at the grocery store and witnessed the invasion of "exotic" european imports. Mostly Italian. Pironi? Really? And why so many Belgium beers? Yech.
neo102470| 1.11.13 @ 12:02PM
Try anything from 3 Floyds or Bell's in Kalamazoo (especially Oberon). Great stuff it is...
Fat Tire kicks ass too.
I hate to say it but I tried their 'Key Lime' variety and actually liked it... sweet and tased much like key lime pie.
And I actually tried the 'new' AB variety that won their contest. They had all 12 available in variety packs and that one happened to be the first one I tried. I am pretty forgiving of anything from AB since I know what to expect - but this stuff was HORRIBLE! The second variety I tried (St. Louis one) was better - but over malty IMO.
Petronius| 1.11.13 @ 12:07PM
I know I'm getting old, but Gussie and the old Local 6 gang were adulterating Budweiser in '67 before I was old enough to drink; legally. 2 years ago Billy Busch got back into the business just to have a footprint. Try the Kraftig. It's like the old Bud, and even forced Inbev to bring back an old recipe for Michelob. When Mich was only available on tap, it was nectar compared to the dishwater now in those footed bottles.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.11.13 @ 12:57PM
Decades ago when I was in college, Michelob kegs were favored (the AB ones required a side spout and a top pump). I seemed to recall it tasted better the first time I consumed it, but not as good when I puked it all over the floor later.
Pecos Pete| 1.11.13 @ 1:30PM
Don Dom, that's a good idea for a contest: The best beer induced puke you ever experienced.
I well remember mine! And the Marines guarding the entrance gate at the San Diego Naval Station probably have it written up as the best they ever saw.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.11.13 @ 3:43PM
I can hear a new last stanza of the Marine's Hymn being penned by that generation of barracks Marines in honor of a young sailor:
If the Army or the Navy
Ever get to take a view
We will show them all the record
Set by Pete’s volcanic spew
Pecos Pete| 1.11.13 @ 4:30PM
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Petronius| 1.11.13 @ 5:48PM
To A fellow shithouse poet. Bravo. And what are you drinking?
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.12.13 @ 10:17AM
Sorry for the delay. I was out consuming draft Yuengling.
Derek Leaberry| 1.11.13 @ 12:22PM
When I want to drink water, I drink Budweiser. When I want to drink beer, I drink Guinness, Peg Leg stout, Troegs or Spaten Optimum. I used to drink Sam Adams' Double-Bock but that is hard to get these days.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 12:43PM
when you want to drink water you drink Budweiser??? I want YOUR job!
umm unless it's in some Homo-Centric profession, like Psychiatry.
Frank
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 1:23PM
Why the homoerotic reference again, Frank?
What's on your mind?
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 1:51PM
those 45 kids burried under your house..
WHOA!!!!!!!!! Low blow,
seriously, you need to keep that guard up, you're like that retarded kid I used to beat up in grade school(someone had to)
Frank
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 3:01PM
No homoerotic references; that's progress!
Well done, Frank!
You see how you can improve when you confront your inner demons?
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 3:29PM
You see how YOU can improve when you confront YOUR inner demons?
and maybe I don't want to remember how you molested me 45 years ago
Might wanta change "John Wayne Gacy" as your "Most Admired Person" Though.....
Frank
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 5:38PM
I wouldn't be surprised if you were molested as a child; it would explain your arrested development and sexual immaturity.
Frank Drackman| 1.12.13 @ 7:49AM
Would it explain why you couldn't get in Med School???
I know, the "Division 1" Sports, TBI, I'm sure...
"Wouldn't be surprised"?? because you molested so many?? OK, explains why you're a PhD, but even with the hundreds(thousands?) of kids you molested, the odds that I was one of them are like .0000000000000000000000000000
cause no way any Homo that tried to molest me would still be alive...
Frank
Occam's Tool| 1.11.13 @ 6:47PM
Frank: c'mon, pal. Cheap shot.
Dr. R is a psychologist, you know. Does testing better than me, research better than me. I take down agitated psychotics better than him.
Why do you need to be an MD to do anaesthesia, Frank? Nurses do it pretty well. (I know why, but it is somewhat insulting, nu?)
Frank Drackman| 1.12.13 @ 7:55AM
Occam, I'm just busting balls bein an A-Hole, thats what I do, in fact, I used to have a White Doctor's Coat(don't you hate those?) and where people usually have there specialty, in cursive, I had "Ass Holologist"
And here's why you should stick with the Inkblots, MMPI(what WAS "Drop the Hanky" anyway), and screwing your attractive female patients...
You don't have to me an MD to administer Anesthetics.
You have to be an MD(for the time being) to SUPERVISE people administering Anesthetics.
THATS where you makes your real money...
Now go show an Ink blot to somebody(why do they all have Peni in them? The Inkblots I mean, not your patients)
Frank
SUBVET| 1.12.13 @ 11:42AM
Frank.............busting balls you need to change your name to Dr. HOUSE
dominic1955| 1.11.13 @ 12:49PM
I don't really care where its from, I drink what I like. I tend to like pretty much anything dark and from Germany or Belgium or the locally made equivalent. I also don't care what the bottle says or how much it is, if Warsteiner dunkel was at the far side of the cooler at $5 a 12 pack I'd probably be a lush.
I don't drink Bud or the other "blue collar" beer because it just doesn't taste that good to me. It has nothing to do with being snobbish or the beer equivalent of a "foodie". One does taste good ice cold on a hot day, but you could pretty much interchange any of them and it wouldn't make much of a difference. I also use them in cooking if it calls for "beer".
All American beer got its start in Germany (or thereabouts). Through the years, they should have thought harder about sticking to their roots.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 1:01PM
are you really "Doctor Right" ???
He likes pretty much anything dark, although he probably sticks to the locally made equivalents...
R Martin| 1.11.13 @ 1:10PM
Is pizza with anchovies good?
Isn’t it the same with beer, strictly a matter of taste and personal preference? Still, it is a statement to the importance of the subject that so many posters are aroused to high dudgeon.
One wonders what comments might have erupted had Mr.Flynn written a piece suggesting all readers immediately turn-in their guns to the government.
And just so I’m still considered one of the boys, I’ll join in and make my preference known: Australian Shiraz. Cheers all.
Arnie| 1.11.13 @ 1:12PM
Everybody knows, and has known that American corporate beers (AB, Coors, Miller) are a step lower than warmed over horse piss. I think it's an excellent development that microbrews are really taking off in the U.S. there is some really tasty and creative stuff there. Although the corporate guys think they need to get more creative, so they end up making cheap gimmicky monstrosities. Real excellent brewing takes tons of care in every stage of the process, with tried and true techniques, not just a PR campaign.
The best beers in the world come from Belgium, Germany, and the Czech Republic. And I would put Ireland at fourth.
Stan Redmond| 1.11.13 @ 3:54PM
I have had this argument many times with my Czech friend.
"We in Czech republic make the best beer in the world. This brewery has been brewing beer for 700 years. You Oregonians know nothing about beer."
To which I reply, "Just because you've been brewing this for 700 years doesn't mean you know how to do it right. Now have a real beer."
Job| 1.11.13 @ 1:21PM
i like a lager beer and used to drink budweiser till their beer became foreign (belgium owned) and their politics bcame retarded. now i drink local beers and wonder if thats where AB's woes began. George "we got belgiums running europe" Bush had this one right.
Petronius| 1.11.13 @ 6:24PM
A B's woes began 50 years ago when the corner cutting started big time. An old time bar owner was clearing out the back room of his place when the Fire Marshall came calling. He called Lohr for a pickup of the empties and they asked he wanted to order. He declined. The following week there was a padlock on the front door and a Closed sign. He only kept it open for himself and his friends. When he passed on later that spring the talk was about the real reason he shutdown without notice. Only his closest friend was told, because he didn't want his friends at the brewery to find out. He noticed the roaches he used to find in the empty bottles didn't show up anymore. What does that tell you? Chemicals maybe? He would no longer sell that beer to his friends after what he discovered about the chicanery on Pestolozzi St. That was the mid 60's. I blame the family.
Job| 1.11.13 @ 7:08PM
if the budweiser has ever been warm a couple of budweisers is an automatic bad HA; never figured out exactly why but it must be the chemicals you mentioned; i figure them roaches don't want the hangover either.
JP| 1.12.13 @ 10:46AM
I find that hard to believe, as breweries must be sanitized before each batch is brewed. Once fermentation starts the real danger for infections begin. Yeast is a magnet for impurities. even the slightest amount of bacteria introduced into the batch will cause infection. And you can see, smell, and taste infections. Many a homebrewer discovers this.
Breweries do not use chemicals in their beers, other than foam stabilizers - and those are usually bio-polymers. Additionally, the beers are put through a series of filters before carbonization is introduced. In other words, for the last 50 years almost all American industrial lagers are sterile products (which allows them to sit on grocery shelves for 6-8 months).
If roaches were in your friends bar, they more than likely came from other sources -perhaps the beer distributors warehouses.
BNFDS| 1.11.13 @ 1:29PM
Does anyone still drink real American beer? Seriously? And the marcrobrewers won't get back that 6%...? Today's lesson is on innumeracy. This just in: maybe, just maybe, some people think the microbrew beers taste better and are willing to pay more as a result. (Nahhh. That's crazy rationalization.) Shocking that! Buying status? Hmmm, how about a blind taste test?! Maybe we should let the socialist planners pick beers for all of us rather than have companies exploit our insecurity. I'd write more but I need to finish my Rogue's Old Crustacean Barleywine Style Ale soon so that my inferiority comples doesn't return.
Mazzuchelli| 1.11.13 @ 2:06PM
Now that my beloved Bud products have been sucked into the bottomless InBev maw, I've turned to Sam Adams Light which isn't bad. Mom brings me cases of YuengLing from her trips to New York. When calories are backburnered, there are now thousands of fabulous micro-breweries over the country that serve up really scrumptious products. We have a new one down in Glenwood called Keg Creek that is brewing a remarkable array of superior beers. I really should thank that jackwagon Busch for caving. I'm sampling many more different brews now than I ever would have with Bud still American.
JP| 1.11.13 @ 3:47PM
I find that most micros make lousy beers. They are all into the Extreme Beer Movement. Extreme Beers hide the brewers mistakes behind a wall of alcohol, brettanomyces, diacetly, and that awful Cascade hops. These boozy hop bombs to me are nothing but prohibition beer on steroids.
And when a micro attempts to make a standard ale (most have not the skill or equipment to make lagers) they over-hop their ales to a point where they taste like lemon juice (again, the Cascade hops).
It would be nice to settle into my chair before bedtime and enjoy a simple glass of bitters (two malts, three English noble hops, and only 3.8% alcohol). The classic Bavarian Helles, has one malt (German Two Row), one hop (Halletau Mittlefruh). And it is one of the most enjoyble beers. Few Micros have the skill to brew either.
R Martin| 1.11.13 @ 4:16PM
Have you tried Dinkelacker?
Mazzuchelli| 1.11.13 @ 2:21PM
A prior post reminded me: Hamms on tap at Candlestick Park during a Giant's game. Really light and refreshing. That was as close to heaven as I could get until moving to Iowa.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 1.11.13 @ 3:09PM
I actually prefer Miller High Life, but otherwise I will go for a Coors or Coors Light. I've never been much for Budweiser. I am far from a beer snob but if I have to drink a beer from a small brewery it would be Anchor Steam (from San Francisco). I do like Trader Joe's "Simpler Times" Lager as well and I will drink Pabst Blue Ribbon or Rolling Rock on occasion as well.
JP| 1.11.13 @ 3:49PM
Anchor Steam by far is my favorite American Beer. They've maintained their quality for over 40 years. And even after Frtiz Maytag sold the brewery, the new owners show no inclination to change what is an outstanding beer.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 1.11.13 @ 3:52PM
Anchor Steam is a great beer. I prefer it over Lagunitas or Sierra Nevada any day.
Mr LeMans| 1.11.13 @ 3:14PM
Way back in the late 70s I was a college marketing major who did a paper on branding. Miller Lite had just been introduced and was being heavily promoted to the football viewers. Remember "Less-Filling, Tastes Great?" Anyway, my conclusion was that using the Miller name was a mistake and would cost High Life market share. Today, Miller High Life, Lite, MGD and MGD Lite COMBINED have a smaller market share than High Life had in 1976. My favorite thing about my study was a quote from a Miller account exec regarding all the upstart new brews:
"We spill more beer in a day than they make in a year."
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 3:33PM
I don't know what's sadder, that you actually did college work on such a stupid subject, or how many of the athletes in those ads died from alcohol related diseases(Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, OK only 2 I can remember...
Frank
Occam's Tool| 1.11.13 @ 6:50PM
Marketing, done right, is a very useful subject, and branding is useful in a number of contexts...
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 1.11.13 @ 3:55PM
I still love Miller High Life. I used to like MGD, but it doesn't taste the same as it did when I was 18. Maybe I'm just getting a little older, but I swear they changed the MGD recipe. As for Miller Light I never drank it. I don't like. I would drink a Natural Light before I drank a Miller Light.
R Martin| 1.11.13 @ 4:07PM
I go back a bit further. At the time Miller was sold in clear bottles with the advertising slogan, "The Champagne of Bottled Beer". It was considered a ladies beer. The rebranding effort to make it appeal to males included the sports figures advertising you refer to. Did it work? According to your stats, no.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 3:38PM
OK, am I the only commenter in here who
1: still smokes Cigarettes??? (OK, Marlboro Lites, gotta bum em' from my daughter :(
2: still smokes a little of the Gan-ja??(and not "Medical" either, pure Cheech & Chong, stoned to the Be-Jeezes belt, Hydroponic...
3: used to make the class sissy "Beat himself up"??
Its easy, you just grab his arm(down Dr. Right!!) and literally make your victim punch himself while simultaneously saying "Why are you punching yourself" its great! inflicting both physical and mental pain at the same time...
Frank
Doctor Right| 1.11.13 @ 5:51PM
This is what's known as "reverse irony."
The subject presents an exaggerated, purposefully over-the-top persona (with details that he/she hope will shock) a in an attempt to lead the listener into believing that he/she is trying to appear that way because he/she is actually normal.
But in truth, the subject IS "that way."
In your case, Frank, it means that you are incredibly immature, especially about sexual matters, narcissistic, and deeply insecure.
Occam's Tool| 1.11.13 @ 6:52PM
Dr. R: anesthesiologists, as you know, are the MD specialty most likely to BE drug abusers.
I ever find myself in NJ I'll let you know. A beer from me is the least you deserve.
Frank Drackman| 1.12.13 @ 8:06AM
Occam, what you said is like saying Blacks are the ethnic group most likeley to drive Crown Victorias with 26 inch rims, Asians the most likely to win the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, and if you bump into someone during the Hadj, they probably smell bad...
And Shrinks are the MD specialty most likely to kill themselves(probably because of there shitty reimbursements, Procedures, you need Procedures)
And if you 2 are ever in the ATL and want a baloon of Nitrous, try Midtown, but remember it should only be used under the supervision of a Physician.....
See, a whole post with no Homo-o-rotic whatevers, and what you and "Dr." Right do in private is between you 2....
Frank
JP| 1.11.13 @ 3:38PM
Daniel Flynn,
The beer of our father's time was plain awful. It was industrial lager brewed from a mash of corn grits, barely flakes, yeast nutrients, and foam stabilizers. It was a mass produced beer (average batch size of 30,000 gallons) and brewed with the lowest common denominator in mind.
On the other hand, the micro brew market has gone nutso. Originally, it was really an effort to brew beer not as our fathers and grand fathers enjoyed, their great grand fathers enjoyed. In 1890, Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee imported their barely from Germany and their hops from Moravia. And while they too brewed large batches (20,000 gallon batch sizes), their Qaulity Control was geared towards taste - a distinctly malty Bavarian taste. I have nothing against large breweries (Augustiner in Munich brews 400,000 barrels a year and make outstanding beer). The old Dortumder Brewery in Germany made beers for the local coal miners and steel workers - not a bunch of effette yuppies. But, their beers were full bodied, 6% alcohol, and very bitter (a strong pale lager).
The problem today is that the micro market gears to yuppies. I would be happy with a pre-prohibition beer enjoyed by my late great grandfather (he was a brewer). Cheers.
Petronius| 1.11.13 @ 6:00PM
Then remember their premium lager that disappeared when they started subbing the brewing operations to boost sales and some of it was green? Andecker was great stuff for a while. The next year it was gone.
Frank Drackman| 1.12.13 @ 8:08AM
Of Course the Beer our Fore-Fathers drank was horrible, its 500 years old for cryin out loud!
Stan Redmond| 1.11.13 @ 3:42PM
Mr Flynn,
I am a beer snob and consider myself a beer afficianado. Being a native Oregonian there is one thing we know and love here in Oregon, and that's beer. There is no beer too creative to not make it to our shelves. Even the lowliest convenience store has a huge selection of rich flavorful beers to satisfy any palate, from the lightest lager to the most potent hoppy (my favorite) stout.
Nobody drinks their father's been anymore because our father's beer sucked. It is skunky flavorless junk. Our fathers drank that swill because they had no choice. Prohibition destroyed the beer market. Only the big guys, Shlitz, AB, Coors, managed to recover their breweries. And with the few lightweight european style recipes they had that's all they produced. I am glad to see the macro beer breweries lose their status. A-B is the most shameless and desperate in the battle of the brews. The big boys are desperately trying to gain market share of the craft brew industry by crappy rebranded flavored budweiser, coors, miller and awful European imports (Can anyone imagine Keystone being imported to Italy as a craft brew?).
JP| 1.11.13 @ 3:55PM
The craft brew market is the only sub-market in the beer industry that shows growth. Since 1995 the global beer market has shrink on average of .2% per year. In Europe, an aging population, coupled with a younger generation addicted to coffee and sports drinks has caused many a brewery to either sell out to Inbev or close its doors. Germany once had 2000 breweries (1989). Today, the number has shrunk to 1000. The famous Belgian breweries depend on the North American beer market for the bulk of its sales. Ditto for Guiness (almost 65% of its sales is overseas).
Goose Island sold out last year, and there are rumours that Bells in Michigan may sale off soon. The Big Boys come a knockin.
Frank Drackman| 1.11.13 @ 3:52PM
OK, I'm gonna come out of the closet here...
Not like "Doctor Right", who makes Liberace look like friggin Charles Bronson.
When I'm back in der Vaterland, cheerin on the boys of Energie Cottbuss, I'll chug a few Pilsner Urquells while chanting vicious racial slurs at the African on the Rostok club...
Maybe even a few Budvars...
Herr Doktor Frank "Ein Bier? Mein Bier!" Drackman
Mnestheus| 1.11.13 @ 6:26PM
The original culture war began with both sides drinking Pilsner Urquell, and the present one may end if Bud and Budvar become as one.
Stan Redmond| 1.13.13 @ 2:36PM
The PU we get in the states is just terrible. They do something that allows it to be imported, and that is destroy the flavor. One has to have it from the tap in Czesky to really enjoy a PU.
Jane Chingo| 1.11.13 @ 9:29PM
You're a reverse snob. Those craft beers you sneer at are simply better tasting than Bud. For many people, Budweiser appears to mean watery horse emissions in Czech.
Stan Redmond| 1.13.13 @ 2:37PM
My Czech friends claim Coors is most like Czeck beers. No one liked Budweiser.
Cobalt| 1.11.13 @ 11:17PM
Molson, Labatt and Moosehead are popular Canadian beers. Coors owns Molson.
IanM| 1.12.13 @ 12:54AM
Does the irony totally escape you that what you call "Real American Beer" is owned by a Belgo-Brazilian conglomerate, while the breweries that you are so disparaging of are independent American owned family businesses, employing millions of Americans and have been one of the few bright spots in the US economy in recent years? Check the stats on exports of US craft beers recently. Growth has been exponential - find me another market where that is happening.
Enjoy your Brazilian Budweiser, sir, I'd rather support American businesses.
IanM| 1.12.13 @ 12:54AM
Does the irony totally escape you that what you call "Real American Beer" is owned by a Belgo-Brazilian conglomerate, while the breweries that you are so disparaging of are independent American owned family businesses, employing millions of Americans and have been one of the few bright spots in the US economy in recent years? Check the stats on exports of US craft beers recently. Growth has been exponential - find me another market where that is happening.
Enjoy your Brazilian Budweiser, sir, I'd rather support American businesses.
Frank Drackman| 1.12.13 @ 8:12AM
Rather support American Businesses??
Me too! Where did you get your American Made Television?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!
Stan Redmond| 1.13.13 @ 2:30PM
American vintners and distillers are growing. Firearm and firearm related manufacturing have the best salesman ever in Obama. But don't worry Obama will figure out a way to destroy these businesses. Even if it is "under the radar."
JP| 1.12.13 @ 10:54AM
I always thought it would have been great to have been alive in the 1880s when there were 4000 breweries in the US. During that period, before consolidation and prohibition, we had the best of both worlds. English Ales still were brewed in New England; The Texas Hill Country had a mixture of Wendts, Austrian expatriots, and Moravians who brewed everything from Vienna Country Beers, to Czech Pilsners, to Bavarian Bocks. Even in places like Idaho and Arizona, ambitious immigrants from Mexico, Germany, and Scotland brought their brewing traditions with them. Of course, San Francisco made a truly American style beer California Steam Beer. And in New York, Cream Ale was invented (English Ale brewed with a small portion corn to lighten and sweeten the taste. An extra addition of hops kept this beer from being cloying).
Of course cities like Pittsburgh, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cinncinatti and St Louis had dozens of breweries operated by German and Czech immigrants who made a variety of Central European lagers.
TimT | 1.12.13 @ 7:15PM
Maybe the paradox of home brew being more popular than ever, and the reported number of drinking falling can be explained easily - you can't really keep a track of the amount of home brew being made and drunk.
The big beer companies haven't been around for very long anyway - for millenia people just made beer at home and every township and locality tended to have a different type of beer; micro brew and home brew are surely welcome if they help to bring that sort of variety back to the market.
(I make home brew. It works out much cheaper than buying commercial beer. I live in Australia but I reckon the relative prices of home brew/microbrew/mass market brew would be the same in America).
TimT | 1.12.13 @ 7:18PM
I've got to say, US mass market beers have a pretty bad reputation in the rest of the world. It probably cuts both ways though - when I visited the States the only Aussie beer I could find was Fosters, which is probably the worst of the regular pub beers available here in Oz!
Stan Redmond| 1.13.13 @ 2:35PM
Exactly. We import the swill the rest of the world laughs at (Forsters, Stella, Heinekin, Peroni) and market it as some kind of spectacular fine quality ale. I don't even remember seeing Fosters in the bottle shops of Auz. VB, MB, XXXX, Couys. Good stuff.
Kingfish | 1.13.13 @ 1:09AM
Daniel, when you become a real man, try Spaten Optimator. Guaranteed to turn a metro into a man.
Roomelephant| 1.15.13 @ 8:58PM
Mr Flynn,
You ask and comment, ..."Who buys? (craft beer) People insecure about their standing as sophisticates. The subliminal message behind the cartoonish packaging, gonzo names, and inflated prices is that you are superior to the man who drinks Miller Lite."
When I was 19 I bought and drank very publicly the cheapest beer I could find. Volume was key. I now drink beer only for taste. I don't drink it to appear a sophisticate. I drink it privately in small quantities at home. The one thing that hasn't changed is that I am constantly searching for the lowest priced delicious brew.
The difference between a Budweiser and an Alpha King is like comparing Cheeze Wiz to a 10 year old cheddar.
TimT | 1.16.13 @ 11:37PM
For a recent birthday present I got a six pack of a craft beer with a name like 'Cranky Old Git', or something like that. (I don't fully resemble that description yet but let's just say it's an aspirational title.) A British beer I think. Maybe names like 'Arrogant Bastard' and 'Cranky Old Git' point to a cultural difference in the American/UK markets? (Not suggesting that Americans are arrogant bastards, just that they generally seem to have less worry about giving offence to others).
Names like that are gimmicks, anyway - you remember the brand for a while. The shrewder small business/craft beer brewers will probably have come up with some more memorable brands that may, in their time, become just as well-known as Budweiser or (in Australia) the Carlton Breweries. Fosters is a case in point really - a beer that is of low quality but has an extremely good brand symbol: an F in red, white and blue: the colours of the Australian, American, and British flags. They probably have a whole long-term marketing strategy built around that; you can see two possible examples of this in the 1970s films 'Barry McKenzie' and 'Barry McKenzie Holds His Own', by Bruce Beresford and Barry Humphries. There are very few scenes in which a Fosters beer does not appear; and the characters go all over the world with their Fosters cans.
The oldest way to brand or name beer, of course, is by the town or region it comes from, and a lot of companies do this. (This quite appeals to me.)
TimT | 1.16.13 @ 11:40PM
I'm pretty sure I don't drink the beer I do because I'm 'insecure' about my 'standing as a sophisticate'. Maybe I am interested in craft beer/ making my own beer due to the way I was bought up. (Dad doesn't drink at all, and so I discovered it late in my life - ever since then drinking beer has continued to be a discovery for me. I like it this way!)
Karlo Bones | 2.5.13 @ 5:37PM
Simply close your eyes for a second and do your best to see the girl from your dreams.