294700 Mon Nov 03 19:22:17 -0800 2003 125 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1617049 this topic per a recent discussion held where else in a bar. anybody want to chime in i'm all ears. what are your favorite worst of the worst beers? past or present. yeah, black label, reingold, iron city and old frothingslosh were/are all pretty bad. and rainer aint no beervana music for the wealthy youth of the northwest. but. my 'worst of' of all time is cleveland's own p.o.c. brand (aka pilsner on call aka piss on cleveland). served proudly on draft at the cavernous municipal stadium along with schmidt's, yet another real winner of a brew only steel/auto workers could love. Image: http://www.theriverburns.com/features/ClevelandFans/poc.jpg Mon Nov 03 19:22:17 -0800 2003 0 mrnyc 1 1617057 Meister Brau!! Who wants to drink a beer named "Mr. Beer" anyway? My current fave is Red Dog, because it's cheap (less than $4 a six pack) and it comes in 16 ounce cans rather than the usual 12 ounces. More bang for the buck. :-) Mon Nov 03 19:53:02 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Laughing Goddess 2 1617108 ? "Meister Brau" means "master brew," not "mr. beer" :) Tue Nov 04 04:48:54 -0800 2003 1617057 0 Reece 3 1617190 IN IDAHO WE HAD A BEER CALLED MAXX. WE USED TO DRINK IT ALOT IN HIGH SCHOOL. I THINK IT WAS 5.99 A CASE!! Tue Nov 04 14:00:00 -0800 2003 1617108 0 Kieth Foss (co-promoter flomaton) 4 1617252 I just wanted to say, for the record, that I didn't know that there was a beer out there called "Milwaukee's Best" until I went to Louisiana, where you could go to a drive-thru liquor store and buy it by the can. As far as I know, you'd be hard pressed to find Milwaukee's Best anywhere in Milwaukee, thank God. It gets my vote. I miss the Hamm's bear, too. Tue Nov 04 18:38:45 -0800 2003 1617190 0 MkeLaurie 5 1617324 I don't believe Milwaukee's Best is made in Milwaukee. And we all know Foster's is made for the US in Canada, as are some 'Japanese' beers. Wed Nov 05 06:18:01 -0800 2003 1617252 0 Jim Dorsch 6 1617370 If anyone knows where Milwaukee's Best is made, please post. It would be a great trivia question for us locals here 'round Milwaukee. Wed Nov 05 12:21:56 -0800 2003 1617324 0 MkeLaurie 7 1617378 I figured out that it's a Pabst product. Pabst contracts for all its production, and I believe Miller does the brewing for them. Wed Nov 05 12:36:01 -0800 2003 1617370 0 Jim Dorsch 8 1617427 Someone who was reading this thread sent me an email about Cool Colt. The picture of Cool Colt that someone posted a link to was taken off my website (www.40ozMaltLiquor.com). I just thought I'd quickly chime in here, about the greatest lowbrow brews of all time (since I have the world's largest 40oz collection I know of some good ones)... Here are some others classics that exist (check out the "40oz Archive" on my site to see pictures & info for all of them): * BRICK HOUSE The label was "Brick House" spelled out in graffiti on a brick wall. The back of the label says that by purchasing the 40, they will put some of the profits back into your neighborhoods - Compton, South Central, etc... HAHAHAHAH!!! * JOHNNY 3 LEGS The label has a 3 legged chicken on it with a cheesy story about the 3 legged chicken printed on the back of the label. * DIRT CHEAP The name says it all. * PHAT BOY Another classic, made with ginseng, and obviously appealing to "young drinkers" (phat). I'm sure there are many more on my site that you would consider extremely "lowbrow". Enjoy lowbrowsing it! ,=c) Keep Swillin', Bruz Link: http://www.40ozmaltliquor.com Image: http://www.40ozmaltliquor.com/coolcolt.jpg Wed Nov 05 15:37:20 -0800 2003 1617378 0 Bruz 7 1617379 Don't know which of the 7 it is made at, but it's a Miller product, and so are a lot of others I didn't realize. See Link. Link: http://www.millerbrewing.com/brandsBreweries/brands.asp Wed Nov 05 12:38:01 -0800 2003 1617370 0 Bobfrmia 5 1617401 The Beast! In high school in New Orleans, you could get a case of the Beast or Natty Lite for about $9 at the K&B. We played more than one game of chandeliers with that beer. :) Wed Nov 05 13:33:08 -0800 2003 1617252 0 Catherine 3 1617346 Yeah, I've got to say if I ever found "Herr Bier", I'd buy it :D Wed Nov 05 10:24:09 -0800 2003 1617108 0 Sir Gawain 1 1617059 I really like a Becks, not the dark, just the regular. Mon Nov 03 20:01:41 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Sweet Pea 2 1617316 The lowestbrow beer I've ever had (and I've had a lot of them) is the now defunct Old Crown Beer. Old Crown was brewed in Fort Wayne, IN and the brewry went belly-up in the 1970s (and for good reason). It was not only bitter but SOUR! It produced bad tasting window-rattling burps, halitosis and hangovers that were best compared to standing at the very gates to hell. I don't see how I ever got past the taste of it---it was just downright nasty beer. I once went to a party where they had a lukewarm keg of Old Crown and drank more than my share. My life was sheer misery for the next 24 hours. Wed Nov 05 02:54:34 -0800 2003 1617059 0 Marco 1 1617060 PBR is pretty awful - only good for cooking brats in before you grill them! Mon Nov 03 20:09:39 -0800 2003 1617049 0 torta basilica 1 1617063 Olympia - it's the water!! (what the hell *is* tumwater??) Mon Nov 03 20:15:03 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Liloo 2 1617069 Hey! Careful there! That's my hometown beer you're, um, praising, or was the hometown beer til they closed the old brewery last summer, a casualty of corporate downsizing. Tumwater is the name of the town located near the waterfall where the Olympia Brewery is located. The water for the beer came from deep underground springs, called "artesian wells", and the quality of the water in Tumwater is extraordinary, thus the beer's slogan "It's the Water". The waterfall is very beautiful, and it is located at the mouth of the Deschutes River, as it flows into a freshwater lake, just at the mouth of Puget Sound. To read more about the demise of the Olympia Brewery, and the local yokel's reactions, the link below is to an article published by our local paper shortly after the demise of the brewery was announced. Oops, there goes another 300 jobs... Link: http://www.theolympian.com/home/specialsections/TumwaterBrewery/20030111/6104.shtml Mon Nov 03 20:42:26 -0800 2003 1617063 0 Olympia Jane 3 1617072 Ohhhh... it's all starting to make sense. Tumwater! "And they left with very sad looks on their faces. Olympia Beer is an institution here." I have a sad look on my face too - I grew up on the other side of the country (in East Tennessee,) and I remember my college friends and I spent a lot of time pondering the meaning of Tumwater... Mon Nov 03 20:54:36 -0800 2003 1617069 0 Liloo 1 1617070 My entire need for so called lowlife beer is just that...I need to attract the very lowlife of a garden slug each garden season to drink himself into a deadly stupor on the cheapest beer I can find at the local 7-11, warehouse food, or wholesale grocers. My advanced grading system for the greatest low life beer is entirely based on cost per ounce, and in my little town, a beer called "Schmidts" usally wins, although there is often a (nameless?) beer with a hunter wearing a red plaid flannel jacket on the can and a stag deer with a huge rack of antlers off in the distance that comes close to being undrinkably perfect. My darling lover boy still has a can of Billy's, but I would be past history if I fed that to the slugs. Mon Nov 03 20:49:22 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Olympia Jane 1 1617074 Here the brand is not so important as the fact that it was all 3.2...that is, 3.2% alcohol. When I first went off to college, it was to WVWC in Buckhannon, W.Va., where local regs required any beer sold to be only half-strength. So it didn't matter what brand it was: Iron Shitty, Genesee Creamed, Shitz...it was all weasel pee. Mon Nov 03 21:05:04 -0800 2003 1617049 0 GG Mora 2 1617085 It was also 3.2 in Kansas in the early 70s. Don't know what it is now. My favorite awful beer in college was Mickey's Big Mouth (was that really the brand?) because the green bottles were great for rooting plant cuttings. Now there's a educated way to pick a beer! Mon Nov 03 22:24:58 -0800 2003 1617074 0 chowfish 3 1617093 And also in Florida as recently as the early nineties. I wonder if this has changed... Mon Nov 03 23:06:38 -0800 2003 1617085 0 ww 3 1617310 It's very interesting to me to read about everyone's college beer experiences--I went to UC Santa Cruz in the '60s, and nobody drank then. Or so I'm told. Tue Nov 04 23:55:47 -0800 2003 1617085 0 Jellisto 4 1617361 Actually, I never drank in college either (early 70s). There were other substances in full supply in those days in Boulder. Wed Nov 05 11:34:38 -0800 2003 1617310 0 DF 2 1617098 I remember visiting my roomie at his home in Huntington, WV - interesting situation - the booze based border crossing to/from Ohio went both ways. The Ohio 18 yr olds would drive in to WV for legal near beer (3.2), and the WV 21 year olds would drive into Ohio for real beer. Crossing the Ohio was a real trip (really)... the wind would blow so hard that you would start on one side of a 4-lane highway and end up on the other - all the time pulling your steering wheel with two hands over on one side trying to fight the wind. Good thing you got the beer while sober. Remember, Strohs is shorts spelled backwards... Mon Nov 03 23:50:23 -0800 2003 1617074 0 Applehome 2 1617130 well it was Coors 3.2 in my college days (Boulder, CO) Tue Nov 04 10:07:52 -0800 2003 1617074 0 DF 2 1617132 well it was Coors 3.2 in my college days (Boulder, CO) - early 70s Tue Nov 04 10:13:34 -0800 2003 1617074 0 DF 2 1617222 When I was visiting Colorado in the early '90s, it still was, or at least, the stuff you could buy at the supermarket was. Maybe you could buy the "real thing" at a liquor store. Since I've lived all my life in California, where you can buy anything anywhere, it made a real impression on me. Tue Nov 04 16:54:02 -0800 2003 1617074 0 Ruth Lafler 1 1617075 Well, as much as I blush to admit it, the winner for me would HAVE to be Haffenreffer Private Stock. Haven't drank it since college and don't want to. Affectionately referred to as "Green Death", but we had a fun time figuring out all the rubiks on the underside of the caps! Rumor had it that if you collected a certain number of them and solved all the puzzles, you would get a free case.....ugh! Image: http://www.40ozmaltliquor.com/privatestock.html Mon Nov 03 21:12:14 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Science Chick 2 1617128 I thought it was Ballantine Ale that had the rebuses (rebi?) Tue Nov 04 10:06:56 -0800 2003 1617075 0 DF 3 1617323 I believe the rebus was done by Falstaff, which got involved in the Ballantine story at some point. Some solutions at link below. Link: http://www.geocities.com/shabber_1/rainier.html Wed Nov 05 06:15:01 -0800 2003 1617128 0 Jim Dorsch 2 1617137 However, keep in mind that second prize was TWO cases. Tue Nov 04 10:32:20 -0800 2003 1617075 0 AllanW 2 1617167 I enjoyed Haf in college too, but to be precise it isn't a beer. Technically, Haffenreffer is Malt Liquor. (large percentage of corn & other grains, too much alcohol.) Tue Nov 04 12:49:56 -0800 2003 1617075 0 dude 2 1617196 Ah, the Private Stock. We used to get it in college in the 64 oz. jugs, the ones with the little thumb loops so they were harder to drop. And after you plow through 64 oz. of malt liquor that becomes really important! Forties are for the weak!! Tue Nov 04 14:35:51 -0800 2003 1617075 0 tbear 1 1617078 To paraphrase Dennis Hopper: "Louche? F*** that Sh*t! Pabst Blue Ribbon!" Actually, revealing my unfortunate Texas past -- might I submit Lone Star and Pearl for cheap plonk beers in the Southwest. A jaunt eastward on I-10 brings us to the realm of those fine Mississippi domestic beers, Jax and Dixie. Additionally, available in a wider geographical radius (I believe they're made in Wisconsin) -- Milwaukee's Best and Buckhorn, each approximately $8 for the 12 pack if one is a shrewd shopper. Has anyone mentioned Stroh's? My head hurts just thinking about them. Mon Nov 03 21:38:15 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Barbarito 2 1617079 $8 for the 12 pack? Are you sure you don't mean for the whole case? Around here, it's not at all difficult to find a 12-pack of Long Trail -- some mighty fine beer -- for $9.99. So it doesn't sound as though one would have to be too shrewd to find a 12-pack of weasel pee for $8. Ugh, Stroh's. And I'd done so well at forgetting it... Mon Nov 03 21:43:55 -0800 2003 1617078 0 GG Mora 3 1617123 You're correct; I meant case. It's been a while... Tue Nov 04 09:26:09 -0800 2003 1617079 0 Barbarito 2 1617113 yeah- I think Texas is the home of (uch) a really long list but Pearl, Lonestar, Milwaukees best ( um & it comes in LIGHT too), Schlitz, and one I think they (thankfully dont make anymore Jax Tue Nov 04 07:20:51 -0800 2003 1617078 0 Katherine A/O 1 1617082 Although I got 'Schmidtfaced' more than once during the college edjumication, Lucky Lager was the poison of choice. $5 per case (1985 dollars) for 11oz bottles, and the timeless pleasure of the Rebus puzzles under the caps. Mon Nov 03 21:59:52 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Deweyman 1 1617083 Old Milwaukee and Mickey's Malt Liquor -- two guaranteed headache beers. Mon Nov 03 22:11:02 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Nancy Berry 2 1617121 Ahhhh.... Mickey's Malt Liquor. Now, you're taking me down memory lane. My sophomore year, my roomie and I used to pound ice-cold Mickey's. Sometimes, when Mickey's was meant for pre-partying, it became THE party. And you had to love the yellow jacket on the cap. The angry-eyed yellow jacket represented the tight line that had to be walked between getting buzzed and getting stung. Tue Nov 04 09:01:39 -0800 2003 1617083 0 Kevin N. 1 1617089 Without a doubt, Lucky Lager. For all the aficionados, Lucky Lager had a brewery in San Francisco, now the site of the Costco, Lucky Lager was owned by the same folks up in Olympia, Washington. That brewery closed down this summer. Oh well, time to go cry in a PBR, the beer that ade Portland famous, according to the New York Times. Mon Nov 03 22:47:46 -0800 2003 1617049 0 grumpy 1 1617091 Without a doubt, Lucky Lager. For all the aficionados, Lucky Lager had a brewery in San Francisco, now the site of the Costco, Lucky Lager was owned by the same folks up in Olympia, Washington. That brewery closed down this summer. Oh well, time to go cry in a PBR, the beer that ade Portland famous, according to the New York Times. Mon Nov 03 23:00:18 -0800 2003 1617049 0 grumpy 1 1617094 Stag Beer from St. Louis, MO. And, also from STL, the recently revived Griesedieck (and yes it's pronouced just as you would think). Mon Nov 03 23:09:29 -0800 2003 1617049 0 butterfly 2 1617100 Try and stop me.... Schaefer (Sponsored the Brooklyn Dodgers Radio Broadcasts, yea!) Knickerbocker ("Knock, knock for Knickerbocker Beer" Narragansett ("Hey, neighbor, have a 'Gansett) Utica Club ("UC for me") Rheingold (I have an autographed photo of Miss Rheingold 1959) Jenny (25 cents per can at the Ivy Room, Cornell University, ca 1960) Piels, Blatz, Schlitz, Blitz, Schmidts, Jax Regal Select ("One of America's two great beers") Lucky Lager Brown Derby (Safeway's House Brand) Rainier (the beer, not the ale) Oly, Oly Oh Pearl Lone Star in Hong Kong, it was Stroh's (I kid you not)... In Shanghai, families always treated me to PBR (they thought I wouldn't like that local Tsingtao stuff). Lowest of the low? Coors. Tue Nov 04 00:13:36 -0800 2003 1617094 0 Gary Soup 3 1617292 Finally someone mentioned Pearl! I loved the squat bottles with rebuses in the bottle caps.... By the way, I don't think you're allowed to use words like "louche" when discussing these fine beers.... Tue Nov 04 21:27:18 -0800 2003 1617100 0 BGrey 2 1617101 Try and stop me.... Schaefer (Sponsored the Brooklyn Dodgers Radio Broadcasts, yea!) Knickerbocker ("Knock, knock for Knickerbocker Beer" Narragansett ("Hey, neighbor, have a 'Gansett) Utica Club ("UC for me") Rheingold (I have an autographed photo of Miss Rheingold 1959) Jenny (25 cents per can at the Ivy Room, Cornell University, ca 1960) Piels, Blatz, Schlitz, Blitz, Schmidts, Jax Regal Select ("One of America's two great beers") Lucky Lager Brown Derby (Safeway's House Brand) Rainier (the beer, not the ale) Oly, Oly Oh Pearl Lone Star in Hong Kong, it was Stroh's (I kid you not)... In Shanghai, families always treated me to PBR (they thought I wouldn't like that local Tsingtao stuff). Lowest of the low? Coors. Tue Nov 04 00:15:35 -0800 2003 1617094 0 Gary Soup 3 1617322 Rheingold has made its triumphant return, although Miss Rheingold bears little resemblance to her predecessors. Link: http://www.rheingoldbeer.com/beer/miss_rheingold.php Wed Nov 05 06:10:27 -0800 2003 1617101 0 Jim Dorsch 1 1617095 Two nominations from Cincinnati: Little King Cream Ale (which comes in a 40 oz. bottle advertised as "Big Jugs"), and Hudepohl Light (aka Hudie Delight). Both taste like they are effluent from the Ohio River. Then there is the pride of the Twin Cities, Grain Belt Beer. (See sign below.) Mississippi River effluent, I think. And Blue Star, a Labatt's brand sold only in New Foundland because only a Newfie would drink it. Link: http://web.0sil8.com/episodes/mpls_signs/grainbelt.html Mon Nov 03 23:26:23 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Kirk 2 1617184 Grain Belt is actually a decent beer. If you want bad MN beer try Shmidt's, Landmark or Pig's Eye Pilsner. Tue Nov 04 13:36:02 -0800 2003 1617095 0 Sven 3 1617321 IIRC Grain Belt is now brewed at August Schell in New Ulm. Wed Nov 05 06:06:10 -0800 2003 1617184 0 Jim Dorsch 1 1617104 Corona has to be on the worst of all time list somewhere... It brings back all the nasty rumors about Mexican beer. Corona LIGHT? Why? One thing about Ranier - their ads were great. (Twenty years ago when I lived in Tacoma, they were great.) I loved the motorcycle running the switchbacks with Mt. Ranier in the background - the soundtrack is Raiiiiiiiii....(upshift)neeeeeeeeeerrrrrr... (upshift)beeeeeeeeeeeeerrrr... (and the bike is gone in the distance!) I'd by their swill just to keep them in business (wouldn't drink it, but there sure were a lot of snails in the garden out there). Tue Nov 04 00:35:56 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Applehome 2 1617124 Gee, wish I had seen that! "Drink Beer, then Drive a Motorcycle at High Speeds on a Winding Mountain Road!!! Did they lose market share because their customers were dying? Tue Nov 04 09:32:52 -0800 2003 1617104 0 sbp 3 1617131 Yes- I'm sure that the PC police have struck with their super-enlightened understanding of all things best for mankind, and made it impossible to air that kind of ad any more... I'm sure that not seeing that kind of ad will insure that our motorcycle riding youth will never again drink and drive. And I have no doubt whatsoever that our youth are much better off not drinking Ranier or virtually any ASL, for that matter. hmmm... a good IPA perhaps, or a lambic... teach them young, I say! Tue Nov 04 10:09:25 -0800 2003 1617124 0 Applehome 4 1617136 A lambic would be OK -- the herbs are medicinal, you know. Tue Nov 04 10:27:55 -0800 2003 1617131 0 sbp 5 1617320 When did they start putting herbs in lambic? Wed Nov 05 06:04:56 -0800 2003 1617136 0 Jim Dorsch 2 1617164 I've always said that the Budweiser frogs ad was a blatent rip-off of a similar Rainer ad that ran at about the same time as the motorcyle one you're talking about. Would you call the camera perspective "first person"? It was as though you were the one riding the motorcycle, or looking out over the pond and the ambient sounds around you eventually morph into 'Rainer Beer'. And by the way, Regal Select is my vote. $5 a case and off to the drive in we went to watch the 'Longest Yard'..... again. Tue Nov 04 12:24:39 -0800 2003 1617104 0 EP 2 1617308 And let's not forget the knockoff ad for UW football: [same scene, same motorcycle]: "Goooooooooo.....[shift] Huskieeeees........[shift] Goooooooo...." Tue Nov 04 23:47:41 -0800 2003 1617104 0 Jellisto 1 1617115 Grain Belt, must have been pretty regional or I'm sure I would have seen it here by now. Kingsbury. Don't really remember how it tasted. I just (kinda) remember buying cases for next to nothing and not really caring what it tasted like. Tue Nov 04 08:29:13 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Bobfrmia 1 1617118 For most of the year in NYC: Ballantine, the beer Mel Allen drank too much of. For summers in New England: Gansett. Tue Nov 04 08:44:06 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Pantagruel 2 1617122 Black Label and Colt 45 Tue Nov 04 09:21:44 -0800 2003 1617118 0 fatboy 1 1617139 Rolling Rock, when it was still a local (Mid-Atlantic) brew. Tue Nov 04 10:40:11 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Chorus Girl 1 1617145 Has to be Country Club Malt Liquor...... Available here in many L.A. supermarkets and ahem, finer Mom & Pop stores....... The name says it all...... Tue Nov 04 11:18:29 -0800 2003 1617049 0 slowrider 1 1617150 Buckhorn Tue Nov 04 11:32:08 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Tom Hall 2 1617177 I forgot: Colt .45 and Rainier are close seconds and Old Milwaukee not much further behind. Tue Nov 04 13:16:57 -0800 2003 1617150 0 Tom Hall 3 1617200 My husband loves Old Milwakee Light. God love him, it is SO cheap. Also we used to drink Red, White and Blue - yech! I am no longer a beer drinker, alas, but certainly used to do my share. D. Tue Nov 04 15:00:00 -0800 2003 1617177 0 Donna - MI 4 1617393 Ohmigosh... forgot all about Red White and Blue. I remember seeing it once in a deli in NYC in a gallon glass jug for $1.49 or something like that. It was probably 1982. Wed Nov 05 13:10:39 -0800 2003 1617200 0 StriperGuy 2 1617334 Buckhorn: $1.00 a six pack at the Skaggs in College Station in 1977. Truly awful. Curtis Wed Nov 05 08:45:03 -0800 2003 1617150 0 curtis 1 1617154 Black Label?!! I don't know how you can list it in the presence of the other beers. It was my college favorite. Since it has almost no taste whatsoever, girls happily drank to the point of intoxication. So many fond memories! I really wish that I had one now. Tue Nov 04 11:52:51 -0800 2003 1617049 0 IHTJ 2 1617354 Carlings Black Label... boy do I remember that one. In the late 70's my father used to buy 4-5 cases a week for me and my friends as teens to drink in our basement under black lights, strobe lights, and flourescent black velvet posters (and of course the mandatory one of Farah in the red swimsuit) while listening to Kansas, Boston, Queen, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Van Halen, some occasional Billy Joel for inspiration, etc... The returnable deposit bar bottles were great for spin the bottle... The girls really did chug it down... If you wanted flavor you just added a shot of JD for a boiler maker... Oh the memories... or lack thereof from that brew. Of course for my high school graduation party Pop's moved up in class to buying us a couple of kegs of Bud... (Would you believe this is the same man who taught me all about wines by my 7th birthday and had an incredible wine cellar? and steered me into working in wine sales as my first real post high school job, once I finally turned 18, six months later!) Of course I remember lots of Schmidts from the local deli when I was 14... I could buy a case each weekend with my allowance and still buy lunch all week. Wed Nov 05 11:04:44 -0800 2003 1617154 0 The Rogue 3 1617490 Wow, sounds like some great times! Unfortunately, my father frowned upon drinking, so I had to buy the stuff myself. My first experiment with cheap beer was a brew called Regal Select. There was nothing Regal nor Select about it, and sometimes they even forgot to add the alcohol. One fine day my local family owned convience store tried a new product for them...Black Label Beer. My life was changed! I had finally found the perfect marriage of dirt cheap, higher alcohol, and total lack of flavor. It was an instant hit with friends and more importantly females. That stuff really did the trick. Thu Nov 06 11:12:56 -0800 2003 1617354 0 IHTJ 1 1617166 Narraganset Falstaff (both in great yellow plastic crates good for making tables out of) Ballantine Sheaffer PBR Tue Nov 04 12:33:29 -0800 2003 1617049 0 wolf 2 1617319 Ballantine was (still is) a decent example of a New England ale. And Ballantine had a wonderful IPA that is no longer made. The IPA was especially good in the context of the late '70s and early '80s in the East, when there weren't many microbreweries yet. And Ballantine Burton Ale, which was only given to friends of the brewery and such, is legendary. Link: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m3469/13_51/63841298/p1/article.jhtml?term=ballantine Wed Nov 05 06:01:21 -0800 2003 1617166 0 Jim Dorsch 1 1617183 The long departed Brew 102 from L.A. Tue Nov 04 13:35:02 -0800 2003 1617049 0 TomSwift 2 1617280 Yeah, they had "Brew 102" emblazoned on a great big black tank next the 101 in downtown for many years. Think the tank actually held petroleum products, not sure if that had anything to do with their beer though. Tue Nov 04 20:39:47 -0800 2003 1617183 0 Chino Wayne 3 1617399 You know, I seem to recall that the reason the 101 takes that peculiar (seemingly out of place) jog just east of the downtown slot is because the brewery refused to sell their land for the 101 right of way. Wed Nov 05 13:26:44 -0800 2003 1617280 0 TomSwift 1 1617186 One more that I didn't see anyone mention: Hamm's, whose ads I can remember from the age of about 4 because of those great ads with the bears frolicking in the Land of Sky Blue Waters. (And they say Joe Camel marketed to kids--ha!) Somehow I always assumed those bears were friends of Rocky and Bullwinkle, living up somewhere near Frostbite Falls. As for me, mrnyc, you already nailed it (at least with respect to my misspent youth) with Iron City (in college we had a vending machine in the basement stocked with this swill) and Schmidt's (when the Iron City ran out we might put some cans of Schmidt in the machine as an (un)worthy substitute). Rolling Rock was considered a step up, and amazingly, back in the innocent 70s, Coors was considered a boutique brand of excellence and I could gain popularity points by bringing some back to my college buds in the Northeast when I came back from holidays in Oklahoma (where it was indeed 3.2 only in them days). Tue Nov 04 13:37:11 -0800 2003 1617049 0 PayOrPlay 2 1617226 Yup. I'm sitting here humming "From the land of sky blue wa-ah-ters" which I haven't heard since I was a kid, either. Tue Nov 04 17:02:18 -0800 2003 1617186 0 Ruth Lafler 3 1617230 I love Hamms. I have the old beer light with the revolving campfire scene. I see it sell on e-bay for as much as $1000.00. Don't know how the beer taste, but I love Hamms ;-) Tue Nov 04 17:15:26 -0800 2003 1617226 0 Bobfrmia 1 1617188 We seem to have forgotten Pfieffer's, Hauenstein, Old Style, Natural Light, Special Export, Lowenbrau and Cold Spring. Oh, and if we're talking about REALLY BAD beer we can't forget Miller Light. Tue Nov 04 13:44:24 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Sven 2 1617202 Ooooh, I forgot Billy Beer. Tue Nov 04 15:06:03 -0800 2003 1617188 0 Sven 2 1617220 Sven, you must have had more money than my friends and I in our big beer-drinking days. We considered Special Ex to be a medium-beer -- not nearly so bad as Meisterbrau or Schaefer. And it was considerably more expensive. And so was Lowenbrau. And, well, Old Style is swill, but it has a certain nostalgic charm for many people from the Chicago area, as it is served proudly at Wrigley Field. I haven't heard about Pfieffers, Hauenstein, and Cold Spring -- but I do know that such a luxury as Natural Light would have been considered a serious step up from the bottom-of-the-barrel beers I've mentioned. Tue Nov 04 16:41:57 -0800 2003 1617188 0 Mrs. Smith 3 1617298 Perhaps Special Ex, and Lowenbrau were medium beers but they were still bad. Come to think of it I've had a Old Style at Wrigley Field. Tue Nov 04 21:49:28 -0800 2003 1617220 0 Sven 3 1617318 Special Export was a decent beer. It had some hop character, highly unusual in those days. Wed Nov 05 05:54:54 -0800 2003 1617220 0 Jim Dorsch 2 1617510 Hauenstein & Pfeiffer we used to get for $3.99 a case in returnable bottles when I went to college in Minnesota (late 70s & early 80s). Fri Nov 07 19:23:42 -0800 2003 1617188 0 Guy 1 1617189 WHAT ABOUT SCHLITZ MALT LIQ. "THE BULL" Tue Nov 04 13:56:14 -0800 2003 1617049 0 KIETH 1 1617194 Blatt's Orblieb's Narragansett (brewed from the murky waters of Narraganset bay);-) Haffenreffer Black Label Generic Beer White can, black type, just said Beer on the can. And it was, barely. In the 80's any of the above could be had for between $4.00 and $6.00 a case, depending on what was on sale. We were budding beer snobs even then and occasionally got kegs of bass ale when we were living large. But when the budget was tight, a case or two of these in the freezer til you could not taste 'em at all would do the trick. Tue Nov 04 14:16:48 -0800 2003 1617049 0 StriperGuy 2 1617340 Oh, the days of the Generic Foods Brand. Beer, cigarettes, mac & cheese...a couple of art school buddies painted the refrigerator in their apartment using the Generic graphic standards. Even included the net weight at the bottom. Wed Nov 05 09:45:57 -0800 2003 1617194 0 GG Mora 1 1617198 The beer of my youth was certainly Natty Boh (National Bohemian, "From the Land of Pleasant Living") out of Baltimore. Can still get it in bars in Fells Point and Canton, and it pretty much is the only thing I'll drink when eating crabs in the summer. My friends think I'm nuts, I think they have no idea how to eat crabs properly ;) But, hands down, the WORST beer I have ever tried was "Kool Colt" from the fine folks at Colt .45. It was MENTHOL malt liquor. Made it out in a few test markets in the early nineties and died a quick death. A few friends of mine drive all over Chicago one summer day looking for it after hearing of its existence (we were malt liquor devotees). I think we tracked down the last 4 bottles in the metro area somewhere on the South Side. Good god. It was seemingly Colt .45 with a splash of Scope. Nobody can convince me that a worse beer exists or has ever existed. Tue Nov 04 14:47:52 -0800 2003 1617049 0 tbear 2 1617207 hey tbear by the authority of me starting this silly but interesting thread i declare you the winner for "kool colt." congradulations. a case of billy beer is in the mail. Tue Nov 04 15:20:51 -0800 2003 1617198 0 mrnyc 3 1617211 Winner, no. Perhaps survivor is a better word :) And I think it's properly spelled "Cool Colt". I remember discussing whether they would have been sued by the cigarette manufacturer by using the "Kool" spelling. The inference would have been staggering: a brewer marketing a fortified high alcohol beverage to a primarily poor, urban audience by alluding to a menthol cigarette brand name that was primarily marketed to a poor, urban audience. Ah, synergy. Tue Nov 04 15:51:42 -0800 2003 1617207 0 tbear 4 1617219 Menthol anything always wins big in the awful dept. My pick for runners up are (in no order) Gibbons (Pa), Genny Cream(NY), Budweiser(US),Piels,and another version of a Genny Cream ale type beer out of Pa. Why anyone would wanna make a knock off is beyond me. PS, I drank way too much Genny in College. Then I o'd on it switched to Labatts Golden, then Labatts blue then Bud. Anything for a buzz. The sad thing is even back then I knew good from bad but drank what was available. Tue Nov 04 16:33:47 -0800 2003 1617211 0 Ivan Stoler 5 1617283 Genny Cream Ale. Brings back memories of frat parties. I was waiting to hear from someone who went to college in upstate NY. Tue Nov 04 21:10:53 -0800 2003 1617219 0 ruth arcone 2 1617353 I agree with the others, you win, hands down. What a remarkable combination of cynical marketing and just plain old nasty product. Amazing that Kool Colt ever made it to market. Wed Nov 05 11:00:38 -0800 2003 1617198 0 StriperGuy 2 1617374 Agree, you win. It almost nauseates me to think about that and I have never tried it. Wed Nov 05 12:28:41 -0800 2003 1617198 0 Tom Hall 2 1617392 Ah Google. Actually found a pic of the infamous beer. Link: http://www.40ozmaltliquor.com/coolcolt.html Wed Nov 05 13:07:07 -0800 2003 1617198 0 StriperGuy 2 1617426 Someone who was reading this thread sent me an email about Cool Colt. The picture of Cool Colt that someone posted a link to was taken off my website (www.40ozMaltLiquor.com). I just thought I'd quickly chime in here, about the greatest lowbrow brews of all time (since I have the world's largest 40oz collection I know of some good ones)... Here are some others classics that exist (check out the "40oz Archive" on my site to see pictures & info for all of them): * BRICK HOUSE The label was "Brick House" spelled out in graffiti on a brick wall. The back of the label says that by purchasing the 40, they will put some of the profits back into your neighborhoods - Compton, South Central, etc... HAHAHAHAH!!! * JOHNNY 3 LEGS The label has a 3 legged chicken on it with a cheesy story about the 3 legged chicken printed on the back of the label. * DIRT CHEAP The name says it all. * PHAT BOY Another classic, made with ginseng, and obviously appealing to "young drinkers" (phat). I'm sure there are many more on my site that you would consider extremely "lowbrow". Enjoy lowbrowsing it! ,=c) Keep Swillin', Bruz Link: http://www.40ozmaltliquor.com Image: http://www.40ozmaltliquor.com/coolcolt.jpg Wed Nov 05 15:35:28 -0800 2003 1617198 0 Bruz 3 1617496 sweet jesus, just seeing that picture is enough to send a shiver down my spine!! Bruz, I love your site. I has quite the collection of forties back in college but recycled the whole thing cuz I didn't want to drag it back east with me. I'm pretty sure I could have filled in some gaps in your collection!! Thu Nov 06 14:12:36 -0800 2003 1617426 0 tbear 1 1617199 This is easy . . .Huber from Monroe, WI. Tue Nov 04 14:57:29 -0800 2003 1617049 0 JessicaKlonsky 2 1617201 Maybe Huber was bad but the Huber Brewing Co. now makes a beer called Beghoff which is really, really, good. Tue Nov 04 15:04:56 -0800 2003 1617199 0 Sven 3 1617317 They also did Augsburger, similar to Berghoff and a great value. Wed Nov 05 05:51:27 -0800 2003 1617201 0 Jim Dorsch 4 1617350 Augsberger is excellent. We used to call em Augies. Wed Nov 05 10:54:11 -0800 2003 1617317 0 StriperGuy 1 1617208 Good "bad beer"- returnable (that was KEY) pony bottles (7 oz.) of PBR stored in the freezer until they were as cold as possible without freezing. Blatz- bottles only. Served very cold, but not as cold as the PBRs. Bad "bad beer"- long defunct Old Chicago. I doubt there's anyone here who's ever suffered through a bottle. To make matters worse, they also had a dark beer. Nothing worse than the dark version of an already-horrid beer. Tue Nov 04 15:22:19 -0800 2003 1617049 0 JohnJeter 2 1617499 Couldn't pass up posting this line from Conan O'Brian. Here’s some big news. The brewery that makes Pabst Blue Ribbon is for sale. Several corporations may purchase Pabst, or have their older brother buy it for them. Thu Nov 06 15:35:40 -0800 2003 1617208 0 Bobfrmia 3 1617501 Pabst long ago sold its last operational brewery. It has been owned by S&P Holdings for more than a decade now. S&P's profolio of core brands, Pabst, all Stroh's brands , Heilmann brands etc... have benn brewed by Miller at their facilities for about 5 years now. So, when you are buying Pabst you are just buying a brand portfolio so too speak & no brewing facilities. It will interesting to see if any of the Breweries bite on this offer or if the portfolio again is sold off to a holding company. Thu Nov 06 15:59:45 -0800 2003 1617499 0 WarriorDee 1 1617216 Oh god, ROLLING ROCK. Mind you, I am not a beer-swiller by nature nor a knowledgable expert in brews, but if I were cast away with nothing to drink but a can or bottle of this stuff, I'd go for sea water. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Tue Nov 04 16:20:13 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Cristina 1 1617218 What about Schaeffer and Schaef Lite? And who could forget a regional favorite -- Rhinelander? Tue Nov 04 16:28:26 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Mrs. Smith 2 1617229 Ahh Rhinelander. We used to buy it when they were out of Kingsbury. We always considered it a step down. Question is, how do you step down from the bottom? I guess it was more a lateral move. Tue Nov 04 17:11:18 -0800 2003 1617218 0 Bobfrmia 1 1617260 Uh, Schlitz, my father's beer of choice while I was growing up. He was nice about letting us taste if we wanted, but it truly ruined me for beer until I was in college, when my future husband held out a bottle of Sam Adams Cream Stout and said "Silly girl, drink this." Also not a good surprise if you think you grabbed a can of Diet Coke out of the fridge. I recently spent a summer in Philly, where the only beer in the house were the kinds favored by my host's family: Bud Light and Rolling Rock. Not a good time. But my favorite "bad cheap beer" story comes from a friend who had relatives visiting from Germany. The relatives, who spoke no English, picked up a case of I think Bud Light, and drank it at my friend's house. He says that after one drink, the relatives looked at each other and said "Hmm. Piss beer." And continued drinking. Cheers, Xochitl10 Tue Nov 04 18:55:30 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Xochitl10 1 1617295 When we first got married, we lived a block away from the old Kohler Beer brewery in Erie Pa. At least it was better than Iron City. :P Tue Nov 04 21:34:14 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Becky 1 1617344 Some of the cheaper beers I have ingested: Old Dutch Old German Duke Beer Falstaff Schmidts Schmidt's Bavarian Beer Goebel Hudepohl Burger Beer Top Hat Beer Wiedemans Drewery's Hamm's Draft in the little keg shaped cans Blatz Black Label PBR , although Pabst had a decent beer called Andecker which everyone forgets about. Kroeger's Cost Cutter Beer Heritage House Beer - Fisher Fazio's (a cleveland grocery)house brand. Oyster House (one of the Pittsburgh Brewing brands) Red White & Blue Wed Nov 05 10:19:22 -0800 2003 1617049 0 WarriorDee 1 1617352 I see no mention here of Velvet Glow. Incredibly cheap. Wed Nov 05 10:56:13 -0800 2003 1617049 0 wally 1 1617358 I remember that in 1979 on a high school Air Force JROTC trip we visited Andrews Air Force base. The vending machine in the barracks where we stayed were stocked with all those cheap beers like PBR, Schmidts, Miller, etc. and only cost a dime a can. The folks with lots of change in their pockets became very popular. And then next day I got to work the boom joystick on a tanker during a mid air refueling mission... whoo whee! That was much better than all those first generation video games like Pong and Asteroids! Ten Cent beers are even better than free beer. My local Irish blue collar watering hole that I stop by when I am too lazy to commute to the City still had Schaeffer on tap in two buck pints until recently... I've been going to the place since it opened when I was a teen in '78 and the pints of the stuff were a Quarter. Now the new owners jacked up the price to three bucks. This is the same place I started drinkin' Guiness, but it was twice the price of Schaeffer back then and out of my price range most of the time, unless someone else was buyin', now it's a much better deal comparably at $4 pints. I still have a six of both Billy beer and Elvis beer stashed in my attic. Wed Nov 05 11:22:17 -0800 2003 1617049 0 The Rogue 2 1617362 The Billy Beer cans are worth pretty close to nothing in collectors' circles. Wed Nov 05 11:36:01 -0800 2003 1617358 0 Jim Dorsch 3 1617389 And I wouldn't care to drink them either, but they are fun to look at and remember Jimmy's crazy brother. Wed Nov 05 12:59:14 -0800 2003 1617362 0 The Rogue 1 1617360 Ya know... the best bang for the buck cheap beer nowadays must be Schlitz Ice. 6% alcohol and $4.49 a 12 pack at my local supermarket. Wed Nov 05 11:25:56 -0800 2003 1617049 0 The Rogue 1 1617400 Wow, this is the most popular topic I've seen in a while... wonder why?... Anyway, college days of Knickerbockers, Red Lions, Rolling Rocks, and a couple I think no one has mentioned here: Arctic Bay, formerly Glacier Bay (immortalized in a Scud Mountain Boys song, so I guess I wasn't the only one), which had a cool indentation in the bottom of the bottle you could use to open the next one- kind of like lighting your new cigarette from the current butt. Only came in 12 packs, as I recall. And on the subject of Colt .45 and "Cool Colt", around the same time they also introduced "Power Master", which was an extra-fortified 40oz malt liquor... two or three of those and you were all right (but not the next day...) Wed Nov 05 13:30:26 -0800 2003 1617049 0 jesse 2 1617419 Ah, Power Master. If I recall this wasn't actually any stronger than other regular ol' malt liquors, just marketed that way. There was a huge backlash among some advocate groups about the marketing and the government agreed. Some regulation about basing a marketing campaign solely around higher alcohol content. I think it was just re-branded as something else. Link: http://www.naaapi.org/campaigns/1993.asp Wed Nov 05 14:56:27 -0800 2003 1617400 0 tbear 3 1617470 The ATF didn't like references to strength as connoted by words like 'power', so one must be curious as to how this name was ever approved. As you note, Powermaster was not a particularly strong malt liquor. Wed Nov 05 22:03:25 -0800 2003 1617419 0 Jim Dorsch 1 1617425 Here, in no particular order, are some of my historical favorites: Country Club Malt Liquor National (Bohemian and Premium) Krueger Ale Ballantine Ale Ram's Head Ale Canadian Ace Lager Grain Belt Rheingold (Chug-a-Mugs) and, of course, the eternal Budweiser There were also many other regional favorites that were damn decent beers before being bought out by Heilmann, Inc. Heilmann turned them all into swill. Some of these include: Pabst Hamm's Schlitz Ballantine Stevens Point Buckhorn Schmidt's Fallstaff Blatz (a brand name in perfect harmony with the product) Weidemann's Mickey's Irish Malt Liquor (Big Mouths) Steigmaier's It may just be me, but I think most beer used to taste a lot better some 25-30 years ago when it was mostly brewed by local independents. Of course, some of it was just as nasty then as it is now. Wed Nov 05 15:29:05 -0800 2003 1617049 0 flavrmeistr 2 1617469 I think that a few decades ago beer was made with more hops, and perhaps a higher proportion of malt. Wed Nov 05 22:00:48 -0800 2003 1617425 0 Jim Dorsch 3 1617500 Yes, and perhaps smaller quantities of envelope glue, which is what all the Heilmann products taste like to me. Thu Nov 06 15:43:15 -0800 2003 1617469 0 flavrmeistr 2 1617511 Stegmaier is brewed by The Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre PA, an independent brewery. I must defend Natty Bo and Premium, they were actually good beers. Certainly don't deserve to be in the same list as Canadian Ace. Fri Nov 07 19:34:05 -0800 2003 1617425 0 Guy 1 1617478 How can you forget Genessee? Thu Nov 06 08:14:58 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Karl 1 1617506 As someone who drank warm Schlitz out of my friend's car before going to see heavy metal bands at the local roller rink in high school, and has had my share of Haffenreffer and is on my second ice-cold Bud tall boy of the evening I just wanna say don't let it get around that I drink crap beer. Now that I got that off my chest, my nominee would be Private Men's Club Fine Aged Pilsener. And good God, no, that's not me in the pic! Drink on, Canchito Image: http://www.telescreen.org/drubk2/IM000486.JPG Thu Nov 06 21:19:55 -0800 2003 1617049 0 Canchito (J. DiStefano) 2 1617555 Back in my college daze I always bought the 69cent six pack of Weideman Beer from the gas station drive through. Because they were on the bottom shelf there was always a solid layer of car exhaust on the six packs. But I LOVED this beer ! I thought I was crazy until I saw a Playboy article with beer "ratings". They had Weideman way up towards the top ! Honorable mention goes to Pearl Beer which I probably drank a brewery worth while spending alot of time in Texas. very dry, crisp taste. This from a beer "snob" who even maintains a website devoted to great beer and wine. How things change. Fri Dec 26 13:55:54 -0800 2003 1617506 0 Chicago Mike