Question of the day
Thursday, Aug 9, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller * I’m not totally clear how or why this started, but one of my favorite tweeters @chicagobars has officially declared this week to be “National Don’t Dump on People’s Beer Choice Week”…
If you don’t follow that guy, you really should. * The Question: In honor of National Don’t Dump on People’s Beer Choice Week, what is your favorite beer that others might consider inferior? And don’t forget to explain your answer. Thanks.
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- Precinct Captain - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:21 pm:
Rolling Rock
- Anon - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:23 pm:
I still like IPAs. I know there’s a big backlash against them but keep them coming!
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:23 pm:
Explain, please.
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:26 pm:
I like radlers and shandys. There, I said it. Yes, they are fruity beers, and not triple hopped so harsh they make you wince IPAs, but so what? They are tasty during the hot summer months. Leinie’s Summer Shandy is perfectly fine, and the fruit beers like New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red are particularly good.
- thechampaignlife - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:27 pm:
Does my choice qualify? I do not like beer, but do like hard ciders.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:29 pm:
===I like radlers and shandys. There, I said it===
That’s the spirit! (deep breath)
- A Jack - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:32 pm:
I’ll submit an old farmer’s favorite: A hot Stag retrieved from the tractor’s tool box.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:32 pm:
===but do like hard ciders===
Sorry. It ain’t your week.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:32 pm:
Couple housecleaning things…
===…but one of my favorite tweeters @chicagobars===
This twitter is exactly how twitter/social media can be all you’d hoped it could be.
===If you don’t follow that guy, you really should.===
A twitter I check out. Restaurant… err… Chicago Bars quality.
To the Post,
I’m a Yuengling guy, it’s my big toe beer, and I think where others out east, and now south, might find it inferior is it’s really a tweener beer… too big now to be a local flavor, and too regional still to be your choppy cookie cutter “every beer”.
So, to have a choice, it’s Old Style.
At Wrigley or at a Wrigley watering hole, I’m with Old Style. It’s not like it’s known for a unique taste of beer greatness, I’ve been with others that will go Old Style after a top shelf beer, saying “after 2 or 3 of ‘X’, even Old Style tastes better”. Nah. Just get me the Old Style, keep ‘em coming.
- Boat captain - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:33 pm:
Stag. But since I learned that is the beer the gov drinks somehow it tastes different.
- NIU Grad - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:33 pm:
I’m pleased that Schlitz is making a comeback in Chicago. One of the most enjoyable “cheap” beers.
- OneMan - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:34 pm:
If I am in a situation that calls for an NA beer, Old Milwaukee NA is like a billion times better than Sharps and O’Dools.
25 years ago at a friends wedding and I was seated at the ‘college friends on in the wedding table’ next to the ‘cousins we kind of have to invite’ the cousins’ table had a case of it. After rolling my eyes at it, dude made me try it and it was great.
- Because I said so.... - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:34 pm:
If I can only have one beer the rest of my life? Lite, Miller Lite. No question about it.
- sulla - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:36 pm:
St. Pauli Girl.
Green Bottle? Check.
“Drink By” date guaranteed to have expired six months ago? Check.
Nothing beats cracking one open and letting the rancid funk of its rank european-skunk hops spill out into the room. Last time I brought a sixer home, my wife asked if I was growing sour diesel in the basement.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:36 pm:
I typically like dark beers, german preferably, but in the summer an ice cold, just short of getting slushy, Miller High Life just hits the spot. They still taste pretty good and they take me back to my college days.
- Flat Bed Ford - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:37 pm:
Hamm’s
Why? Because this from when I was a kid…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yHsoW6CTjM
- CumberlandCoHick - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:37 pm:
Miller High Life…Why? 12 pack only $5.99 at Casey’s General Store in Greenup, Toledo and Neoga.
- OneMan - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:39 pm:
FBF, as a kid our next door neighbor kept it by the case next to the garage door…
- SwampyCorn - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:42 pm:
Yeungling. Any political hacks who spent more than a day in DC are swept into the cult.
Also, this.
===I’m a Yuengling guy, it’s my big toe beer, and I think where others out east, and now south, might find it inferior is it’s really a tweener beer… too big now to be a local flavor, and too regional still to be your choppy cookie cutter “every beer”.===
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:43 pm:
Diet Coke.
When I drank, ice cold Coors. “Imported” from Kansas before we could get it here.
- Sox Fan - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:43 pm:
Miller High Life is legitimately good.
Was sitting in a beer garden last Saturday and the only beer I wanted was a Corona with lime. Not sure if that is considered inferior, but I’m including it.
- Some Anonymous Dude (S.A.D.) - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:43 pm:
Ice cold PBR bottle. Reminds me of growing up.
- Bumblin stumblin rumblin - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:44 pm:
Natty.
From people I know, this is probably the number one beer to hate. The color of a slightly dehydrated person’s urine and favorite beverage of frat bros, it is the best light beer. I always find myself going back to natty after craft beer binges. It is light so you don’t feel too full after drinking 8 or 10, because come on, you don’t drink natty when you’re enjoying a beer with dinner. It comes in large quantities for very cheap. Plus, fun fact, most light lagers are 4.2% abv but king natty is 4.5%. Also, after years of beer drinking, all the domestic lagers kind of run together flavor wise, which I was say is corn funk mixed with wet cardboard, so why not buy the cheapest one. And top it off, I can waste 3 of them to boil brats and not feel guilty.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:46 pm:
Last week I found cases of cold stash of my favorite - Grain Belt Premium - in a walk-in beer locker at a Wisconsin Qwik Mart last week. I was carrying them all out and loading them when some snotty schmuck with his six pack of Organic dolphin-free IPA bleated out, “Grain Belt?”, then rolled his eyes as he clambered into his Infiniti SUV that looked like a bloated Italian Manatee.
- Matt Vernau - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:47 pm:
Rolling Rock. Brewed in the town of my birth, can’t be beat ice cold as a cool down after mowing the lawn and makes a great shandy mixer as well.
- Wensicia - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:48 pm:
Back in the day, Old Style, because that’s what everyone my age was drinking. Except the bikers, their choice was always Pabst Blue Ribbon.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:48 pm:
===…political hacks…===
Why disparage political hacks by comparing them to me? Don’t they have enough problems?
Me? My western Pennsylvania family got me hooked on Yuengling. That and Iron City Beer, which was my first choice, but that might be too local of a bad beer.
I know it felt good typing that, about hacks and DC and such, but if ya paid attention at all, you may have already known why I’m a Yuengling drinker.
- Ravenswood Right Winger. - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:49 pm:
Hamm’s in a can, so long as it’s cold. Slightly sweet but has more taste than most macro brews like Miller & Coors.
- Terry Salad - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:50 pm:
I love English bitter. People often say the Brits drink warm flat beer - -not true! It is served best cool. Give me malt over hoppy IPA’s any day!
- Al - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:51 pm:
Black Label in the returnable bottles.
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:52 pm:
Fruity beers, like Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy. Lemony creamy refreshingness. It got slammed as cheap dreck at some review site, I remember recently seeing.
- West Side the Best Side - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:52 pm:
Old Style has expanded its repertoire and actually now includes a decent enough Ocktoberfest and Cooler By The Lake Radler. Craft type beer at Old Style prices.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:53 pm:
Heineken. It’s the same every time, any where I go. I am not a beer snob, I don’t care what you drink. I’m not into trends either, and this passing micro brew fancy is just another trend.
I also don’t drink beer for the taste. I drink it for the effect. But as a creature of habit, and not wanting to devote the energy and brain storage needed to remember which beer it was that I liked, I just order the same thing over and over and over again. Boring and predictable, just the way I like it.
Don’t judge me, bro.
- Huh? - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:54 pm:
Best beer - whatever someone else buys for me. Self explanatory. Who is going to turn down free beer. Now drop a shot of whiskey into it, that is a true delight.
- BlueDogDem - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:55 pm:
Warm beer. Room temp.
- Big Jer - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:55 pm:
Flat Bed Ford - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:37 pm:
====Hamm’s Why? Because this from when I was a kid===
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yHsoW6CTjM
Thanks for the video Flat Bed. As a child in the 60’s I LOVED the Hamms commercials and the Hamms Bear. I used to watch White Sox games with my Dad just so I could see the Hamms commercials.
That being said, my favorite beer? Stroh’s Bohemian-Style Pilsner. Why? My ethnic heritage is Czech and Strohs was my father’s favorite beer so it was available. Also Strohs was a heavier full bodied beer which I like.
I do no think they make Strohs anymore. I think Strohs was bought out/acquired and the brand slowly died but I read somewhere that in 2016 they brought it back.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:56 pm:
Goebel’s, because when I was younger my friend’s dad kept a whole fridge stocked with the stuff. It was literally the cheapest beer you could buy in our exurban hometown (brewed by Stroh’s since they bought Goebel out in 1964), and we held our taste buds in check while we guzzled a case or 2 at one setting. Rated as a 1.66 out of 5, and many reviewers aren’t even that kind.
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/goebel/11623/
- Steve Rogers - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:57 pm:
Corona. My beer snob friends look down on me, but I actually find it pretty refreshing on hot summer days. My go to beers are Yeungling and when I run out before I can make another trip to Ohio or Tennessee, then Schlaflys
- Honeybadger - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:58 pm:
Schlitz on tap (.50) back in the day at the Billy Goat Tavern under Michigan Ave. Jeff was the best bartender of all time. He knew everyone’s name.
- Nick Name - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:58 pm:
I am a home brewer and a beer snob. But I love canned Miller Lite. It’s crisp and tasty, and the perfect thing on a hot day. And while the flavor doesn’t rise to that of a good all-malt ale or lager, it still has flavor — more than Bud Lite (a low bar, I know, but hey).
- Slugger O'Toole - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 1:59 pm:
Had my first Old Style thirty eight years ago on my thirteenth birthday. Haven’t found a reason to buy anything else since.
- Wylie Coyote - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:00 pm:
I’ll tip my glass to Old Style. Right out of college I had an apartment in LaCrosse up the street from the brewery. Got broken six-packs for 99 cents. Loved the cans and bottles, not so much the draft. Still Do. Stopped over the border along Indianapolis Blvd. yesterday and got my cold case of Yuengling bottles and Yuengling Oktoberfest. Another chapter in my early life after laCrosse was DC and had to drink Yuengling. So glad to see it migrate farther west because it is a good drinkable beer that doesn’t fill you up but has a distinct flavor that gets lost in a Bud Light or miller Lite. So glad to not have to talk politics on this board!
- Moby - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:05 pm:
Oh for crying out loud. I just spent three minutes reading through the Tweets trying to figure out why the “Chicago Bears” would care about National Don’t Dump on People’s Beer Choice Week. Time for a nap.
- Publius - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:07 pm:
Stag
It’s the best outdoor festival beer because, and this should be their slogan
No matter how cold a Stag is it still tastes warm.
If you drink other beers at an outdoor festival as they warm up the flavor changes and is no longer any good
- frisbee - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:07 pm:
Miller High Life! it is the Champagne of bottled beers, Union Made and can lead to impromptu Steve Winwood karaoke. Cheap, readily available in cans, tall boys, bottles and kegs for all those occasions where living the high life is called for.
Sure the boys in the locker room give me grief about it but not this week!
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:08 pm:
Someone actually laughed out loud at me when I pulled a Corona Premiere out of a cooler this summer. Didn’t care. I like it.
- God's Country - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:09 pm:
Steigl Radlers, Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, Bud Light Lime. All good on a hot summer day. #noregrets
- Stones - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:12 pm:
Yuengling. Not hoppy at all and great tasting. If I’m drinking beer chances are it’s a Yuengling.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:15 pm:
Blatz,hamms,black label and drewerys…. because retro beers rock
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:18 pm:
In college I drank a lot (A LOT) of Schaefer Light. $2.99 for a twelve pack was hard to beat, and I’ve always remembered their slogan:
“The one to have when you’re having more than one.”
I was always having more than one. Lol.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:18 pm:
Warm Stag. Only beer that is better warm than cold.
- foster brooks - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:19 pm:
btw Budweiser gets their water from the Mississippi
- Lefty Lefty - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:23 pm:
I honestly like them all except Bud and Coor’s products. I just don’t like the taste of those.
Old Style, aka Dog Style
Schlitz, aka (expletive deleted)
Miller High Life, aka Tall Blonde
Yeungling
Hamm’s
Stroh’s
Leinie’s
Huber
PBR
Rhinelander
Old Milwaukee
Watery goodness. Refreshing instead of filling. Cheap.
- Nick Name - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:24 pm:
==Stag==
Steak, ‘Taters, and Gravy: a meal in every can!
- Montrose - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:26 pm:
Corona with lime is the appropriate hot summer day on the beach drink. A number of craft breweries are making their own version of a Mexican lager now. I love me a craft beer, but why would I spend three times as much for a beer that is trying to taste like Corona?
- Dance Band on the Titanic - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:26 pm:
Leinenkugel Honey Weiss with a squeeze of lemon. On a hot summer day, my preferred IPAs aren’t nearly as refreshing as a couple or three of these.
- Streator Curmudgeon - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:27 pm:
Big K diet root beer.
The Curmudgeon is a teetotaler. And he’s trying to cut back on sugar.
- LINK - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:27 pm:
Good golly, I have so many and where to begin.
Back in the day it was Coors smuggled in from Colorado 10 cases at a time (remember the push top tabs where the tab went into the can?) in the back of the family’s station wagon. Then came high school…
I have to say I became known as Bud Man due to drinking a cup or dozen at Dooley’s, or, buying a case of returnables from the store. Honorable mention went to Old Milwaukee draft at places like Stan Wallace’s. I even liked Bud Malt but would never refuse a Colt 45, Schlitz Malt or even a Right Time…
After high school and in California there was Anchor Steam with Coors, Bud and the ever popular wine chasers made either by Gallo or ISC. I wish I could relate more brands but those days remain “hazy.”
Then came Texas and I truly can’t say I was enamored with Pearl of even the standard Lone Star, unless it was a long neck, ice cold and I wouldn’t finish the last couple of sips. You would understand if you’ve had warm Lone Star.
Back in Illinois it was back to Bud, Coors, the occasional Strohs or Weidemanns (sp?) until I discovered Michalob Dry. Wow, I truly liked that one but it is no more…
Then there was that trip overseas and I was blessed with true draft beer at many a fine pub in Great Britain. Couldn’t tell you any specific one, or even if they were lagers or the like, but good God they were great.
Sadly, nowadays I don’t imbibe as I use to so it’s the basics as described above with an occasional Stag or local beer thrown in.
- Gooner - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:33 pm:
This thread reminded me of how much I like Corona with a slice of lime. It has been off my radar for a long time, but now that I’ve thought about it, I hope to enjoy some this summer.
My choice though is Red Stripe. It gets a bad rap for being swilled by American tourists that have no other goal than to go on vacation and get plastered, but it really is a pretty good beer.
Not that it matters, since it is beyond the scope of the question, but my standard non-cheap beer is Chimay.
- Jocko - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:36 pm:
Any “beerdo” (of which I am one) should admit that after the first three or four…any will do.
Miller Lite or Stroh’s (remember 30-packs?) might register a sneer, but I don’t mind.
- Been There - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:37 pm:
Since I have a bar I never dump on anyone’s choice of beer that they order at my place.
But that Black Label choice by Al is a tough one. We use to buy that for a couple of bucks a case in college. We hated it but the price was just to cheap to pass over. You never started out with it but it was tolerable when you ran out of everything else much later in the evening.
I’m a Miller Lite guy but can settle for any cold domestic or import. Not huge on all of the brew pub beers though.
- Ryan - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:38 pm:
Lone Star
Old Milwaukee (leaded and unleaded)
Busch Light
Natural Light
Stag
They’re all decent beers, not too expensive, and refreshing on a hot day.
- Quizzical - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:40 pm:
Old Style — a little more flavor than your average mass produced beer and it reminds me of my teen years and all things Chicago. It drives me crazy that it is so hard to get at Wrigley Field. It seems to me that if the Ricketts were really such Cubs fans, they would take a haircut on their InBev distribution deal and let the real fans have access to the traditional Cubs fans beer.
- Molly - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:44 pm:
I like Corona Light. Yup the light stuff. I also enjoy the occasional Old Milwaukee because that and an old fashioned is all my Granny drank.
- A Jack - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:45 pm:
Guinness, although some people mistake it for motor oil.
- Anti-m - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:46 pm:
Blatz, in a keg. To me it tastes different than from a bottle or can. Has kinda of a sweet taste.
- Hubcqp - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 2:49 pm:
Busch light (right). Buy a 30 pack on sale for around $13.00. Nice, light, low carb beer that is cheap.
- Original Rambler - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:01 pm:
I’m on board with the Miller High Life love, especially in a bottle. Love me a tall blonde.
I’m a believer in different beers for different seasons. Corona nice in the summer, not so much in winter.
Yuengling a good beer, but I lost my enthusiasm when they jumped on the Trump Train. Other than that, not sure why anyone would consider it inferior.
- @misterjayem - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:05 pm:
Last summer, the Tribune asked three craft brewers to rate the macrobrews.
How the beers fared (five-point scale):
Hamm’s: 4.5
Miller Lite: 4.3
Pabst Blue Ribbon: 4.3
Keystone Light: 4
Old Style: 4
Coors Banquet: 3.7
Coors Light: 3.7
Busch Light: 3.5
Michelob Ultra: 3.5
Miller High Life: 3.5
Budweiser: 3.3
Busch: 3.2
Bud Light: 3
Natural Ice: 3
Schlitz: 3
Icehouse: 2.7
My personal experience mirrors theirs, except I’d move Champagne of Beers up to the #3 slot.
– MrJM
http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/foodfocus/ct-macro-beer-tasting-food-0712-20170706-story.html
- @misterjayem - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:07 pm:
National Don’t Dump on People’s Beer Choice Week:
“Because Policing Other People’s Enjoyment is Exhausting!”
– MrJM
- Rural Stuff - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:12 pm:
Ahh, I like this post and will buy some natural light on my way home to celebrate. I’ve been drinking Shocktop as of late but the varying posts about awful beers makes me want to branch out. Do they still make Icehouse and Red Dog? Good times man, good times.
- FormerParatrooper - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:13 pm:
I rarely drink anymore, but the first beer I drank was Hamm’s. When I left for the Army I found it was hard to find Hamm’s in a lot of other places so was drinking Budweiser since they seemed to have a lot available on every military post. In Panama I got into drinking a beer called Soberano in a green bottle, it smelled a little bit like a sewer but was sweet tasting.
When do have the rare drink, a Sam Adam’s winter wheat is a choice, it has pleasant taste.
When I have the opportunity to bbq, I still use Hamm’s as a marinade.
- frisbee - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:19 pm:
I forgot to give “honorable mentions” to Icehouse and Michelob Golden Draft. Icehouse was better when it was 5.9% and when they lowered it i felt betrayed, but i was 17 so what did i know…The Michelob Golden Draft were the first 30 packs i ever regularly bought and they had the ridges in the cans, not sure why but for some reason that made a positive impression on me.
- Get it Solved - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:24 pm:
Natty Light- Tastes great, always on sale and only 95 calories.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:27 pm:
My shameless beer is Genny Creme Ale, best tasting beer I’ve had that costs ~$12 a 30 rack.
- Bill F. - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:28 pm:
Add me to the High Life crowd. It’s got some flavor. It’s refreshing.
Also LaBatt’s Light in the summer. Goes down super easy. (I enjoy regular LaBatt’s too).
- GV - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:30 pm:
Sion Kolsch. It’s a German light beer, that would make people who know me raise their eyebrows. I have a cellar full of the beers people line up and geek out about, but at the end of work today, I’m going to have a Sion Kolsch. Why? The bar at my bus stop sells it to me, at a special price, for $7 a liter.
- Wylie Coyote - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:30 pm:
Old Style - it’s Madigan’s fault.
- Blago's Hare - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:32 pm:
Keystone Light - Bottled beer taste in a can
Busch Light - Easy
Bud Light Lime - Summer beverage
- SinkingShip - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:33 pm:
I had an untapped affinity for Blatz after, as a kid, seeing cases of it stacked literally right next to the door at gas station in Wisconsin. My dad joked that it was so bad that they had to put it near the door so that people would just take it. I tried it later in life, and immediately understood what he meant, but the memory made it taste… right? I don’t drink beer anymore, but if I did, Blatz would be a (really) guilty pleasure.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:35 pm:
47th….when I did drink, it was for the effect as well. The taste was secondary to the price. The initial effect got/kept me drinking, the second effect, the next morning, got me to quit.
- Ken_in_Aurora - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:45 pm:
I’m really not a beer kinda guy – I drank the vast majority of the stuff before I turned 21. Due to that, I was pretty opportunistic. Lots of Old Style, Hamms, Stroh’s and Schlitz because that’s what my family drank.
When I was able to pick my poison, my favorites were:
1. Grain Belt – it reminds me of languid summer days fishing on a northern Wisconsin lake.
2. Schmidt – nothing says Ely and the Boundary Waters like their old picture cans.
3. PBR – an ice cold bullet and cold pizza made up more school era breakfasts than I care to remember.
4. Bud – for some reason I actually like the taste of rice beer, probably because I’m not really a beer drinker. Faint praise, I know.
- Anon and on - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:48 pm:
Budweiser. Not Bud Light. Completely irrational thing from my downstate years. We had a wake after one of my parents died and were left with cases of the stuff. I didn’t even drink beer. But I did that summer! I also volunteered distributing Anheuser Busch water after the 93 flood. And the pretty horses! (Any other week I’d expect Chicago Bars to run me outta town for this.)
- don the legend - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:50 pm:
Natural Light. Why? $6.99 a fifteen pack, sometimes $5.99
- Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:52 pm:
XX…because it reminds me of Mexico Nights.
#Brewed with pond water?
- Infrequent Drinker - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:55 pm:
Late in law school a small group of guys went to a baseball game with one of our favorite former professors. A beer vendor came around and all of us ordered; I got a Corona. After the vendor left the professor waited a beat, then asked “Why don’t you like beer?”
- Smitty Irving - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:56 pm:
In college within 30 miles of air bases, saw lots of foreign beer. Really miss San Miguel from the Phillipines - Spanish beer made by Filipinos - the dark was very tasty. First craft beer? Anchor Steam, excellent taste, great contrast to American beers of the era (thank you Frederick Maytag III, glad you didn’t want to make washing machines). Current favorite is Ichabod, a seasonal pumpkin ale from New Holland in Michigan. Tastes like liquid pumpkin “sweetness” (no, it isn’t sweet), and, yes, the bottle features a headless Ichabod on a horse holding a Halloween Pumpkin.
- Flyer - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 3:57 pm:
Hamms because my Dad drank it
- Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 4:02 pm:
Keystone light - great summer beer - ice cold and sold in 30 packs
- 37B - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 4:06 pm:
@Lefty Lefty:
I think we’re twin sons of different mothers.
Old Style, aka Dog Style: Pre-Children, after work beer of choice at Mayor’s Row.
Schlitz, aka (expletive deleted): The beer of my father.
Miller High Life, aka Tall Blonde: Would probably own a vacation home if not for the Champaign of Bottled beers served up at Calamity Jane’s.
Yeungling: Never heard of it pre-Trump. Too politically petty to try it now.
Hamm’s: First quart of beer I ever bought. Sat down by the side of the river with my best friend after a long bike ride. One of life’s simple pleasures.
Stroh’s: It’s was fire-brewed as I recall (like Lucky’s were toasted) and I drank a lot of it in junior college when the age for beer and wine was 19.
Leinie’s: When in Wisconsin . . .
Huber: Bock beer in the spring.
PBR: Tipping hat to Pork and the Havana Ducks; enjoyed way too many choruses of “Red necks, white sox and Blue Ribbon Beer” while matriculating at UIUC.
Rhinelander: Used to walk through the Jewel Tea on the way home from school dreaming of the day I would buy my first case at $1.99. The original went away in 1967 and I never tried the successor.
Old Milwaukee: The beer of friend’s dads.
In common: Not hoppy/bitter.
Honorable mentions: Red Stripe and Hacker Pshorr (yes, with a slice of lemon).
- Cheryl44 - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 4:22 pm:
I very rarely drink beer but sometimes a cold Stella on a hot day hits the spot.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 4:25 pm:
This is one of your best QOTD’s Rich. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
My first taste of beer was a Schlitz. My old man let whichever kid would bring him a beer have the first sip.
My first real beer was a Miller High Life in the little pony bottles they used to sell in 8-packs.
I had a Little Kings phase in high school. Seriously, who didn’t go through a malt liquor phase in the 80s?
A friend’s dad owned a local beer distributor, so half full kegs of Old Milwaukee were ours for the taking, as were the broken six-packs (some of which we broke). Does anyone remember Erlanger? Terrible beer, I think it was either a Schlitz or Meister Brau product.
Never cared for Red Stripe. Maybe it was the bottle, but it always reminded me of Drewery’s, which was awful. Not even in Jamaica.
And someone told me once the origin of the lime in the Corona story. Back in the day, people would have huge tubs filled with ice and Corona to sell to gringos at the beach. As the ice melted, these bottles would sit in cold water and if any Americans drank those, they’d get Montezuma’s revenge for the rest of their holiday. So the Mexicans wiped the mouth of the bottle with a lime to kill the bacteria. That’s why the lime became associated with Corona.
Good times. Truth be told, I’ve never really had a bad beer. It’s just some were better than others.
- Ken_in_Aurora - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 4:30 pm:
Just remembered - all the free drinks I won betting people about the Old Style frog.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 4:36 pm:
I’ll fess up and say I like expensive microbrews like Revolution and Half Acre. They’re always introducing new varieties and are really flavorful. I’m not rich or anything and economize on food. But I’ll pay extra for these beers. *slowly backs toward door amid barrage of empty Bud and Bud light bottles*
- G'Kar - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 4:50 pm:
I am a beer snob, in fact I am heading to the Great Taste of the Midwest, the largest craft beer festival in the, well, Midwest, tomorrow. I have always said “drink what you like and like what you drink.”
As to my “low brow” beer, I really like Leinie’s Sunset Wheat, especially after mowing the lawn. Second would be an ice-cold Grain Belt on draft.
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 5:02 pm:
47, my head still pounds a little when I think of a Little Kings hangover. We called them “Bullets” back in the day. Could never look at Hamm’s after drinking it outta Styrofoam cups at Chances R in Champaign on “Beer Night” ($2 for all you could drink plus live bands, including early Head East)
- Jen - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 5:34 pm:
Rolling Rock and Miller High Life. What can I say, I have simple tastes.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 5:34 pm:
AA, do you remember Mickey’s? I almost sliced a finger off trying to open one of those big mouth bottles.
Good times.
- Almost the weekend - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 5:37 pm:
PBR in a bottle. Love to take off the label and keep it in my wallet.
- Chicago Bars - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 5:40 pm:
Honored!
And tickled pink this QOTD got this many comments.
Will tweet the National Don’t Dump on People’s Beer Choice Week origin story tomorrow. But real quick…
1. They still make Stroh’s (Pabst Brewing) and Red Dog (MillerCoors), hard to find but still out there. And usually cheap.
2. Met the President of Pabst Brewing in a bar in Chicago last summer and asked him what it would take to get Stag distributed north of I-80. Calling him “befuddled” would be putting it gently.
3. Corona USA is run out of Chicago. Saw their big, big boss served a Corona with a lime a year ago and will never forget his look of disgust as he pitched that lime into a trash can. It holds up without the lime IMHO.
4. Old Style is my default uncool beer. Old Man used to hand me his empties and tell me to count the little guys drawn on their old labels claiming the changed the number on labels every month. They did not, but hours of fun.
Cheers, and to quote Mister JayEm’s key contribution to National Don’t Dump on People’s Beer Choice Week, enjoy it ….”Because Policing Other People’s Enjoyment is Exhausting”
- flea - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 5:43 pm:
old Milwaukee light… grandpa used to say get two for both of us they don’t last long
- wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 6:31 pm:
At the tavern, PBR ($1.75 a pint). So American: red neck, white dude, blue ribbon.
From the Kwiki-Mart, Hamm’s pounders ($3.59 a six). Imported from the Land of Sky Blue Waters.
From the Jewels, Old Style, for old-times sake.
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 6:55 pm:
47, I do, regrettably. How about Olympia, the pride of Tumwater, Washington? We were livin’ high when we could afford Oly in college.
- Just the Facts - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 9:30 pm:
Undergrad, it was Busch on draft at the Winery.
In law school many years ago, it was Blatz draft at the “to go” bar in Union Station. Then at home it was cases of Rhinelander returnables for $4.99. (It was an awful beer, but if you iced it down until it almost began to freeze it was tolerable.) After law school when broke and paying off the student loans Old Milwaukee Light or Hamms.
- striketoo - Thursday, Aug 9, 18 @ 11:17 pm:
In my dotage, I have switched entirely to smooth dark beers. Mostly Guinness Draught.