Cheap Beer From Days of Yore

[Champakian]

Never really purchased beer in a can or bottle.
When I did take up beer drinking, we hung out at Julie's Biergarten.
This was back before "carding" became an obsession.
I especially liked the dark beer.
Julie had big tits too...

 

[InternationalFunboy]

Inexpensive does not always mean poor quality. Hamm's and Pabst are good old American lagers.
They're not complex, but they are refreshing on a hot summer day. Sometimes that's all you want is cold suds.

^^^ El Guapo speaks truth. There's room in my repertoire for yella beer because a fancy craft beer is not always the choice for shit like minding the BBQ, or most anything involving swimming, or throwing edged weapons.
I'm a marginal beer person anyway, it's an enjoyable thing that gets a foot in the door with me for convenience reasons often. The day an effective wetbar-inntertube exists, beer might have some competition while floating as a pastime. I'm certain no enjoyable cocktail will ever come in a can.
Most often I buy good old fashioned Budweiser to fill the yella beer gap. It's the King of Beers.

Ya'll, years ago I used to live next this weird old lady down on the coast. One day I was out in the yard doing my thing, and she walks near... she respected boundaries, like in a literal sense, but nothing stopped her from invading your psyche with her repellent rationale. Anyway, this time was pretty benign. Out of nowhere she goes, "Hey do you like beer?" and I was thinking "Look who you're asking.." Turns out she had bought a sixer for some friends of hers who were coming over and as it turns out nobody wanted them. Foreshadowing.
She says I can have the sixer and she ambles in to get it, she brings it out, and it's Schlitz Ice. To get to the point, it was terrible and i ended up pouring most of it out after none of my degenerate friends managed to polish it off. I know people who smoked crack who would not drink this. In hindsite we were probably being a bit hard on the old Schlitz, I'd love to have one now. If only as a yard stick for my own personal Beervolution.

 

[HornEmale]

Ah the days of OV Splits and Utica Club

 

[Mr_bogey]

Olympia was awful.

In college, we had a liquor store that rotated a sale of case bar bottles for $3.99 (another thing that was great about the 80s)
Piels Real Draft
Schaeffer
Genesee
Black Label
1st 3 were very drinkable and I'd still drink them today if I saw a cold one on a hot day. Black Label was a notch below.

2 beers that used to be cheapies and became something else thru marketing and, at least in 1 case, a change in recipe:
Yuengling and Narragansett

 

[InternationalFunboy]

Olympia was awful.

In college, we had a liquor store that rotated a sale of case bar bottles for $3.99 (another thing that was great about the 80s)
Piels Real Draft
Schaeffer
Genesee
Black Label
1st 3 were very drinkable and I'd still drink them today if I saw a cold one on a hot day. Black Label was a notch below.

2 beers that used to be cheapies and became something else thru marketing and, at least in 1 case, a change in recipe:
Yuengling and Narragansett

There was a bar/music spot in New Orleans pre-Katrina called Mermaid Lounge. Their signature beer was Schaeffer's. I'd forgotten all about that. Tracks, honestly. The forgetting part...

 

[Sean]

I used to work in a brewery many moons ago. They brewed all the Bud for western Europe plus Holsten pils. They also brewed Kaliber, the alcohol free lager. The way they make it is brew it at 13% then boil the alcohol off. We used to pull it out of the vat before that stage. Rocket fuel.

 

[grumpyoldperv]

Oh God the teenage years in the 1980's drinking Old Mil. Enough of that stuff went thru my high school pickup to have floated it on the ocean.

Fast forward a few years. The semi official beer of the class of stock cars we raced was Milwaukee's Best Light. aka Beast Light. We had a sponsor come down in the pits after the races 1 time and the next week, and for 6 weeks more, he supplied Coors Light. He couldn't believe we drank Beast on purpose.

In the 1970's, Dad drank and 8 pack of the little 7 or 8 oz cans of Olympia beer a year. With salt in it. OK, so he drank 4 or 5. my brothers swiped the rest and drank it in the barn.

 

[spacekowboy]

El Guapo!

 

[pointless]

i used to drink a lot of killian's irish red back in the day until it started fucking with me for some reason. my stomach just didn't want to play ball with that shit. no loss, really. i can't even remember why i liked it or if they even still make it.

oh well. life goes on. anyway, now i mostly drink shandy when i want a beer because it tastes better.

 

[MNGuy]

We had generic beer, white can with black lettering. It was $1.99 for a six pack when i was in college. It looked like this:

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/fd/69/87/fd698766b20d78fa88fe775546882226.jpg

 

[techiedude71]

Perhaps not related but Cisco was 1.50 a bottle when I was a kid and that’s what we drank on the cheap. Otherwise malt liquor like Ballantine or Old English.

When all else failed there was 40s of Bud.

 

[GuyandDoll]

I remember enjoying Narragansett way back when. For a while in high school, Miller was the thing.

I understand the appreciation for some of these ales and pilsners and beers, but I wouldn't touch the stuff now. Sierra Nevada, Heady Topper, Pike's Pale Ale, and every so often Anchor Steam.

 

[OldJourno]

I drank Coors back when it was delivered in refrigerated trucks. It was a better beer then.

 

[InternationalFunboy]

i used to drink a lot of killian's irish red back in the day until it started fucking with me for some reason. my stomach just didn't want to play ball with that shit. no loss, really. i can't even remember why i liked it or if they even still make it.

oh well. life goes on. anyway, now i mostly drink shandy when i want a beer because it tastes better.

I had a thing for red beers! They disappeared for a good while from my life until I was in a pub in Pagosa Springs, CO (Shout out Riff Raff Brewing) and they had a red ale and it was not only the best red beer I've ever had, it was really enjoyable all around. When I got back to Austin I was re-invigorated about red beers, but they all sucked.

Speaking of red....anyone remember Red Dog?

 

[spacekowboy]

I had a thing for red beers! They disappeared for a good while from my life until I was in a pub in Pagosa Springs, CO (Shout out Riff Raff Brewing) and they had a red ale and it was not only the best red beer I've ever had, it was really enjoyable all around. When I got back to Austin I was re-invigorated about red beers, but they all sucked.

Speaking of red....anyone remember Red Dog?

Red Dog caught on just as I was hitting my beer swilling peak in the mid to late 90's. I rather enjoyed that stuff and Ice House.

Killian's was okay but I never really got the appeal. If I wanted an Irish beer, Guinness is right there.

Along with the Jameson and Baileys.

 

[pointless]

i remember red dog. no offense, but i kind of got the impression it was a douchebag beer back in the day.

mainly because it was popular with a few dudes that i thought were douchebags.

and i haven't had guinness in fucking ages. used to get a four pack every once in awhile with some old buddies, but then i stopped hanging out with those people. this is not a bad thing.

fucking junkies.

 

[PaxNurgle]

We had generic beer, white can with black lettering. It was $1.99 for a six pack when i was in college. It looked like this:

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/fd/69/87/fd698766b20d78fa88fe775546882226.jpg

ah yeah,...frickin' BEER beer.

We loved that stuff, if only for the sheer novelty of it. We used to be able to get it on the west coast but it's another one of those brands I haven't seen for decades. Taste wise, it was comparable to Olympia or Hamms, not the worst but far from the best out there. The rumor was it was actually brewed at both Olympia and Hamms breweries but with a generic label.

EDIT: Ugh, I remember Cisco's. 40 proof of nasty sugary intoxicating wino elixer. "Liquid Crack" we called it. It tasted like wine coolers but mainly served as a method for really douchey, sleazy operators to get girls drunk quickly- or for non-douchy, but heavily alcohol-dependent types to get a really quick and really cheap buzz on.

 

[PFWilly]

Back in mid 60’s, our cheap beer of choice in high school was a case of Coors for five bucks. In bottles so we could throw the empties at Highway signs. Cheap entertainment…

 

[InternationalFunboy]

i remember red dog. no offense, but i kind of got the impression it was a douchebag beer back in the day.

mainly because it was popular with a few dudes that i thought were douchebags.

and i haven't had guinness in fucking ages. used to get a four pack every once in awhile with some old buddies, but then i stopped hanging out with those people. this is not a bad thing.

fucking junkies.

You can't offend me, I'm a loud and proud well endowed douchebag. I think I drank this Red Dog because it was an alternative, finally. As an underage drinker it was just Bud Light, all the time, everytime....by the time I was buying my own beer, I thought it was slightly better. But I'm also a sucker for packaging, this is why I also like Red Stripe, to name another non-red red.

 

[juttjaw]

I had a thing for red beers! They disappeared for a good while from my life until I was in a pub in Pagosa Springs, CO (Shout out Riff Raff Brewing) and they had a red ale and it was not only the best red beer I've ever had, it was really enjoyable all around. When I got back to Austin I was re-invigorated about red beers, but they all sucked.

Speaking of red....anyone remember Red Dog?

Ahem...

We used to drink Red Dog a lot. I dont know why, it was nasty! Then again, i was a kid, what the fuck did i know about good beer?

 

[FGB]

I remember the old Home Brew we used to make.

It would Kick your Dick in the Dirt!

1 Quart can Pabst Blue Ribbon Malt
1-2 cake brewers yeast
Ten Lbs sugar
8* gal. Ceramic Churn
Five Gallons water

Melt 1 cake of yeast in Quart of water, add five LBS sugar and Malt.
Cover with cheese cloth.
Let set for three days and add the rest of the yeast and sugar.

AFTER it stops working it is ready to bottle or drink.

It taste a lot like Fosters.

 

[jomar]

I remember the old Home Brew we used to make.

It would Kick your Dick in the Dirt!

1 Quart can Pabst Blue Ribbon Malt
1-2 cake brewers yeast
Ten Lbs sugar
8* gal. Ceramic Churn
Five Gallons water

Melt 1 cake of yeast in Quart of water, add five LBS sugar and Malt.
Cover with cheese cloth.
Let set for three days and add the rest of the yeast and sugar.

AFTER it stops working it is ready to bottle or drink.

It taste a lot like Fosters.

I hope that’s not a stab at a humble brag.

 

[thør]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/06303d0d315d64efb31f9f60014f80c7/0769551275f93582-de/s1280x1920/eef5e0a949cd43a12a5f634abdf9dfb80a7045ca.png

 

[InternationalFunboy]

Ahem...

How did I miss that? Did you ever do the thing with the can where you cover up the dog's face and it looks like Batman diving between a set of thighs? It's not as rewarding as the Land O Lakes titty lady, but we were easily entertained back in the day.

 

[spacekowboy]

Because of this thread I bought a 12er of PBR last night. I wanted Hamm's but it wasn't in stock.