Hipsters Ain't What They Used To Be.

[cowdery]

... if selling Red Stag allows Beam to keep making Single Barrel whiskeys, then I am all for it. As long as there is enough to go around, I say Drink What You Like.

I agree completely, it's just always funny to see how people knit together their taste preferences and their image affectations. It also seems to be an 'anything goes' world out there. Traditional rules just don't seem to apply. I guess the pessimist calls this rudderless while the optimist calls it liberating.

For me I think it was when the word 'cornhole' went from meaning what it used to mean to being the name of a popular bean bag game. Likewise the shift in meaning of the term 'hook up.'

[mosugoji64]

Okay, in response to all of the mentions of Schlitz, I have to say that I love Schlitz. And the fact that no stores here carry it only endears it that much more. Red Stag, however, is awful. Received a sample of it at the distillery and thought it was crap, and this is coming from someone who likes cough syrup.

[ratcheer]

For me I think it was when the word 'cornhole' went from meaning what it used to mean to being the name of a popular bean bag game. Likewise the shift in meaning of the term 'hook up.'

Yes. It blows me away that there is a major national TV ad now where they have a "suck-o-meter" and claim that their product "doesn't suck". In my day, saying something sucked was pretty much right next to the f-word in intensity. These days, not so much, apparently.

Tim

[mrviognier]

Hey, we can only hope that, after starting on that stuff, some will graduate to more traditional bourbons.

I'll keep hoping, too...but my bet is on the reality that most people knocking back shots of Red Stag are doing so precisely because they can't stand the taste of the harder stuff.

[White Dog]

I'll keep hoping, too...but my bet is on the reality that most people knocking back shots of Red Stag are doing so precisely because they can't stand the taste of the harder stuff.

[CorvallisCracker]

...there are a lot of wine collectors out there who started on White Zin.

[kickert]

Why do you use the qualifier "white"? There's another kind?

[White Dog]

Why do you use the qualifier "white"? There's another kind?

[timd]

When I was in college at Texas A&M it was all about Shiner Bock & Pearl Light. Shiner in pitchers was the cheapest you could get and Pearl Light had these cool Rebus Puzzles in the cap and could be as low as $10/case!

And bourbon? Jim Beam White was the "cheap stuff" (and still makes me queasy)- and Wild Turkey was high end. But mostly in South/Central Texas we just drank Sueza Tequila.

Sitting at the Dixie Chicken or outside at Dudley's Draw was the epitome of "hipster" on a college student budget.

That said, I still love and drink Shiner Bock (and Black) although it's easily 2x more expensive now (was $3.00 six pack at the time) and think Wild Turkey is darn good - but won't touch Pearl or Jim Beam

[craigthom]

And Mat, as you should know, there are a lot of wine collectors out there who started on White Zin. Hell, I'm one of them.

[SMOWK]

And bourbon? Jim Beam White was the "cheap stuff" (and still makes me queasy)- and Wild Turkey was high end.

The good ol' days of youthful drunkenness. Funny that a few dollars could tip the scales, but when coins in the couch could mean a taco or two, or perhaps a few Top Ramen's, I can totally understand.

[imbibehour]

Ah hipsters... at my age getting into the point where I am no longer cool...

Hipsters are always fun...

If you're working the part, drinking the right beer (supposedly), wearing the right clothes...

you're probably not one....

[cowdery]

I remember when getting a good bottle of wine for a special date meant Lancer's or Mateus Rose. People grow up.

Then again, my mom went to her grave believing "a good bottle of wine" meant Blue Nun Liebfraumilch. In her defense, however, Blue Nun is often credited with introducing her generation to wine and most of her children know their way around wine pretty well.

On the other hand, I'm not sure if I care if anybody who drinks Red Stag uses it as a gateway to better stuff. So long as I can get the stuff I want to drink I don't really care what anyone else is drinking.

[Special Reserve]

I remember when getting a good bottle of wine for a special date meant Lancer's or Mateus Rose. People grow up.

Then again, my mom went to her grave believing "a good bottle of wine" meant Blue Nun Liebfraumilch. In her defense, however, Blue Nun is often credited with introducing her generation to wine and most of her children know their way around wine pretty well.

On the other hand, I'm not sure if I care if anybody who drinks Red Stag uses it as a gateway to better stuff. So long as I can get the stuff I want to drink I don't really care what anyone else is drinking.

Chuck,

What a great post. Sums it very well.

Will

[OscarV]

I remember when getting a good bottle of wine for a special date meant Lancer's or Mateus Rose. People grow up.

Then again, my mom went to her grave believing "a good bottle of wine" meant Blue Nun Liebfraumilch. In her defense, however, Blue Nun is often credited with introducing her generation

Oh c'mon Chuck, I know you did just like me and got those Lambusco's at 3 for $5.

They went well with cheap Mexican reefer.

[imbibehour]

I remember when getting a good bottle of wine for a special date meant Lancer's or Mateus Rose. People grow up.

I have great memories as a young kid going out for Chinese and my parents ordering bottles of Mateus.

Man those were the days...

[cowdery]

Oh c'mon Chuck, I know you did just like me and got those Lambusco's at 3 for $5.

They went well with cheap Mexican reefer.

I said a good bottle for a special date. The rest of the time, yeah, of course. And before that it was Boone's Farm and Annie Green Springs, and before that it was Mad Dog, Ripple, cherry vodka, and sloe gin from the little store in the Flats that we knew sold to minors. I've always been the budget degenerate.

[craigthom]

I've never had either of those Portuguese wines. If they are still available I should pick up a bottle of Lancer Rose, just because the opaque bottle is cool, and I understand they are slightly carbonated.

There was another Liebfraumilch (got it on the first try, according to Chrome!), Black Tower, that also came in an opaque bottle.

The wine I most often take to family dinners is a Gewürztraminer (from Washington; the Alsatian ones are pricey). It's not too dry and is spicy enough to hold up to turkey or ham. It's not as cloying as the pink training wine.

(I love how the Chrome spell checker knew how to spell both those wines. Now for the real test: Trockenbeerenauslese. Nope. It doesn't know that.)

[MarkEdwards]

I remember when getting a good bottle of wine for a special date meant Lancer's or Mateus Rose.

When I was kid, I felt I was doing good to get Annie Green Springs or Boones Farm.

[callmeox]

We were no hipsters, but our cheap crap of choice was Sun Country Coolers (in the 2 liter bottle) and enough Little Kings to float a barge. :grin:

[jburlowski]

Proud to say (OK... maybe a little sad to say) that I can no longer be considered hip. In fact, my hips seem to have all but disappeared and I have to keep hitching my pants up (over my stomach). Soon my waistband will be near my underarms. :frown:

Makes it hard to say that I have short arms and can't buy the next round...:shithappens:

[OscarV]

and enough Little Kings to float a barge. :grin:

Hey now, Little Kings ain't a bad beer at all.

[DeanSheen]

Hey now, Little Kings ain't a bad beer at all.

I was at a distributor tasting a couple weeks ago and they had the Little Kings tall boy cans. I chuckled to myself and then watched several others walk up to the table and point at them. Strange to see them packaged that way.

[T Comp]

Drinking Ripple, Mad Dog and Boone's Farm (I remember the excitement when they came out with strawberry hill) probably means your over 55. Being 57 soon, they were my staples from 1970 to 1972. I had my 15 minutes of fame among friends when Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull called for my bottle of Ripple and proceeded to chug half the bottle before hitting the stage. The show was in a storage shed type hall at the Majestic ski grounds in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and the always trustworthy internet confirms it was 8/15/70.

[Gillman]

Little Kings is an excellent cream ale, an old style almost lost today. Genesse Cream Ale is still made and some craft brewers have attempted the style. You need to get it very fresh though, like all beer I guess but it's more important with a lighter style.

In my days of big rock shows the beverage of choice would have been beer, which meant then (in Montreal where I grew up) Molson Export Ale, Labatt 50 or another mass market ale. I remember too Sangrias in the bars downtown.

To this day, when I occasionally drink, say, a Molson, it brings me back to the sheds and the shows, Proustian-style.

Gary