Worst Beer Ever

[PaulO]

I've tried many different brands of beer over the years.  Recently I tasted what I consider THE WORST.

I purchased a six pack of Boatswain American I.P.A. (Rheinlander Brewing Co. Monroe, WI) from Trader Joe's.  It was total drain pour after second sip.  How bad is it.  Here's my tasting notes.  There are several strong flavors that come across: pine tar or turpentine, cardboard, stale black coffee, river or farm well water, corn adjunct (like in really cheap beer - Keystone, Natural Light).

 

Ironically some of the other Boatswain varieties I enjoy, but truly not this.

I feel like contacting Rheinlander brewing to say - this is awful, please stop making it.

[flahute]

I can't think of any beer I've had which left such a strong impression on me that I'd call it the worst. 

But, this post reminded me of an article I came across some time back that fits the subject. Though it was written 6 years ago is still rings true.

Check it out as this is a hilarious read:

 

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/craft-beer-is-dead-gose-ruined-craft-beer

[flahute]

Lol. I re-read that article and had forgotten how funny it is. Here's an excerpt:

 

"I’m not judging. As a beer snob, and a music snob, and probably just an all-around snob, I know from snobbery. Suddenly you find yourself proclaiming Ariel Pink is the new Prince, until you hear him at Starbucks, and then some even lesser-known performer becomes the real new Prince, only to be supplanted by some pseudonymous Icelandic tone-poet that dresses like a tree. Or put it in terms of food: you like beef tenderloin, but then others like it, so you start liking the cheeks, the snout, the ears.

When those start turning up in gastropubs in the suburbs, you scramble. Brains? Bones? Hooves? And in time all that’s left is the penis. And you’re eating it like nom nom nom this bull penis is so good! But in reality, Ariel Pink gives you the fantods and you’d kill 10 men for a steak."

 

[PaulO]

I read the article. 

I remember the exciting early craft beer times.  I worked in a wine shop and once a month they got in a free newspaper with small brewery and home brew news.  This was before regular people had internet at home.

 

Above I'm not talking about some obscure style.  I've tasted many brands of I.P.A. and they can vary quite a bit.  The stuff in question - just plain bad tasting.

[flahute]

57 minutes ago, PaulO said:

 

Above I'm not talking about some obscure style.  I've tasted many brands of I.P.A. and they can vary quite a bit.  The stuff in question - just plain bad tasting.

Yeah - that's a head scratcher that an IPA would be so bad as to make your worst beer ever list.

I was in Idaho for work a couple weeks ago and found a local craft beer place for lunch. Had a couple IPAs and both were meh and uninspired but I wouldn't call them bad tasting.

[PaulO]

The last time I sipped then poured the rest of a whole beer down the drain was Lienenkugel's Summer Shandy.  That stuff had lemon and maybe lemon grass flavors added.  It tasted artificial.  It reminded me of citrus scented soap or bathroom cleaning product for public rest rooms - nauseating.

[fishnbowljoe]

For me, it was many, many years ago. My wife and I went with another couple to see a minor league baseball game in Appleton Wisconsin. A local brewery supplied one of its beers to the stadium where the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers played.  It was called Rattlerbrau. Ewwwww!  It tasted like kerosene, with a few drops of gasoline and lighter fluid added. I can usually finish a beer, even if it’s not to my liking. Not this one. I dumped it even before the half way mark. Absolutely putrid stuff.

 

Biba! Joe

[CreepFactor10]

The stuff I tried to brew myself.

[Kjbarth]

Home Beer. A brand sold by Home Liquors in NJ in the late 70’s/early 80’s. Was like $3-$4 a case and it was what my friends and I could afford in HS. Just bad!

[Special Reserve]

On 7/5/2021 at 7:27 PM, PaulO said:

I've tried many different brands of beer over the years.  Recently I tasted what I consider THE WORST.

I purchased a six pack of Boatswain American I.P.A. (Rheinlander Brewing Co. Monroe, WI) from Trader Joe's.  It was total drain pour after second sip.  How bad is it.  Here's my tasting notes.  There are several strong flavors that come across: pine tar or turpentine, cardboard, stale black coffee, river or farm well water, corn adjunct (like in really cheap beer - Keystone, Natural Light).

 

Ironically some of the other Boatswain varieties I enjoy, but truly not this.

I feel like contacting Rheinlander brewing to say - this is awful, please stop making it.

I've tasted water from many a farm well and I don't recall a bad one.  Back in the day it was common for a farm to have two wells, one for the house and one for the barn yard.  Note that on farms from my youth, the wells were dug and in use long before electricity arrived on the scene.

[smokinjoe]

Back in college (‘83), my roommates and I discovered Olympia beer.  Being in Muncie Indiana, we dug on the idea that it was from farther away than even Coor’s from Colorado…It was OK.  We went in on several cases, then saw Oly Gold.  Gold, you say?  That must be much better, we thought.    Wretched!  The four of us choked it down, but none of us were desperate enough to grab the last can in the fridge.  And, there were plenty of times when each of us would go searching for a beer…any beer.  It lasted until the end of the year, before we dumped that one.  At times, it literally was the only thing in us four poor bastards fridge.  Hideous stuff.  There are beers and  beer styles that I don’t care for, but none were as bad as that stuff.  

[Harry in WashDC]

YOU GUYS!!  HERE'S a thread I'D HAVE NEVER THOUGHT UP.  SO!!! it is ALL your fault - whatever appears here!!  AND!! My stomach ROILS at the memory!!

 

Back in July 1963 right after HS graduation, I drove a two-door sedan 1929 Model A Ford from Alexandria VA, to Dover Delaware to visit a long-time friend who ALSO just graduated from high school.  We all road tripped to Rehoboth Beach and chipped in some moneywith a group of his friends, and an "old guy" bought us a case or two of "Canadian Ace" beer and Canadian Club.   It took me about a half hour to have consumed so much alcohol that I was risking my life.  I still remember digging little holes in the sand at Rehoboth Beach to puke in.  I also think I remember hearing somebody say, "Look!!  Girls over there!!" and trying to run in that direction while somebody said, "NO!  Harry!  Stay here!  You are too drunk!!"  At which point, I dug another hole to puke in.

 

 It was another SIX years (circa 1969) before I could even look at an advert of brown distilled spirit without getting stick to my stomach.  I even remember the CHANGE!!  A college classmate of mine had been wounded in Viet Nam prior to the Cambodian Invasion (1970), and I stopped in to visit him at Walter Reed Hospital.  He really liked "Southern Comfort" so I used to buy "Fifths" and smuggle them in.  "We" (like, the dozen or so inpatients on Ward 10 at WRAMC) all of whom were Cambodian Invasion vets or comparable VN war injuries met several times a week to check out livers for functionality!!  I was ever so honored to be their enabler.  I still think this was one of the greater contributions I made to the Human Race - serving these guys.

 

Jack Daniels soon supplanted Southern Comfort" because the ever expanding coterie I was servicing by providing an ever-expanding selection of booze kept asking for NEW STUFF!!  Soon, I was carting a case or two (12 to 24 750s) a month to the Ward.  Since most of these guys were damaged, not diseased, the alcohol had little to NO effect on their physical healing.

 

By 1970, my monthly (that is, MONTHLY!) booze budget was close to $200.  In 2021 dollars, that's about $1,440.

 

SO!  The bad beer?  What was Canadian Ace beer made from?  Haven't seen it since.

Edited October 23, 2021 by Harry in WashDC

[PaulO]

I realize some wells may provide high quality drinking water.  It depends on a lot of variables, and can change.  I've tried several that had a gamey, musty component. 

 

Joe, I happened to check some time ago, Olympia is no longer made.  It was sort of a big deal back in the 1970s - 1980s.

 

Harry, I remember my dad mentioning Canadian Ace.

My one neighbor in Michigan was a Vietnam vet.  He went directly from high school to Army Infantry.  We had a lot of good times hanging out, mostly his porch.  He was banned from all the local bars.