What is your Favorite American Beer Now and what did you like many years ago?

[OscarV]

Stevens Pointe from Wisconsin, because of the color of the cans they were called blue bullets.

[dave ziegler]

Do you remember eating Formost Kohser Hot dogs at the deli & the ball park and the great Jewish Bakery New Model Bakery right next to Ortliebs brewery Many a time when I drove truck in the old days my truck would just seem to stop there for some Corn Rye bread and Onion Rye. Also it was Point beer that made that saying Stevens Point Brewing Blue can you are right on have one old one here in my office collection at work. And Schmidt's was the Easy Beer, the full taste beer! And I loved it, and contary to what people say it was a great Beer and the water came from a 5,000 foot deep well NOT THE RIVER as some people try to say I knew a couple of People back in the day who worked there and my Truck route went right by schmidt's had a customer next door. And My Great Great Grandfather lived right across the street from Schmidt's back in the day where people would get a bucket of fresh Beer. And He did, Him and his Son inlaw were basket weavers by trade from Germany and wove the basket for the first Balloon asention in America back then. I can never seem to find anything much out about it But his Name was Zarnitz and His Son inlaw was Named Volts. The Ortlieb family were great brewers and great people. Nothing is the same in Phila any more. Do you remember the old Gretz Beer Sign at Olney & Board St guy on a high wheel Bike with a swinging Bucket of Beer and a dog chasing him! When my Dad took us to are family in Olney we would always see it I was about 8 maybe and went nuts watching it. We would drive down in my Dads 1955 Caddy Coupe Devile he bought used. Getz moto was Mellow Goodness. And who could ever forget although I never had any Good Old Esslinger Beer.

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most magnificent Bourbon

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[Gillman]

Some of these old-time beers are still made, at least the labels are still going, and it might be a good idea to stack some six packs beside the Gazebo table next time.

As good as full-tasting modern micro beers are, it may be good to have some old school, lighter-type beers around as a foil for the bourbons.

When I was in Louisville recently on Baxter Street I saw a bar with an old Falls City sign (name of a long-closed brewer there). Maybe a Falls City beer is still sold by a company who owns the trademark.

To find these, you need to go to an older, beverage warehouse-type store, they are the best bet for these fast-dwindling older labels.

We could always get some PBR (since that is still going strong due in part to its retro appeal) but I am sure it would be possible to round up some current versions of these older names, Ballantine XXX is still available for example in New York and probably elsewhere.

I know just two years ago I enjoyed a Maximus Super in Utica, New York, it's still sold in the vicinity of the old brewery there, FX Matt's.

Gary

[dave ziegler]

Gary If you take some vintage brand Beers & Ales Ballantine XXX is still one of my Favorite Ale's I'm sure people would enjoy that. Another thing about Pa if you want to sell your Beer here you have to have a different Permit for each brand Which stinks as you can get Saranac but you can't get Utica Club which I used to drink when up in New England in the old days, when you call and ask different Brewing companys it is always the cost of the permit and if they will sell enough to make it worth all the trouble. So not only do we have the Bourbon & Whiskey issue but only certain beers. A real nice old time Beer to take would be Narragansett lager I like it so much I had a friend going to NE bring me 5 cases! The New PB is not bad also. I just wish I could get some Wiedemann it was always so good! I don't think Pittsburg Brewing is making it yet they have the label for it.

Dave

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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[texascarl]

I grew up in a 3.2 beer@18 state, so all thru College I drank Pabst Blue Ribbon. Every year I looked forward to the annual Pabst Bock season. They don't make it now, and other Bock beers are mo' bettah...but I learned to love dark beers and assorted Bocks drinking it way back when.

Nowdays I drink the local beer - Boulevard. Their Dry Stout, Unfiltered Wheat or Pale Ale, since they're on tap everywhere locally.

But if I see it's available I order Rogue Dead Guy Ale. I never outgrew the Maibock.

http://www.blvdbeer.com/index.cfm

http://www.rogue.com/Beer%20Brochures/DeadGuyGlow.pdf

[bigtoys]

My favorite beer is Newcastle Brown Ale.

Others that I like now are Pete's Wicked Ale, Rogue Dead Guy Ale, Turbo Dog, Blackened Voodoo Lager, Crimson Voodoo Lager, Sam Adams Black Lager, Hacker-Pschorr Hefe Weisse, and Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale.

I still have a fondness for Heineken Dark and Beck's Dark.

I'm getting thirsty and it's only Monday. Lucky I'm off Friday.

[craigthom]

I had that Robertson book. It was instrumental in getting me interested in beer. I lost it somewhere along the way, but I remember all the pictures of labels in it.

I'm a recent arrival in Louisville, and I've seen those Falls City beer signs at bars. I have assumed (and will continue to do so until proven wrong) that they are relics of the past maintained with pride by the owners of the establishment. It's the same as all the Blatz signs you can see around Milwaukee. Yes, Blatz is currently made (by the company that calls itself Pabst), but these signs are from the good old days. There are also Schlitz signs around Milwaukee.

The Stevens Point Brewery is still there and still giving tours. There aren't many of these regional beers left. Most have been killed, in my opinion, by big budget advertising on national television by AB and Miller. All the others have closed, or the names of the beers have been purchased by the new Pabst.

Stevens Point is great. When I visited they had a huge collection of returnable long neck bottles in a lot of colors from a lot of different beers. Our guide told me that they weren't being made any more, so they were buying what they could from all over the country. They would quit putting beer in returnable bottles only when they ran out of bottles.

[dave ziegler]

I still have fond memories of Wiedemann Every time I went to KY back then I would bring 4 or 5 cases home, Good Beer! In my area an old favorite from the 1960's was Neuweiler and Their Cream Ale made in Allentown Pa. And in the old Days when it was made Falls City was a good old fashion beer. Interestingly I have been told that Pittsburg Brewing also has the rights to falls City.

Dave

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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[Gillman]

There are a number of "classic" American beers I never had the chance to try. Wiedemann Royal Amber is one. Someone should revive it, a logical candidate would be BBC in Louisville, of course they'd have to get the rights and the recipe. There used to be a style of beer associated with Louisville called Kentucky common ale (this was discussed on the board a while back - I think that was the name, it was a top-fermenting brown beer). I have a theory that Wiedemann Royal Amber was the last surviving example.

The other key pre-micro beer I couldn't get to in time was Horlacher Perfection.

Another beer, which oddly counterpoints to the Wiedemann and Perfection beers in that it was at the dawn of the microbrew era, was New Albion ale - it was the first modern microbrewery ale in America properly speaking, made in the late 1970's in Northern California. I arrived in SF just a little too late to try it, and recall searching hopelessly for an old bottle in Marin ("the clarity of Cal to break your heart" - Jack Kerouac - that never applied to top-fermenting microbrews, but never mind, when I think of Marin and the Bay Area I think of Jack).

However, I did try Rainier Ale aka the Green Death, Henry Weinhard's, Andeker, Ballantine IPA (many times), Prior Double Dark, Yeungling Porter (still made), and many other standard bearers of old-school brewing. Let's not forget Augsburger, too.

But if there were two I'd have given my eye teeth to try they would have been Wiedemann's Royal Amber and Horlacher Perfection.

[craigthom]

I almost mentioned Augsburger, but I thought I had rambled on enough. Stevens Point Brewery licensed the rights to it and is making it again (just not the bock, which, while not a real bock, was a really nice dark lager). It was originally made by Jos. Huber in Monroe, Wisconsin, and was sold to Stroh in around 1987 or 1988.

The Point People claim to be making it to the original recipe.

OK, I can google press released for Point brewing Augsburger from 2003, and I saw it at the brewery in 2006, but there's nothing on their site.

What's worse, I found a cached reference in their faq from April 1st, but it's no longer there.

I'll write to find out.

[Gillman]

Thanks for that, I'd be interested to know if it is still made. Augsburger, called Augie by some, was a fine beer especially the dark.

Gary

[Luna56]

Right now my favorite is Sam Adams Boston Lager, but when I can get an Anchor Steam on draught I'll always go for it. A little touch of quality hops is a beautiful thing.

I used to like Rolling Rock a whole lot but when I drink it now I think that I must have been crazy. Used to love Schmidt's when I was in Pennsylvania, sad they don't make it any more. Seems like the good old American working man's beers of yesteryear had more of a German flavor than they do now. I really miss that.

When I'm overseas I like Caffrey's Irish Ale, Pilsner Urquell (the real stuff, not what we get here), Leibinger, Krusovice... man, I'm getting thirsty!

Cheers!

[dave ziegler]

The Reason Rolling Rock tasted so bad to you is the fact that The Brand was sold to Budweiser and they make it in Newark NJ now. The brewery closed in Aug 2006 In bev had bought them out they later sold the brewery to La Cross who contract brews Some Sam Adams there! What Bud does is put Budweiser without the Beechwood flavor in the Rolling rock bottels that is why it seems so bad to you. I have 1 & 1/2 cases left of the old stuff I bought a bunch out of the last coming out of Latrobe back then. It is still good and I am finishing it before it spoils.

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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[OldJack]

Without a doubt, the single best beer I have ever tasted is an American product. Great Divide's Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial Stout.

For every day drinking, I love Stone IPA, Shiner Hefeweizen, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale failry equally.

Back in the day, I was all about the Lone Star. It is the national beer of Texas, after all.

[Jono]

Speaking of Ballentines..some trivia...(never had it)...but it was the favorite of tv character Martin Crane (Frasier's father ...the retired policeman). On many episodes it was remarked as his beverage vs the wine sniffing Crane boys.

[Gillman]

Recently I saw Brador being sold in a Brewer's Retail in Toronto (the brewers' owned quasi-monopoly that retails beer here), and bought a dozen. Brador was, and still is, a premium beer in the Molson line. It is short for Brasee d'Or (golden brew) and was developed in Montreal where Molson originated in the 1700's. It is a modern-style commercial beer but offering extra quality including its 6% ABV level. Apparently it is a malt liquor in style (itself a somewhat vague category) and used to be a true ale. Old hands remember when Brador was an ale and that it switched to (presumably lager,) malt liquor status quite a while back; this is some old lore for the mavens.

They must sell just a little of it and I suspect the brewer keeps it going to keep the trademark valid.

Nonetheless, it is an excellent old-school beer, the spiritual equivalent to the MIA 1970's U.S. beers I mentioned earlier. It has a lightly malty taste and some good hops of the acidic, incisive (not highly-flavoured) type. I believe it is all-malt.

It tastes just like it did 30 years ago.

I'll use it to toast its lost U.S. brothers tonight.

Gary

[craigthom]

The sad news is that Stevens Point has discontinued Augsburger due to slow sales. Pabst still owns the label, so something may yet become of it, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

The beer I like now is the current highly-hopped American-style IPA. I dropped off a bonus six pack of one of my favorites for the sampler dinner. There's no shortage of microbreweries making this style these days. Some aren't quite to my taste, but many are.

In my youth I drank Budweiser. There weren't any regional brands available in Georgia when I was a youth. When I got to college we drank what was cheapest, which included a lot of the Beast and Schaeffer's and one that I can't remember the name of. Ah, Drury's. It was nasty, but it was about $4 for a case of longnecks.

[dave ziegler]

When I was a Kid there was a brewery in Boyertown, Pa near where I work but it has been gone so many years I have never met anyone who drank it, Boyertown Beer. Esslinger was a great old time Beer, I never had any but the old Brew house was still standing in 1996 when I went to Phila when I drove truck! And I remember Piels Real Draft well drank and enjoyed it! Also on the Quart Can of Esslinger were recipys for things like Cole Slaw made with Esslinger, get loaded on Cole Slaw I guess, I have a can in my collection like that, any one else remember those Esslinger cans also had Quiz's on some.

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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[mier]

It has been Jim Bakker`s Pale ale troughout the 80`s but now a day it is Anchor steam beer from San Fransisco:toast: .

Eric.

[dave ziegler]

Here are some wonderful shots of old Ballantine Beer trucks and a Plant of theirs. I still love Ballantine XXX Ale and always keep a case handy!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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[dave ziegler]

The first beer to be put in Cans was a joint effort between Kreuger Brewing Newark NJ and The American Can company and the first cans Had MR the Kreuger Brewing Mascote on the cans, Mr K became so Popular that the Coasters had sayings such as-----"MR K SAY"

" Some People are always trying"

Very Trying

Also Mr K Say--" Even a Fish wouldn't Get in Trouble"

"If He kept His Mouth Shut"

Fact Beer was put in cans before Soda because soda's have much more presure and they wanted to get them right for Beer before going on to make stronger one's for Soda. These cans had instructions on how to open them with the new Quick & Easy Can opener from American can company Picture #3 and you would get an opener with a purchase of caned Beer. Also the Cans stated they were Keg Lined which meant they had a thin Plastic like coating inside to keep the taste of metal out. One of my cans has a hole in the side and you can see a thin plastic like coating hanging in there.

Here are some pictures of Krueger cans from 1935!

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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[dave ziegler]

Here are two great old Pictures for Narragansett Beer a Favorite in the old days and a favorite to me now in the new days, voted one of the best American Lagers on Beer Advocate. On trips when I was younger to New England with My Mom I would always have a Gansett. Now that it has been brought back I like it even more then the old stuff, Had a friend bring me 5 cases when he was going to CT in Jan this year.

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bpurbon

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[dave ziegler]

As a Kid I was always excited when my Dad would drive us down to Phila to are relatives in the Olney Section of Phila. We would go down Olney Ave and cross Broad at that corner in the early 1950's was a really Large whole top of a building moving sign. It had a man peddeling a High wheel bike with a Pail of Beer swinging in his hand and a little black dog chasing him! It said Get Gretz Beer Mellow Goodness! I wish I could go back in time a have a gretz. I always loved the moving sign. In the years I drove truck in Phila I found the old Gretz Brewing building on Oxford street many a time I would stop and look at it. Here is a picture of the brewery and one of an old ad and one of a label

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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[dave ziegler]

Here is a Gretz can with just what the sign had, just saw I had this picture. On the sign the dog moved tail moved wheel turned and the Pail swung back anf forth! The tray I own has the dog too it is not on these but was on the sign and the rays and most of their cans.

Dave Z

Old Hickory America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

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[smokinjoe]

Something came back to me recently, when I was talking to an old college buddy. The beer of choice at ole Ball U, (Ball State University--Muncie, Indiana) was Little Kings Cream Ale. I've not had it in years, and not seen it here in Atlanta, so I asked Dawn to pick me up some in Indiana, and bring them to the Sampler. (Being the awesome person she is, she did! ) I remember Little Kings being everywhere in college, and was a favorite of mine back then. Came in little 7 oz green bottles, and were something like $3.99 a case in the early 80's. I think part of the reason they were popular, because the bottles were small, was that you could get the girls to drink them. A lot. The ones Dawn brought tasted the same, as best as I can remember, and I have been enjoying them the last couple of weeks.

I also remember liking Blatz. Don't know why, but I have fond memories of it.

Now, I'm basically a Bud man. But, I careen all over the beer world. There's a local micro here called Sweetwater, that puts out many fine beers. Their yearly Holiday Edition "Festive Ale" is excellent, and their new "Happy Ending" Russian Imperial Stout is also very nice. But, I also like a crisp Corona after a workout in the Summer, so I ain't picky.

:toast:

JOE