Bad Beer Memories
Kitty has a
post on her blog that includes photos of two beer steins that were apparently used in commmercials for Utica Club.
That made me think of all the old beers that used to suck. Utica Club wasn't undrinkable, but it was close. There were so many bad beers in the USA back then, so many good ones today. So here's a list of the bad old brews with some commentary:
Horlacher. This Allentown beer was the worst of the truly woeful Pennsylvania beers. It could only be swilled down if the beer was right on the verge of freezing over, and even then it took courage and dedication to finish the bottle.
Iron City. "Iron Stomach" was the flagship brew of the Pittsburgh Brewing Company. In the early 1970s, the PBC caught onto the beer can collecting craze and came out with 1001 different brews, each in a distinctive can. Old Froth'n'slosh alone had dozens of variations, all featuring a very obese woman. Zodiac beer had pictures of the constellations. Iron City though was the staple, and it was awful, with a metallic tang. A year or two back a friend of mine from Pitt brought back some Iron City Premium beer and it was pretty good; not quite Longboard, but definitely quite improved over my memories.
Schaefer. The jingle was "Schaefer, is the, one beer to have, when you're having more than one!" I presume the theory was after a few your palate would be so dead that you wouldn't notice how bad it tasted.
Genessee. "You can count on Genny taste, 'cause it's brewed in just one place, Geneseeing is believing!" What you could count on about Genny taste was that it would go away after awhile. However, they did have a better alternative: Genny Cream Ale.
Ballantine. "Make a ring, and then another ring and then another ring and then you've got three rings...". Another woeful lager, but they did make Ballantine India Pale Ale, by far the most exotic and interesting tasting beer brewed in America at the time.
Falstaff. Another bad beer with one saving grace: Tappers. Falstaff made a mini-keg of beer that held about a case worth of better-tasting suds than their bottled beer. I have a little Falstaff bottle opener on the wall next to my refrigerator.
Some other bad beers: Rheingold, Piels, Knickerbocker, Gablinger's (the first light beer), Burgermeister, Matt's....
