Falstaff. What was it like?

I loved Andeker for the money and hated when they took it off the market. Heard good things about Rainier Ale and wish I could get some to try.

 

I wouldn't buy any more Rainier Ale the way it is now. The last time I had it, it turned into a super sweet Malt Liquor.

 

Per Wikipedia the brand was killed off by Pabst in May of 2005.

 

St. Louis-era Falstaff is the best beer I've ever had.

 

thanks!

 

Back in the late 70s, when generic groceries were just hitting the shelves, my college friends and I joked about generic beer before it was even in the stores. "Wouldn't if be hilarious to find black and white six packs that just said 'beer' on them?" Lo and behold, within a few weeks, there they were. And from what I remember, it was brewed by Falstaff. I was working at G. Heilmann's in La Crosse, WI at the time, so I recall very well their boom of the late 70s and early 80s.

 

I remember them...I think I have one in an old beer can collection from when I was a kid....yup...you grow up in Wisconsin you collect beer cans when you are 13...14 years old....the thing to do..

 

I am from St.Louis and grew up drinking Bud And Falstaff, I can't say it was a great beer, but had a great name and a proud history. Ah the memories.
Ten years living in a paper bag
Feedback baby, he’s a flipped out cat
He’s a platinum canary, drinkin’ falstaff beer from Sheryl Crow (change would do you good)

check out this great tee shirt
http://topgunteeshirts.com/campaign/falstaff_tee/

I just ordered one myself.

 

From what I remember it had a bit of a cereal profile. Not "bad" but pretty ordinary and in line with all the other big brewery beers. The brand lost out to the superior marketing of Miller and AB.

 

It had a really cool name, tasted OK, and killed Jack Kerouac.

 

I didn't realize you were a fan. Just curious, was that the Falstaff brewed on the lower East side of Chicago? Or was that closed by your glory days at the school in Bloomington?

 

Great thread! My dad's beer when I was a kid was Falstaff. Lots of Falstaff memories for me yet I don't have a clue as to what the 70's version tasted like.

 

I don't think Falstaff ever had a Chicago brewery, but they did own a malt house in Chicago in the 1960s-early 1980s.

 

I remember those. Hamms was still a viable brand back then. My dad would buy it when it was on sale, he tried to buy all his beer on sale. My mom didn't like beer much but once in a while she wanted to use beer to rinse her hair, she said it made it soft and manageable. She would use half a can of Hamms and either drink the other half or pass it off to my dad.

I LOVED the Hamms TV ads.

 

I remember passing by the decrepit looking Falstaff facility on the outskirts of Chicago, whatever it was, brewery or malthouse. There were several grain silos.

 

A cheap Bmc stuff we drank at 17. A dime a dozen at that price point in the day. I could get A 6 of Iron City for $1. Bud was $1.25 for 12 oz cans. A long damn tile ago, Schmitty 16s were popular too.

 

I have the impression (perhaps false) that suggests brewing happened there. I could only find one article which refers to the space as a "brewing facility".
articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-09-15/news/9003170560_1_violent-crimes-police-boys

 

I remember working at a marina near the facility the day it started on fire. It was an eyesore in every sense of the word.

 

Around my neighborhood I remember the old guys (dads & grandpas) in the 50's through the mid 60's drinking the likes of Iron City, Strohs, Gambrinus, Augustiner, Duquesne, Old Export, Stoney's, Carling Black Label, Miller High Life and yeah, Falstaff...No sophisticated palates anywhere nor the desire to develop one..just cheap,cold beer in tubs at picnics, fraternal lodge softball games and deep coolers in neighborhood bars. The stuff I sneaked all tasted remarkably, bitingly similar and Strohs quarts (55 cents) was the quintessential go-to beer when you were 15-18 around here. I can still sing the old jingles for most of those happy days brands. The few imports most people were mainly exposed to that I recall were Heineken and domestically produced Lowenbrau.