Falstaff. What was it like?

You know, he drank Drewry's too, maybe I'm mixing up the two. Anyone know if they had the mini-kegs too?

 

Are you sure you're not confusing two different style "mini-kegs"? These aluminum 2.25 gallon kegs that Falstaff and Hamm's sold contained their own large CO2 cartridge inside the keg which was "factory installed" and not consumer accessible (not without a large pair of Internal Snap-Ring Pliers, at least- which I have and I have seen the CO2 unit- it'd get you sent to Gitmo today if you were caught with it in your luggage at the airport).

These kegs, which were also marketed by National, Ruppert (and possibly Brew 102) looked like this:

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The "rubber ball" tap was the cheaper alternative to the gallon can taps that used a disposable CO2 cartridge (the type used for home seltzer bottles). Here's an ad using one from Lederbrau (from Chicago's Atlantic Brewing Co.) These cans are often referred to as "mini-kegs" today.

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I've never heard of Drewry's being available in either style "minikeg" but Drewry's sister brew, Sterling (both Associated Brewing Co. brands by then), was available in gallons.

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I wouldn't have asked if I was sure! I was probably 10 when dad was drinking from these.

Ee-yeeah, that could be the type of tapper, but I can't be "sure." What I am sure of is that it was either Falstaff or Drewery's he was drinking. Never saw any of the other brands around -- only ever had Hamm's when we went north of the border.

 

Miss Sterling Beer. I drank a lot of it the last 2 years you could buy it. Actually decent for cheapie lawnmower beer.

 

No matter how hard I try to remember...I can't. I had it over 30 years ago and it reminded me of all of its classic counterparts like Carling Black Label, Schlitz, Schaefer, etc.

 

Just wondering what would have been considered the best US beer ( not including Anchor Steam) before the opening of the New Albion etc( ie. pre craft) ?

 

Wow. Memory lane but I can taste some of these old brews as if it were yesterday (and they all paled in comparison to today's market, no pun intended.) Falstaff tasted like most of the generic lagers of the day. My father was loyal to Los Angeles and primarily brought home six packs of "Eastside," brewed in Los Angeles right downtown. However, I recall a very aggressive ad campaign and my father was convinced. He went for the newest and best brew to hit the market...the new kid on the block..."Bush Bavarian!" The irony is that once I started college he was actually starting to buy from some of the new smaller breweries, Sam Adams, Anchor Steam, and Sierra Nevada, and he'd periodically splurge on Henry Weinhard (sp?) I was way to busy at the time discovering "a cousin of hops" and drinking kegs of Coors and Bud with my fraternity. I should have followed Dad's example! When my father died about 2 years ago it was only after he'd tried several Cantillons, 3 Fonteniens, and several dozen other craft and small production beers with me. He would diplomatically state that they "were interesting, but I couldn't make a steady diet of them." Nice thread; thanks for the memories. (Now, if we're talking Falstaff the opera, then I'm a big fan....but that's another thread).....

 

The next semi interesting question is what beer now tastes most like Falstaff. BTW is it still made?, I never look at the cheap lagers anymore in the beer store.

 

to me it was imports lol. but If I had to drink American, then Michelob, and I wish I had tried Ballantines, but I did not for some crazy reason. I am sure yuengling has its supporters, and other regional stuff. In Texas where I grew up its was mostly crap beer....we just seemed to have the lagers, but my memory of those times is getting foggy.

This was me in the 60's, go into store where beer was sold, (usually liquor stores) find the 1 tiny door with the imports, reach into to back and hope its good. Ignore the rest, and buy a bottle of Wild turkey and leave.

 

I wish I had tried Ballantines IPA too! That's gotta be the answer to what was best; unfortunately I just dismissed it out of hand at the time as being an 'old man's beer'.

Still, I do remember that there were a bunch of American style bocks and Dark beers around, but in reality they were just a small step up from the usual premium lagers, most likely made with porterine.

 

Michelob was more expensive then Budwiser ect. and was considered to be the best by many people. Ballantine XXX Ale was very good. Ballantine IPA is the only American beer i ever drank back then that would be considered good now. Ballantine beer by the way was run of the mill at best.

 

well I guess I got burned out on all the yellow fizzy beer at the time and found a st Pauly girl dark and the like and never looked at blonde beer for years I was dark or nothing...until I visited Europe for the first time.

Not sure if Michelob had a bock or not. If it was dark beer I would have tried it. In fact in Texas which has a large German descendent of folks in the central hill country area, was where we vacationed allot. and if it was dark I drank it there also.

 

I'm pretty sure that Michelob did have a Dark. They also had a Lite, with the silver label (which was my girlfriend's fave, so I did drink that one a bunch). When i was feeling flush with cash I tended towards the imports too, like Dinkelacker, but that was maybe half of the time. Local beers for us in NY were Rheingold, Schaeffer, Piels, Genesee, and a few others and I'm sure some of them put out a variety of products including darker beers.

 

yea I know they had a dark, just not sure about the bock dark if that was the same thing then sorry i got confused. we had been to Canada, (from Seattle) many times when i was little, so I favored the Canadian beers over the regional s. Who knows why we do things when your young, plus we could drink legally at 18...

 

Wow, a walk down memory lane. We used to get Pickets, Sterling, Black Label & Rhinelander for $3.99 a case for returnable bottles. My favorite was Sterling because it tasted the most like Old Style…

We would get kegs of Hamms for $29 as it was $10 cheaper than High Life.

 

I know Falstaff bought out Narragansett in the late 60's and started making it in the 70's at the Indiana plant. Can anyone whos had the current Narragansett comment on how the modern day one compares to that of the 60's and 70's, just curious.

 

I like Old Style very well for an adjunct light lager as well. Buy it occasionally when I am in Knoxville where I can get it. I like the revived old formula Schlitz occasionally.

 

Yep, Michelob was called a super premium like Pabst's Andeker, Coors' Herman Josephs, and Schitz's Erlanger. I chose Ballantine XXX and Rainier Ale over them most every time.