Controversial Beer Opinions (Round Two)

I like your spirit and agree with most of what you opined but this is blasphemy, not only for lumping the unwashed masses of "kettle sour" into one cantankerous bunch, but then categorizing it complimentarily, and then further disparaging the good name of mixed fermentation by imagining that only SARA (fine purveyors of the art, no doubt) accomplishes it well.
A harrumph upon the sentiment and a huzzah! upon the controversy

 

The only "Stroh's" beer I've had was that one can (thank you @FBarber ). No reason to say "they/their" since there's no Stroh Brewing Company. I doubt there's much sense in talking about Stroh's as a specific beer instead of a name. Even barring the various Stroh's-in-name-only contract beers that Pabst puts out today in their "local legends" series, you gotta assume that the Stroh's beers varied a lot from pre-prohibition all the way to their big expansion and eventual fall in 2000. @TongoRad - In the 80s they were a giant through acquisitions, but they also closed their old Detroit brewery then.

 

Ya. The point was that a lot of mixed ferm sucks. So might as well just give me the fruit, yo.

 

Oh, and see my point re locals. muah!

 

Thank you. I felt like I was begging for someone to take issue. One more @Brugesman ? I feel like I should provide another one close to your spiritual home: Nothing from St. Bernardus really appeals to me.

 

Like one beer, ever? Back in ‘08? Like not two beers?

And do FMBs like Mike’s Hard Lemonade count in either case? (Asking for a friend)

 

Oh, yeah? Cool. I'd have left upstate NY by then and never saw that Hamm's package. The ownership of the Hamms brand bounced around in the 1970-80s - purchased by Olympia in the 70s, Pabst took over Olympia in the early 80s and then Pabst was gobbled up by Kalmanovitz S&P Corp., which already owned Falstaff (+Narragansett, Ballantine), Pearl and General (Lucky Lager and numerous other west coast brands). Even before purchasing Pabst and their brands, S&P/Falstaff was selling some of their eastern brands in those returnable plastic cases in NYS (I remember them as being almost "house brands" at a convenience store chain called, IIRC, "Stewards" (not the Root Beer joint)?) - I purchased many black 'Gansett and yellow Falstaff 12-ers in the early 80s, during a period of unemployment.

(Damn, no pic of the Gansett's - there are a few still in my cellar - gotta snap a photo next time I make it down there...).

Well, I'd guess that the only thing in common with the Pabst-brewed Hamm's of the 80s with today's is the brand name. When Pabst and Miller divvied up the Stroh/Heileman labels in '99, Miller also bought (traded?) for some of the Pabst-owned brands. One being Old English 800 (a Pabst brand since the 1970s when they bought Blitz-Weinhard) - which kinda made sense given it's ranking as one of the largest selling malt liquors - and the superpremium Henry Weinhard, etc. But the puzzling one was Hamm's.

"WTF! All the great mid-western brands, some in much better "shape' than Hamm's, among the Stroh-Heileman portfolio but Miller wanted the "dying-since-the-early-70s" Hamm's label? What do they have planned?"

Two decades later - Oh, OK. Surprised MolsonCoors hasn't added Hamm's to your region of the NYS market - but there could be some hangups (old contracts, distributor uninterested, etc).

 

I had it when I was in Michigan visiting in-laws a couple/few years ago. IIRC, it was contract brewed by a larger East Michigan craft brewer so that they could once again say "Brewed in Detroit". I dug it. I liked it more than the Schlitz Original Recipe or whatever that came out around 12 years ago.

 

Get with 5E! A halfling can use a Dwarven thrower as a warhammer, but he cannot attune to it gain the magical benefits.

 

Delirium Red tastes like bad cherry cough syrup. Perhaps in some parallel universe or alternate reality, this might be a controversial opinion.

 

I want to try a Milkshake Bock.

 

Even if you don't take price into account? The wit? The Extra 4? Nothing?

 

I'm not sure Stroh's retained fire-brewing until they closed, but at least in their initial expansion to Allentown, they installed fire-brewing kettles. I don't think the taste differences were as important as the marketing benefits. In my opinion Stroh's in the 70s-80s was a pretty good American lager, but didn't stand out (when living in Chicago, I preferred Huber Beer, and not just for price). Their super premium Signature in the 70s wasn't too distinctive, either. For me, it didn't compare to Pabst Andeker or Huber's Augsburger.

 

So what are you saying here?

 

Generic > specific (?)

 

The Extra 4 never clicked with me unfortunately. Nothing against the wit, but I rarely buy beers like that, and if I do, I tend to buy craft takes ( not something I type very often!). St. Bernardus worked on a collaboration saison (not as the brewer though), that I liked. When it comes to the beers we'd think of as their "abbey beers," there isn't one I'd choose over a different abbey or Trappist brew. Just a personal preference. Oddly enough, I really like the Westvleteren beers though (despite the connection), and I'm confident enough to say that it isn't simply a case of enjoying scarcity over substance.

@Brugesman

 

If it's culturally and legally thought of as beer it counts. So if my uncle Rupert only likes to drink Michelob Ultra, then I'd say he likes beer.

 

One and done is not my style of drinking either but I've found I have am quite able to drink my fill of beers I find monolithic and boring, especially if the ABV is high. I don't mind monolithic and boring as long as that correlates with cheap. Paying $24+ for a 4-pack of beer that tastes nearly identical to something I can get for $13 a 4-pack is when I start to get irritated but I doubt that is an unpopular opinion.