Beers you miss

Pete's Wicked
Old Vienna (Canada)
Double Diamond (UK)

 

A shame too, a favorite English Stout. I also miss Old Speckled Hen, to mention one. And miss UK brewed Bass Ale, and pre-merger Boddington's Pub Ale, and even good old Newcastle Brown before Lagunitas brewed it in the USA (a letdown) and I like Lagunitas ale in several versions.

 

Miss the old Stone beers, and Double Bastard was a favorite (I had to drive 50 miles to a liquor store, and never minded it to buy any). I miss Brewski beers, miss Sterling Beer, miss many a hard to find English and German beer not available in the USA. I miss Pete's Wicked Ale to boot.

 

Still occasionally see Bachelor Bitter when I'm in Bend. But I'd forgotten about the River Ale, and definitely miss it.

 

Ah Yes! We all have those old "shit beers" that we miss. Here are a few of mine......beers that I use to steal out of the fridge when I was 15-16 yrs old back in the 1970s. Olympia Gold......Michelob in the vintage tear-drop shaped bottle......Lowenbrau Dark with the foil around the neck of the bottle.........Falstaff........Pearl........Heineken Dark....just to name a few

 

What happened to Lowenbrau? According to the old men, it was a lot more widespread in the past. I don't think I've ever seen 'em around, but then... was CA their distribution?

 

Yeah, as a German import, it was likely pretty much a nationally-distributed brand (along with the "Löwenbräu Dark") in the 50s-60s, running neck and neck with Heineken for a time as the #1 import in the US. In the mid-70s, Miller (by the owned by Philip Morris) first took over the license to import German-brewed Löwenbräu and then worked out a deal to brew a domestic version (pretty sure their Ft. Worth Texas brewery was the first location and that was shipped to various test markets). It was not the same beer:

The Miller-Löwenbräu deal ended in 1998, after which, for a short time, the US Löwenbräu came from InBev's Labatt in Canada - which they swore was the original all-malt German recipe.

By the early 2000s, German Löwenbräu started hitting the shelves (I think their Oktoberfest was the first) but soon after the AB - InBev (which by then owned Spaten-Löwenbräu) merger, they announced that they were going cut Löwenbräu from their US imports. That took some time, however, but it apparently was distributed in only a few regions (primarily the northeast) until it disappeared all together from the US AB-InBev portfolio.

During the Miller-brewed era, Americans could hop the Canadian border and get the real German Löwenbräu - but, last I heard, they now get a domestic Labatt-brewed version.

Pretty sad story but when it was available in the US in the 2000s, it didn't seem to do much. I'd see it in 12 packs and it was often sold with a rebate offer but it wasn't carried in a lot of stores and many states didn't see it at all. 2 decades of the Miller-brewed version likely killed its rep in the US and when it returned the US imported beer market was very different and many of the beer's old fans had likewise died off.

 

Rolling Rock when it was brewed in Latrobe and before it was hijacked by InBev.

 

"Hijacked" ? So, Sundor Brands (best known for orange juice) didn't pay the Tito family (post-Repeal owners of Latrobe) when the Connecticut juice company took the brewery over in 1985?

Just 2.5 years later, local sources at the time estimated that Sundor sold the brewing company to Labatt for "about $35 million". Interbrew would then buy Labatt in mid-90s (for $2.7 billion, but them were Canadian dollars, so...).

Two decades later, InBev sells off the "Rolling Rock" brand to Anheuser-Busch (for $82M!) and the brewery to City Brewing Co. later in 2006. But they must have really regretted that decision, since they turned around and bought the "Rolling Rock" brand back (along with the rest of Anheuser-Busch ) just two years later.

(Not that we haven't discussed this before...but ya know, there might be some new BA's that have come along since '16... )

 

They said Mackeson will be in next month, the distributor is having issues getting it. Speckled Hen is gorgeous we have it here but unfortunately not were my GF lives in Washington which is where I plan on moving. I started on Newcastle and never went to Bass. I drank Pub Ale before and It was good considering I don't like nitro I am not sure if I will keep drinking I will have to drink it again soon to find out I have a can left. I wouldn't seek it out normally but its a great design and English Ales are so few here. I love Samuel Smith but I don't want to just drink from one brewery, maybe if they had a Golden, Pale or Brown Ale and a Stout and they are at a good alcohol content. I love the new Newcastle, they finally went to the brown bottle I wish they kept the design though. If I want something softer I can drink Wells Banana Bread. MP Holy Grail Golden Ale is gorgoues had it for the first time on Saturday.

I saw you love Genesee Cream Ale we are discussing it in my Golden Ales thread if you want to join.

 

I guess I have been educated by a "poo-bah."

 

The GRAND poobah, if ever there was one.

 

Great beer Tremont. I used to drink it at Indian restaurants.

 

Alesmith Wee Heavy hasn’t been available in the Boston area for years.
Ballantynes scotch ale from Phil Ballantyne Cambridge Brewing. I missed the in house beer and it was only bottled once.

 

Yellow Bus

 

Young’s Oatmeal Stout and previous recipes of Bell’s Hopslam.

 

The Demon series from Avery though there appears to be a return of sorts.

 

Also Old Ruffian. Big burly barleywine for a decent price in a 4 pack. So naturally the minute I get wise to it, they vanish.

 

Firestone Walker Union Jack, they changed the recipe over a year ago and the new recipe doesn't do it for me. Tastes very generic and not WC, kind of like when Stone killed their IPA a few years ago. The new can art/label sucks as well.

Also miss FW Wookey Jack and Double Jack but those weren't regular purchases.