Hamm’s Appreciation Thread (2024)

Rainer got bought up by Pabst so it’s probably just a derivative of PBR. However, it seems like it’s less watery and has more flavor. I don’t like PBR and wouldn’t purchase it myself, but perhaps I should do a blind taste test!

 

Well I’m gonna hunt for it soon. I want to see what all this hype is about!

 

It's a cheap beer. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

 

I used their beer finder on their website and stores that Ive been to that said they had it did indeed have it when I visited them. Some beer finders are inaccurate or outdated but this one seems very current. Hamms in even on draft at a few bars in my area according to the beer finder.

 

30 PK $15.49 in Minneapolis. Only 24 PK (No 30) out in AZ and it’s $17.99, Both stores are TW.

 

Hamm's was sold at Wrigley Field back in the '70's, advertised heavily on 'GN back in the day. I'd guess my last Hamm's was 50 years ago at least. I'll have to look for it someplace.

 

Damn you boys are quick.
Kroger run tomorrow!

#Hamms4Lyfe.

 

Not sure I remember Hamm's as much as Old Style commercials on WGN, but I remember Hamm's on WTMJ out of Milwaukee. Probably why I remember the song.

 

Can't appreciate it since it doesn't sell here, but I do appreciate their commercials as I somehow remember the tune.

 

Hamm's is my go to cheap beer, I love it in the summer. I just wish Rainier was available in my area too because I would have a refrigerator full of both

 

The two AALs I have in my beer fridge at all times. Hamm's is has smoother finish. Narragansett has a distinctive flavor that I enjoy. Cheers!

 

There’s a novelty to it that I like. It’s a good beer! But it’s not worlds apart from other macros.

 

Hamm' TV commercials were common in the Pacific NW in the late 60s. Probably in CA then too, since their breweries were in LA and SF. Probably Network sports, since no local major league teams then.

 

Whenever I see those "retro" 60s Hamm's cans, I always think of Mary Blair's concept art for the "It's a Small World" ride. @steveh

 

When I am in the mood for that style/type of beer, which I am from time to time, Hamm's is certainly a good go to if it is available at the time and a place I want a beer of that type/style. A fait number of places carry it, but not close to everywhere.

Eric

 

What a strange time to be alive. I remember the early days of BA, folks would scoff at the idea of a thread dedicated to Hamm’s. With that said, I’m here for it!

 

Well, the Rainier Brewing Company was bought by Heileman in 1976, about a decade after the Hamm family sold their brewery to Heublein (spirits mfg & importer), after rejecting a similar offer from Rheingold. (Early that year, the DoJ Anti-trusters knocked down the attempt to merger with Canada's Molson).


The Hamm brand bounced around after that, sold first to a group made up primarily of Hamm's distributors called Brewers Unlimited. Grain Belt wanted the brand but didn't want to fight the DoJ over anti-trust regulations. BU sold the brewery to Olympia a few years later, and a few years after that, Pabst bought Olympia (which owned Hamm's as well as Lone Star). When Stroh/Heileman went out of business in 1999, Pabst bought most of the brands, while Miller took a few others, as well as making a deal to buy Hamm's and Olde English from Pabst.

The original Theo. Hamm St. Paul, MN brewery was operated by Olympia and then Pabst up until 1983, when Pabst "traded" it to Stroh, in exchange for Stroh's (ex-Schlitz) brewery in Tampa, Florida (now operated by Yuengling). So, the brand has not been brewed in Minnesota for over 40 years, but no idea what color "the waters" were in the cities where it was brewed.

Very unlikely there's much relationship in recipes from classic Hamm's and the stuff now brewed and marketed by Molson Coors. Hamm's used to be brewed with rice as the adjunct (corn syrup today) and the company also owned a Yolo county, California hop ranch in the 1950s, which they used blended with imported hops. In the 1960s, Hamm worked with Phizer to create a liquid hop extract that made the "smooth" beer have "less bitterness and (a) doubled shelf life". Later, Olympia made a big point of changing from "liquid hops" back to "real hops" when they took over.
MC now says "hops", so likely pellets.

re: Narragansett - both Hamm's and 'Gansett were owned in the 1980s and 1990s by the notorious S&P Corp./Kalmanovitz Charitable Trust (Pabst, Falstaff, General, Pearl). That company at first only leased the New England brand to a former head of Nantucket Nectars (ex-Magic Hat, Schweppes and Snapple exec), who had it contract-brewed at Genesee. When Narragansett was purchased by Falstaff in 1965, they were a million barrel brewing company, so the new owner's got a way to go before they reach that point. The B.A. put their barrelage at about 10% of that for 2022.

So, Molson Coors' marketing department is succeeding.

 

Nice new/old design, but its shite really