Beer back then vs now

I grew up in the1960's/1970's in Wisconsin. We had Schlitz, Miller, PBR, Bud, Old Milwaukee, Old Style, Leinenkugel's, Point, Hamm's, Grain Belt, Stroh's, and others. I started drinking beer young, whatever brand I could get so had them all, except Leinie's. Nobody in my hometown publicly drank Leinie's, probably due to High School rivalry with nearby Chippewa Falls.

When I could get served at bars at 16 I pretty much settled on Bud and Miller, but would drink anything but Hamm's and Grain Belt, which had a reputation as being way too grainy. I wasn't too aware of differences between beers, but once I had Stroh's, that's all I drank. I recall it being 'roasty'.

 

I started drinking in the 60s and Blatz was my choice just because it was my first beer. I occasionally tried others, most of which are mentioned above, but by the early 70s I was living in suburban Cleveland and switched my loyalty to Schmidt's because it was brewed in Cleveland. I decided that I liked it better than Blatz, but maybe the $3 cost for a case of returnables at the local drive-thru store was also a factor. When I moved away and could no longer get Schmidt's I switched to MGD.

Over the years I've tried all of the major brands, and they all tasted the same to me except for Bud which always left me with a weird aftertaste. So I was never a drinker of Bud unless it was the only beer available.

 

I’ve been a Duff man since 1989 and in all that time it hasn’t changed at all.

@Squire, you stated that beers were hoppier in the past and if we are limiting our discussion to American macro lagers (which seems to be the case) I have no reason to question this. But obviously we now enjoy a world of beer completely unrecognizable to someone who grew up limited to drinking a handful of labels, some of which use 10x the hops of those earlier options. So let’s just be clear that in this thread we are not talking about all beer now, just the mass-produced, adjunct-laden, watery stuff that many of never touch.

 

I drank most of the national brands in the 70's. My fondest memory of that time is driving to a beer distributor @ 15 miles away. This distributor trucked in beers from central PA and would sell 16 oz returnable bottles at rock bottom prices. My father-in-law and I would pack his 4 door Chevy, trunk and back seat with Stegmaier, Gibbons and Bartels. It was rumored the PLCB tried to stop them from doing this, but the distributor (Green Valley) continued on. We enjoyed the beers, but mostly the price.

 

There was an article published in the Wall Street Journal in 2006 which discussed the ‘evolution’ of Budweiser over the years:

“Seeking Mass Appeal, Brewer For Years Cut Bitterness; Now Drinkers Want More

By SARAH ELLISON

Wall Street Journal

April 26, 2006”

Some extracts from that article:

“The beer industry measures bitterness using a scale called International Bitterness Units. The higher number of IBU's, the greater the bitterness. Over the past twenty years the IBU's of most American-style lagers has dramatically declined, from roughly 15-20 IBU's to fewer than 10 today, according to the Siebel Institute, a Chicago laboratory and brewing school that tests beer.”

And:

“Mr. Muhleman, who is officially Anheuser's group vice president for brewing and technology, says the company didn't set out to make the beers less bitter. He calls the change "creep," the result of endlessly modifying the beer to allow for changes in ingredients, weather and consumer taste. "Through continuous feedback, listening to consumers, this is a change over 20, 30, 40 years," says Mr. Muhleman, gesturing toward the row of Budweiser cans. "Over time, there is a drift."

The five Budweiser cans in front of Mr. Busch, dating from 1982, 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2003, were pulled off the production line shortly after they were brewed. They were cooled to minus-321 degrees Fahrenheit over 16 hours and stored at that temperature in a secret laboratory in the company's headquarters.

The sample cans demonstrate how "creep" works. The difference in taste between two beers brewed five years apart is indistinguishable. Yet, the difference between the 1982 beer and the 2003 beer is distinct. "The bones are the same. It is the same structure," says Mr. Muhleman. Overall, however, "the beers have gotten a little less bitter."

Cheers!

 

Thanks Jack - good info on the changes in both beer and tastes. Back about an eon ago when I was in college, I somehow got started drinking Iron City as did most of my buddies, except one who drank Prior's Double Dark (Classy affluent bastard!). When there was no IC available, we'd drink Schmidt's. Later (Army days), I shifted to Mustang and Colt 45 (More bang for the buck). Post army and back in the working world, it was back to IC on tap at my local coal miners'/truck drivers' bar. When it eventually closed, I shifted to the American Legion bar and started drinking Straub's - odd taste, it was made with corn. None of my friends or I drank PBR or Bud, we considered them like Trix. I remember when Sam Adams Boston Lager first came out - one of my buddies had us try it at the bar. It had the oddest taste which I liked and later found out was hops... Tasting hops made SA unique and desirable, and probably got me started down the craft beer route.

 

A new brewery that has a "back then" aspect to it is Von C Brewing in Norristown, PA. The brewery was opened by three brothers who have ties to the old Schmidt's brewery in Philadelphia. The three brothers are Jay, Frederick (Rick) and Eric von Czoernig. You can read about their family history here:

https://voncbrewing.com/family-brewing-history

They once made a beer they branded as Prior Preferred Czech Pilsner which I thought was very good - excellent; I discussed it in a past NBW thread:



https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-137.671764/#post-7721120

I once asked Jay is they have any intentions to brew a Prior Double Dark beer but he kinda hemmed and hawed about that. I suspect that since they fairly regularly brew other dark lagers (e.g., Schwarzbier, Czech Dark Lager) that they might view this as a redundant beer.

A core beer that they brew is OG Pils which they advertise as being a sorta original Schmidt's beer. In a past thread I discussed how they won a Gold Medal at the World Beer Cup in 2023:

And earlier this week Von C won a Gold Medal for their OG Pils in the American Pilsner category. This beer is what we homebrewers call a Classic Amercian Pilsner. Some more details about the medal:

"We have some of the biggest news we’ve ever shared…
On May 10th, our O.G Pils Legendary Philly Lager took home the GOLD medal at the 2023 World Beer Cup in the American Pilsner category!
Out of 104 entries in our category, we were ranked #1 by 272 judges - WOW! There were over 10,213 entries from 2,376 breweries in 51 countries in the whole competition making this one of the largest beer competitions in the world."

I enjoy drinking this "back then" beer:

Cheers!

 

A photo of the Von C OG Pils beer:



Cheers!

 

Back in day I wasn't much of a beer drinker, attending Cubs games I'd wait for the Old Style guy, my friends wanted Bud, other than that it was "Joe Shitz, the Ragman" (no idea how got started) or fire brewed Stroh's...

 

I've said this before but drinking local used to mean the closest brewery. I grew up in NNJ and in Newark was the Budweiser plant and Pabst. So all the local old man bars where the semi underage kids went drinking had Bud and Pabst. Thats it. If they got fancy there was a Heineken or St Pauli girl but more than likely it was other locals like Schaefer, Piels, Rheingold, etc I would pay a lot for a 6 of any of those beers from then to see how they compared. I thought they were great, but compared to todays choices sometimes the past is best left in the past.

 

Rheingold Extra Dry and Ballantine XXX ale in the early to mid-70's. Pabst Blue Ribbon replacing both as they became relatively rare in local bars.

 

I take it that Ballantine was before your time?

Cheers!

 

I drank my first Budweiser and Michelob beers back around 1985-86. I could swear they were more bitter then than they are today. Really it's seems quite the same for German pilsners too. Although, it's very possible my palate tolerates bitterness better today that it did back then.

 

In the 1960s, when I started drinking, we usually bought National Bohemian because it was the least expensive. Bud was our second choice. If we were feeling rich we'd buy Michelob, and if we really felt rich, we would buy that great import, Lowenbrau.

 

In the 70s, I tried a selection (maybe close to random) of beers from most of the existing breweries. The mainstream lagers from breweries of all sizes were somtimes distinctive, but preference was mostly personal taste. I thought PBR, National Boh, Huber Premium, Tuborg US (Carling), and Schaefer were pretty drinkable. Obviously none of those beers are under the same ownership. If the brands exist at all, they don't taste remotely the same. Coors and Bud might have some taste reminiscent of the 20th century versions, but I don't drink them.

 

As a teenager in the 70s, my parents didn't drink, so beer was never in my universe. My first beer was a Coors Light in 1977 (in the back of a buddy's pickup driving down the road), and I thought "what's the point?". In '79 as a freshman in college I tried a Miller High Life. AHA! Flavor! I still enjoy it from time to time, and I think it's quite tasty (nostalgia aside). Couldn't tell you if it's changed in 40+ years, but it's a staple in my rotation. Probably will be forever.