Hello. Noob.

Hi, Mike. That is a nice introductory story. I've never had Utica Club, but I'm not really into light-flavored beer styles anymore. For me, the more flavor in a beer, the better I like it.

Welcome to the BA site. It's a great place to talk and learn about beer. There are plenty of great features around here, so spend as much time as you'd like and explore everything at your leisure.

Consider joining the Society and you'll enjoy the site even more without the ads. It's worth the annual cost that's equal to a couple beers. Just click on the Society tab on the menu to get started.

 

In the late 70s my nearby Long Island "beverage store" stocked cases of UC. I eventually sprung for a case of UC Cream Ale. I'm sure it was well past its prime, and tasted stale. My next encounter with it was at the brewery tap some years later, and it was fine, much better than Genesee Cream Ale. I used to be able to buy six packs of the (Matt's) Saranac styles I like. But these days I occasionally see only mixed cases of Saranac that I don't buy.

 

Agreed. Utica Club is one of the old brands that I really enjoy. Welcome to BeerAdvocate. As mentioned by @PapaGoose03, you can get more out of the site, with no banner adds by joining the Society for ~$7/year.

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Now for some fun and educational videos… (I make no claim for factual accuracy in the second video, maybe @jesskidden can weigh in, as our resident historian.)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiiGmgmbltU&t=138s

- Prost!

 

Only scanned it (those sorts of amateur videos make me cringe, plus the "walking/talking while holding the camera" technique sets off my vertigo). The West End Brewing Co. (not West Side - Jesus Christ, can't they do some research or edit out errors?) did get the first permit to market 3.2 beer.

but like all other breweries that had permits they couldn't sell it before midnight.

The near beer brewers were already brewing alcoholic beer and, in most cases, simply turned off the dealcoholizer units when they bottled those first Repeal batches that were already in aging tanks.

In the video they also confused Repeal on April 7 (legalizing 3.2w beer on the Federal level, not every state changed their own laws in time as shown on the map above) with the later 21st Amendment which became law in December of the same year.

Also, as I understand it, the legal name of the brewery is still The F X Matt Brewing Co. (changed from West End in the early 80s, IIRC, and shown on the door in the video) but they do use the 'dba' name of Saranac Brewery for the brand created in the 1980s.

I don't know, if you had ticket #000001 at Yankee Stadium for Don Larsen's Perfect Game in the '56 World Series, can you claim to be the first person to see it?

 

(Continued 'cause I got the too many jpegs notice).

Not to mention even the "First" post-Repeal brewing permit claim is in dispute. "Pics or it didn't really happened." you say?

Falstaff had one.

 

well, as it just so happens. HA. If it seems dubious then it’s probably false. Thanks.

Just as I had suspected. I do love the far from PC UC commercials by Johnathan Winters.