Beers You Took for Granted

Nice thread. Not sure I took any beers for granted over the years. Hell, I drove 670 miles to go to Hair of the Dog before it closed and pick up a case of beer. In most cases, I would be just posting beers which were more nostalgic than taken for granted. For instance, in the late 80s, I would pickup three six packs every month of SN Pale Ale, Porter, and Stout. I didn't take them for granted, but moved on. Pete's Wicked - Good beer, but I can find a lot of good browns over the years.

In general, once craft beer exploded ten years or so ago, I took it for granted that distribution of Founders, Oskar Blues, and other beers from outside California would continue. Between COVID and craft beer leveling off, there is still plenty of good/great beer, but it's mostly local and regional.

 

Founders Red’s Rye IPA was here in STL for years. An all time favorite. Gone for quite a while now.

 

Harvest ales and the Estate ales! I do miss them so

 

I`m sure many here don`t miss it, but I do.
Red White and Blue


I have good memories of being at a picnic, fishing, or on a sandy beach and reaching into the bottom of a cooler filled with melting ice cubes and getting a ice cold Red White and Blue. To me it tasted as good as any of the big American lagers at the time. Like most inexpensive beers from that time, it tasted best Ice Cold, from the bottom of cooler filled with ice.

 

Fun thread. For me:

Ballast Point: Victory at Sea

Unibroue: Maudite (I always see La Fin, but rarely the others)

Brooklyn Brewing: Brooklyn Blast (Enjoyed this while living in NY, haven't seen it since moving away 7 years ago)

Oskar Blues: Ten Fidy (used to see this on the shelf a lot, even the barrel aged version, not anymore)

Founders: Old Carmudgeon (wonderful beer. just don't see it around anymore)

 

Huh..??

 

I miss Brooklyn Brewing’s Sorachi Ace.

I wouldn’t always pick it up when I saw it around here, thinking that I’d have a chance later next time. That was a great beer. I hope they decide to bring it back as a seasonal release. (Not holding my breath though)

How many beers were successful as limited/seasonal releases only to be dropped once they tried to make them year-round to (hopefully) cash in.

 

It was those "friendly hops from Washington" that Pabst used. Today, too many so-called "craft brewers" use those belligerent hops. Not sure (right) if Heileman's version used the friendly ones, too, but I loved their wording of how they got the Pabst brand - "Red, White & Blue joined" them. OK.

In '83, Pabst bought Olympia and Heileman bought Pabst. Heileman kept some hot Pabst/Olympia-owned brands (Lone Star, Henry Weinhard) and Pabst/Olympia breweries where Heileman wanted capacity (GA, TX, OR) and spun off a new, weaker Pabst. Oh, and they also kept Red, White & Blue.

"Gee," I thought, "does Heileman really need another popular-priced midWest-centric beer brand? Aren't the dozen or more brands they already own enough for them?" I guess not. And RW&B did sell about 1M/bbl a year for them, however briefly, around that time.

 

I want all those $3.99 Lagunitas bombers, Hairy Eyeball, Ol' Gnarlywine, Imperial/Cappuccino stouts, Hop Stupid, IPA. Founders FIS.

Maybe its just me, but it seems like when a big brewery buys a small "craft" brewer, alot of "niche" beer gets dumped. Too bad!

 

Old Curmudgeon was one of my favorite go-to fall/winter beers. Luckily a brewery in Frederick (Brewers Alley), makes a Old Ale they keep on a cask all year around, and it’s on par with Founders. Down side is it’s taproom only, and 20min away from my house, so I can’t have it at home by my fireplace.

 

Vintage Cantillon Lou Pepe readily available on the shelf at Greens in Atlanta circa 2008 May never be topped for me

 

Founder's Dirty Bastard. It used to be their flagship when I first moved to GR in 2004. Finding a Scotch ale is damn near impossible now. Can't even remember the last time I saw Old Chub. I found the American versions to not be as cloying as the actual Scottish ones.

 

I wasn't convinced by Dirty Bastard -- too much alcohol burn for my tender taste buds. I liked Belhaven in the 70s, and had the pleasure of trying Grant's Scottish in the late 80s (maybe brewed by Portland Ale Brewery). Maltier brews definitely aren't in fashion now. The Scots were early adapters of Lager in Britain, so I'm not sure that Scottish Ales are even much of a factor in Scotland. I think Munchener lights have lost some heft and Austrian Maerzens seem (to me) to have transformed from ambers into emulations of German Pilsners. The US IPAs have become hop showcases, often crafted to minimize malt body.

 

I remember the alcohol as being present, but just warming, not burning. They also used to have Double Bastard on tap here and there back when they were located in the Copperworks building. That beer was trouble. I remember a dude that drank a pitcher of it and started throwing up what looked like pitch.

 

Not sure where you are in Md but I find Dirty and Backwoods in most craft beer stores to this day. I was in Scotland for 9 days, and it was very hard to find Wee Heavy Scotch Ales over there on tap or cask. New ABV laws restrict so I only found 5% ABV or less beers on tap all around the country. Found a few bottles in stores at higher ABV, but few and far between.

 

In the US, beer excise taxes are generally a flat rate: (dollars per US keg). However, the UK taxes on initial gravity (and have historically), so high alcohol beers become even more expensive. At pubs, the practice has long been to offer lower alcohol beers, based on drinking tradition as well as price consideration. Five percent has often been considered "strong" (Tennants Lager is 4%; Belhaven Best is 3.5%). Scottish restrictions on driving after alcohol consumption probably also discourage strong brews.

 

Anyone remember Lagunitas Censored (Rich Copper Ale?) That one just popped in my head while reading this thread. I definitely miss that one.

 

Never saw them in MoCo when I lived there, now that I'm in PG, all I can find for craft is "Supermarket IPAs"

 

Interesting about the tax increase on ABV, I talked to several bartenders about the ABV in pubs while over there and they didn’t mention that, but I fully believe you. Makes sense.

 

The tax isn't based on ABV. The ABV depends on both initial and final gravities. So British brewers have been brewing higher atternuated beers for years. Attenuation of 80% there hasn't been unusual (see Pattinson). I suspect typical US lagers (Bud, Coors, etc) have drifted higher over the years (less body, lower cost of starting ingredients). The "light beer" phenomenon has made highly attenuated beer ubiquitous in the US. Even craft beers seem to me to be becoming more highly attenuated (higher alcohol, less malt body).