No love for American Adjunct Lagers?

Nope - I've been checking date/bottling codes and trying to determine the age of the beers I buy since the same 1970s era that I first came across Chesterfield Ale...

(Apologies...Begin annoying nostalgic beer memory sequence)...

I remember it like yesterday - well, sorta . Driving through northeastern PA, hitting every "distributor" I saw, annoying the guys working in the "drive-thru" ones - since I wanted to meander around, looking for small local brands. Saw a sign for "Yuengling Beer - Ale - Porter" and asked about "Yuengling Ale". At the time, Yuengling was still very "local" - one of the smaller of PA's dozen or so breweries (only Straub & Jones were smaller by capacity).

"It's called Lord Chestefield Ale," was the snarky reply but I handed over my five bucks and he threw a case in the side door of my VW bus. Now, I'd been burned by a few PA "ales" of the era - in that "Where the !@#$ are the hops?" way. Ortlieb's Nueweiler Cream Ale, Schmidt's Tiger Head and Kodiak, Pittsburgh's Robin Hood, Jones' Old Something or 'Nother, Stegmaier Four Star Ale...all somewhat>very disappointing. Cracked open one as soon as I pulled away (in that more innocent DWI era).
"Whoa! Nice ale!" - said the Ballantine XXX Ale drinker.​

Just checked the '70s era beer books. Do these snippets sound like the current version of LCA?

This dumbing down of LCA (similar, sadly, to the other great US surviving ales of that era, like Ballantine XXX Ale, Rainier Ale, McSorley's Ale, 12 Horse Ale) has also been mentioned to me by non-beer geek friends and bar owners who also used to favor Chesterfield Ale. Nah, it's neither old beer nor lupulin palate shift on my part.

 

There are other changes in the palate to be considered.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/004013.htm​

 

I have also stated before, but despite its hipster following, PBR does the trick too. Extremely aggressive and attractive price point for something that, to me, is actually enjoyable in certain circumstances.

Can anyone recommend any other AAL's along the lines of Narragansett Lager/PBR for the same relative value & taste?

I've seen @JackHorzempa speak of Schlitz Gusto (Classic 1960's Formula). How does this compare?

 

It's always a treat when Jess gets a little personal.
"Beer - Ale - Porter," it's amazing how wrong they were back then.

 

the musty aroma, the saccharine sweetness of corn syrup, the cheap hops that contribute a little bitterness without any decent flavor all make a cocktail known as NOSTALGIA. If you are too young to remember a time when there wasn't a thing called 'Craft Beer' then Macro brewed cheap pale lagers don't have any meaning to you. For those of who are old enough to remember 3 channels on TV, the Beatles and Oldsmobiles drinking Bud or Schaefer or Schlitz is like communing with our dead Grandpas.

 

Great information; thanks for digging that one up, Jack!

 

To directly answer the OP, no, AALs get no love from me.

Now, here's where it gets fuzzy. I still have emotional attachments to Genesee products, dating back to my childhood. My first brewery tour was Utica Club, when I was 9 (and, it was my idea, not my folks). As a teenager, I still remember the first time I saw, and drank, an exotic, "foreign" beer called Rolling Rock. So, whenever I visit back east, I always drink a few Genny's and Cream Ales (12 Horse too, if I see it), and a couple of UC's. Do I particularly enjoy them? Nope, not even a little. Do I enjoy the association of the beer and my past? Yes. All that said, I do enjoy a nice Yuengling Lager and a Black & Tan or 6.

 

I've actually had a change of heart over the years, and my disgust with the many aspects of craft beer has nudged me towards trying some of the adjunct stuff to see if there isn't an example or two that I might like, as many others aptly said "right time and place". I've found most to be unpleasant, even when cold, but a few are decent when consumed very cold. Noticing how easy it is to find ALL of them fresh just shows what a joke that much of craft beer is in that regard. I've also noticed a world of surprisingly friendly people, as if there really is some solidarity out there among traditional American beer drinkers. Hmmm... makes me wonder if all the pickup trucks around here would be nicer on the roads if I didn't have a German car.

 

Old Shay!

(Well, it was buggin' me... probably for others - "not so much". )

The brand, like many, bounced around - from PA's Victor Brewing (in Jeannette), to Ft. Pitt to American in Baltimore and finally to Jones. Tiny Victor claimed in ads a few years after Repeal that it was sold from Maine to Florida and "...soon to be the country's best selling ale." I'm guess that never happened...

 

That Mt. Hood/Liberty combo for late additions in a lager of any type is great. I use it in a Dortmunder Export(!) I make that has medaled several times, including gold one year, in my region of the AHA 1st Round. Never did anything in the final though, perhaps because it wasn't really to style. Great beer though. I wish I had some now.

 

Of course. Old people are NEVER full of shit when they lecture on how much better everything was back in their day. No siree, never happened, not once!

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/12/yuengling_beer_company_brings.html

This is not the first source I've read claiming that the recipe for Lord Chesterfield remains unchanged from 1829 or thereabouts. There is of course no reason to believe this article's claim any more than yours, but obviously you can't both be right.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/657025/DG-Yuengling-Son-Lord-Chesterfield-Camaign-2010

More or less straight from the horse's mouth. Marketing BS? Sure, maybe. After all, it's hard to think that the hops they use are identical to the ones they used 188 years ago - but they're claiming it's the same recipe.

 

Absolutely none in these quarters.

 

I was under the impression that all Schlitz produced now is the classic 60's formula. No? Still, it gets my vote for best AAL. Would like to give Lord Chesterfield a try, but its not in Ma...

 

I worked at Pabst for a spell years ago, and all the talk was of bringing back the original formula. It was my understanding that was the only version being produced (back in 2006). I always thought Schlitz was going to replace PBR as the new shabby chic beer but I suppose i was wrong.

 

Yep, just another thing you old guys ruined for us young guys.

 

Honestly, I think that's where most peoples' favoritism for one AAL over another comes from, because most AALs are so similar in flavor that many people would have trouble discerning one from another in a blind taste test (with a few exceptions). The more subtle the difference between products, then the greater influence marketing, emotions, memories, habits, or other biases can have on peoples' taste and preferences. That's not a knock against AALs; I think they have their place. However, I find comparing one AAL to another and ranking favorites without addressing our biases misses the point a little...we all know they taste pretty similar. I have greater appreciation for people who acknowledge and explain their biases because it says something about their personality, who they are as an individual, and/or the beer's place in society. And, frankly, tasting notes are bore me, particularly for AALs. When I drink Yuengling or Lionshead I wear my homer bias with pride. When I drink a Labatt's I'll remember that blue label in my dad's fridge when I was a kid. When I was a teenager, Budweiser was the first beer my friends and I snuck off to drink of when our parents weren't watching. The subtle differences in taste between them is secondary to how they make me feel.

 

Not me, I've always been a member of DAMM, Drunks Against Mad Mommies.

 

I don't mind PBR, old style and high life. Labatt, too. Although I can't say there are any AALs that I "love".

 

I have never really appreciated any AAL as remarkable or desirable, they will serve the purpose of getting you drunk but none I have yet tried have a taste profile I am interested in.