Three "Go To" mediocre beers

because of where I live, one of them would have to be Yuengling. a lot of people will hate this beer and call it crap but it's what I grew up with because of where I live and the limited distribution where I am.

 

1. Your regions overhyped IPA style
2. Your regions overhyped IPA style
3. Your regions overhyped IPA style

 

I feel a bit bad when a thread immediately goes off its plan even when I'm guilty of helping. The snulip thread got it worse. I've been on the receiving end too. I can't answer your question above because if I didn't say to myself "this isn't very good," then I wouldn't know that it wasn't very good. To add to that, I don't believe in guilty pleasures or liking something because it's so bad that it's good - which isn't what you're asking, but it's related. I'll try anything, but if I'm drinking "a lot of" something, then I'll think it's good. I believe that if you like it, then it's good. Cheers.

 

When nothing more exciting/hard to find is available I'll default to:

Anchor Steam
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Great Lakes Christmas Ale

Have I adhered to the point of the thread?

 

All good choices...although calling any of those three 'mediocre' is certainly a stretch at best, and totally wrong at worst (in particular, Boston Lager is far from 'mediocre'; it's quite often a far better choice than many locally made brews).
Personally, I can't name any truly 'mediocre' beers to the list, because I strive to avoid 'mediocre' beer altogether.
However, if 'mediocre' in this discussion refers to mainstream brews or brews/brands with a lack of the snob appeal that seems so important to many beer nerds, I do occasionally truly enjoy Michelob Classic...and I honestly wish that it were still available on draft. It's really kind of sad and ironic that it doesn't seem to be available on draft at all anymore especially considering that for the first 50 years of its existence, that was the only way it was available.

@Jess Kidden...is there any official word from AB-I on MIchelob draft availability? It is said that they've actually drastically cut back on production of even the bottled Michelob Classic. Have they stopped kegging it altogether?

 

Hadn't heard they'd dropped draught Mich. Michelob was still available in half barrels (only) according to last year's price list from Ritchie & Page (central Jersey AB house) but I don't have anything more recent.

I suppose it's how one looks at it - did they "cut back" on brewing Michelob or do they brew it in much smaller total quantities due to lack of sales? Around 1980 Michelob was selling in the range of 8 million barrels a year and was the #6 beer in the US. According to one of those annual "Beers Americans No Longer Drink" from a few years ago, in 2011 they sold 140,000 bbl.
(Makes Budweiser's drop from 50m bbl to 15m in roughly the same period look good).

 

I don't consider any of these mediocre.. as they are very good beers. For my assumption of mediocre in this thread, I'm going with the mindset that they don't give me that "something good is about to happen" gut feeling:

SNPA
Young's Double Chocolate
Duck Rabbit Brown

 

When my girlfriend drags me to her favorite sushi place, I'll have a Blue Moon, that's about as mediocre as I get, and that happens about once a week

 

I know everyone is entitled their opinion, and it's my opinion that anyone who lists SNPA as mediocre has a significant misunderstanding of either the word mediocre or beer itself.

Go to mediocre beers... As in I'm at a restaurant or at a wedding where the choices are underwhelming and they don't even have SNPA or SABL:
Newcastle brown
Sam Adams seasonal (some are flat out good, others not so much)
PBR (scraping the bottom of mediocrity)

 

Unless you guys work off some sort of quota-based beer consumption model (and we're discussing the mediocre category as opposed to ones like outstanding, quite good, horse piss etc), then go-to and mediocre don't, and shouldn't ever, fit together.

 

I'm going to define mediocre as any thing I can get at a mediocre supermarket with my kleenex and chicken thighs, or at any mediocre restaurant...

Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale
Smuttynose Finest Kind
Sam Adams Boston Lager

Around these parts most every restaurant, excepting maybe McDonalds, serves either Finest Kind or Sam. Isn't life grand when you have to 'settle' for a Smutty?

 

I'd settle for these three in a pinch:
Miller High Life
Narragansett
Yuengling

 

Yuengling Lager
Guinness
Molson Canadian
Moosehead

 

Shiner Bock--I don't know why, but I enjoy drinking this beer. It isn't an amazing beer, but I like it. It goes well with food. The ABV is low too, so knocking back a few is no problem. It's now available everywhere here in the Seattle suburb areas, even on-tap!

Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve--This is what my step-dad drinks as his everyday beer. Just seeing it growing up; I drink it for the memories. It's also very reasonably priced as well ($9.99) a 12-pack. It's not bad for a generic pale lager.

Elysian Men's Room Red--The beer is ok for an amber ale. I do listen to KISW sometimes and Men's Room radio show. I like how a portion of the proceeds go to the local Fisher House and Ft. Lewis Fisher House.

 

None for me! A lot of mediocre beers are in the same price range ($8-9 a 6-pack) as good and great beers.

 

Bud, Miller, Coors

 

Bud
Wei
Ser

 

You have Genny on your list!