What's Your Guilty (Beer) Pleasure?

Ill buy labatt for house/friends/shower beer. Not a guilty pleasure but its better then those a-holes drinking my good beer

 

I've heard kudos from older BAs about their IPA. When did Ballantine's quality go downhill?

 

The term "guilty pleasure" is annoying. You either enjoy something or do not. Embracing things (music, beer, food, art, movies) that are considered "bad" by society is in the realm of the hipsters. Beer Advocates as a community are well accustomed to the general public not understanding us... so why subscribe to preconceived notions of what is good and bad? Cheap beer, as well as the "premium brands" established post-prohibition can be surprisingly enjoyable if one considers the objective style. With all of that in mind, there really is no beer that I do not enjoy, provided it has some flavor to it. All of that being said, I am driven to try as many beers as possible, especially "low-brow" ones, at least once. My personal favorites among the underdogs are as follows: Miller High Life, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Stroh's, Colt 45, Tecate, Yuengling; and the occasional Budweiser for reasons that are hard to explain. For the record, Yuengling Light is the best reasonably-priced sub-100kcal beer to be found on the East Coast. Try everything. Does it at least taste like beer? Evaluate by style afterwards and enjoy!

 

Budweiser Chelada. I hate admitting that.

 

Kinda a long, sad story...

Ballantine closed in 1972, and their labels were purchased by Falstaff (at the time, the #5 brewer in the US with breweries coast to coast). It was generally considered a bad financial deal for Falstaff (which itself was on the way down and soon to be taken over by the notorious Paul Kalmanovitz' S&P Corp.) and they put little effort into the ales - Ballantine XXX Ale and India Pale Ale (note that many people on BA get them confused) and constantly changed recipes. They also tried exploit the Ballantine reputation by expanding the line with short-lived Cream Ale, Brewer's Gold Ale and Twisted Red Ale in the 80-90s - but the company was infamous for avoiding promotional costs or spending money on much of anything else.

XXX didn't suffer as much in the first few decades (though the hopping in particular constantly changed) but, as you noted in the other thread, the IPA was constantly being dumbed down - lower abv, lower ibu, shortened aging time, etc. The IPA disappeared by the late 1990's when Pabst Milwaukee brewery closed. S&P had purchased Pabst, closed all it's Falstaff breweries and folded all their brands/breweries (they also owned Pearl and General) under the "Pabst" name - and would eventually turn into a "virtual" (contract) brewery, after closing all it's breweries by 2002 or so.

Today, Pabst still markets a Miller-brewed beer labeled Ballantine XXX Ale, which is lower in alcohol and IBU's, a different hopping schedule and most probably neither dry-hopped with whole hops or using Ballantine's famous hop oils, and apparently brewed with a bottom-fermenting yeast simply at a higher fermentation temperature (called a "bastard ale" in the US macro industry). It nothing like the classic XXX Ale of the Newark era, nor, does it have anything in common with the Ballantine India Pale Ale which many people on the BA forums and elsewhere on the 'net confuse it.

 

40s Schlitz Bull Ice.

 

Rolling Rock!

 

Hoegaarden..there I said it

 

Great breakfast beer,

 

Stiegl Radler preferably with at gelbwurst sando (on light rye)

 

Ipa/ grapefruit juice mixed drinks!

 

Leine Summer Shandy really cold on a hot day.

 

I was at an open bar and I ran out of craft options so I went for Summer Shandy and I certainly didn't hate it.

 

I occasionally fruit the beer. Oberon with an orange slice (no rind) is tasty.

 

Year round: Grain Belt (Nordeast), A nice Miller/Coors
Seasonal: Leine's Summer Shandy

 

Leinenkugels - the regular version, when i can find it. for some reason i see all the other styles around but not the original beer.
Pabst- it's good!
Hamm's
Budweiser

 

I really enjoy a Negra Modelo with a lime when I go to a Mexican restaurant.

 

Not guilty, but this is what I drink when low on cash:
Olde English
Steel Reserve
Coors
Keystone Light

But when dirt poor and can't afford the above and am desperate:
Hurricane High Gravity

 

miller high life while playing poker

 

I second that emotion on the Leinies Orig. and also
Strohs when I can find it in a bottle.

 

This may be one of the worst topics ever. Well to me at least. As with anything with me, guilty pleasure has no meaning. I am not ashamed of what I like and will not hide anything I do like or whatever in order to impress you. If it tastes good, then it is good, why hide it?

 

Smithwicks

 

Moosehead. After a long hot day of trout fishing it is my first beer. Followed by a number of craft beers!

 

Celebration Ale...well into July

 

Miller Lite in a 16oz can... Great for tailgating!

 

I'm a sucker for the Saranac seasonal mix packs. I make it a point to get each one once. Youre gonna get thin and watery beers in each one but you also will get maybe 1 or 2 really decent ones per pack.

 

Pacifico with lime, but I haven't had it in forever...

 

That stuff is like someone trying to make corn-based cider. Bleeech.

That said, I can see why. It's like $1.50 at the convenience store near my house for 24oz.

 

$1.50 for 24oz of Hurricane? As purely a question of low-rent value, why not go for 40oz of High Life ($1.60ish in my neck of the woods) or Colt (something like $1.90)? Not to mention pretty much any 40oz, save the Bud branded stuff. It bugs me that, at least around here, 24oz are +/- $0.15 of their 40oz brethren.

 

Well, it's 8% ABV IIRC, so it might actually be a better deal if you're just wanting to get krunked!

 

BCBS butt chugging

 

Last year, I bought a sixpack of Genny Cream Ale. Drank 2, gave 4 away. When I was just getting started in craft beer, I had a few Blue Moons and a ShockTop before I knew who owned them. But don't tell anyone.

 

If you like the grapefruit one try 10 Barrel "Swill", took me by suprise.

 

Budweiser. The King of Beers it isn't, but when you're hot, thirsty, and want to just walk into any old bar for a beer, it comes in handy.

PBR is my beer of choice for when I'm chain smoking, because it actually has a decent flavor, and why waste good beer by pairing it with cigarettes?

 

i have a weakness for fruit beers, blueberry mostly...always get made fun of by my friends lol...apparently theres a man-rule that you cant have fruit flavored beer but having fruit flavored anything else is completely different

 

Summer Shandy i guess, its the new miller lite of the Midwest but in a way that's a positive. Ill grab a SS over a Lite any day, But I still feel guilty.

 

New Glarus Serendipity. I would drink gallons of this at a time if possible.

 

Blue moon, After drinking all bb stouts and high gravity, a sweet wheat water beer sometimes sounds delicious

 

Ahahahahaha! That killed me!

 

southern tier crème brulee with a blob of good vanilla ice cream in it.

yep, a beer float.

(and before anyone makes the obvious comment: yes, I find straight crème brulee undrinkable too. but ice cold with ice cream = just the right amount of sweetness)