Sunday, April 3, 2011

The marketing major in me just HAS to speak out

It seems like last night's post got me revved up to trash Miller.

Am I the only one who thinks the latest campaign for Miller Lite is ridiculous?

This is what I'm talking about:



First of all, if a bartender insulted me (no matter how strange my clothes were), she wouldn't get a tip, and she'd probably get a complaint against her.

Second, I can't actually figure out which beer they're saying Miller Lite has more taste than. Obviously, it'd seem they're aiming at Bud Light, but I don't think Miller actually has more taste than Bud.

Don't get me wrong, I think that the additional "taste" in Bud Light is awful and if I had to pick one of the two it'd be Miller. But Budweiser has more taste. The only beer I can think of with less taste than Miller is Keystone, and that's another MillerCoors product.

Thoughts on this Miller campaign? Got another beer ad you can't stand? Let us know in the comments

Best...Beer...EVER!

I know I'm going to regret this, but what the hell.

Tonight I got back from working the Milwaukee Bucks game feeling pretty exhausted.  It was already past eleven when I got back, and I had nothing in my stomach.  This wasn't a night meant for drinking a ton.  So I had a beer and hung out watching Dexter with the roommates.

Now it's time for another.  I really thought about going for a St. Bernardus White: it was originally meant to celebrate a Milwaukee Panther Horizon League Championship before Butler f**ked that up, then it was meant for VCU winning a national title before Butler f**ked that up.  I'm convinced that if I make it for a Butler national championship (hey, I'm pissed that they beat us, but you bet I'll be cheering for them over a cheat like Calhoun), the Bulldogs will f**k that up too.

But eventually, I decided to go in a completely different direction.  That same night that I was hoping to drink the St. Bernardus White, I bought a ridiculous amount of PBR for the potential celebration.  I brought it over to a buddy's house before the game, and he insisted that we do a shotgun together.  He didn't have any cans, so he offered a trade: one PBR for one Miller High Life.

I hate Miller High Life, but in the spirit of having a good time I made the trade anyway.  So now I have a bottle of it in my fridge.  What better way to dispose of it than to review it in a blog post?

I'm sorry, this has been basically my least favorite beer even before I started drinking the pricier stuff, so I'm not going to dignify it with a glass.

The aroma is...faint.  The taste follows the smell, and a trail of carbonation heads down toward my gut.  Wonderful.

Basically, my take on High Life is that it tries to be a "classy" beer and a "get drunk" beer at the same time.  That's not a good idea.  Basically, it's a more expensive, more carbonated version of Miller Lite.  I wouldn't call it much of a step up, as adding carbonation without adding much (if any) flavor doesn't automatically make a beer good.

If you're going to "splurge" on something more than the cheap stuff, I definitely wouldn't bother with this.  Fortunately it's not in my fridge anymore.  If I were to grade it in a taste test it'd probably be higher, but when taking price into account it winds up being a more expensive, worse version of Miller Lite I give it an F. 

Saturday, April 2, 2011

A story I wanted to share

My buddy Spencer has been working his way to trying 1,000 different beers and documenting it on Facebook.  Recently, he reached the halfway point and decided to mark the occasion with a beer that is pretty special to him.  He was kind enough to let me share it with the blogosphere.

On May 27th, 2011, I was at 499 different kinds of beer that I had rated over the course of two and a half years.  About two weeks before, I had struck a deal with my dad, saying that when I reached 499, he would give me one of his bottles of Kingsbury.  Elated, I sampled over 25 beers in nine days to reach that magical moment.

Now, for those of you who do not know, Kingsbury was a beer that was discontinued by Strohs Brewery back on July 31, 1999.  Originally located in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, just 5 miles from my hometown of Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

Newspaper from October 31, 1999 about Kingsbury closing up shop
 
Kingsbury Breweries Company was founded in 1847, originally going by the name of Kunz & Bleser Brewing Company.  Then, In 1926, the firm was sold to the Manitowoc Products Company, which went by the name of the Gutsch Brewery.  In 1933, they changed their name to Kingsbury Breweries Company.  The Kingsbury name originated during the Depression as a near-beer, due to the ban on alcohol during Prohibition, later resuming brewing operations when Prohibition was repealed. In 1933, Kingsbury Pale and Kingsbury Ale began to be produced.  Kingsbury's franchise brand was known as the "Aristocrat of Beer" and "Fit for a King."  Kingsbury's main offices remained in Manitowoc until 1963, when it merged with G. Heileman Brewing Company, which brewed and distributed Kingsbury label products until 1974. The Stroh Brewery Company later, after it bought the G. Heileman Brewing Company, brewed and distributed some Kingsbury labels. Stroh's ceased operation on July 31, 1999, and the Miller Brewing Company bought the Kingsbury Near Beer label, which is still brewed and distributed by Miller.

When I was younger, I remember going to the liquor store with my dad to buy cases of Kingsbury, which were sold in deposit bottles, quite often.  From what he can remember, it would cost him around $6 for a 24 pack of bottles when bringing in an empty case to exchange.  This led to the only time I can remember trying a Kingsbury.  Granted, I was only 7 or 8 years old, and it was just a sip, I hated it… mainly because I was young and didn’t like beer.  Other than that, I have no other memories of trying Kingsbury.

When my dad found out that they were going to be retiring this beer, he saved a couple of bottles for when he became a grandfather, back in October of 2000.  Then, by brother-in-law Gabe and my sister Heather found someone who had been storing bottles in the back of a cooler, wrapped up so that light didn’t damage the beer.  They bought him 12 bottles for what I believe was Father’s day two years ago, and after trying one to make sure it hadn’t gone bad, he packed them away in the back of his fridge to be consumed on a special occasion. 

Spencer and his dad enjoying Kingsbury

While this was not on his mind when he decided that, he had 7 bottles left when I approached number 500.  With my sisters Heather and Kim, and both of my parents downstairs at my dad’s bar, me and him cracked open two bottles.

The review of this beer will not be in this note.  Instead, it will be on the photo in a separate album (link provided below).  I will say this though, the beer was not skunky or off-smelling at all, and my dad said that it still tasted the way that he remembered.

Photo Album: http://goo.gl/Zr4kV

Beer Review: http://goo.gl/fnQP1

I love stories like these, as I can relate to them.  The common interest that my dad and I share about the beer companies that are as much about making a quality product as they are about improving their bottom line has lead to a number of great times.  Some of my best memories of the last *eh hem* we'll say "year" have involved sitting around a TV or a radio talking about sports, politics, and life while enjoying good beer.

If you have a Facebook, I definitely recommend checking out Spencer's Journey to 1000 Beers.  His collection is impressive.

The Session #50: What makes you buy someone's beer?

FINALLY!

I've been dying to get in on "The Session" for months now, but always drew a blank when it came time to write something up.

This time around, I'm ready for it.

This month's question is pretty basic: what makes you buy someone's beer?

Price is definitely a factor for me.  I'm a college kid who is currently looking at post-grad jobs paying in the range of $12-20,000 a year.  As much as I'd love to buy a 10 dollar bottle of beer, it's just not an option right now.  With that said, I don't find myself buying totally cheap stuff all that often, I just make sure that I'm not dropping 2 bucks a bottle for a six pack (or 4 pack, if that's how the company does it).

After price, I take into account style.  While I'm open to being a little adventurous, I know a few things about my palate.  I'm generally not a huge fan of darker beers.  Don't get me wrong--they're good--just typically a bit thicker and harder to drink.  But if they're done right, I get over that fact pretty quickly.  Additionally, American Style Pale Ales are not for me.  Once again, I can appreciate them, but they put an end to my night of drinking pretty quickly.

Next would probably be how difficult it is to find.  I just posted about a beer from Utah; odd stuff like that really draws me in. A part of the mission of The Wall is to find every bottle we can, so buying a beer I've never seen before takes precedence over buying one that we have on the wish list but can find in a number of places. 


Those beers that make up my wishlist?  They're usually from companies that I'm familiar with.  I tend to get a lot of beers from Wisconsin: Lakefront, Sprecher, New Glarus, Ale Asylum, and Capital (though I've pretty much maxed out on my hometown brew.)  Next comes other companies that I tend to like a lot: Bell's, Three Floyds, and New Belgium.  After that I'll head over to the higher end singles, where I'll often use Beer Advocate ratings and my personal tastes to find something for a special occasion.  That's how I wound up with a bottle of Piraat a couple weeks ago. 

So there you have it, that's my selection process.  So far, I haven't come away disappointed too often.

Let us know about your beer buying decision process in the comments.

Beer from Utah? Gotta have it!

Back in January, my roommate and I were looking for new beers to try in Whole Foods (uh oh...maybe I am a hipster after all?)  We came across a couple beers called "Wasatch [fill in the blank]".  After doing a little bit of research, we realized that these were beers made in Utah.

Utah.

The state where beers can't be sold in liquor or grocery stores unless they've got some ridiculously low alcohol content (I read 3.2, so that's the number I'll go with.)

Wasatch White Label
We automatically added a few of the different varieties they made to our wishlist.  One of those was Wasatch White Label: a Belgian White style beer that was 6% ABV.  Belgian whites are my favorite beers to drink while I'm sitting around the apartment watching TV or playing video games, and I definitely don't mind a beer with a little bit of a kick to it.  A couple weeks ago, I decided to spring for some.

The beer pours a pale yellow color with about a half a finger of head.  It's aroma isn't the best I've ever smelled from a white ale, but it's not bad either.  The flavor pretty much follows the smell: not as much of the orange/banana flavors as many of the witbiers that I've had, and a little bit of a spice flavoring to it.  Nonetheless, it was a pretty tasty beer that I definitely don't regret buying.

While it's not my favorite witbier, I definitely do like it.  I like my white ales to be a little more about the fruit flavorings, but this is still a very easy one to drink.  If you ask me, it's pretty shocking that the beer's alcohol content is 6%. I put down three of them pretty quickly and was feeling GREAT.

In terms of taste I'd probably give it a B-, but as always I've got my biases.  A beer from Utah that decides to push the boundaries gets at least a minor bump up in my eyes.  As a result, I'll give it a B.  I definitely plan on picking up a 6 of Devestator Doppelbock when I get a chance.

Have you had Wasatch White Label? Do you agree with my take?  Let us know in the comments!

Wasatch White Label on Beer Advocate
Wasatch White Label on RateBeer
Wasatch White Label according to its brewers

Finally, you can actually see what this blog is about

Finally got around to putting up a new background.

The picture isn't centered the best, and there are a handful of updates we're going to be making (we've had a bag full of backstock develop since the Super Bowl) but this is finally--clearly--a beer blog

Ending the hiatus

Once again, I'm back.

Starting with the Packers' Super Bowl win, everything went crazy in sports...and other things...in the state of Wisconsin. 

Hopefully I won't be quite as distracted going forward.

I guess I'll jump back into the game by announcing this: I'm officially a hipster. 

The new "get drunk" beer of the441
...a hipster who is a member of a business fraternity, prefers fast food to organic, wears nothing but tee shirts, and is obsessed with sports.

Haha, ok.  So maybe I'm not a hipster, but since my last post, the441's official "cheap, get drunk beer" has switched from Miller Lite to PBR.  MillerCoors' strong support of politics we don't like left the apartment in a flux.  Budweiser isn't an option, and most of the other cheap stuff tastes like something died in it.

We've been drinking PBR from time to time ever since we started going to the BBC on Wednesday nights for their $1 burgers, as $1 PBRs were also a part of the special.  Definitely not my favorite stuff, but certain occasions (like my school clinching a share of the Horizon League title along with the now-in-the-Final-Four Butler Bulldogs) call for large amounts of cheap beer.  From this point on, PBR is that beer for the guys in the441 

Now I'm off to convince the roommates to start writing.


In the mean time, feel free to let us know your favorite "get drunk" beer.