Banjo wrote:

> > wrote in message
> . net...
>
>>Well, no nastier than the stuff Miller, Anheuser-Busch and Coors pumps
>>out.....
>>
>
>
> Ah, a beer snob!!!

Wait a second- I'm called a "snob" because I care about quality, because
I have distain for mass market products that appeal to the lowest common
dinominator... on a barbecue newsgroup?

OK...

Look, until the microbrewery boom came along, US beer was marked by a
constant move towards the blandest, lightest products. (And, by total
sales, the bland beers are even MORE dominate today- 3 of the 4 biggest
sellers are "light" beer.) The US beer market was dominated by the
large mid-Western brewers (of which Pabst was one, of course- for many
years the top 3 brewers in the US were A-B, Pabst and Schlitz) and the
small, regional brands all eventually "reformulated" to be as bland as
possible (ironically, that only helped doom them). Most people would
have a hard time distinguishing between any US light lager, the
differences were so small.
>
> I remember someone buying Pabst back when I was still too young to drink.
> It was so nasty! It was undrinkable, as is Lone Star. Horrible stuff. I
> didn't know many beers then (how many 17-year olds do?), but I knew for
> certain, Pabst was not going to be my beer of choice.

The idea that some of the national or regional brands were "undrinkable"
is amazing. Most were equally bland as the national brands, but local
prejudice and mass market advertising often dominated opinions more than
taste (as dozens of blind taste tests proved over and over).

So, Lone Star once sold 16% of the beer in Texas by selling "horrible
stuff"? Granted, it wasn't the largest seller in Texas (that was Pearl
with 22% of sales) but it sure beat A-B (5%) and Coors (4%) (1960's).

And Pabst, once the largest brewer in the country, sold 44% of the beer
in Wisconsin by selling "nasty" beer, while A-B had 10% of the market
and Miller 6% (1977)?

>
> You can't even compare those two to the "big three".

You do realize that Miller (one of the big 3) brews Pabst and Lone Star,
don't you?

You might as well
> tout the virtues of Canadian Ace. (It came in a 64-ounce bottle!)

Well, Bud comes in 16 gallon kegs- how does the size of the package
related to quality. (Altho', granted Canadian Ace was a "price" beer,
made cheap to sell cheap <g>.)

> Or Iron City.

> Or Shaeffer.

Both were mildly interesting light lagers (with a touch more flavor that
the national brands) with strong regional appeal and outsold A-B, Miller
and Coors in their home markets for many years. I'd order either (back
in the day) before I'd buy a Bud.

>
> See ya!

Not likely.