The Cheap Beer thread

Found a 12-pack of Lost Coast IPA for less than $9 - which is insane. It's not hazy or imperial but its bitter and goes down smooth. 6 pct abv doesn't hurt either.

 

For cheap beer, I'm going High Life every time. Simpler Times is a good one on that list on the first page -- higher ABV than the typical swill and it doesn't taste terrible. They sell it at the Trader Joe's near me and it's the cheapest beer around. I generally drink Sierra Nevada pale ale, Fuller's ESB, Belgian ales and anything from the good craft places here in Massachusetts, like Jack's Abby (in my town), Exhibit A (also in my town), Night Shift and Tree House. But boy am I sick of the IPA trend -- especially the New England IPA. You go into a store and about 80 percent of what they have are mediocre, almost identical IPAs. I like IPAs fine, but that trend needs to go away. I'll take a great pilsner over most IPAs (other than the great ones like Bell's Two Hearted, Cigar City Jai Alai, Lawson's Sip of Sunshine and Jack's Abby's Hoponius Union) any day.

 

Most of the "cheap beers" of my Buffalo-area youth were also local beers, independent before they either got bought out by the mega-brewers, or went out of business. They had good market share. Now they're almost all gone.

Genesee and its assorted brands. Utica Club. Simon Pure. Iroquois. Stroh's and Goebel from Detroit. Koehler from Erie, Koch's from Dunkirk/Fredonia, Iron City from Pittsburgh, Buckeye from Cleveland, Schmidt's of Philadelphia, Schaefer from NYC. All easily found at the local convenience store, along with the national brands like Bud, Miller and Schlitz. Could not get Coors.

Every major metro had it's own local beer, a pre-merger form of micro beer. Seems as if they have pretty much disappeared.

 

I've been screwing around a little bit with hard seltzers of late and I'm pretty stunned to say that the Natural Light Catalina Lime Mixer might be the best one I've had, better than White Claw and Truly. Though the Truly strawberry lemonade one is really good.

 

The Natty Seltzers are good.

 

Your options for cheap beer are dwindling.

Molson Coors to sunset 11 economy brands

 

Steel Reserve 211 is the cheapest way to get drunk... and the vilest, nastiest swill known to mankind.

 

None of those will be a loss to me.
I'm actually drinking MGD right now.

 

Cheap beer in the Philly area in my youth was Schmidt's. It was terrible. Second cheapest beer was Rolling Rock, which while very light flavored, was not actually offensive. New England's cheap beer for decades was and is Narragansett (hiya, neighbor, have a 'Gansett!). Surprise! It's actually decent lager. Good on a hot day.

 

One of those sunsetting brands is Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve. When it was brewed in Portland by Blitz-Weinhard, Henry's was quality stuff and had a huge market share. I certainly drank my fair share.

They sell a lot of Rolling Rock out here. Probably because an 18-pack is often less than $10 before deposit. It's the cheap cooler-filler at our tailgates. We are supposed to get Yuengling next year as they start West Coast distribution.

 

I hate Yuengling. Too sweet.

 

My wife is partial to the Yuengling Black & Tans.

Schmidt's was $.99 a six-pack in Virginia when I was in college. Sorry to say we drank our share.