They actually krausen instead of force-carbonate? Who knew!
(don’t even know if I can get Schlitz around here or not; I’ll have to check next time I’m at the grocery)
Yeah, they had a big ad campaign a few years back, and their packaging prominently featured the word kraeusened on it. There was a thread here last year about Old Style since their packaging doesn’t seem to reflect this any more, but apparently it still is kraeusened. Now, I’m not sure whether beers can be both kraeusened and force carbonated, but the new version of Old Style definitely tasted different than the old version, but the differences between the new and old Schlitzes were the most prominent.
Same thing with our local Rainier beer, which I enjoyed back a few decades back before the company got sold and the beer got reformatted time and time again until it got turned into undrinkable swill. I was at a friend’s house recently and he handed me a glass of lager. I took a sip…it tasted delicious and brought back wonderful memories. I asked him what it was, and he showed me the can of Rainier he poured it from.
Your father was right, ya young punk.
The old Schlitz was a great American lager. The reformulation is very good as well. I just wish it was more available around here. Although I’m not exactly lacking for choices - there are at least three microbreweries within 15 miles that were started by or are being run by homebrewer friends of mine.
Pretty much anything that comes out of a Sam Adams bottle never ever disappoints me. But their Octoberfest, Winter Lager and their standard SA Lager are among my top favourites. I really couldn’t choose just a single one among them.
We usually have Sessions or Negra Modelo in the fridge. I like Dos Equis and Sam Adams, as well. One of the best I’ve had was Budweiser Budvar, which is a Czech lager. I don’t even know if you can get it in the states, but it was my first choice in Europe. Also, I never met a German lager I didn’t like.
No. National Bohemian or Miller High Life. Mostly the former.
Schlitz may be the first beer that ever touched my lips. My grandfather in Arkansas would let me sip a little when I was five. I made a face. I’m pretty sure that was Schlitz.
But to think Schlitz or PBR could be hipster beers … Man, I’ve been away a long time.
“Free Beer” sounds like a good name for a band that plays dive bars and such. 
For main stream beer I like Sam Adams. It can be bought anywhere in America and it’s always good.
I know some of you will hold your nose at these, but let’s talk super cheap lagers:
For starters I like Stag but I can’t get it around here. We’re going down to St. Louie over Labor day and I’m going to buy at least 3 or 4 cases of it to bring back.
Believe it or not, Blatz and Old Milwaukee are decent enough cheap lagers IF drank from glass bottles. Stay away from the canned versions.
Hamms lager is surprisingly malty and hoppy for the price. I see it for $3.89 for a sixer of pints around here.
For me, it was Old Style. It is still the beer I choose when I’m in a neighborhood bar trying to “keep it real.”
Yuengling is a good cheapish one. Can’t get it here, though.
Negra Modelo. Best Mexican beer by far. I guess Bohemia is alright but I don’t see it as often.
Trumer Pilsner. Anchor makes some decent ones too.
Weird one: “New Belgium 1554 Black Lager” used to be called 1554 “Enlightened Black Ale” but changed. Why? MFing Texas and their definitions of terms that don’t fit reality. Still tastes good. I don’t know if this technically counts as a lager. As I understand it, it’s basically lager yeast prepared in an ale manner. Kind of the opposite of Altbier and Kölsch (ale yeast+colder brewing), the main German beers that aren’t lagers.
Lager yeast at ale temp would generally be what’s called California common or steam beer (as in Anchor Steam), but the rest of it (the color, flavor, etc.) doesn’t fit the style profile.
Kronenbourg 1664
Is Natty Bo widely distributed?
I don’t think so. I saw it all over New England but nowhere else.
The best lager, to me, is only marginal better than an average lager, so, while I appreciate that some of the greats are genuinely very good, I’ll almost always vote for the best price:performance ratio and keep coming back to Old Style.
It’s cheap, simple, readily available in cans, tall boys, or bottles to suit my mood, and lacks the watery or skunky flavors that usually turn me off of most cheap beer. It’s just a perfect example of “just a beer” beer. When I’m looking for lager, that’s usually exactly what I want.
I will also admit to being one of the fools who actually likes Heineken, so my opinion is probably invalid. It was the first beer I ever had that I was told was “good” beer, so I blame the power of suggestion.
I live in Logan Square, Chicago, which is one of the nation’s densest hipster enclaves, and I’ve never seen it. Hipster brands are High Life, PBR, and I’ve seen Hamm’s taking a run at that market.
I don’t live anywhere hip, but I’m in Chicago and drink a lot of beer, and I’ve never heard of it neither. (ETA: Interesting point about Hamm’s. I was in Berwyn today at a bar, and saw it on tap next to the usual group of Arcadia, Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada, etc., craft beers. Never noticed it making inroads, but it sounds like it is. I’m an Old Style guy when it comes to cheap American light lagers. It’s what I grew up with. And I think it’s rather good, especially with the return to the old recipe, or at least some version of the old recipe. I don’t understand why that hasn’t become the hipster beer of choice here in Chicago, as it is kind of Chicago’s old school light macro lager.)
Natty Bo is actually owned by Pabst and brewed under contract by MillerCoors in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, but upwards of 90% of its sales are in Baltimore cite. I’ve never seen it outside of Maryland, myself, not even in Pennsylvania, Virginia or the District.
PBR’s cachet isn’t an accident – they CHOSE to be hipster beer, and have reinforced it with branding and promoting hipster-y clubs and music acts.
Old Style aims for a more generalist blue collar crowd (their cans here have the skyline on 'em and SAY “Chicago’s Beer”), and I think they do okay.
I first noticed Hamm’s “coming back” when my local bodega started carrying it, priced cheaper than anything besides Natural Ice. Only thing I knew it from was old bar signs at my old barber, and my dad saying he liked it in the 70s. Since then, I’ve noticed at least a couple hipster/dives with Hamm’s signs in the window.