I’ll send you some. Tall boys?
Barking Dog, I didn’t think gaffa was being insulting, I thought he was commiserating with you on the loss of Falstaff. A lot of those old brands (PBR, Stroh’s, Schlitz) have had hipster appeal for the past few years and have increased their market share.
Locate some Falstaff mugs or glasses. Use that to drink Pabst or something similar to Falstaff. Any of the US lightweight lagers that aren’t national brands (think Buckhorn, Schmidt, Schaeffers, Strohs, Milwakees Best, etc) will be pretty close to Falsies…
I’m sure gaffa wasn’t being insulting. I like good beer but ya know finding a twelver of Schmidt tall boys every once in a while is what the doctor ordered. I will weep when that dreck is no longer commercially viable.
A light lager? No freaking way. I’ve had 7 year old barleywines, but they are brewed to age. Falstaff was brewed to be consumed within 30 days or so.
I know a guy who has about 20 cases of falstaff cans. They were refrigerated until about 2008, he sold a six pack (at a hefty markup) and it was undrinkable. He believes they will be a valuable collectors item some day.
I think your best bet is to do as another poster mentioned and try to find logo glassware. It could make a comeback some day, but for now there’s no way to drink any.
I am sorry for your grandfather and also sorry to hear that Falstaff went belly up. Never drank it myself, but it was one of those beers that I seem to recall my maternal grandfather drinking when I was little. It was either that or Pabst Blue Ribbon that he gave me a little sip of when I was 5 years old. Maybe you could find some equally old-timer beer such as Pabst as a substitute. Something that while not exact, is still in the spirit of the moment.
If you want to try to maintain the heritage, there’s always Griesedieck Brothers. The Griesedieck family owned Falstaff during its most successful era, which was probably when your Grandpa was drinking it.
The closest thing to a linear descendent of Falstaff is probably Ballantine Pale Ale. Falstaff bought Ballantine in the 1970’s and kept the original recipe. However, the Ballantine brand is now owned by Pabst, brewed by Miller and distributed by Schaeffer, so it’s more of a George Washington’s Axe than a real sucessor.
Recite a few lines from one of the Henry IV plays, then toast with any of several beverages he mentions therein.
Dude, no one was insulting you or saying anything negative. Don’t go looking for what doesn’t exist.
FWIW, I had no idea “grandpa beer” was a thing myself, and initially read gaffa’s post as sarcastic, same as the OP. Knowing what it is now and the context around it, the post does read like sincere commiseration.
Just a miscommunication.
Yes ma’am. I am sorry. I promise to play nicely with the other children from now on.
Find a Falstaff can or bottle, fill with similar potion, and toast your family member. Lovely!
Son of a gun! If you Google “grandpa beer” there are more than 7,310 hits. The first two are news stories, like this one.
Who knew?
Find a photo of the Falstaff label. Right click and save it. Print it out (enlarge if necessary) and tape it to a can (or bottle) of the lager of your choice. Honor, drinkability, etc. Problem solved.
Barking Dog - Sorry about your Grandpa. My suggestion is: Find a beer you and your family like.
Raise the beer in a toast: To Falstaff … To GRANDPA!
Drink.
It’s OK. It’s on the dry side which is unusual for an American pale lager. It’s not as carbonated as most others, either. It is not as malty or bitter as I expected it to be.
But it’s flavor is a little more hearty than beers in the same category.
It’s not fire brewed anymore which is an actual thing and not just a gimmick.
(the beer is made in direct flame kettles rather than steam. The brew is sloshed around over the flames so the brewing sugars flirt with caramelization). When they stopped making it like this the flavor noticeably changed.
I bought a 6 pack of it about a month ago for $1.99 in Milwaukee.
Sorry, it’s gone for now. I drank some when it was around. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad either. It was very carbonated which made it a good thirst quencher.
But keep your hopes up. Pabst brewing (a brewer on paper only.) Has said they want to revive old brands like they did with the Schlitz original recipe, and the krausened version of Old Style. Red, White, and Blue, Kingsbury, and Falstaff might be on their list!
That’s was already the plan. I just thought that it would be a hugely special treat to do the job with my grandpa’s fave beer. It would have been like having some kind of physical connection with him once again for those few brief minutes. Of course it was a reaally long shot, but it can’t hurt to try, can it?
You can buy some on E*Bay if you just want an unopened can or bottle of it. There are several for sale now.
I don’t know if this will help you or not, but maybe. I was recently in Panama and made a point of trying all their domestic beers. Most were pretty light, but one called Balboa made me smack my lips and say, “Hey, this tastes just like the Falstaff I used to love back in the day!”
I don’t know if it is available where you live, but it might be easier to find (and easier to drink) than multi-year-old real Falstaff.