In western Pennsylvania, in the early 70’s, you could find Iron City beer. I was too young to drink it, then, but I collected beer cans. Every time the Steelers won the Super Bowl, Iron City put out a can with a team picture. Same when the Pirates won the World Series in 1979, but by then they were using aluminum rather than steel cans. Just somehow not as nice.
By the late 70’s I was in Ohio, and getting Tecate and Tuborg cans from the Mexican restaurants. So some imports were clearly available. Still too young to drink beer, so I don’t know how “exotic” they were perceived to be.
I believe that Heineken started its US ad campaign in the late 1970s. They positioned themselves as a quality brew at a corresponding price. Oddly enough, their European ads emphasized humor and fun. Anyway, quite a few bars in the Northeast sold imported beer in bottles, though microbrews were unknown at the time.
Not sure how typical it was but I remember a bar (not upscale) in Brockport, NY that had a sign advertising “Kangaroo Beer” as an exotic import. It turned out to be Foster’s. At the time Coors was considered an exotic beer not sold east of the Mississippi. Sounds strange now, but the whole plot of the “Smokey and the Bandit” film in 1977 was transporting Coors beer to Georgia.
Second highest grossing film of 1977 and got a mention in one of Springsteen typically putrid songs.
Not sure about prices but I remember a friend of mine being outraged about being charged $2.00 for s six pack of beer at a convenience store that weren’t even tall boys (16 ounces).
What about Yuengling? It’s been around since 1829. I was introduced to it only a couple months before I left the country, and I’ve been wanting it ever since.
Based on what I’m reading on Wikipedia, it probably would have been commonly available in 1978 if you were in Pennsylvania or other mid-Atlantic states, and rare if not non-existent elsewhere. It looks like Yuengling’s expansion to more of the eastern U.S. only happened in recent years.
It was available by the case of 24 in your supermarket for $3.99/US in 1978. that’s 18 cents? /can. A bar should have had it for $1. As others have said, only in Maryland/Pennsylvania and a few other localized states.
Since WWII, but especially between 1960 and 1990 the beer industry became increasingly concentrated. The nationals have bought out or displaced many of the regional brews and jacked up the price. In 1960, the four largest brewers only controlled 27% of the market - by 2000 the figure was 85%. Anheuser-Busch was most impressive: from 1960 to 2000 their market share rose from 10 to 48%.
Cite: Greer in Deutsch, 2nd ed. (2002) http://wm54.inbox.com/thumbs/3c_130b82_4c3ee29_oP.png.thumb
Here’s the irony. Bud drinkers can’t ID their brand without the assistance of the beer label. Taste tests by Consumer Reports ranked Old Milwaukee and Stroh’s at the top – despite the fact that these are among the cheaper brands of beer. The worst tasting brands were among the more expensive. Greer notes, “There is a lot more to selling beer than brewing one that tastes good and is priced competitively.”
Do they still brew Stroh’s? In the PNW, I haven’t seen it for sale for years.
As for Bud, my problem isn’t so much as it tastes bad as it has very little taste at all. For years, Bud was my “base-average beer” (i.e., I judged beer whether it tasted better than or worse than Bud). However, when I tried it again after a long period of consuming microbeers or imports, I was shocked about how watery it was. Even PBR had noticeably more flavor to it.
When I was able to o into bars legally for the first time in 1979, most beers were in the $1-$1.50 range. Pabst was usually the cheapest, with Michelob and Heineken costing the most. Budweiser and Miller were kind of baseline.
Stroh’s brewing company was bought out by Pabst in 1999. The brand is still active, though it has seen better days. Stroh Brewery Company - Wikipedia
Michelob was a “Super-Premium” brand, according to Greer. Bud and Miller were “Premium”; Papst was “Popular”, as in “Popular Price”.
I should confess that I’m a little wary of the Consumer Reports study. For years all American Brews covered a narrow range of maltiness (low) and bitterness (low). They tasted terrible when warm or even at cellar temperature. Within that context, a pinch sulfur can provide a little needed variety – or maybe I’m just cynical. Diagram of beer types. Today, a broader selection of flavors are available in the US.
