Old Milwaukee is awful. Tinny AND skunky at the same time.
I’m not a big fan of Old Style either. I’m convinced they pump 50% more carbonation into them than your average beer.
Worst beer I ever tasted was in Morocco. Our host was very proud to have beer to serve with dinner, but the beer was really awful: skunky and very bitter, with no body. Looking at the Wiki article, I believe it may have been Stork Beer, but I’m not certain.
Coors Gold. Tasted like someone dumped a cup of sugar in it. Ugh.
Not to be a total beer snob, but Bud Light has given me a headache EVERY time I’ve had it; I simply can’t drink it. In a pinch, I’ll have Miller Lite or Coors Light, but BL is a no-go, every time.
Molson XXX was terrible, as well.
Does Zima count? My brother threw a BLasphemy party one good Friday, and I was determined to win; among my several contributions to the party was a six-pack of Zima that I labeled “The spittle of Christ.” It tasted like water that cut flowers had rotted in, mixed with sugar. I choked down two sips–the second one much later in the evening, having trouble believing the first sip had really been that bad.
I’m typically a hop wuss, but that was not why I rejected Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA. Oh no. I took one sip, screwed up my face, and stuck out my tongue because it was really freaking sweet. Like way past syrupy, just gross. This coming from someone who likes all kinds of Belgians, some fruit beers, etc., even loved (but drank sloooooowly) their Raison d’Extra.
I had it at a Dogfish Head brewpub so I know it wasn’t kept around too long or whatever.
Tequiza. Carling Black Label was pretty bad too.
Heretic! That’s one of my favorite beers, along with Raison d’Extra. It is sweet, but very potent, more like a barleywine. 60 Minute might be more you speed - it’s very crisp and hoppy.
The worst one I ever had was called Cave Creek Chili Beer. The name peaked my interest, but man was it godawful. It tasted like the chilis and the beer were fighting each other and no one won.
I like a lot of barleywines. Did not like the 120. The 60 was actually way too hoppy for me (my husband just called it a “hop bomb” when I asked him to confirm my memory), the 90 was much more my speed.
The 90 is my favorite of the bunch. The 120 will knock you on your ass. Believe it or not, it’s 18% ABV. It is a bit too syruppy for my tastes, but for a once-in-awhile treat, worth it.
The one I hate the most is Busch. I’ve never been able to finish a pint of Busch. Oddly enough, my favorite “lawnmower” beer is Old Style. I like it better than Pabst, Miller, Bud, Coors, any of the typical macrobrews. I prefer the new kraeusened formula, but even the older one was fine.
edit: On second thought, perhaps the absolute worst one I had was some beer in Moscow which was flavored with basil and walnuts. I dunno, but what basically amounts to pesto beer doesn’t quite do it for me.
Sam Adam’s Imperial White…perhaps I just got a skunky bottle, but could barley (get it?) finish it. Perhaps too much of a good thing - all the flavors were overpowering.
Ole English 800 would be the next…if malt liquor could count. We used to have “Old E” parties in college - I’d keep it in the freezer until it was just turning sludgy, but once you got halfway through the 40 it was pretty nasty.
The Raison d’Extra is 18% as well. Sure tastes like it, too. I really had to nurse that one.
Tried a variety of cheap beers as a college student, but I think none was as bad as Thailand’s Chang beer. But it’s popular, because it’s cheap and high octane. I know one bar that offers all you can drink of that every evening for four hours for about the equivalent of US$3. The place is a scary sight come 8pm!
My least favorite group of beers is Japanese beer. Very bland, but at least they don’t taste horrible like Chang.
That’s what I came in here to say–Stroh’s. I went to college in Ohio and was introduced to this vile stuff then. Oh it was bad.
- Leningrad, USSR. I’d just arrived for a student exchange, my first time in the country. After visiting the banya for the first time, I tried an Admiralteyskoe beer; it was “fresh” - within its approximately one-week shelf life - but I’d never before experienced its unique balance of sour and rancid, with a lingering bitter, moldy aftertaste and a head that disappeared faster than ginger ale.
I later learned to tolerate Zhigulyovskoe and other middling examples of the Soviet brewer’s art, but that first one [shudder…]
Have you tried their Indian Brown Ale? YMMV but I’ve gotten to really like that one.
As for bad beers, just about any of what we called in college “animal beers.” These were beers with pictures of fish, bears, and deer on them (e.g., Buckhorn). They were almost always cheap and gag-inducing when consumed.
Red Stripe. Actually, its not horrible beer, just mediocre, but its the only beer you can get in Jamaica, and one can get very, very sick of it over a very short stay on the island. Most beers grow on you after a while, not so with Red Stripe.
As a college student, I sampled a lot of cheap beer. I think beer connoisseurs frequently label bland, watery beers (like Natural Light or Coor’s) as bad beers. Clearly these people have never sampled an Iron City or a Milwaukee’s Best. Those two are truly, indescribably awful.
I don’t have a whole lot of experience with crappy beers, but in Costa Rica I tried a couple Costa Rican beers, Imperial and Pilsen. They were both horrible, and I couldn’t detect any difference between the two.