# Zima is dead and society is to blame **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2008, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480 "2008-12-03T08:08:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/1 "2008-12-03T08:08:42Z")
[The Long, Slow, Torturous Death of Zima Fourteen years after its heyday, Zima is finally at peace.](http://www.slate.com/id/2204596/) ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/2 "2008-12-03T08:29:44Z")
Jesus, that stuff tasted like crap. Good Riddance. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/3 "2008-12-03T09:57:37Z")
I’ve never heard of Zima, so I was wondering why people were making disparaging remarks about a vodka. Then I realised it wasn’t just a beer, it wasn’t just an American beer, it was a filtered, carbonated and flavoured American light beer. No wonder it died. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/4 "2008-12-03T11:12:43Z")
Another good riddance. Absolute shit. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/5 "2008-12-03T11:22:41Z")
They had these freaky [ads](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_uxyXekDjo) back in the 90s, detailing this character’s descent into sad pathetic alcoholism. He hallucinated, slurred his words, botched a super-easy pickup and his taste in hats went right into the crapper. Truth in advertising all the way! ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/6 "2008-12-03T13:05:41Z")
I wondered what Zima tasted like & was about to buy a pack a few years ago. The clerk talked me out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/7 "2008-12-03T13:21:26Z")
About time they pulled the plug on that pisswater. May they bury it with a stake through its heart so it never comes back. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/8 "2008-12-03T13:31:08Z")
On _Babylon Five_ there was a prominent neon Zima sign in one of the bars. The art director commented it amused him to think it would be still around in 250 years. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/9 "2008-12-03T13:42:55Z")
[But what if there wasn’t any beer?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDzo1xKJhF0) ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/10 "2008-12-03T14:21:54Z")
In the mid 90’s, I went to a bar with a buddy of mine and offered to buy him a drink. It was a rough-and-tumble kind of place. I was ordering bourbon. My friend said he wanted a Zima with Grenadine. I replied with something along the lines of, “Huh?” When the horrifying reality that he wasn’t joking set in, I told him, “OK, I’ll buy it, but you have to order it.” I thought it went away years ago. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/11 "2008-12-03T14:26:00Z")
I had it only a couple of times, and I have to admit I kind of liked it. On the other hand, I can’t stand beer of any kind. So whatever Zima was, it obviously wasn’t beer. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/12 "2008-12-03T14:36:28Z")
I could swear I heard a Zima joke just the other day, for the first time in years. I wondered if it could possibly still be around. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/13 "2008-12-03T14:40:22Z")
You don’t zay? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/14 "2008-12-03T15:03:26Z")
I did try it. If I recall my comment was: It tastes like spit. It was nasty. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/15 "2008-12-03T15:05:22Z")
Yeah - fifteen years sounds about right. About fifteen years ago, when I made my directorial debut[sup]1[/sup], the cast and crew all went to Mitch’s to celebrate. I got there a bit early, and saw a big sign for this Zima stuff. I asked the waitress, whom I had gone to high-school with and _thought_ she liked me, if it was any good. She said, sure it wasn’t too bad. She was wrong. I drank the bottle I had ordered. Why let it go to waste? By that time, everyone else had arrived, and starting buying me drinks. Unfortunately, they kept buying me Zimas. [1] - Does one play count as a “debut”? ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/16 "2008-12-03T15:14:21Z")
Didn’t they have commercials with some little Kramer looking guy? I seem to remember him being voted the worst advertising mascot of the year or something. but yeah, Zima tasted like crap. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/17 "2008-12-03T15:19:05Z")
In reading the article linked in the OP, I had an overwhelming urge to punch the computer screen every one of the 3,000 times the author used the word “malternative.” I’d never heard it before and I hope I never have to hear it again. Something about it just sounds unbearably, indescribably, stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/18 "2008-12-03T15:21:15Z")
😕 I had no idea that stuff was still around at all. I thought it vanished shortly after the creepy-dude-with-the-hat ad campaign. There were so many jokes about how bad it was, I thought it wa a huge failure and pulled off the market, like a New Coke fiasco. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/19 "2008-12-03T15:26:52Z")
Thought it was dead a long time ago. But trust me, since I know Smirnoff Ice, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, and a thousand of their clones are still on the shelf, Zima didn’t die because it was nasty; it died because it wasn’t cool anymore (yes, it was cool for awhile with young guys and females of all ages.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480/20 "2008-12-03T15:37:14Z")
To echo the above sentiments, I don’t think I’ve seen Zima since about '96. Had no idea it was still being produced. That stuff was awful. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zima-is-dead-and-society-is-to-blame/475480.md?page=2)