Sometimes I feel like all this talk that rings of “I’m not beer snob, I’m just a beer geek, is a subtly constructed comfort lie meant to ease the conscience of the typical beer enthusiast. Seriously…I felt like I had to explain myself recently when, while out with some beer geek friends I ordered a PILSNER a brewed by a CRAFT BREWER. The surprised looks revealed the inner thought:
Whoa, whoa, whoa, Nate…a Pilsner? We only drink heavily flavored and dark beers at this table….couldn’t you at least have found an Imperial Pilsner or Wheat Beer on the menu?
We try to pass ourselves off as nerds rather than the dreaded snob we associate with the wine culture, but if we were honest with ourselves, we hold the same type of notions, perhaps we are just a little jovial or dressed down about it. You know, the wine snob might where a tuxedo while scoffing at the notion of somebody bringing Yellow Tail to a tasting, while we would scoff at somebody bringing Stella Artois to a tasting while wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt.
But hey is a little bit of snobbery a bad thing?
What I want to know is, what is your guilty pleasure? (I’m talking about beer…I don’t want to hear that you have every Barbara Streisand album on you iPod). Do you secretly stash a Mickey’s in the back of your fridge, or do you sneak away for a Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy after having mowed the yard?
Go ahead, enter the Thank Heaven for Beer confessional…just don’t expect any pardon. I’ll go first:
Against all beer geekery/snobbery, I occasionally will pick up a sixer of Michelob’s Amber Bock. Yes, I am aware that the demigods over at BeerAdvocate only gave it a “C” rating. Yes, I am aware the the beer geek Satan–InBev/Anheuser-Busc–is the brains behind this brew. But hear me out…First off, the flavor isn’t repulsive…in fact, it’s not that bad. The beer tastes better to me than most because I can distinctly remember that this beer, Amber Bock, was the beer I drank on the night that my wife and I gave into our passions and conceived our first son Malachi. No, we weren’t drunk. The flavor is so engraved in my head, that at one sip and I am reminded of that evening.
So there you have it.
What’s your Guilty Beer Pleasure???
Good question Nate and I can’t wait to see some of the responses. For me it’s Natty Light, and like you it goes back to memories. When my buddies and I would congregate in high school and college there was already Natty around. Now the couple of times a year when we get together Natty is there, and rather than be a snob about it I drink it with a smile. Don’t think I could ever go back to drinking Steel Reserve though. That’s too much.
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THFBeer_nate Reply:
January 17th, 2011 at 2:30 pm
That’s kind of my attitude…if I’m offered something I wouldn’t normally drink, I don’t push it away, I drink it and enjoy. I think that just civil/well-mannered.
It’s funny you mention Natty Light…still the drink of choice for college kids. I used to give my sister homebrew, but every time I went to her apartment, I’d find it shoved behind the Natty Light. So these days, when I visit her, I drink her Natty LIght.
BTW….Tim Weber on twitter responded that his guilty pleasure is also Natty Light.
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Billy Broas Reply:
January 17th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
It’s definitely the college beer. Your sis will come around eventually but it’s hard to resist that price tag when you’re in school. I think we were paying $40 for a keg. Actually it looks like Tim responded with Keystone light, which was our #2 beer. Glad to see I’m in good company.
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THFBeer_nate Reply:
January 17th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Oops! Thanks….don’t know why I thought he said ice.
My “guilty”pleasure may be Yuengling. Even though it is made with-gasp- corn, I love the stuff. We drink Yuengling whenever we get together, Cant beat the price/taste. Easy to drink and everybody likes it.
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THFBeer_nate Reply:
January 17th, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Can you believe I’ve never tried Yuengling? I’ve wanted to, just never lived within its distribution.
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I like PBR, Blue Moon and Stella Artois. Amber Bock is a good choice too. But, I don’t feel that guilty about it. I drink what tastes good, no matter the story behind it. Sure there are better beers around, but, if my mood is right, a Stella can really hit the spot.
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beer_scientist Reply:
January 17th, 2011 at 10:15 pm
True enough. I think our drink choices and preferences are more subjectively/contextually driven than we’d like to admit. Personally, something about a Red Stripe once in a while just makes me crazy.
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nate Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 10:40 am
Stella was the first non-Buddish style beer I can remember drinking…drank it in Croatia.
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My deal is Shiner Bock. Takes me back to college and “Old Man Mondays” where us 5th and 6th year seniors would gather at Dudley’s Draw for dinner and beer. Ladies (not needing to be extra year seniors) could join us. Yeah, and like Yuengling, it’s rumored to have corn in the grist.
Shiner also makes some other stuff, like a traditional Czech pilsner and rauchbier (using Mesquite wood). It’s craft, but not like others.
Getting back to Shiner Bock, I’ve always dubbed it as my cheap beer. Friends always seem to offer me some when I go home for a Lone Star visit. On tap, it’s smooth.
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nate Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 10:41 am
It’s been a long time since I’ve had Shiner…almost picked up their seasonal recenlty but backed out…I’ll give it a whirl next time I see it.
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My guilty pleasure is that, if I don’t see a ‘craft’ beer that I like the look of, either because a bar’s range isn’t up to it, or because the bar doesn’t stock any, then I’ll resort to a lager.
Not a pilsner or anything that purports to be a pilsner, just a lager.
Okay, I have some standards; it has to be a premium (5%) lager not some 3.5% euro-suds, so yes, a Kronenbourg 1664, Hurlimann, Peroni, Stella Artois will do.
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I had Kronenbourg last weekend Bob…pretty coincidental. It was good!
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I will occasionally dive into a 40 on Olde English 800. I don’t know why, but it brings back good memories of college.
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THFBeer_nate Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 11:03 am
If I could find it, I’d dig out an old THFB article I wrote about the science between sense and memory, and how conjugal the two are. It seems a lot of us will never put down “cheap” beer at least in this sense.
Anyhow…I do recall a few rendezvous I had with OE and duct tape!
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I have to second the Blue Moon choice. It is Coors and fruity, two no-no’s to beer snobs, it is my last ditch beer choice at a restaurant with no beer choices And , I like it.
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Big Tex Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
I “don’t mind” Blue Moon. I don’t seek it out, but I don’t mind it. Same with Amber Bock and the other Michelob “craft” beer styles.
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This may come as a shocker to a lot of folks out there, but just occasionally I drink a beer when I am actually thirsty. And for no other reason (not to analyze the profile or savor the hints of this-and-that). This normally happens at sporting events / hot summer days. And when the thirst strikes and I decide that a beer is the quencher (rather than soda, water, tea, etc), I have to admit that I go for the good old Miller Lite – GASP!!! I know…its wrong.
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THFBeer_nate Reply:
January 19th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
My wife and I drank Miller Lite religiously for years, when I go to restaurant that has a humdrum line up of the big boys, Miller Lite is still my weapon of choice. You raise a good point…the right beer can be quite thirst quenching.
By the way, I swung by your blog…very interesting. I’m a seminary graduate myself. Thanks for commenting!
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OK, here’s mine. I’m allergic to beer, but I really love it. Every time I have a beer, I have to stab myself with an epi-pen to keep from passing out.
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[...] post on guilty pleasure beers got me thinking about some of the beers, like Red Stripe, that are my guilty pleasure beers. [...]
Newcastle.
I can get it anywhere and it’s not too bad when you have to drink it from the bottle.
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beer_scientist Reply:
January 22nd, 2011 at 3:29 pm
I personally like it as a drinkable session beer. Nothing wrong with a little Newkie.
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The first beer I ever tried in my entire life was a Samuel Adams Boston Lager. I’ll never forget that taste, and the fact that i was 17 years old. Now I’m 21 and I still love it. The wonderful balance of caramel flavors and a hoppy zing was just amazing. Keep it up Jim Koch!
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For me, it’s Pabst Blue Ribbon. I go way back with PBR.
I lost track of it for a while, but it’s back around here in Tampa in a big way. In fact there’s a place not far from me that sells ‘em for a buck a can, all day every day. A BUCK a can!
I’m way too cool of a craft beer guy now to be seen anywhere near a PBR, yet I find myself in that little joint more often than expected.
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