Deadspin ranks the cheap American beers. In the late 60's/early 70's for us it was Regal. A terrible beer that was dirt cheap and which price definitely won out over quality. The 6th or 7th definitely tasted better than the 1st...I think.

http://deadspin.com/36-cheap-american-be...socialflow

Thanks for that, Tiki.
Just a couple of comments about the top and bottom picks on that list.
Amazed that Keystone still exists. The fact that it does is a tribute to the needs of college students everywhere for cheap swill. 'Had it in medical school once. Vile.
Regarding Grain Belt... A good friend in medical school who was my roommate when we were interns ( Rice grad. Walk on pitcher for Rice for a brief period. ERA close to infinity. Now a full professor of Vascular Surgery at a prestigious East Coast med school) took a pre-internship vacation to the Midwest in a pickup with a camper shell. Everywhere he stopped he picked up a case of the local brew. Rolling Rock, Old Frothingshloss, Iron City, etc... and Grain Belt. During internship we had a series of paries featuring these strange brews. Iced them down in the tub and invited other docs over to share the beer. There was lots of beer... So we had lots of parties. 'Never could get rid of all the Grain Belt. Wound up pouring it down the drain ultimately.
Thankfully, my cheap beer days are over.
Come to think of it, my beer consumption is near non-existent now.

fun read. cheap beer is a topic on which many Rice alums once had great expertise

I was at Rice in the early 80s. I recall Old Milwaukee in the Pub for $2.10 per pitcher. Maybe it was Schlitz.

In that era, paying $4 for a pitcher was a reckless splurge.

Off campus junior year, fridge filled with WOS (whatever's on sale).

I don't have expensive tastes, but since becoming a professional with a decent salary, I have two indulgences
1. I don't mow my own grass (I did enough lawns as a teenager)
2. I drink Mexican and Canadian beers. I just like the taste better.

(05-26-2014 08:15 PM)MemOwl Wrote:  fun read. cheap beer is a topic on which many Rice alums once had great expertise

I was at Rice in the early 80s. I recall Old Milwaukee in the Pub for $2.10 per pitcher. Maybe it was Schlitz.

In that era, paying $4 for a pitcher was a reckless splurge.

Off campus junior year, fridge filled with WOS (whatever's on sale).

I don't have expensive tastes, but since becoming a professional with a decent salary, I have two indulgences
1. I don't mow my own grass (I did enough lawns as a teenager)
2. I drink Mexican and Canadian beers. I just like the taste better.

With all of the great American craft beers being brewed right now, you should give some of them a shot. I'm assuming that since it's Mexican or Canadian, you prefer a smoother, lighter flavored beer (a la Pacifico). If so, check out Real Ale Fireman's 4 or Southern Star's Bombshell Blonde for starters. America is producing some of the best beer in the world right now.

(05-27-2014 06:28 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  I'm assuming that since it's Mexican or Canadian, you prefer a smoother, lighter flavored beer (a la Pacifico). If so, check out Real Ale Fireman's 4 or Southern Star's Bombshell Blonde for starters. America is producing some of the best beer in the world right now.

Agree ... also try Sympathy for the Lager by Karbach. Awaiting 13th's take on more full-bodied brews.

(05-27-2014 06:32 AM)Da.Owl Wrote:  

(05-27-2014 06:28 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  I'm assuming that since it's Mexican or Canadian, you prefer a smoother, lighter flavored beer (a la Pacifico). If so, check out Real Ale Fireman's 4 or Southern Star's Bombshell Blonde for starters. America is producing some of the best beer in the world right now.

Agree ... also try Sympathy for the Lager by Karbach. Awaiting 13th's take on more full-bodied brews.

I love Sympathy for the Lager, but it's pretty flavorful, with a hefty amount of maltiness and hops, so it may not be the best for someone turned off by a flavor forward beer. The Weisse Versa is the beer from Karbach I normally use to turn people on to either the brewery or craft beer in general since it's a lot nicer to the palate.

I really like the regular releases that Karbach does, these two and the Hopadillo are all top notch, year-round beers, and a few of their seasonals (Pontificator and Yule Shoot Your Eye Out specifically) always find a way into my fridge when they are released.

(05-27-2014 08:11 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(05-27-2014 06:32 AM)Da.Owl Wrote:  

(05-27-2014 06:28 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  I'm assuming that since it's Mexican or Canadian, you prefer a smoother, lighter flavored beer (a la Pacifico). If so, check out Real Ale Fireman's 4 or Southern Star's Bombshell Blonde for starters. America is producing some of the best beer in the world right now.

Agree ... also try Sympathy for the Lager by Karbach. Awaiting 13th's take on more full-bodied brews.

I love Sympathy for the Lager, but it's pretty flavorful, with a hefty amount of maltiness and hops, so it may not be the best for someone turned off by a flavor forward beer. The Weisse Versa is the beer from Karbach I normally use to turn people on to either the brewery or craft beer in general since it's a lot nicer to the palate.

I really like the regular releases that Karbach does, these two and the Hopadillo are all top notch, year-round beers, and a few of their seasonals (Pontificator and Yule Shoot Your Eye Out specifically) always find a way into my fridge when they are released.

I think you just named my two fav beers from the Karbach brewery. I even like their distribution in bombers. I just don't drink enough beer anymore to be too informed, but I like to try the Texas based craft beers when grilling.

My group's go-to beer in the late 70s and early 80s at Rice was Mickey's Malt Liquor in the big mouth bottles.

The brewers of the cheap-beer I used to drink at Rice have apparently gone bankrupt: Jax, Dixie & Falstaff. The latter sponsored our adult softball league team my junior year. After the game, we could have all we wanted. But after the first thirst-quenching one, I couldn't take any more.

(05-27-2014 09:30 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  My group's go-to beer in the late 70s and early 80s at Rice was Mickey's Malt Liquor in the big mouth bottles.

Still the go to "beer" of choice at Willy's Pub for undergrads.

My favorite urban legend about Mickey's was that, at a time when the drinking age was 19 in Texas, Willy's Pub used to be the single largest purchaser of Mickey's in the entire state. This was around the same time that Willy's was, supposedly, doing more alcohol sales than anyone in Harris County, except for the Astrodome.

Not sure how true these are, but those are the stories that were passed down from one Pub GM to another.

(05-27-2014 10:18 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(05-27-2014 09:30 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  My group's go-to beer in the late 70s and early 80s at Rice was Mickey's Malt Liquor in the big mouth bottles.

Still the go to "beer" of choice at Willy's Pub for undergrads.

My favorite urban legend about Mickey's was that, at a time when the drinking age was 19 in Texas, Willy's Pub used to be the single largest purchaser of Mickey's in the entire state. This was around the same time that Willy's was, supposedly, doing more alcohol sales than anyone in Harris County, except for the Astrodome.

Not sure how true these are, but those are the stories that were passed down from one Pub GM to another.

That was the story I always heard, too. And the best buy on campus was 25-cent pitchers of Shiner at Valhalla.

(05-27-2014 10:22 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(05-27-2014 10:18 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(05-27-2014 09:30 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  My group's go-to beer in the late 70s and early 80s at Rice was Mickey's Malt Liquor in the big mouth bottles.

Still the go to "beer" of choice at Willy's Pub for undergrads.

My favorite urban legend about Mickey's was that, at a time when the drinking age was 19 in Texas, Willy's Pub used to be the single largest purchaser of Mickey's in the entire state. This was around the same time that Willy's was, supposedly, doing more alcohol sales than anyone in Harris County, except for the Astrodome.

Not sure how true these are, but those are the stories that were passed down from one Pub GM to another.

That was the story I always heard, too. And the best buy on campus was 25-cent pitchers of Shiner at Valhalla.

I always heard Willy's was third behind the Dome and the Summit, but still impressive (I guess).

For a little while, we were on a Blue Nun kick whenever we went to the Pub.

I'm just wondering why a thread about cheap beer on a Rice sports thread is considered OT?

What's Valhalla up to ... .75 now ?

In the early 80's Pearl was the Texas cheap beer of choice; Shiner of course if you could afford it. When i moved to DC in the late 80's it was that balmer fave, natty bo, aka National Bohemian as the softball beer...definitely quantity over quality in both cases!

I wasn't in Weiss, but wasn't there a time in the early 80's when the official currency of Weiss college was the Keg?

As in, the Weiss cabinet appropriated 4 Kegs for construction of sets for the fall musical.

Of course, it begs the question--keg of what? I guess there was a fixed exchange rate from Keg to US Dollar, which would bound what fluid was actually in the Keg.

(05-27-2014 09:15 PM)MemOwl Wrote:  I wasn't in Weiss, but wasn't there a time in the early 80's when the official currency of Weiss college was the Keg?

As in, the Weiss cabinet appropriated 4 Kegs for construction of sets for the fall musical.

Assuming that the idea was to use a denomination that accurately captures the opportunity cost of each expenditure, I'd say they did that perfectly.

(05-27-2014 09:22 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(05-27-2014 09:15 PM)MemOwl Wrote:  I wasn't in Weiss, but wasn't there a time in the early 80's when the official currency of Weiss college was the Keg?

As in, the Weiss cabinet appropriated 4 Kegs for construction of sets for the fall musical.

Assuming that the idea was to use a denomination that accurately captures the opportunity cost of each expenditure, I'd say they did that perfectly.

I still do this on a regular basis when discussing certain costs with friends.

(05-27-2014 09:22 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(05-27-2014 09:15 PM)MemOwl Wrote:  I wasn't in Weiss, but wasn't there a time in the early 80's when the official currency of Weiss college was the Keg?

As in, the Weiss cabinet appropriated 4 Kegs for construction of sets for the fall musical.

Assuming that the idea was to use a denomination that accurately captures the opportunity cost of each expenditure, I'd say they did that perfectly.

Perhaps the time-value or duration of effort, though it doesn't trade as well for supplies. Perhaps I should start using number of kegs instead of man-months when estimating business cases at work. What was the man-month conversion rate for a keg?

Then again, most of us are much older now, so the conversion rate has probably changed. And not for the better.

Busch was our cheap beer in the late 80's at Rice. I do remember seeing someone's room at Wiess containing an amazing number of cases of something called Texas Pride.