Or is it that we love to hate them? In either case, in honor of all the students heading back to campus this week, we thought we'd pay homage to the pop-top beers and cheap tall boys that we called our favorites back when we were the college students - and, yes, beers that we still sometimes drink today!
* Before we get into it, we just want to tack on a little disclaimer that neither this post nor the beers listed here are in any way an endorsement of underage drinking or binge drinking. We believe that college students (of drinking age!) have just as much right to relax with a cold beer after a long day of classes as the rest of us, just as it is up to each of us to decide what constitutes responsible drinking. Now back to the post!
This list contains some of the first beers we remember drinking and actually enjoying. Maybe we still enjoy them today just because they were the first - the same way mac n' cheese will always comfort and chocolate chip cookies always hit the spot.
1. Pabst Blue Ribbon - Sure, it basically tastes like water, but particularly sweet and smooth water!
2. Miller High Life - Truly the champagne of beers, this is still the beer we turn to when we just want something easy to drink on a Friday night.
3. Corona - We admit that it was the fun of poking that lime garnish down into the neck that originally hooked us on this beer, but it's still our top choice for eating with Mexican food!
4. Pacifico - This beer is very much like Corona, but with a slightly deeper and more malty flavor.
5. Red Stripe - In college, we loved its stubby bottle (we were suckers for looks and gimmicks, apparently!), but this beer really hits the spot on hot, humid afternoons. It's fantastic when served very very cold.
Your turn! What beers do you hate to love?
Related: Beer Guide: Favorite Beers for Summer
(Image: Flickr member Thirteen of Clubs licensed under Creative Commons)
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I live in Texas, so it's Lone Star for me!
Uggh, Corona is so gross. Landshark is a much better beer in that same vain.
I don't think PBR and Miller High Life (hey, it's the champagne of beers) are really meant to be enjoyed.
This list is missing much higher class beers like Milwaukee's Best and those hanging out on the front stoop Colt .45s.
My friends and I used to drink Lucky Lager. It was $3.99 for a 12-pack (1989!) and the 11-ounce, short stubby bottles had a rebus under their caps. The more you drank, the more fun it was to try and figure them out!
I don't think you can be a true beer lover and rag on the great American Lagers. Nothing helps beat the heat after mowing the lawn or grilling like cracking over a silver bullet.
PBR, High Life, and the like would get a better rap if they were $8 for a six pack of bottles and weren't the exclusive beverage of red-neck/poocat/river rats everywhere.
I do draw the line at natty lite.
Rolling Rock!
High Life Light, in bottles, ice-cold. I have a deep and abiding love for High Life.
Grain Belt Premium: oh, how it makes me miss Minneapolis!
In college we call Milwaukee's Best "Beast" and in no way will I ever purchase Beast. It was drank only at frat parties (or in my dorm when I stole cans from frat parties to drink while pre-gaming the next day.) Likewise Colt .45s are only good for playing Edward Scissorhands, which I recommend NEVER doing.
Only 4 months out of college, I'll still buy PBR or High Life if I'm having a lot of people over/ trying to stretch a paycheck.
Genesee Cream Ale.
Though I love love love some Miller Hi Life in a glass bottle.
In college, in Houston, it was Pearl (and for engineers Pearl Light) all the way....and Stroh's...it was about free.
everyone's allowed their one crap beer, mine's Bud Light.
i used to make fun of bud light drinkers "it's not real beer!!" until i was at a bar and was poured a glass from our communal pitcher and exclaimed "this is delicious! what IS this heavenly nectar of the gods, pray tell me!" ... bud light. doh.
Busch Light was our college beer of choice. :-)
In St. Louis we had the good fortune of having not one but TWO inexpensive breweries in town....Budweiser, which you know of, and Lemp, which you don't. Guess which one was cheaper?
FWIW, they tasted identical to me.
Grain Belt Premium: oh, how it makes me miss Minneapolis!
Ironic since I believe AB and MC use rice in their beers because of cost.
Beer isn't supposed to be served ice cold. That Coors light gimmick of the can changing color is actually a lie, and makes your beer taste worse.
There are plenty of decent beers that are cheap, and there are even some light beers that are decent...(Beck's Light, for example, is great with food.)
But if it has to be bud light, it better be ICE cold.
In Canada all our beers used to come in stubby bottles, I'm from London so of course Labatt's products were what I started drinking, at concerts durring college all we drank was 50, and it's still all I drink when I go to the bars to see a band.
Miller Lite is my fave. So clean and light.
I agree with Slobound, beware of beer snobs. Most can't tell which beer is which is a blind tasting line-up. Put the self-proclaimed beer snob in his/her place is one of the best games you can play as a bartender. I have never seen one correctly ID beers in a blind tasting. So much for their refined palates...
@slobound: Oh you brought back memories! Natty Light was always acceptable, especially if kept in a giant trashcan full of ice. If it's cold, anything's drinkable!
Schlitz all the way! And Black Label was usually acceptable by the end of the night.
I'll so take Old Style over PBR any day of the week!
This will truly "date" me.. Pony Millers..! and lets not forget about Coors... My folks literally would bring back a case of this from vacationing in Colorado with relatives..Or, if they came our way.. they were expected to bring on the Coors!
Why? Because Coors was higher in alcohol content and my parents couldn't get it in our state then in the 70's.
Oh and my mom used to drink tomato beers since she didn't really care for beer.
Tecate.
Tecate! The Mexican PBR.
This is actually a joke from our most recent family reunion, but my young cousin thought it was pretty good to get wasted on.
Nadarine--Grain Belt--totally agree!! Gotta love beautiful minneapolis!
PBR, for sure..
Keystone light..
Pabst actually taste really great on tap!
having grown up in buffalo, we had the unique gift of cheap canadian beer - molson and labatt. everytime i visit my parents i bring back a few racks, mmmm. they were so much tastier, with higher alcohol content, and so cheap! (and what more could a college student want?)
the only meal that reminds me of home are great chicken wings and blue light or molson xxx.
i'll second rolling rock.
PBR, High Life, Schlitz (the new/old formula is pretty good!), Pacifico and Corona are all great easy going beers for hot days.
Just tried Genesee Cream Ale I found for $4 for 6 bottles. Pretty good stuff too.
On a side note, I have heard through the net that the big light beers (Miller Lite, Bud lite, etc) contain chemicals/HFCS. Sad...
Ugh I can't do PBR anymore. Gives me a headache. But I will order Grain Belt Premium when out at a bar ANY DAY over more expensive beer. It's so good! Yum. I could have one right now and it's only 9:30 a.m. What does that say about me.
Agree with EricTheRed, I'd rather have my beer a little bit warmer than ice cold. Brings out the taste more.
Wow, really, no Keystone? I recall a 30 of stones being about $10. (ok, ok, I do see one person mentioned it)
Natural Light? Aka Natty? Icehouse?
Ok, so I don't drink beer, but I can weigh in from 3 fronts. When my parents were younger and poorer, they drank Rolling Rock. In college, all the kids drank Keystone. And now, when my boyfriend doesn't have a lot of money or will be serving lots of friends, he gets Labatt Blue, PBR, or Red Stripe.
Tecate (cans only)
Old Milwaukee
High Life (bottles only, unless you get the camo-cans)
Budweiser (cans only)
Every summer, we decide on a cheap canned beer to keep in the (tiny) garage fridge... this year it was a tie:
Blatz
and
Black Label
Hmm...
Natty Light
Bud or Busch Light out of a keg... (i know. gross.)
Ocassional PBR
Great list!
Drinking PBR reminds me of my grandpa because it was his favorite. Also, it has a surprising amount of flavor when you get it on tap.
Red Stripe's container is perfect because you can hold it while you're dancing and it won't spill out.
I truly love PBR. Normally I'm a dark beer person, but there is something toasty and carbonated about it that always sounds good to me on a hot day.
My husband is a man who truly loves good beer, but he refers to things like Bud Light as "soda beer" because they are watery, better cold, and all you want after mowing the lawn. Also, there is nostalgia value. He occasionally gets a 40 of Old English for old times' sake.
I went to college in Olympia, WA - where 'it's in the water' [Oly stubbies all the way].
Worst thing about frat parties in the US was the garbage cans full of ice and cans of Natty Light. Damn 21 and nazi crackdowns on kegs. It wasn't the beer that was the big problem (it sucks but whatever) - it was freezing your hand off trying to find a beer after the party had been going for a while. Plus people would always be stealing beer when they left, which you can't do in any serious volume with a keg.
Heileman's Old Style
it's all about the pbr and natty ice. I actually like the taste of pbr, natty ice is gross but it holds a special place in my heart because the name is so much fun to say when you've been partying for a few hours.
In the south, we all drank PBR.
Here in Baltimore, it's all about the Natty Bo.
And no one has mentioned Rainier tallboys yet?? For shame.