Worst Comerical Beer You Had

[yankinoz]

Worst beer I ever tasted was Colt 45 in the U.S. Around 1980. It tasted like it had sat in the sun for a week in a clear bottle. If I remember correctly it cost about 25 cents a quart. And that was a ripoff. Next worst was Coors. Tasted like watered down rice. Foul. The only decent beer was a Miller's Old Style we tried in Chicago.

You have revealed the trade secret of Colt 45. You must not have had Steele Reserve, an even worse malt liquor, but what the hey, after two forties of 7% brew, who cares?

There were very good US beers before craft breweries came along. Ballantine did an outstanding IPA. Prior made a malty lager and a schwarzbier following directions by a Czech brewer who fled before the Nazis. Good all-malt lagers in German styles include Berghoff (got its name before Hitler's hangout), Augsburger and Christian Moerlein.

But all except Berghoff were either gone or on the way out by 1980. You hit the scene at a low point. The trend prompted the craft brewing movement. Real ale in the UK had a like stimulus but developed in a different direction.

 

[butisitart]

OT: They say that travel broadens the mind, but clearly not for a lot of tourists to judge by all the Watneys Red Barrel and "Bratwurst mit Bier" signs you see in the tourist traps of Kuta and Phuket. Why travel to the other side of the world to eat the same food and drink the same beer as you do at home? You might as well stay home and watch travel programs on the TV.

couldn't agree more. when i first started travelling, met an australian in a malay village. felt a bit homesick so i struck up a conversation, and he said 'i didn't come all this way to meet australians', and walked off. actually cured my homesickness after a think, never looked back since haha.

 

[Ferment8]

About 1990 landed in London as a 19 yr old going to see the world. Mate an I were staying in a cheap arse backpackers. Landed about 5.30am and in accomodation by lunch time. Middle of winter and wanted a beer and sleep. Found they sell beer in almost all the deli type stores or off licences.
Didnt want to get stung with a weak beer so checked the ABVs and thought you beauty. Carslberg Special Brew, a good 10ish % I think, maybe a bit off. Well one sip and tipped that ****. Tennents Super just as bad

 

[Stuart99]

couldn't agree more. when i first started travelling, met an australian in a malay village. felt a bit homesick so i struck up a conversation, and he said 'i didn't come all this way to meet australians', and walked off. actually cured my homesickness after a think, never looked back since haha.

One of the things I noticed was that a lot of tourists and backpackers hang around with other tourists/backpackers and consequently have little interaction with the locals other than waiters and the hustlers in the tourist traps. I found that travelling on my own on buses in Indonesia and Malaysia that the local sitting next to me was more likely to talk to me than if I was with other tourists, particularly if I was off the well-worn tourist track where foreigners were a novelty. Most backpackers seemed to go to the same places eg Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Kuta.

In Malaysia I was chatting to the Malay guy next to me and he told me he worked as a security guard at the recently opened Club Med Cherating, which is actually on Chendor Beach famous for turtles laying their eggs. The night I went up there and was watching a large turtle laboriously scraping a hole in the sand and laying eggs oblivious to the small crowd. This was right in front of the Club Med where we could hear them doing the songs from Cabaret. I met my security guard friend again and since the onlookers all seemed to be either locals or backpackers asked him where all the Club guests were. He said that they usually came out the first time there but after that they spent every night in the disco. Apparently the only time most of them left the club was when it was time to go home.

 

[Stuart99]

Back on topic: back in the 70s the only beers on tap in most pubs was Reschs because most of them were owned by Reschs brewery and were tied houses - the licensee tenant was only allowed by the terms of his lease to serve Reschs' products. Reschs Draught was evil stuff, it produced a sickly feeling in the back of your throat after a few and a vicious headache the next morning even if you didn't have that many. I thought this vile brew had deservedly gone the way of the dodo so was horrified to find it on tap at a local RSL. And no I didn't try it to see if it had improved.

 

[JDW81]

Back on topic: back in the 70s the only beers on tap in most pubs was Reschs because most of them were owned by Reschs brewery and were tied houses - the licensee tenant was only allowed by the terms of his lease to serve Reschs' products. Reschs Draught was evil stuff, it produced a sickly feeling in the back of your throat after a few and a vicious headache the next morning even if you didn't have that many. I thought this vile brew had deservedly gone the way of the dodo so was horrified to find it on tap at a local RSL. And no I didn't try it to see if it had improved.

I’ve got soft spot for Reschs’. Used to drink it with my grandfather in a small pub in A small town in the New England area in NSW when I was about 17-18. Had one a few years ago at a pub in my home town and brought back good memories. I didn’t hate it either. Not the best beer I’ve drank, but by no stretch the worst.

 

[butisitart]

Back on topic: back in the 70s the only beers on tap in most pubs was Reschs because most of them were owned by Reschs brewery and were tied houses - the licensee tenant was only allowed by the terms of his lease to serve Reschs' products. Reschs Draught was evil stuff, it produced a sickly feeling in the back of your throat after a few and a vicious headache the next morning even if you didn't have that many. I thought this vile brew had deservedly gone the way of the dodo so was horrified to find it on tap at a local RSL. And no I didn't try it to see if it had improved.

similar in brissie, it was either a fourex pub or a carlton pub, and that was what you got. if you wanted something exotic, you could occasionally get resch's or emu bitter, cans only, quadruple price in the bottleshop, never available in the bar.

 

[kadmium]

OT: They say that travel broadens the mind, but clearly not for a lot of tourists to judge by all the Watneys Red Barrel and "Bratwurst mit Bier" signs you see in the tourist traps of Kuta and Phuket. Why travel to the other side of the world to eat the same food and drink the same beer as you do at home? You might as well stay home and watch travel programs on the TV.

I have a mate who when we were in Thailand only wanted to drink VB. It's all he drinks here.

He flat out just refuses to drink other beer. Very set in his ways.

 

[Mooroolbark_Mick]

i am pretty sure that what i drank was just called southwark. perhaps 'white' is a different brewery line. the southwark i drank was no better than the west end, so perhaps. i'm sure a local can clear this up.

I was in Port Adelaide in 1976 and a couple of locals in a pub talked me into trying Southwark. The most disgusting beer I'd ever drunk. Only times I drank it after that was when we had the obligatory Melbourne Christmas beer strikes.

 

[elmoMakesBeer]

i am pretty sure that what i drank was just called southwark. perhaps 'white' is a different brewery line. the southwark i drank was no better than the west end, so perhaps. i'm sure a local can clear this up.

Yes, I think you're right. It looks like Southwark Bitter is/was(?) the flagship beer. According to this it's great and of the English Bitter style, which is a pretty big call for a lager!
Beer Adelaide

It looks like the White is/was a take on a Bavarian-style wheat beer. Based on this I'm inclined to be less embarrassed by sixten year old self's taste in beer.
Southwark White

 

[butisitart]

if i was south australian i'd stick to the coopers. then again, if i pick something mainstream up from the bottle-oh in brisbane, it'll probably be a coopers
also, pretty surprised that people keep dishing out on crown lager. in the 70s-80s it was the bees knees in my world. i still enjoy the occasional one. now i dunno if it IS crap and i just see it like childhood comfort food. i'll have a marshmallow easter rabbit and a crownie to wash it down with. makes me feel maternally cared for.

 

[Hangover68]

Tennents super, a strong scottish beer in a 440ml can at around 9%, sickly sweet more like a bad wine.

 

[Luxo_Aussie]

Adelscott : "Let's make a beer which tastes like whiskey".

This is exactly why the French are known for their wines & not their beers!

 

[Chods1]

OT: They say that travel broadens the mind, but clearly not for a lot of tourists to judge by all the Watneys Red Barrel and "Bratwurst mit Bier" signs you see in the tourist traps of Kuta and Phuket. Why travel to the other side of the world to eat the same food and drink the same beer as you do at home? You might as well stay home and watch travel programs on the TV.

I have a very open mind. I do not like the commercial crap we have been putting up with for decades. I found the local aussie products always wanting flavour wise. But if beer is crap it is crap. That's all there is to it. If the local beer is good to me then I will drink and enjoy it.

 

[bduza]

similar in brissie, it was either a fourex pub or a carlton pub, and that was what you got. if you wanted something exotic, you could occasionally get resch's or emu bitter, cans only, quadruple price in the bottleshop, never available in the bar.

Mid 2000s I was at a small pub in Sydney with a group I was at tafe with, and it was one of those bars where you go, "Tooheys spew, nope, Carlton Draught, nope, oh phew they have Tooheys Old".

One of the guys in the group asks for a VB. Gets told they don't have it. He looks confused and states, "But I only drink VB!" This guy wasn't taking the piss - he had no idea what to do.

We talk him into a Carlton Draught, and he carefully takes a sip, like he's expecting it's poison or something, then gets all excited. Wouldn't shut up about it being "not a bad drop".