Cheap Beer - The Perfect Retro Beverage!

Mixed drinks, martinis, and polynesian libations are real crowd pleasers when it comes to having a drink to fit your retro lifestyle. But there is something to be said for the look, history, and low price of a cheap good brew, and there are a lot of brands that would fit the bill. On that thought we decided to pick a few and compare on design, kitch factor and taste. This is by no means a comprehensive list and, as we found, there are many local varieties that are as good (or better) than their national counterparts. There has been an explosion of micro breweries (at least in New York) and we will talk about that at the end of this post.

If you’re going to pick a cheap beer you might as well consider the look as well as the taste ( ...add some lime and even bud light tastes O.K.) So here is a rundown of just a few that would make good additions to your retro lifestyle and quench your thirst without breaking the bank.

Pabst Blue Ribbon

Pabst Blue Ribbon (before it won that ribbon in 1893 it was known just as Pabst) is popular with the Rockabilly crowd, and has enjoyed a recent revival. This beer is popular enough to be served at local bars in Buffalo, and can even be found on tap. The pizzaria down the street from Cats Like Us has $1.50 pints -- you can hardly do better than that!

The Look

Recently this beer has been popular with the hipster crowd, and touted as "Ironically delicious". Really the LOOK may be more important to both rockabillies and hipsters than the taste. The true irony is that they agree on anything.

The can has a great retro style logo and overall design, and you WILL look great drinking it.

Advertising

PBR is a major sponsor of Viva Las Vegas every year and other similar events. (As a side note, there is something just special about seeing the Orleans Hotel cart cases of of PBR into the casino for VLV.) There were some pretty retro-tastic print ads and early television commercials made.

Miller High Life

Miller High Life, while right next to PBR on the local grocery shelves, seems to be less in the public eye today than years ago. In my research for this article (besides the drinking) my favorite retro commercials were Miller commercials.

The Look

With a fantastic slogan like “The Champagne of Beers”, Miller High Life has a great retro image. I don’t much care for the can design but the logo itself has a nice feel.

Advertising

Miller High Life beer had fantastic commercials in the 1940s-50s, the best (retro-kitchy) advertising of all the beers here (and sadly the commercials are better than the beer, but more on that later).

Genesee

In Rochester, New York not too far from Cats Like Us is the home of  the Genesee Brewing Company. Not as well known as the other two national brands, their Genny Cream Ale variety is very popular. On a recent vacation I was delighted to spot a can of Genesee in the wild! At an event whose only beer sponsor was PBR, this was pretty interesting.

The Look

Genesee has a nice, simple logo and the can looks good in the hand. The look is a very American brew.

Advertising 

Ads from the 1970s emphasized good ingredients and use of local waters to make great beer... Some very kitchy earlier ads can also be found.

Watch a video of a commercial here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdvRg2YhmcY&feature=related

Taste Test

Of course no beer review would be complete without actually drinking them! We staged a blind taste test with a non beer drinker and myself and we agreed on the following results. And although we had no expectations from bargain beers, we were surprised at our preferences.

All the beers had a good head that dissipated too quickly, and a light amber color. Suprisingly we liked Genesee the best, PBR next, and Miller High Life the least. The PBR had the strongest flavor, the Miller a little stronger after flavor, and the Genesee most smooth. We liked Genesee so much in fact that we have switched to it as our cheap beer of choice. Once we run out of the 24 pack we got last week I plan on trying the other Genesee varieties.

Final Thoughts

In the end it depends on what you’re looking for in a beer but like I said, we have switched to Genessee Beer for our goto 30 pack at the local grocery store. 

Have a happy 4th of July everyone and have a cold one!

(Remember kids, drink responsibly. If you're going to drink that whole Genesee 30 pack yourself, make sure there is a designated driver ;-)

Update: A Word About Micro Breweries

We don't end up buying too many 30 packs nowadays. I drafted this blog literally years ago, and now there are a multitude of micro breweries to explore every style of beer imaginable. Julie Ann and I have sampled a lot of beers, and while we would still consider ourselves novices we at least have an idea of what we like. Still there's nothing quite like the look of a PBR in the hand!

  --Andrew