Why do you drink the beer you do?

         Flavor probably has a lot to do with it.    Cost.     Image might play a part, too.

         The drinking age was 18 when I turned legal in 1975, with me taking my taste buds on a whirlwind tour of the lager shelf at the local liquor store.     I had a buddy whose dad owned the local Hamm's distributorship, which meant easy access to the beer from the "Land of Sky Blue Waters".     It was cheap, and the ads were legendary.       This one includes the jingle (best beer song...ever), the bear (using a cartoon to sell a product for adults only shows how ahead of their time Hamms was), boxing legend Rocky Marciano (who knew he did funny?) and an announcer who sounds an awful lot like a young Ray Scott ("Starr...Dowler...touchdown").

          I dabbled in Miller and Bud before pushing my tastes west--remember, this was a kinder, gentler time when you couldn't get either Coors or Olympia (yes, there was a time when it was cool) because they were brewed across the country and couldn't be shipped here without turning to skunk whiz.        Which, when you COULD get it, made it taste that much better.      Seeing President Ford carrying a case of it off Air Force One was the best free ad any grogmaker could get.   

          Pabst and Point were my beers of choice in college--Point got a huge boost from Chicago newspaper legend Mike Royko who told of it winning a beer tasting competition.     Again, the difficulty in gettting it outside of Stevens Point made it that much more en vogue to Royko's readers in Illinois.     I just happened to be going to college in Point where a six-pack of the local brew was cheaper than a gallon of milk (I kid you not).

          I also remember hoisting a few Schlitz cans to my lips, again in part because of their really cool t-v spots like this one (save a life...then get faced).

             Pabst and Coors, proud Milwaukee products that they were, vanished from the local landscape via a pair of messy divorces.    The Schlitz site is now a gaggle of downtown condos, and the Pabst complex is being transformed into an entertainment district.     Pabst is now the beer of choice among college kids and young adults, and Schlitz is making a comeback amongst those in the same demo, too (former TMJ'er Rob Hart alerted me to this article in the Chicago Tribune).        The Renaissance comes years after Schlitz committed commercial suicide by changing it's formula AND running a hellaciously awful commercial (both referenced in the Trib article).      Here's the Schlitz-killing ad:

        Personally, I didn't think it was THAT bad, and I've seen a lot worse since.       I don't remember many of my contemporaries shying away from Schlitz because of Wilderness Man--many bailed because of the recipe change, which reduced Schlitz to dishwater, according to some accounts.

       If Schlitz, or any other brewer, is looking for an ad that'll generate some buzz, they should go to YouTube and check out the Colt 45 malt liquor commercials of the 60's and 70's.      This same guy appeared in this long-running series for years, with only the length of his hair and the cut of his suit changing, but never his demeanor.