You haven't scraped bottom until you've had Brown Derby.
This was a beer out of Humboldt County, specifically Eureka. Very popular immediately post-Prohibition, it was Safeway's generic beer brand designed to compete with Budweister, Miller, Coors, etc. The can design looked so much like the famed Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood, that the restaurant owners sued and won.
Our first really big party in college, we bought two cases of Heineken and ten cases of Brown Derby. Every attendee got a Heineken for their first cup, when they returned, we'd refill it under the bar with the Brown Derby can out of sight and put an empty Heineken bottle on the bar next to it -- on the general theory that college kids are unsophisticated drinkers and wouldn't notice. A few noticed, but they were college kids, so they just shrugged.
Brown Derby died an unlamented death in 1988, right when American beer tastes started to swim upstream and the craft beer movement really took hold. It was the year my personal favorite beer company, North Coast Brewing Company, was founded. 13 beers, two seasonal ales, and four limited edition barrel-style beers. Their best known labels are Old Rasputin, Scrimshaw, and Brother Thelonius but my personal flavorite is their Red Seal Ale. Little tough to find, but worth it.
Gallup says the percentage of American adults that drink alcohol has dropped to 54% (it as 67% a few years ago). We reprobates are disappearing...
https://news.gallup.com/poll/693362/drin...surge.aspx
This was a beer out of Humboldt County, specifically Eureka. Very popular immediately post-Prohibition, it was Safeway's generic beer brand designed to compete with Budweister, Miller, Coors, etc. The can design looked so much like the famed Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood, that the restaurant owners sued and won.
Our first really big party in college, we bought two cases of Heineken and ten cases of Brown Derby. Every attendee got a Heineken for their first cup, when they returned, we'd refill it under the bar with the Brown Derby can out of sight and put an empty Heineken bottle on the bar next to it -- on the general theory that college kids are unsophisticated drinkers and wouldn't notice. A few noticed, but they were college kids, so they just shrugged.
Brown Derby died an unlamented death in 1988, right when American beer tastes started to swim upstream and the craft beer movement really took hold. It was the year my personal favorite beer company, North Coast Brewing Company, was founded. 13 beers, two seasonal ales, and four limited edition barrel-style beers. Their best known labels are Old Rasputin, Scrimshaw, and Brother Thelonius but my personal flavorite is their Red Seal Ale. Little tough to find, but worth it.
Gallup says the percentage of American adults that drink alcohol has dropped to 54% (it as 67% a few years ago). We reprobates are disappearing...
https://news.gallup.com/poll/693362/drin...surge.aspx
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