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January 30, 2006

Life’s Too Short to Drink Cheap Beer

Last week I had an epiphany… Life is far too short to drink cheap beer. Unless, of course, that’s what you prefer. Me? I’m fine with certain cheap beers. Miller High Life is currently my favorite low-end brew but, when I was in college, I drank an awful lot of Old Milwaukee. What it lacked in terms of quality, it more than made up for in terms of price. But I actually much prefer beers along the lines of Newcastle Brown Ale. So what’s the problem? Around here, a six-pack of High Life goes for less than four bucks, whereas a six-pack of Newcastle goes for a good bit over eight bucks. But then it finally dawned on me. I like good beer. And we can afford good beer. So I’m going to drink good beer. And that brings us to the question of the day, dear readers… What’s your poison? Good beer or cheap beer? Or maybe a good, cheap beer? C’mon, jump in and leave a comment. Name names and spread the word about your brew of choice.

Comments (scroll down to add your own):

  1. You have nothing to complain about…cheap beer out here is $2 a can…must be why I drink sake

    Comment by SavingAdvice — Jan 30th 2006 @ 6:59 am

  2. In college, my beer of choice was Natural Light. Good ole natty light, we could get a case of 24 for around $8 when we bought in bulk and I loved the stuff.

    Now, I’m a fan of Yuengling, $10 for a 12 pack of bottles can’t be beat.

    Comment by jim — Jan 30th 2006 @ 7:28 am

  3. I don’t drink (I had my fill in college). But can I name some other vices? They are:

    1. McDonald’s pancakes
    2. Diet Coke (free at work, thank goodness)
    3. Raw cookie dough

    Moose Tracks ice cream would be on the list, but I get all I want for free, so I’m not counting it! ;-)

    Comment by FMF — Jan 30th 2006 @ 7:54 am

  4. Miller High Life is actually pretty good. Sometimes, when it is on sale, you can buy Miller High Life for $13.99 for a 30 pack of cans. I’m not a fan of canned beer, but it isn’t bad.

    I go through phases where one beer is my favorite. Right now, my favorite would be Negra Modelo, which is $7+ a six pack. I don’t buy too much of it.

    Comment by JLP at AllThingsFinancial — Jan 30th 2006 @ 8:08 am

  5. Yuengling when I can get it, but I can’t get it regularly now that I live in Maine. Any time I travel (or have a friend that’s travelling) through New York or Pennsylvania I pick up a case or two of it.

    I am lucky in that I live in the state with the second most craft breweries. There are 3 breweries within a few miles of where I work, and 3 more within a mile or two of where I live. Mainer’s like good beer. My favorites have to be Shipyard and Gritty’s for the local stuff.

    I also brew my own beer. I have not been doing a whole lot lately since I don’t want to have to travel with a full carboy, and I am hoping to buy a house in the next month or two; I’ve been hoping that for almost a year though. My last batch of light beer doesn’t taste very good (I experimented a bit too much) but it works great for cooking (I just made a few more pounds of beef jerky with it this weekend). My normal light recipe is what we are going to give as wedding favors and is probably my favorite recipe. We have a porter aging in our closet right now that is ready to be bottled.

    Comment by Blaine Moore — Jan 30th 2006 @ 8:15 am

  6. It has been very difficult to resist Good Beer since we moved to Colorado. Our current favorite is Flying Dog In Heat Wheat, but Fat Tire is always a good standby. We can get them for under $7 a six pack if we shop around, but most of the corner local liquor stores have them for around $7.50. And then there’s always Happy Hour at the Flying Dog brewery when we want it on tap.

    Comment by Kim — Jan 30th 2006 @ 9:35 am

  7. Suffering from the same dilemma - being a “good beer” afficionado, AND a cheapskate - I turned to brewing my own, mainly out of cheapness - and then it grew into a hobby just for the sake of itsself (so the money may or may not actually be being saved, here ;-) …).

    I’m also a Newcastle fan, in addition to Guinness, and many others. ;-) Sure, there’s some manner of capital investment for a beginner’s set-up (~$100-$150), but a simple extract set-up can get you brewing for ~$1.00/12 oz bottle or less - a 5 gallon batch (2 cases) runs me from ~$30, for a lighter summery brew (Belgian Witbier) to $70 for my heavy, high-content, couldn’t-buy-in-a-store-if-you-wanted-to-anyway Christmas Ale.

    If you can afford a little more capital (maybe another $100-$150, give-or-take) once you’re into it, and don’t mind spending just a LITTLE more time at it in order to go to all-grain brewing, your cost per batch goes down dramatically. 6 lbs of malt extract extract could run you $20-$25 (the bulk of the cost of an extract batch), but the grain for a similar batch (maybe 10-12 lbs) is peanuts - way less than $1.00/pound - so the cost of that component is way less than $10/batch.

    The beer you can brew, if you keep good notes and are careful about sterility, is oustanding, even with an extract set-up. So say my beer-swilling buddies, anyway, who also appreciate darker/heavier ales. ;-)

    AND, if nothing else, it’s a great hobby. ;-)

    Comment by dforester — Jan 30th 2006 @ 9:44 am

  8. Guinness Stout — it’s Gaelic for genius!

    Very happy that they got the 15-pack of pub cans back in Costco.

    Comment by mbhunter — Jan 30th 2006 @ 10:36 am

  9. Funny that you just posted this as just last week I went over to my neighbors house to watch a movie and he actually had “The Beast,” Milwaukee’s Best. I was amazed as I know he makes good money and like beer. He said that it was on sale this week so he picked it up.
    I am not actually cheap enough to get bad beer…I loves me some Sam Adams. If I am having a party or something were I need to get a lot of beer, I will just get Coors Light, but that it as cheap as I go.

    Comment by RS — Jan 30th 2006 @ 10:52 am

  10. My beer of choice is Belgian - Duvel, Delerium Tremens, Chimay, etc… Although, I can drink Newcastle any day.

    But my real vice is Pinot Noir. Now there’s an expensive liquid.

    Comment by John Koontz — Jan 30th 2006 @ 12:29 pm

  11. Only a half dozen more responses and you’ll have a new most talked about article…and in a shorter span of time, most likely. Wonder what that says about your readership…

    Comment by Blaine Moore — Jan 30th 2006 @ 12:33 pm

  12. There’s cheap beer, like Miller High Life, and then there’s CHEAP beer, like Old Milwaukie. I gotta stay away from the latter. I still have a soft spot for all the Bud Light I drank in college, but now i’m a microbew snob - Pyramid, Widmer’s, or Red Hook please.

    Comment by Jonathan — Jan 30th 2006 @ 1:21 pm

  13. I’d rather go without than drink cheap beer (let alone CHEAP beer). So I guess I am a microbrew snob as well (but also count in the major-brews of other countries). I’m a huge fan of any good porter, stout or nut brown in the colder months. And in summer I prefer lighter brews like an Sam’s seasonal, a good spicey hooegarten, heifeweizen and my old standby - magic hat #9.

    We drank popov vodka in college (though I seem to remember kegs of old milwaukee around) and THAT is some seriously bad swill. ::: shudder :::

    Comment by Caitlin — Jan 30th 2006 @ 1:40 pm

  14. I agree with Blaine. Yuengling is my “cheap” beer of choice. Next in line is JW Dundee Honey Brown beer. These cost roughly $5 a six pack in my area. When I lived on the tundra, Moosehead was my poison of choice, but it’s a lot more expensive on the E. Coast.

    For good bears, nothing tops Pilsner Urquell.

    Comment by Jeremy — Jan 30th 2006 @ 1:56 pm

  15. Here’s a topic I can go on and on about. For cheap beer, I’ve always been a fan of Mickey’s by the 40oz’s. It’s delish. Admittedly, Miller High Life’s not bad.But I find Bud Lite for about the same price, might as well go ahead. I usually look at the grocery store ads for a good deal on Bud products, and can usually easily strike a deal. The grocery store’s have the best prices. For the *GOOD* stuff, I used to choose Newcastle, Bass, Harp, but I’ve found some new favorites. Shiner’s Dunkelwiezen is excellent, and it tastes almost like Young’s Double Chocolate Stout which is great. I like YDCS’s nice refreshing wet flavor, and it’s “thin”. I’ve been a fan of Chimay, Corsendonk, and Lindemann’s for over a decade now though. But if you’re wanting good brew for a good price, it seems like Bud’s in the “sweet spot”. Also check Central Market if you have one near you.

    Comment by Joshua K — Jan 30th 2006 @ 3:49 pm

  16. I drink good cheap beer by brewing my one. However, I splurge occasionally on a good import. Life’s too short to go through it drinking bad cheap beer.

    Comment by Michael — Jan 30th 2006 @ 3:51 pm

  17. Does anybody know what happened to “dry” beers such as Michelob Dry and Asahi Dry? They weren’t super cheap, but they were good. I can’t seem to find them anywhere although I must admit I haven’t looked very hard.
    Wife of nickel

    Comment by nickel's wife — Jan 30th 2006 @ 5:16 pm

  18. I’m a big fan of “Fat Tire” which is becoming increasingly easier to find here in Ca.

    I do reflect fondly on my college days, though, when the most important was what we could get in a keg for the least amount of money. We drank a lot of “Natty Light” (aka Natural Light) back then.

    Comment by Mandy — Jan 30th 2006 @ 6:57 pm

  19. For nickel’s wife..

    I haven’t seen michelob dry in awhile, but I can regularly get Asahi Dry here in DFW. Most places carry it. Not for certain on your territory though.

    Comment by Joshua K — Jan 31st 2006 @ 9:48 am

  20. I think my college experience must have been an anomaly. Old Milwaukee? Miller?..cheap beers? These were considered ‘expensive’ in my day.

    The ‘cheap’ beer standards in college for me were..
    Carling Black Label
    Golden Anniversary
    Piels
    Schmidts
    At the time (early 90’s) none over $6/case.

    That said, times and tastes change. A good way to enjoy good beers is to buy those craft brews by the case.

    Comment by GB — Jan 31st 2006 @ 12:59 pm

  21. There’s really only one “common” beer that I buy regularly, and that’d be Miller Genuine Draft.

    Outside of that, I sort of take turns purchasing Dos Equis, Heineken, Bass ale, and Foster’s.

    Good beer story: Whilst out shopping for a decent beer (we were on vacation, way away from home) in Minnesota, I entered a pretty tiny, backwoods liquor store. Nothing appealed to me at all; everything seemed to be of the Old Milwaukee and Budweiser ilk. I asked the counter attendant if she had any imported beers. Her response:

    “Imported? You mean like … from Iowa?”

    I think I ended up buying a 6pk of Sam Adams.

    Comment by Michael — Jan 31st 2006 @ 11:50 pm

  22. don’t get me wrong, i can handle a $1 pbr from time to time. there is a time for everything. however, i am a drink-special specialist. you name a day of the week, and i have a restaurant in town that has drink specials on that night. who needs $1 pbr when you can get a $2 draft newcastle? not me! i’ll take the newcastle eight days a week.

    Comment by bettis — Feb 8th 2006 @ 11:46 am

  23. Guiness or Mackeson (the only beer that is excellent with chocolate chip cookies.) Schlafley’s Coffee Stout. Beer and coffee, a perfect combination. Only wish I could drink it in the morning at work.

    Comment by Jen — Feb 14th 2006 @ 1:29 pm

  24. high life is the greatest stuff ever… It used to be 6 bucks a 12 pack until they raised the price to 7.50….. u can get milwake’s best (beast) for 5 bucks a 12 pack or a 6 pack of red dog 16oz for 3 bucks…. nattie ice goes for 6 bucks a 12 pack over here….

    Comment by bill — Apr 29th 2006 @ 1:47 am

  25. I admit I’ve been a bit of a “beer snob” in the last decade (since the days of cheap beer in college because that’s all we could afford).

    Now I’ve actually had times at a restaurant that I’ve made the “beer or soft drink” decision solely on whether they have high enough quality beer for my tastes (if not, I’ll go with a soft drink).

    Personally, I’ve developed quite a taste for micro-brews (and I’m sure this is at least in part due to the fact that I’ve brewed my own beer in the past).

    Comment by Scott — May 1st 2006 @ 10:04 am

  26. I’m with bettis on this one… there are beer specials every night of the week. We have a wood-fire pizza joint that has buck fifty domestic drafts on Mondays, where any other night of the week I’d pay $5 a pint. I also keep tabs on the specials of my favorite stores and stock up when appropriate.

    Life is too short and cheap beer is too nasty to do otherwise.

    Comment by Beck — Jun 9th 2006 @ 8:49 am

  27. well I think miller high life is pretty discusting how ever you spell it. but my favorite cheap bear is coors bear lite and reg so yep its smooth and goes down easy…

    Comment by sam — Jun 22nd 2006 @ 1:46 am

  28. I was the ultimate beer snob - imports, micro, homebrew, etc. Then I bought a house. Ever since then Pabst and High Life have helped me swallow that mortgage much easier.

    Comment by a — Aug 23rd 2006 @ 4:36 pm

  29. For Good Beer its gotta Be Oberon by Bell’s and Blue Moon. But for cheap beer its gotta be Stroh’s or King Cobra…..

    Comment by Lance — Aug 24th 2006 @ 3:12 pm

  30. I have to say, my most expensive beer was had this summer. My friends and I did a tour of Europe and while in Germany I had my best beer ever. German wheat beer is unlike anything I have ever tasted. For those who have not traveled abroad for a good beer, let me tell you, it is worth it. American beer, and even imported German beer is nothing compared to what you can get from a tap in Germany. As far as drinking beer in America, I am a sucker for microbreweries. I am still young and little jaded by starting my real years of drinking by going to Europe, but I have yet to find a GOOD beer I like in a bottle. I do however enjoy drinking a Miller High Life here and there.

    Comment by Norb — Sep 8th 2006 @ 1:41 am

  31. I also like good beer. However, I’ve found the perfect way to enjob good beer cheep! I started brewing my own. I can brew beer on the order of Newcastles for about 15 to 20 cents a beer. I can make a good basic ale for as little as 10 cents a bottle. Even if you use a kit that requires no boiling you can make good beer from about 40 cents a bottle. Using the basics and brewing from barley, hops & yeast alone gives you the abilitity to make the kind of beer you like at the lowest cost. Join a homebrew culb and get some real beer!

    Comment by Pat Johnson — Sep 20th 2006 @ 12:42 pm

  32. I also like good beer. However, I’ve found the perfect way to enjoy good beer cheep! I started brewing my own. I can brew beer on the order of Newcastles for about 15 to 20 cents a beer. I can make a good basic ale for as little as 10 cents a bottle. Even if you use a kit that requires no boiling you can make good beer from about 40 cents a bottle. Using the basics and brewing from barley, hops & yeast alone gives you the abilitity to make the kind of beer you like at the lowest cost. Join a homebrew culb and get some real beer!

    Comment by Pat Johnson — Sep 20th 2006 @ 12:42 pm

  33. Deja Vu…heard this quote many years ago in context of a guy from Norway. The full comment was something like “Life is too short to drink cheap wine and dance with ugly women.”

    This is not my quote so please don’t flame me. I am just a messenger.

    Comment by MillionDollarCountDown — Oct 6th 2006 @ 5:27 pm

  34. My current top 7 pilsners (out of 20 so far):

    #1 Weihenstephaner Original Pilsener
    #2 Beck’s
    #3 Spaten Premium
    #4 St. Pauli Girl
    #5 Grolsch
    #6 Paulaner Lager
    #7 Rahr & Sons Blonde Lager

    All are crisp pilsener-style lagers that finish clean and are mild to medium hoppiness.

    Weihenstephaner is particularly good because it covers a wide range of flavors that never veer off course. It starts with a slight honeylike malt flavor with banana esters and finishes with just enough hops to clear the palate. Very tasty and refreshing (but packs a wallop… beware!).

    Beck’s and Spaten Premium aren’t nearly as adventurous, but they make quality everyday brews that are true to the pilsner style without any real deficiencies.

    St. Pauli Girl would rank #2 based upon flavor alone (excellent), but the funky aroma knocks it down to fourth place.

    Grolsch is what Heineken SHOULD be making. Mercifully free of skunkiness.

    Paulaner Lager has similar characteristics to Weihenstephaner Original (slightly more malt character, diverse flavor), but isn’t quite as refined.

    Rahr & Sons is a local brewer in Fort Worth, Texas. They make good beer. Their blonde lager is a perfect alternative for Bud/Miller diehards. It is similarly light in hops and alcohol content and has that typical “watery” mouthfeel), but the quality is way up there.

    Comment by Nick — Oct 7th 2006 @ 8:23 pm

  35. i’m surprised no one has mentioned coors original. it’s not bad at all, cheep, and better than any lite beer. after that i would say miller high life then maybe bud. as far as quality beers go, sam adams, blue moon, and newcastle.

    Comment by adam — Oct 16th 2006 @ 11:41 pm

  36. They say travel broadens; absolutely correct. In Europe, I discovered that I loved beer. It was American factory beer I hated. Now my waist has broadened significantly.

    We buy Newcastle at Sam’s Club for about $22 for 24 bottles. That helps make the good beers affordable.

    Comment by Dan — Dec 10th 2006 @ 2:02 pm

  37. If any of you are in the southeast, there’s a wheat beer brewed in NC called Blue Moon which is pretty good and cheap.

    Comment by Stingy Student — Dec 19th 2006 @ 9:35 pm

  38. I second Grolsch and the beauty of traveling. . . as others mention, I found beer disgusting prior to living in the netherlands for 2 years. After enjoying cheap domestics like Grolsch (yay for #36!), Amstel, and Heineken… there was no going back (also, the netherlands close proximity to Belgian makes sampling lovely brews like Duvel/Hoegaarten/etc.) much less costly (and they tend to be fresher than what most of us can get stateside.

    However, Dutch beer holds nothing to Czech and German beers. Czech beer is among some of the best in the world (I’ve been told), and German beer is brewed to exacting standards (with stringent patents on brewing recipes/techniques). A few that I enjoyed were Augustiner and Franziskaner. Augustiner is a helas (sp?)… something similar to a pilsner. Franziskaner is a wheat beer (tasty stuff)…

    The Belgian wheat beer that I mentioned before (Hoegaarten) is best enjoyed with a slice of lemon in it, sitting on a terras, enjoying a rare sunny day in a land of endless rains….. ^_^

    FWIW, I guess Hooegarten is sold here as “Blue Moon”…. no idea about the quality though… weiss bier definitely has a distince taste to it, though.

    Damn…. this blog entry makes me miss that time in my life. Best domestic option I’ve found = Fat Tire… Bass Ale is also okay… both are best enjoyed at a Happy hour where you can get a “tall” for around $2.00, imo.

    Comment by cw — Dec 20th 2006 @ 11:45 pm

  39. ps— I know Bass is not exactly “domestic”… my prior post makes it sound like that, tho

    Comment by cw — Dec 20th 2006 @ 11:47 pm

  40. For Cheap stuff, I go for some PBR (in bottles) 12 pack for 8 bucks. Good for BBQ’s.

    The good stuff, I usually go for something local (I’m in ST Louis), for me it’s a Schafly brew or O’fallon micro brew.

    Comment by ryan — Jan 6th 2007 @ 1:09 am

  41. PBR me ASAP!

    Ja, und Beck’s!

    Comment by BK — Jan 27th 2007 @ 4:00 pm

  42. Life is too short to drink cheap beer. Having said that, I have severly shortened my life by drinking way too much cheap beer when I was younger. Now, like the other Micro snobs I’ve found beers that I’ll gladly spend a few $$ more, or even double at times, to give my cheap beer punished taste buds a dose of taste that makes you think of bald headed monks running around rolling wood barrels off horse drawn carts. I buy 2 sixes of Dead Guy Ale twice a year. The rest of the time I drink, have drank, the beers mentioned here. But what about mixed beer drinks - like Irish Car bombs. God, I love those!

    Comment by Chris — Jan 29th 2007 @ 8:39 pm

  43. Back in the day, i drank Natty 24/7. Now i get a hangover just thinking about it. IC (Iron City - Pittsburgh!) Light is the best cheap beer, ever. Miller Lite will do when IC isn’t available.
    But I looove beer - i work part time at a microbrew bar and restaurant. Best Perk? Free draft beer after every shift. I love, love, love Rogue Dead Guy Ale in the winter, Sea Dog Blueberry Wheat in the summer, Dogfish Head’s Punk (pumpkin beer) in the fall and Franziskaner’s Hefeweizen in the spring.

    Also, FYI:
    Hoegaarten and Blue Moon are two separate beers…Hoegaarten is lemony, Blue Moon is orangey - as well as the fact that Hoegaarten is an import and Blue Moon is owned by Coors.

    Comment by dani — Feb 5th 2007 @ 10:35 am

  44. I love good beer, although I don’t quite drink as much as I used to :) Currently, the fridge has Fat Tire Ale, Gordon Biersch, and Sierra Nevada (I live in California and these are all local).

    My taste for cheap beer was wrecked in China of all places, where I lived near the first microbrew in Beijing. The place specialized in ales and stouts, and had generally wonderful beer.

    I do want to do the Germany and Holland beer tour someday…

    Comment by Foobarista — Feb 5th 2007 @ 8:01 pm

  45. I must admit: I was a High Life junkie all through college. I still drink it if it’s almost payday and my checking account is bone dry. However, I have spent the past couple years discovering the best microbrews that are available in my area. I’ve found some really good stuff and some really bad stuff. I’ve even found several restaurants that have a “tour of beers” to participate in. Out of all this, I regret none of it. I’ve honed my beer-stincts and can pick out the subtle flavors out of the finest of beers. And I still enjoy kicking back a few Miller Lites with the boys on the weekend, but nothing beats a good specialty beer.

    Comment by Tim Deniston — Feb 7th 2007 @ 10:41 am

  46. Ahhh, to make it easier on yourself just remember this. Though the beer is twice as must it usually has at least that in alcohol, AND flavor-with the exception of malt liquer-which doesn’t fall into the same story. If i were to dabble in rice beer from designed for the depression era then I might have to agree with miller, high life preferably:)

    Comment by Nathan — Feb 18th 2007 @ 4:20 pm

  47. definitely coors light…..light by name, price and nature AND it beats that bloated feeling!! cant get much better ;)

    Comment by sinead — Feb 24th 2007 @ 6:57 am

  48. I was stationed in Germany for 3 years recently and by far the best beer we had was Kulmbacher on tap…very cold and very smooth. Of course any beer at Oktoberfest is awesome!!!

    Comment by RAL — Feb 27th 2007 @ 4:16 pm

  49. Hey nickel try this experiment, pour highlife in a glass swirl it around a bit and take a big sniff..

    Highlife smells terrible, I used to drink it, but, ever since I took a moment to actually smell it, I put it away in favor of other beers.

    Comment by iota — Feb 28th 2007 @ 10:58 pm

  50. First, I live in Utah, behind the Zion-curtain, so high-end beer is metered out only by individual bottle at the State run liquor stores. Gut-rot capped at 3.2% (by law) is available elsewhere. So, I’ll drink a cheap beer (Bud, Miller, Coors, Nat) if given, but I’d never pay for that swill. The ‘cheapest’ beer I buy is Henry Weinhards (6%), which at $1 bottle at the liquor store, is price comparable to the so-called micro-brew that is mass-produced by the big labels. When I can afford it, my personal favorite is the venerable Pilsner Urquell, but at $2.85 bottle, it’s a luxury indulgence. Utah is not the ideal state for beer lovers.

    Comment by Beer Snob — Mar 1st 2007 @ 5:03 pm

  51. Yuengling - you gotta try the Black and Tan - its dark and well brewed - and I can’t get it in Georgia - I have to get my in-laws in Pennsylvania to bring two cases for me when they do come down and visit.

    That’s the best beer I’ve tasted - but I do like Samuel Adams - they’re pretty good.

    Comment by Yuengling — Mar 15th 2007 @ 12:09 pm

  52. Good beer. I personally drink a german beer called ‘ DAB ‘ if you havent tried it be sure to look for it its the biz!.. the other is James Ready beer thats nice.. and cheap.. but dab is 9 bucks

    I go for what I like vs cheap

    Comment by CreditNine.com — Mar 21st 2007 @ 1:24 pm

  53. Sleeman Honey Brown and Cream Ale - Both are excellent brews

    Guiness is an all time favorite.

    I will post others as I sample these brews but of course now I am going to be inspired to drink way to much :)

    I built a blog that was to be my “losing my beer belly” at http://www.beerbelly.ca

    Comment by Crediteria.com — Apr 6th 2007 @ 12:16 am

  54. Can go cheap some days but prefer better beer. BBR cans is my cheap choice, cold it’s good, drinking a sam white beer now. Favorites probably Steelhead Extra Pale, but dig Sierra Pale & Guiness & buy Hoegardden when ever I see it.

    Comment by Jim — Apr 10th 2007 @ 10:57 pm

  55. broke ass cheap beer- Natural light aka Natty Light or “the champagne of beers”, Miller High Life by the box in 32oz!

    got a little money on you but none in the bank-
    Miller Lite or Bud Light

    Top 5 regardless of price
    DOS EQUIS (WITH A LIME)
    BUD SELECT
    HEFEWEIZEN (SHINER OR PYRAMID)
    BOHEMIA ( A LIGHT MEXICAN BEER THAT PUTS CORONA(PISS) TO SHAME
    APRICOT WEIZEN (PYRAMID)

    Comment by Rob Villa — Apr 24th 2007 @ 1:17 am

  56. Livin in the great state of Texas. The cheap beer of choice is an ice cold Lone Star on a hot Texas summer day.
    I am a Guinness man normally but if I am on the Cheap its the Lone Star. In addition to being good and cheap they have puzzles in the cap. I can’t figure it out but some how the hardest one is always the last one in the six pack no matter which one I start with. ;)

    Comment by Punkrock Phil — Apr 24th 2007 @ 10:40 pm

  57. Cheap beer in the midwest was always Old Style, but the best lately is Alaskan Amber-Alt style beer, brewed in Juneau. good price too.

    Comment by mik — Apr 27th 2007 @ 1:06 am

  58. Guinness is good for you (and most definitely for me!)!!!!

    Comment by John — May 2nd 2007 @ 1:19 pm

  59. I just want to add a couple of comments to this thread. The first is that I completely agree life is too short to drink cheap beer. While my wife and I live a fairly frugal lifestyle, one area where we won’t make a sacrifice is on good spirits (she is a wine connoisseur and I revel tasty beers and a semi-periodic glass of scotch). We’ve realized that by cutting out spending on frequently eating out, completely cutting out Starbucks, etc. that we don’t feel guilty when we spend a few extra nickels imbibing good alcohol.

    As for incredibly tasty non-cheap beer, the beers from the Samuel Smith brewery are absolutely incredible. I suggest the Old Brewery Pale Ale, the Nut Brown Ale, the Tadcaster Lager and the Oatmeal Stout. These are some of the greatest beers in the world; there is no intended hyperbole in that statement. (For those who care about such things, they are an independent brewery, they employ the Yorkshire Square method for brewing, their water is pulled from a 250-year-old well, they have used the same strain of yeast since 1900, they are very environmentally friendly and all of their beers are vegan.) To find a local distributor, contact Merchant du Vin but as a starter try your local Trader Joe’s.

    Comment by Jason — May 12th 2007 @ 6:20 pm

  60. Also, nickel, given that you enjoy Newcastle Brown Ale, it is imperative that you try the Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale.

    Comment by Jason — May 12th 2007 @ 6:25 pm

  61. I can’t believe I missed this post! I found this through Money and Investing.

    Hm… For me, my old standbys are Rolling Rock and Yuengling, the staples of my PA days. I hardly drank when I was underage and I didn’t get a taste for beer till I was older. I drank a lot of Sam Adams in college. I was a cheap date, so I was cool with nursing just one or two for the night. I always figured that I should go for taste rather than inebriation. I am lucky to weigh little, so what’s a dollar or two more for a beer if I’m only having one? At least I’ll drink all of it and not waste a drop.

    Lately I still go for Yuengling. It’s yeasty and tastes like pretzels! But I like Guinness if it’s on tap. That’s usually my first choice for beer. But if I’m at a place that stocks a lot, I’ll go for Pyramid Hefeweizen (extra lemons please!), Lindemann’s Framboise, Berliner Weisse (with cherry syrup), Wyder’s Pear Cider, Bass Ale, Red Hook IPA.

    Comment by mapgirl — May 18th 2007 @ 11:33 am

  62. Funny, but the title is my tag line on another beer site. Personally, I have been hitting the Belgian beers hard, and I recently bought 8 bottles of Westvletern 12. Oh, now that stuff is GOOD! But very spendy, about 20 bucks a bottle.

    For a cheaper version of the same beer, I would try the St. Bernardus 12. Also the Achel Brune is very tasty. For a standard Belgian, I like Hoegaarden and Duvel. Corsendonk is another really good one.

    When I go micro, I usually go with my local standby…Bridgeport IPA. I also dig the Alaskan Amber, which is more of an Alt beer than an Amber.

    Comment by Steve — Jun 4th 2007 @ 6:29 am

  63. i actually prefer coors light.

    i have really cheap taste in wine too!

    Comment by Adventures In Money Making — Jun 12th 2007 @ 8:13 pm

  64. I agree with you whole heartedly. My beer of choice is Blue Moon, and in the colder months I’m sipping on New Belgiums Fat Tire. I can’t drink anything domestic, not because I’m snobbish or anything like that, it’s because I need taste, and after drinking great tasting beers for so long, anything domestic just tastes like bad water.

    Comment by CJ — Jul 11th 2007 @ 1:27 pm

  65. In college I drank…….oh wait, I didn’t go to college.
    You would love the Pacific NW. We shower and swim in good microbrew. If you make it to Portland you must visit at least 2-3 brewpubs a day just to get a feel.
    I read about other homebrewers. If you haven’t already tried give it a shot. You may be suprised.

    Comment by Dave — Jul 11th 2007 @ 9:08 pm

  66. I’ve stumbled into this conversation, rather like walking around in a cocktail party, looking for financial information, and overhearing something very interesting. So my few cent’s worth on beer: Grew up drinking Moosehead, when it was an Ale, not the beer version sold in U.S. Drank lots of Sam Adams when I moved to the U.S. Eventually married a Czech, who took me home and introduced me to GOOD beer. Popovicky Kozel (readers in Ontario can get the bottled version, a mere shadow of its on-tap parent), Pilsner Urquell (mentioned above, but fresh on tap), Staro Brno( Imagine sitting in the beer-garden at the brewery. Or, I’ll post pictures of it!)We are trying (so far without great success) to brew a Czech-style pilsner here in south Florida at a brew-on-premises shop( 72, 12-oz. bottles per batch). Mostly not buying any beer from the stores anymore, even if the b-o-p stuff isn’t as good as we wish. Occasionally finding Shipyard Ale in south Florida, and we like that. We like Sleeman’s, noted above, when we visit family in Canada.

    Comment by Stephen — Jul 11th 2007 @ 10:07 pm

  67. I am a college student.

    I drink good beer. It’s more expensive, but that just means I drink less. I get more enjoyment out of one bottle of good beer than two bottles of cheap beer, so I’ll go with the good beer.

    Comment by Adam Jaskiewicz — Jul 17th 2007 @ 11:19 am

  68. Both, my wife bought me an exotic beer of the month (actually 2 6 packs, last time was an organic ale and an organic porter for Montana, yummy!) and I buy a cheap local one (Kokanee) as my regular “working” beer so to speak. Best of bother worlds.

    Comment by Kurt Seifried — Aug 4th 2007 @ 5:06 pm

  69. As far as cheap beer goes, I only buy when I don’t have much of a choice, but my personal fav’s would have to be Miller High Life and PBR. If I just want to get trashed (not since college days) and don’t care about flavor, I’ll go for a natty ice.

    Either way, I prefer stronger more flavorfull stuff these days, like:

    Sam adams, any kind is good, boston lager my go-to fav
    Bud Select - good for cheap beer
    Blue moon
    Yuengling
    Bass
    Newcastle

    Sam adams for the win though, it’s just great stuff..

    Comment by Cole — Aug 23rd 2007 @ 8:07 am

  70. I grew up with High life, MGD, Budweiser.
    When I was younger, I would stick with Bud, I can’t stand light beers, but now, I prefer:
    Yuengling
    Blue Moon
    Guiness
    Harp

    Comment by Fred — Aug 23rd 2007 @ 5:00 pm

  71. I may be a year and a half late but your post is great advice. Appreciate the good stuff while you can. Thanks.

    Comment by Susan — Sep 10th 2007 @ 1:34 pm

  72. Oh yea, Harp is wonderful but my preferred drink is red wine.

    Comment by Susan — Sep 10th 2007 @ 1:39 pm

  73. Early college days aside (until I discovered the brewery tour Sweetwater in ATL (4 pints and a keeper pint glass for $3)), these are the beers I drink and love.

    Any Sweetwater (excluding Blue)
    Hacker - Pschorr Hefeweizen (best on tap in Germany)
    Sierra Nevada (Porter if avail)
    Bass
    Red Hook
    Newcastle

    I am not seeing enough pale ale love here :)

    Comment by Kevin — Sep 12th 2007 @ 5:16 pm

  74. In my younger days in South Dakota there wasn’t alot to do, so we drank! One 4th of July, I and 8 others bought 12 cases and headed for the river at or around 9:00 am - honestly I had to make another beer run for 10 more cases at noon! Needless to say it was quantity not quality! Old Mil Light and Busch Light were typically the flavors of choice and it wasn’t uncommon for each of us to drink 35 plus beers each in a outing. We quickly became idiots, but that was made it fun, not to mention it made the not so cute corn fed women look attractive!! So we had that going for us!!

    Comment by South Dakota — Oct 12th 2007 @ 9:53 am

  75. In college I used to drink a lot of beers in one sitting, so cheap beer made sense, but these days even the thought of drinking a 12-pack in one night makes me a little queasy.

    Current favorites:
    Dos Equis or Guinness

    College favorites:
    Bud Ice
    Hudi

    Comment by James — Oct 18th 2007 @ 6:21 pm

  76. In college it was PBR. After college it was Black Label. Now it is Milwaukee’s Best Light:)

    Comment by Dew — Oct 22nd 2007 @ 6:56 pm

  77. I will pretty much try anything, but lately I’ve been drinking a lot of Stella Artois, and Blue Moon… well worth the extra few dollars.

    Comment by The Money Post — Oct 31st 2007 @ 6:08 am

  78. Guys (not to exclude gals, of course),

    What are you talking about? Price has little to do with it. For me, I was a young Navy SEAL on my first deployment to Vietnam in the early ’70s. We had worked hard to load up some underwater obstacles with demolition and had just been picked-up by our our Chief in our little IBS just outside the surf zone.

    SEAL chiefs know how to take care of their men. While we had been snorkeling around loading demo, he had gone back to the main ship and picked up something “special.” When he picked us up, we were surprised and delighted to see a keg of Old Milwaukee and several cans of salted peanuts.

    As the sun sunk over the shoreline, we bobbed around in the IBS, drinking beer out of canteen cups and eating fistfuls of peanuts. At just the right moment, our Chief yelled “fire in the hole” and the demo blast was both impressive and beautiful.

    For me, NO AMOUNT OF MONEY can replace the memories associated with only one beer, Old Milwaukee. So go ahead and waste your money on whatever you want. No worries! But for my Chief, SEAL buddies and me… we’ve got good memories of kicking ass in Vietnam and to this day, a certain awareness that only Old Milwaukee can get it done.

    Comment by Thomas — Nov 9th 2007 @ 2:05 pm

  79. yeah I am with you on that—my cheap beer of choice is good ole bud light—in the can of course—cheap beer in a bottle is just wrong. But my fav of course is good ole heniken. But i have been know to frequent killians,barvaria,fosters,red stripe just to name a few–they are great

    Comment by christina — Nov 26th 2007 @ 3:00 pm

  80. Ive been drinking quite a bit of Stella Artois lately runs about $18 bucks a 12 pack at the local Albertsons supermart in So. California. Costs a bit more but for me it is just a solid beer.

    Im not too picky when it comes to beer I don’t think many men are, but when it comes to watching my Chargers play on Sunday I want the good stuff baby. Try Stella you won’t be disappointed.

    Comment by BoltsForTheWin — Dec 9th 2007 @ 4:06 am

  81. Heineken?

    Fuck that shit… PBR!!!!

    Comment by JJ — Dec 27th 2007 @ 5:21 pm

  82. Life is too short to drink crappy beer, i concur. I call myself a beer snob and basically my rule of thumb is don’t drink yellow beer. It is one of the few things I alway stick to and it has become a semi-hobby for me!

    Comment by femmme — Jan 1st 2008 @ 10:42 am

  83. Warsteiner… 12pack 8.99-9.99 on-sale, quality beats the quantity…
    I’m old for beer marathons, one or two are just fine. I’d go with quality.

    Comment by Nick — Jan 6th 2008 @ 11:43 pm

  84. Yanjing. State Beer of the People’s Republic Of China. Incredibly, it TASTES like a knock-off of High Life. Almost there, but not quite. Not at all bad, though.

    If you can find it, it costs $7. Per CASE. Really.

    Comment by Charlie — Jan 28th 2008 @ 7:40 pm

  85. Widmer DropTop or Terminator Stout.

    Comment by Aaron Kulbe — Feb 2nd 2008 @ 11:49 pm

  86. Totally agree with Dani when she said that IC (Iron City - Pittsburgh!) Light is the best cheap beer, ever. But in Eastern PA it’s getting harder and harder to find. And for some reason here, it’s about $20/case at the places I can find it, so it’s not that cheap.

    Lionshead (out of Wilkes Barre, PA) is a very good cheap beer. At about $11/case, it compares to IC Light and Coors Light.

    Pennsylvania has some good beers at a decent price. Yuengling, which has been mentioned by a few already, is probably the best of the bunch. On the more expensive side, Rolling Rock, Stoudt’s and Victory (right near my house) are also pretty good beers. There is a brew pub near Altoona called Marzoni’s that had awesome beer. They’re about a 3 hour drive though, so I won’t be getting it anytime soon.

    When I don’t want a cheap beer though, my favorite is definitely Magic Hat #9. Not from PA, but that’s fine with me as long as I can get it here.

    Comment by Dave — Feb 10th 2008 @ 6:02 pm

  87. I’ve been in Portland, OR for almost 15 years. And I’m not going back. Not to LA, and not to cheap, crappy beer.
    There’s a small chain in the area, by the name of Mcmenamins. Their Terminator Stout and RetroPorter are the best, comparable to Guinness (I’m Irish and have raised a pint in the 7th floor pub at the top of the St James brewery in Dublin).

    Comment by Joe Kennedy — Feb 11th 2008 @ 12:05 am

  88. I couldn’t agree more…”too short to drink cheap beer.” I never touch the mass produced stuff. Seriously do you want to drink rice (Bud) in your beer?

    My two favorites:

    Allagash White - A great wheat beer

    Old Rasputin by North Coast Brewing - Best stout I have ever had.

    Comment by H_Roarke — Feb 20th 2008 @ 6:18 pm

  89. I haven’t seen any mention of “Mamba” from the Ivory Coast in Africa, it comes in a champagne sized bottle and one is all you need. My personal favorite is Black & Tan made with Guiness and Harp. It must be the Irish in me!

    Comment by Steadwell — Feb 26th 2008 @ 5:39 pm

  90. Some of my favorites in no particular order:

    Hebrew Jewbilation (no, I’m not making this up)

    La Fin du Monde (belgian light ale but made in Canada)

    Most trappist ales i.e. Chimay

    La Chouffe du Chouffe

    Berliner Kindl Weiss

    Allagash

    Sweetwater IPA, 420, Festive, Happy Ending, Donkey Punch (my favorite local brewery)

    Dogfish Head 90 minute Imperial IPA (hoppiest beer I’ve ever tasted)

    Comment by Kyle — Mar 19th 2008 @ 10:58 am

  91. I make my own beer, I’m drinking a homemade chocolate stout as we speak, it’s a hobby that you really get to enjoy :)

    Comment by motleyfoolish — Mar 22nd 2008 @ 9:50 pm

  92. Words of wisdom I learned long ago… “there are two types of beer in the world, cold beer and free beer. Free beer is always better!”

    BTW, think that Yeungling is the one of the better price/quality/flavor beers around. To cut the price even more I buy it by the quarter barrel keg for a draft beer set up I have in a second refridgerator. The CO2 tank runs about 3 to 4 kegs before having to refill, about $30. At $45 for 7.5 gallons, doing the math gives me $0.89/pint. I also get coolness points and rarely have to “make a beer run” in the middle of the big game.

    A couple of tips. 1) keep a hand pump handy. It really sucks to have a full keg and run out of CO2 during a big game. Plenty of beer and no way to get to it. 2) you will drink more, no matter how you rationalize this to you wife…. with beer on tap in the house, you will drink more than just buying a 6 pack at a time…. This may lead to a quick extra 10 pounds.

    Comment by james — Mar 24th 2008 @ 11:06 pm

  93. I’m an all grain homebrewer. It costs me between $9 and $11 bucks per 5 gallon batch. (About 2 1/2 cases worth). I drink cheap excellent craft brew that I make that is often better than the stuff you buy like Red Hook, Sierra Nevada, Rogue, Moose Drool, and others. Plus you can brew it to suit your own tastes!

    Comment by hmbrewr — Mar 28th 2008 @ 2:42 pm

  94. I’m fond of Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. All Sam Adams for that matter. Know what? Just ’cause you like good beer doesn’t mean you can’t still be frugal about it. I try to pick up seasonal cases of beer at BJ’s when they have them. Mmmm…

    Comment by FFB — Apr 14th 2008 @ 2:30 pm

  95. I dislike beer…. every beer I have ever tried. When I was old enough to start drinking, my mother took me out and we got wasted… but the point was for me to try anything and everything… she said, “There is no point in drinking something that you think is nasty just to get drunk… getting drunk should be a by-product of drinking something you actually enjoy”. (I am sure she didn’t mean for me to go out and get plastered all the time, but I was 21, and I am sure she knew I would get drunk a time or many in my lifetime)

    For me, it is Jack Daniels and Coca Cola. I know that doesn’t have much to do with good beer; but if I am going to drink something, I will always pay the price for Jack Daniels.

    Comment by Katie — Apr 17th 2008 @ 7:17 pm

  96. I’ve drank my share of both cheap and good beer, for the money Miller Lite is the best of the cheap, and Smithwicks is a decent affordable beer. As far as the Jack drinker, try Basil Haydens and coke, Much smoother and better than Jack.

    Comment by jeff — Apr 23rd 2008 @ 7:50 pm

  97. Coors Light and Rolling Rock are my old standbys…I like Magic Hat #9 if I want something different. I really don’t like anything heavier than that.

    Comment by Lisa — Apr 25th 2008 @ 8:34 pm

  98. Frankly, beer is so caloric I drink the good stuff just to keep from going from large to extra large.

    The Belgians make some lovely stuff, but it is crazy expensive — especially with the weak dollar.

    Best mass produced beer in America today: Siera Nevada.

    Comment by Dave — Apr 26th 2008 @ 7:14 pm

  99. yuengling rules

    price of good beer goes up because the price of hops and barley go up. mass producers of beer don’t raise their prices as much because they don’t use as much of the quality ingredients. they use cheap substitutes

    Comment by hank — May 3rd 2008 @ 11:33 am

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