Off the Mark by Mark Parisi for April 30, 2012

I think so. At one time, Coors was extremely popular.

Wouldn’t like to try the “heavy or regular” drop.

Yup.West cost commercial light beer is perfect for people who just want some cold, tasteless liquid that’ll get ’em drunk if they suck down enough of it.

If you taste one and can’t finish it, you can still get the Schlitz.

American beer. How’s that for an oxymoron?

Picto — 20 years ago, yeah.But there are some decent small breweries now.Most of their best output has to be called “ale” in California because the alcohol content is a bit higher than what’s legal for beer.I don’t drink much, so when I do, I don’t want to waste it on tasteless junk.Briatollah… the area where I live used to be noted for hops. Supplied breweries all over the country.Alas, all the hop fields became apple and pear orchards, and by now, all the orchards are growing grapevines or housing tracts.

@PICTO….amen, brother. Tried American beer before, Budweiser I believe, even tasted Samuel Adams, left me feeling with the saying “Making love in a canoe” which is, ahem, f*****g close to water….give me Australian beer any day, grows hair on your chest and various other parts of your anatomy……!

Sex in a Small Boat……

I think this is a take-off on Garbage Pail Kids whacky packages from the 70’s.http://www.wacky-packages.net/garbage-pail-kids/crust.htm

I like Mark’s Off the Mark Wacky Packages weeks.

Vegan beer.

@dheine1971 – I remember collecting those stickers as a kid.

Ok, I have to get in on this. For a country that specifically bars religion as part of the government, laws that determine what, when, where and how strong beer is are strongly affected by what religions were prevalent when the laws were made. “American Lager” fits the least common denominator for that and other factors mentioned by those above.Also note that Technically it’s not American any more since it’s all brewed by multinationals whose owners are not American. frank smin, whether the Sam Adams you had was truly representative depends on exactly what you had and where you drank it and probably when. Used to be that Sam’s Boston Lager only tasted “right” if it was brewed in Boston — it’s also brewed in other locations. To get the taste of Boston Lager elsewhere, you had to try Boston Ale.For true American beer, you’ve gotta go to the craft brewers. Many existing styles have been “Americanized” by the addition of more hops. And that’s enough for now from this home brewer.

Briatollah —Of course not all beer is ale…. but in California, there’s a stupid (IMHO) law that any beer, whether brewed here or not, containing over 3.99% alcohol MUST be labelled “ale”, “porter” or “malt liquor.” Even if it’s lager!“Malt liquor” and “Porter” have specific meanings to a lot of consumers, so most of the small breweries call it ale. It doesn’t magically make the beer into ale…. just that because of having 4% or more alcohol, it’s labelled as such, which has many people confused as to what real ale tastes like.

of course