OT: Pitt weekend - Finger Lakes vaca questions

[TexanMark]

I like Amstel Light since it is most like my all time favorite, Rheingold. But I had some Dogfish Head 90 the other day and I'm starting to re-think my position on craft beers.

The tailgating sounds attractive, my Fall dance card gets pretty full. But who knows. Could happen.

I am, however, waiting with great anticipation for SU @ Maryland, SU @ Virginia and even SU @ VT, UNC, WF .

Especially in basketball, it will be good to have SU at Maryland in front of a huge crowd ... while Georgetown labors away vs. SMU in a 2/3rds empty Verizon Center.

I'll be up for Pitt...Columbus Day weekend. Try to come up that weekend...contact me offline if you come...I might be able to hook you up with parking.

 

[Toga]

OK, Toga," that's like just your opinion, man". In order to qualify you as a judge, you first have to answer few questions:

1. What beer were Bert and Harry the spokes people for? ("Bert and Harry" not "Bert and Ernie")
2. What was "the one beer to have when you are having more than one"?
3. What beer sponsored a Miss (Name of Beer") Contest and had posters showing all the contestants located in bars and taverns?
4. What beer was the "three ring sign" associated with? (Purity, Body and Flavor were the interlocked rings)

If you pass the test, you no doubt know that Schlitz and Rheingold were two completely different animals. At the time (Pre-1970), Schlitz was a national brewer; like Budweiser, and was a "premium" beer at $7 a case.

Rheingold was less expansive ($5 a case). A regional brewer out of NYC, it was very "dry" with some bitterness. It was advertised as the "Dry Beer". It had a core of devotees as did Shaeffer and Piel's in NYC and Ballantine and Schmidts in Philadelphia.

This was before the beer industry decided that they'd make all the beers in one big brewery and just put it in different bottles. Then it all tasted the same ... so the uniqueness of the regional brews disappeared. SO if your experience is after the collapse of the regional brewers and the sale of their labels to large companies, I'd say you were right. But you weren't drinking real Rheingold. You were drinking generic beer in a can with a Rheingold label.

Thus setting the stage for the current fad of craft beers which are a reaction to the "one beer fits all" strategy of the major brewers.

After writing that I feel exactly like "Cliff Clavin" must have felt after pontificating.

1. Piels
2. Schaeffer (I meant to say Schaeffer not Schlitz) - straight out of the Schuykill River I believe
3. ?
4. Ballantine (didn't they sponsor Mets games?)

 

[Townie72]

1. Piels
2. Schaeffer (I meant to say Schaeffer not Schlitz) - straight out of the Schuykill River I believe
3. ?
4. Ballantine (didn't they sponsor Mets games?)

Answer to #3 is Rheingold as in "The Miss Rheingold Contest"

But you pass with a 75%.

And I think the Mets were brought by Schaefer. I seem to associate Bob Murphy and Lindsay Nelson in those plaid sports coats with Schaefer.

Schaefer was a New York beer. If anyone was pulling water out of the Schuykill it was the Philadelphia brewer, Schmidts (http://www.philaplace.org/story/319/

You would have preferred the Delaware?

Ballantine brewery is in Newark. Where did they get water from? Ballantine was a big advertiser of the Phillies.

What, pray tell, were you drinking at that time if you weren't drinking any of the regional beers? There weren't that many alternatives and Lowenbrau and Heinekens were too expensive for me.

 

[Toga]

Answer to #3 is Rheingold as in "The Miss Rheingold Contest"

But you pass with a 75%.

And I think the Mets were brought by Schaefer. I seem to associate Bob Murphy and Lindsay Nelson in those plaid sports coats with Schaefer.

Schaefer was a New York beer. If anyone was pulling water out of the Schuykill it was the Philadelphia brewer, Schmidts (http://www.philaplace.org/story/319/

You would have preferred the Delaware?

Ballantine brewery is in Newark. Where did they get water from? Ballantine was a big advertiser of the Phillies.

What, pray tell, were you drinking at that time if you weren't drinking any of the regional beers? There weren't that many alternatives and Lowenbrau and Heinekens were too expensive for me.

Hey - I didn't say I wasn't drinking them. Also the short-lived but high powered Utica Club Maximus

 

[Townie72]

Hey - I didn't say I wasn't drinking them. Also the short-lived but high powered Utica Club Maximus

I'm unfamilar with Maximus ... but I definitely tried to fall in love with the early malt liquors, Country Club and Colt .45. As Billy D. Williams suggests, "It works every time" as he enters his date's apartment holding a 6 pack of the stuff.

I once came into possession of a case of Rignes Beer from Norway, I think. Unbeknownst to me and my friends the beer had been "skunked" or spoiled in its long trip from Oslo It gave off an awful smell. But we thought it might be how the Norwegians liked their beer.

We found we could drink the stuff if we held our noses. We sure as hell weren't pouring it out. Those were the days!

 

[OttoMets]

1. Piels
2. Schaeffer (I meant to say Schaeffer not Schlitz) - straight out of the Schuykill River I believe
3. ?
4. Ballantine (didn't they sponsor Mets games?) Nope, Rheingold had that honor. http://www.ceetar.com/optimisticmetsfan/2011/07/13/interesting-1970-rheingoldmets-advertisement/

 

[Townie72]

According to one source, between 1950 and 1970, Rheingold had a 35% share of the NYC beer market.

That's one hell of a lot of beer.

 

[SoBeCuse]

You know, when I read the words "New York State" and "best wine". it touched a nerve.

I've politely tried a bunch of the reds which I vividly remember (A finish reminiscent of "cough syrup" sticks in my mind). So while I'm sure the wine tastings included whites, all I remember where the reds. Or maybe we were just tasting reds for whatever reason.

Whites like Rieslings aren't the most complex of wines. And they do grow and make white wine in the Moselle valley and in Alsace which are the coldest climates they grow grapes in in Europe. So it might work. I doubt I'd buy any if I could. Why take a chance when you know what you are going to get with a white from Alsace or Moselle.

But I will stipulate that it is entirely possible that some of the Rieslings and even Gerwurzatraminers from NYS might be as good as what you get from France. I don;t know. I was reacting to a lame attempt at Pinot Noir.

Personally, I think the ones from Hermann-Wiemer, Billsboro, Red Tail Ridge, etc. stack up to any Alsacien rieslings or other overseas whites. They just do. I've had a couple of decent Lembergers, Pinot Noirs, and Cab Francs from Fingerlakes but the CA, Oregon, and even WA (Walla Walla/Columbia Valley) reds blow them away.

 

[retro44]

You know...I smell a theme here. Maybe we do a retro tailgate heavy on the beers we drank as 18 year olds. Genny, Utica Club, PBR, Miller Lite, Molson Golden, do they still make OV's in the 7 ounce splits?

Townie when are you coming up for a game and tailgate with us? What is your favorite beer?

i'm still 18, mark

 

[CarolinaCuse]

I am bringing this back on track. Whites in the Finger Lakes are good... but, of all of the tasting joints I've been to in the Finger Lakes, I recommend the Two Goats Brewery in Hector (http://www.twogoatsbrewing.com/). Great views. Solid brew. Highly recommend.