what is on your adult beverage menu for the evening?

[Mike.357]

Shiraz last night, it was Australian, a guys name

Peter Lehmann?

I still don't know what "shank" means unless you are talking about golf.

I always assumed the shank of the evening is like from 6:30 to 8:30 or so, and in golf it is referred to as the "s" word, never spoken out loud lest you jynx yourself.

from Dictionary.com

shank

...........

11.Informal. a.the early part of a period of time: It was just the shank of the evening when the party began.

PS: I never did make it to the Dewtinis last night, stuck with the Stone Colds and had a couple of bourbon and waters to kick it up a notch. I am guessing the Dewtinis will happen tonight as the beer is shot to hell and gone.

[Guest db99wj]

Peter Lehmann?

I always assumed the shank of the evening is like from 6:30 to 8:30 or so, and in golf it is referred to as the "s" word, never spoken out loud lest you jynx yourself.

from Dictionary.com

shank

...........

11.Informal. a.the early part of a period of time: It was just the shank of the evening when the party began.

Damn, you weren't randomly posting and mispelling you got all edumacated on us!

The wine was Rosemount, I thought it was a guys name. I at least got the Austrailian part right!

[Mike.357]

you weren't randomly posting and mispelling

thats why i responded with a WTF, LOL

Rosemont is not an ill regarded Aussie wine. Not top shelf but a darn sight better than any of that crap with penguins, ducks, snakes or other critters on the label.

[Marswolf]

I'm having Stroh's with my Buffalo Wings and cigar.

[Mike.357]

Stroh's

Where did you get that? and who is brewing it these days?

[Guest db99wj]

thats why i responded with a WTF, LOL

Rosemont is not an ill regarded Aussie wine. Not top shelf but a darn sight better than any of that crap with penguins, ducks, snakes or other critters on the label.

I have had a Rosemont Merlot in the past, I beleive, it was pretty good stuff. And again, the Shiraz was good, however it did have a good bite at first, and the pepper was very strong. I like pepper so it was good for me. My wife doesn't prefer that.

Drank a lot of Yellow Tail (Kangaroo on the bottle!) at one time. We (my inlaws) bought it for a wedding reception. We had quite a bit left over. It's a decent and inexpensive party wine.

[Guest eyebedam]

Tonight will be a couple of Fat Tire Ales followed by a case of bud light.

[Mike.357]

however it did have a good bite at first, and the pepper was very strong. I like pepper so it was good for me. My wife doesn't prefer that.

Are you letting it breath before pouring? It will effect the way the wine tastes as well as how it finishes etc.. If you have not done that you might want to consider doing so to see how it effects the juice.

I am by no means a wine-o but some wine benefits from breathing and some are not going to get any better than they are when you untwist the cap, errr uncork the bottle.

[Luckyforward]

BTW . . . Bacardi makes an already mixed drink called "Rum Island Iced Tea."

It is REALLY good . . .

[Guest 5Legion]

Bud light with lime - it's the lazy man's Corona Light!

[Guest eyebedam]

Bud light with lime - it's the lazy man's Corona Light!

Its pretty good but it gives me bad guts the next day. Plus I believe they are marketing it at a higher price point for some reason. Michlob Ultra lime cactus is cheaper than Bud Light lime which doesnt make much sense to me. Its still bud light not corona. Know what im sayin

[Mike.357]

Bud light with lime

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dixNKEZpXI4[/ame]

[Guest eyebedam]

Decent commercial except that Miller came out with Miller Chill last year & its a sooper crappy lime beer.

[Guest bkelm18]

Decent commercial except that Miller came out with Miller Chill last year & its a sooper crappy lime beer.

I tried it once. They over did the salt and lime IMO. It overpowers the beer. I couldn't finish the bottle.

[Marswolf]

Where did you get that? and who is brewing it these days?

Well, technically it's a Stroh's Light. I got a 15-pack at Food Lion in Bristol on the Virginia side. Brewed by The Stroh Brewery Co., P. O. Box 739; Milwaukee, WI 53201. The can is telling me to not drink while I'm pregnant.

[Mike.357]

I googled that Mars, and Miller and Leinenkugel are the only two breweries in that zip code. I would been about willing to bet that Heileman actually brewed that stuff.

But some further research shows that Pabst owns the label. hmmmm very interesting.

And then there is this

Published: March 1, 1996

The Stroh Brewery Company said today that it planned to buy the G. Heileman Brewing Company in a complex deal estimated at $275 million to $300 million.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02EFDF1E39F932A35750C0A960958260

so basically who the heck knows? Of course the above story is over ten years old and Stroh's is no longer in business.

One thing I am pretty sure about is that Strohs is not fire brewed.

Do they still claim fire brewing on the label?

[enfield]

Yuengling Traditional Lager this evening.

[strickj]

BTW . . . Bacardi makes an already mixed drink called "Rum Island Iced Tea."

It is REALLY good . . .

Is it anything like long island tea?

About the only mixed anything I will drink is either a long island,or a tom collins

[Marswolf]

I googled that Mars, and Miller and Leinenkugel are the only two breweries in that zip code. I would been about willing to bet that Heileman actually brewed that stuff.

But some further research shows that Pabst owns the label. hmmmm very interesting.

...

Do they still claim fire brewing on the label?

From http://www.pabst.com/

Make One of Ours… Your Own!

At Pabst, we craft over 25 distinctive brews… the beers true beer-lovers enjoy because celebrating good times with our beers is as much a part of life as cheering for your favorite sports team or taking pride in where you call home.

For us, it's all about quality. By strictly adhering to the original standards established by our founders, our beer has stood the test of time and our customers have become our greatest champions. But don't take our word for it. Taste one for yourself and make one of ours… your own.

Our Beers

F&M Schaefer Brewing Co.:

Schaefer Beer

G. Heileman Brewing Co.:

Carling’s Black Label Beer

Blatz Beer

Champale Malt Beverage

Colt 45 Malt Liquor

Coqui 900 Premium Malt Lquor

Kingsbury Beer

National Bohemian Beer

Old Style Beer

Schmidt Beer

Special Export Beer

Stag Beer

Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co.:

Old Milwaukee Beer

Schlitz Beer

Lone Star Brewing Co.:

Lone Star Beer

McSorley's Ale House :

McSorley's Ale

Narragansett Brewing Co.:

Haffenreffer Private Stock Malt Liquor

Pabst Brewing Co. :

Jacob's Best Beer

Olympia Genuine Draft Style Beer

Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer

Pearl Brewing Co.:

Ballantine Beer

Country Club Malt Liquor

Falstaff Beer

Pearl Beer

Piel Bros.:

Piels Light Beer

Primo Brewing & Malting Co.:

Primo Island Lager Beer

Rainier Brewing Co.:

Rainier Beer

Southampton Bottling, LLC :

Southampton Ales and Lagers

Specialty Brewing Co.:

Ice Man Malt Liquor

St. Ides Brewing Co.:

St. Ides High Gravity Malt Liquor

Stroh Brewery Co.:

Schlitz Malt Liquor

Silver Thunder Malt Liquor

Stroh's Beer

I had no idea that Pabst marketed so many beer brands.

I looked when I first bought the pack. No mention of fire brewing.

BTW, the last working day for the Detroit brewery was May 31, 1985.

[ame]

[/ame]

I notice that they do Schmidt Beer. I knew the Philadelphia company had been gone for some time. It consistently won the Playboy Magazine beer tastings in its time. And it was cheap! I wonder if the current stuff tastes the same? Damn, now I'll have to start a search for the stuff.

Edited August 3, 2008 by Marswolf

[ukerduker]

Adult beverage of choice tonight? Hell, I would settle for anything cold, but that goes against the "camp rules". The best I can get here is non-alcoholic Becks beer.

I would invite all of you to drink one or ten for me on any given night.

[Mike.357]

I am guessing if they do not mention fire brewing then it is not so. Back in the day the fire brewing was one of the big selling points for their marketing department.

When I was in high school getting Stroh's was a big deal. It was very popular. I preferred the Schlitz Tall Boy though. And of course Schoenling Little Kings were always good to have.

I noticed on the list of Heileman beers they do not mention Weidemann. I am pretty sure I can score this beer in Cincinnati and as I recall from the last time i bought it Heileman was the brewer. Heck maybe they do not make it anymore. Not that it is anything special but at least it had cheap going for it.

[Luckyforward]

Is it anything like long island tea?

About the only mixed anything I will drink is either a long island,or a tom collins

Yes, very much like a long island tea . . . only better

[Marswolf]

Well, I've shifted to Bacardi Select and Coke. First sip coming down the gullet as soon as I hit submit.

No storms today.

[Mike.357]

Schlitz returns, drums up nostalgic drinkers

After decades of dormancy, Milwaukee's iconic beer is back on the shelves

MILWAUKEE - It's the beer that made Milwaukee famous. Now Schlitz is making the city nostalgic.

That beer with the old-time mystique is back on shelves in bottles of its original formula in the city where it was first brewed more than a century and a half ago.

Schlitz was the top-selling beer for much of the first half of the 20th century. But recipe changes and a series of snafus made the beer — in many a drinker's opinion — undrinkable, turning what was once the world's most popular brew into little more than a joke.

But after decades of dormancy, the beer is back.

Schlitz' owner, Pabst Brewing Co., is recreating the old formula, using notes and interviews with old brew masters to concoct the pilsner again. The maker of another nostalgic favorite, Pabst Blue Ribbon, it hopes baby boomers will reach for the drink of their youth, otherwise known as "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous." They also want to create a following among younger drinkers who want to know what grandma and grandpa drank.

"We believe that Schlitz is if not the, one of most iconic brands of the 20th century," said Kevin Kotecki, president of Pabst Brewing Co., which bought the brand that dates to 1849 from Stroh's in 1999. "And there's still a lot of people who have very positive, residual memories about their experience. For many of them it was the first beer they drank and we wanted to give it back to those consumers."

In Milwaukee, the comeback is creating a buzz. Stores are depleted of their stock within days, they're taking names for waiting lists and limiting customers to just a few six- or 12-packs each.

But after decades of dormancy, the beer is back.

Schlitz' owner, Pabst Brewing Co., is recreating the old formula, using notes and interviews with old brew masters to concoct the pilsner again. The maker of another nostalgic favorite, Pabst Blue Ribbon, it hopes baby boomers will reach for the drink of their youth, otherwise known as "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous." They also want to create a following among younger drinkers who want to know what grandma and grandpa drank.

"We believe that Schlitz is if not the, one of most iconic brands of the 20th century," said Kevin Kotecki, president of Pabst Brewing Co., which bought the brand that dates to 1849 from Stroh's in 1999. "And there's still a lot of people who have very positive, residual memories about their experience. For many of them it was the first beer they drank and we wanted to give it back to those consumers."

In Milwaukee, the comeback is creating a buzz. Stores are depleted of their stock within days, they're taking names for waiting lists and limiting customers to just a few six- or 12-packs each.

People like Leonard Jurgensen say the beer reminds them of better days. The 67-year-old, who grew up on the edge of the brewery downtown, said decades ago it seemed that everyone in the city either worked for the brewery or knew someone who did. If there was a special occasion, you drank Schlitz. Jurgensen had it on his wedding day 45 years ago.'

"For many years the product was associated with happy times, especially to people my age," said Jurgensen, who's writing a book on Milwaukee's breweries. "As we all know, the world is not the best it can be today. We used to think those were hard times and when we look back on them, those were the good old days."

Schlitz' comeback has been slow, just like its fall from the top. It was tested in a few markets and is available in Minneapolis, Chicago and western Florida, besides Milwaukee.

Its ties to the city are deep. Schlitz began its life at a brewery founded by August Krug in 1849. Joseph Schlitz took over and opened the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. several years later.

Nostalgia could prove a driving factor in sales, Kotecki said. Pabst is certainly using it in its marketing, reusing its '60s-era advertisements urging drinkers to "Go For the Gusto" and simple maroon and gold packaging, marked with fanciful script.

The Woodridge, Ill.-based company wants the brew to go national but is taking a slow approach, reintroducing it first in places like the Midwest where the beer was popular.

Hearing from Schlitz-thirsty consumers prompted Pabst to revive the brand, Kotecki said. A malt-liquor form of Schlitz has been available for years in cans. But fans say it's not the same.

The brew became a top-seller, Jurgensen said, after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 wiped out its competitors. It was the world's best-selling beer from 1903 until Prohibition in 1920, and regained the crown in 1934 until the mid-1950s. That's when a strike by Milwaukee brewery workers interrupted production and made way for others, like St. Louis' Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., to eat into Schlitz' market share. That company, which makes Budweiser and Bud Light, has held the top spot to this day.

Before it vanished, the beer changed — for the worse. According to Jurgensen, considered by Pabst to be the foremost "Schlitzstorian": First, brewery control shifted from immediate family members to more distant relatives, who wanted to expand the business. With demand high, the new owners wanted to make more, so they shortened the fermenting process. And they let customers know it through heavy marketing. There were also quality control issues for barley, so the beer went flat quickly. Customers associated the flatness with the quickened brewing time, and they weren't pleased. To fix the flat problem, the brewers added a seaweed extract to give the beer some foam and fizz. But after sitting on the shelf for three or four months, the extract turned into a solid, meaning drinkers got chunky mouthfuls.

And then, the biggest of errors.

"They decided not to pull their product off the shelf," Jurgensen said. "They decided to weather the storm and sell that product. That's the worst possible mistake they could have made."

Floaters? Flat beer? It was all too much for drinkers to swallow.

And by 1981 the Schlitz brewery closed. The owners sold the brand to the Stroh Brewery Co. in Detroit in 1982, which eventually sold some of its lines to Pabst.

The Schlitz revival is bittersweet for the former brewing capital of the U.S., which has seen its heritage slip away.

Beer was once brewed at about 100 places in Milwaukee, Jurgensen said. The city was home to names like Pabst, Blatz and Miller Brewing. Those first two are long gone, their former breweries now an abandoned site awaiting redevelopment and a condo complex.

And Miller is leaving too. This summer it became MillerCoors LLC in a joint venture with Molson Coors Brewing Co. The headquarters will move about 90 miles south to Chicago, though Miller says it'll keep jobs and breweries in Milwaukee.

Miller, coincidentally, brews Schlitz for Pabst under a contract at its east coast facilities. Kotecki said he hopes to eventually have the brand brewed back in Milwaukee, once some changes at breweries in the city are made.

Kotecki wouldn't disclose sales figures for Schlitz but said they are considerably smaller than for the company's top-seller, Pabst Blue Ribbon. In Milwaukee, it's at about 75 locations, including bars and liquor stores, though that'll grow when more is made.

John Thielmann, 55, of Milwaukee, says his first sip of the new Schlitz sent him back decades. He remembered being a teenager — drinking underage, he noted — spending summers with family on Druid Lake, about an hour from Milwaukee.

But when the formula changed, he started getting headaches after two or three sips, so he stopped drinking Schlitz.

Thielmann, who works at a liquor store in suburban Elm Grove, said he was confident the new formula wouldn't fail him. He figured Pabst had put in enough effort that they'd get the old formula back.

They did.

"That first sip was like 'I remember this. This is right,'" he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25970479?GT1=43001

[Luckyforward]

Well, I've shifted to Bacardi Select and Coke. First sip coming down the gullet as soon as I hit submit.

No storms today.

My wife's favorite drink!