This Is What I Drink : 17

The Cheap Beer Carousel:

So as I said, we were headed to State College, PA for a concert. State College is of course home of Penn State University. What reminds somebody of college (or a band ryder) more than cheap beer? Not much, so I went through a mish-mash of beer, a couple from the majors and a couple locals.

Coors Light Draft:

This was given to us for free by the great pizza shop Sarina's II next to the venue (we had the calzones, try 'em.) Normally, I wouldn't sniff at a light beer, but it was free, and I rarely turn down free things. I don't have much to say about Coors Light. It's like beer you drink when you don't actually want to drink beer. It's kind of a farce. I understand, less calories, whatever. I love heavy beer though. There's nothing more I like than a heavy, dark. and high alcohol beer, so the lightest lowest common denominator beer doesn't do it for me, and I hope to not see it very often on the blog.

Yuengling Lager (bottle):

Good 'ole Yuengling. This beer is not only a Pennsylvania classic, but now an American classic. Now that Budweiser has sold out to InBev, Yuengling is the United States' oldest brewery dating back to 1829. It's also America's second biggest brewery only lagging behind the Boston Beer Company, home of Sam Adams. Anyway, Yuengling is our cheap beer. Some people even think it's a good beer. I won't go that far, but I rank it a slight notch higher than the mainstream cheapies. I'm not sure if that's just hometown pride or not, but I like to at least support the somewhat local guys if I'm going to go the cheaper route in terms of my beer purchase. I actually enjoy some of Yuengling's other varieties slightly more than the traditional lager, but I'll probably get to those some time down the line.

Miller High Life (bottle)

Another classic. I'll always have a soft spot for the "champagne of beers" from my college days. It was either that or Pabst Blue Ribbon (which I'm sure I'll get to soon enough). It's not a beer you really drink to "enjoy", but you will definitely drink it. In that regard, don't you really secretly enjoy it? The answer is probably "yes". There is a time and place for a "session beer" as they call them, (any beer less than 5% alcohol and easy to drink) and after playing a show is many times that place. It's something I'd buy a 40 oz of on tour, and something I'd buy a 30-rack of for a party, but I'd rarely buy it for myself. It's the definition of mediocrity and all of the good and bad things that word entails.

Lionshead:

Like Yuengling, this is another Pennsylvania classic, and more specifically a Central Pennsylvanian classic. I don't have a whole lot of experience with this beer but it's similar in taste and price to the beers I've talked about above. Once again, it always feels better to purchase from the locals and it's nice to have a few session beer options from somewhere near you. Possibly the most famous part about Lionshead is the incredible pictograph puzzles they have on the bottle caps. I'll never get tired of looking at these things. Pictographs will always be fun. If you want to ruin your future fun of figuring out the puzzles, go here. Things on the bottle cap are one of the better innovations of packaging of all time and this is one of the better examples of it.


EDIT: You'll notice a bottle of "Root" in the Yuengling picture. I thought Root deserved its own post, so I didn't lump it into the cheap beer carousel. Root post will be up as soon as I'm inspired enough to write a bunch of words again.