A new American brew at TBS

[SteelbackGuy]

They probably made this decision after reading threads here on Bartowel, where people complained that we needed more beer from the Americas!
Well, we can all revoice! Finally, KEYSTONE LIGHT is now available at select TBS location in a lovely 12 pack. Drink on!

[TJ]

Sounds cold tasting. Can't wait to try it.

But yeah. It's too bad The Beer Store seems to keep cannibalizing existing markets rather than trying to create new ones.

[Belgian]

WOW. How will TBS employees cope with all these diverse brands? I mean, first lager, now ale, and now this new kind of beer - the job pressure must be immense.

For those shoppers getting lost in the VAST selection at The Beer Store, Here is the Ultimate Guide To Beer Styles.

[SteelbackGuy]

Thanks for posting the guide.

I now know that:


A) Canadian Ales don't belong in the Ale category
B)Wheat Beers, Light Beers, Amber Beers and Stouts are neither Ales or Lagers.
C) A specialty beer is a honey beer.

[northyorksammy]

"always smooth, never bitter"--keystone light commercial description

[Belgian]

A) Canadian Ales don't belong in the Ale category
B)Wheat Beers, Light Beers, Amber Beers and Stouts are neither Ales or Lagers.
C) A specialty beer is a honey beer.

It's pretty confusing isn't it?

Mission accomplished.

[JerCraigs]

My lasting memory of Keystone light will always be seeing a sign at a gas station in Buffalo advertising a case (or was it 36?) of KL for the same price I had just paid for a single bottle of World Wide Stout. Which I suppose makes sense, since they probably have the same amount of malt in each!

[Rosko]

Keystone and Keystone Light are as bad as it gets. They are to Blue what Blue is to Duvel.

[matt7215]

Keystone and Keystone Light are as bad as it gets. They are to Blue what Blue is to Duvel.

a poor example of a different style??

[SteelbackGuy]

Thankfully the LCBO has also decided to list this gem in 6 pack tall boys for $10.75. Finally, this battlestation will be fully operational and our destiny complete.

Seriously though, wtf did they bother with this. There is seriously enough trashy plonk in the system already. For example, this is what is in the beer fridge at my LCBO:

Keystone Light
Corona
Bud Light Lime Cans
Bud Light Lime Bottles
Coronita
MGD
Heineken
Dos Equis AMber
Dos Equis Green
Sagres
Old Miluakee Ice
Old Miluakee
Busch Tall Boys
Busch Regular cans
Busch Light
Schlitz Gold
Schlitz Malt Liquor
Olde English
Colt 45
Maximum Ice
Yankee Jim 6 pack
Yankee Jim honey
PBR tall can
PBR 6 pack
Budweiser bottles
Budweiser Tall Cans
Budweiser 6 pack
Canadian ""
Canadian ""
Canadian ""
Coors Light ""
Coors Light ""
Coors Light ""
Cold SHots
James Ready
Okocim Mocne
Keiths Bottles
Keiths Tall Cans
Lech
Tatra
Zyweic
Svyturys
Czechvar
Pils Urquell
Radeberger
Red Baron
Moosehead Tall Boys
Moosehead Light Lime 6 pack
Laker Light Cans
Lakeport Pils
Laker 6.5 %
Steeler
Crest 10%

and there are many many more douchey beers that we sell from the fridge........and now for out chilled craft beer selection

Muskoka Cream ALe
Dead Elephant
Ironspike Blonde
Creemore Pils
Creemore Lager
Mill STreet TAnkhouse




Talk about choice!

[mintjellie]

Urquell and Czechvar really don't qualify as trashy plonk.

[SteelbackGuy]

Urquell and Czechvar really don't qualify as trashy plonk.

Yeah, I didn't mean to put them in that category, but you can see my point about what fills the fridges. I should have said that most of it was trashy plonk.

Most of the problem though, is that this stuff sells.
Take a Friday night for example. If I work in the beer fridge for a 5 hour shift, I am constantly filling the Busch and Old Mill tall boys from the floor to the fridge. Same with James ready. We sell tonnes of it. Mostly to Joe Lunchbox, the hipsters, and the students who claim to have no money. But imagine if we could convert, ohhhhh, let's say 10 of these people. The world is a better place!

[biegaman]

Most of the problem though, is that this stuff sells.
Take a Friday night for example. If I work in the beer fridge for a 5 hour shift, I am constantly filling the Busch and Old Mill tall boys from the floor to the fridge. Same with James ready. We sell tonnes of it. Mostly to Joe Lunchbox, the hipsters, and the students who claim to have no money. But imagine if we could convert, ohhhhh, let's say 10 of these people. The world is a better place!

First off, let's differentiate between those drinking with an appreciation - imagined or not - for what they're consuming, and those drinking primarily for the intake of alcohol. I've also worked in beer sales and the observation was easily made that those with alcohol addiction - whether that addiction was of the serious or the relatively harmless kind - were often the ones buying the cheaper, "discount brands", often in the more economical formats (i.e, tall boys or 1.15 liter bottles) versus those who drank with a more active enthusiasm and appreciation for taste and experience.

(I am, of course, generalizing. I don't mean to suggest that people don't intentionally get sickeningly intoxicated off higher-quality micro brews. All I'm saying is that there is a market for malt liquors and bland lagers, and always will be, just as there is for any other style.)

The fact that these brands sell is not the sickness, it's a symptom. The real problem is that advertisers have enabled the considerable production of false perceptions and values. By being faithful to a certain brand, and by justifying this loyalty with a set of images and meanings as associated with the product by its advertisers, consumers have given a wide diversity to products that are virtually identical.

It's sad to say, but micro brewers and beer enthusiasts like us have a much better chance of turning the general public onto new styles of beer with labels and commercials and stories on the side of the six-pack, rather than getting them to sit down and acquire the taste for it. Or at very least by dispelling the myths that have come entrenched in some of these brands (it always amazes me the prestige people associate with Stella Artois or, to a lesser extent, the patriotism people have with regards to Molson Canadian!)

[sprague11]

it always amazes me the prestige people associate with Stella Artois or, to a lesser extent, the patriotism people have with regards to Molson Canadian!)

I was accused of being "A Yankee Wannabe" for turning down a Molson Canadian during the hockey game yesterday when I decided to have a Black Oak Pale Ale instead. I guess New York State has finally annexed Etobicoke.

Up North, Insert "Heiniken" or "Corona" in place of Stella.

[Jon Walker]

I was accused of being "A Yankee Wannabe" for turning down a Molson Canadian during the hockey game yesterday when I decided to have a Black Oak Pale Ale instead.

You should have reminded that person that the beer they were consuming, apart from being adjunct laced crap, is made by a largely foreign owned brewery. Your selection was 100% Canadian.