Posted on 11/29/2008 6:07:51 AM PST by PJ-Comix
There are a million ways to slight a rival's manhood, but to suggest that he enjoys Zima is one of the worst. Zima was the original "malternative"—a family of alcoholic beverages that eventually came to include such abominations as Smirnoff Ice and Bacardi Silver—and it has long been considered the very opposite of macho: a drink that fragile coeds swill while giving each other pedicures.
That stereotype has persisted despite the fact that Zima's brief heyday came nearly 15 years ago. The brand was then hailed as a marketing coup, an ingenious way to sell beer—or rather, a clear, beerlike solution—to consumers who eschewed traditional suds. But virtually overnight, Zima was done in by its medicinal taste and girly-man rep: After selling an astounding 1.3 million barrels in 1994, the year it went national, Zima's sales fell to just 403,000 barrels in 1996.
Many drinkers assume that Zima vanished shortly thereafter and has since existed solely as a punch line. But Zima actually survived for more than another decade, until MillerCoors pulled the plug on Oct. 10. Rarely has such a famously maligned product enjoyed such a lengthy run—a testament to its brewers' Madonna-like knack for reinvention. The Zima that died a quiet death last month bore little resemblance to the malternative that swept the nation during President Clinton's first term.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Let me see,...other faves Lenninkugels Red, which I think may also be owned by a big brewery...
I had to respond, 'cause it must depend on the definition of large brewery but brewed in the "Northwoods" Chippewa Wisconsin, I think more or less they can not be called "large." Their Sunset Wheat is real good as well. Leinies 'course I wouldn't want to correct anyone. Another favorite of mine is a beer and it use to have a beer in the commercial and sing "from the land of sky blue waters I think.
I’m blessed with a location to several micros including Blue Ridge and Wild Goose. Favorite import is Smithwicks from Guinness. ...
I'm always curious about Smithwicks because it has the Castle on the package. It shows how little I drink nowadays, not even a six-pack a week, in college I knew guys who did that much a day, but I wouldn't criticize anyone who can do that. I think I've had Wild Goose and it is largely available from what I can tell. Full Sail Amber is another successful type beer in modern times when people mention micro-brew varieties as well as Fat Tire whose Belgium I've bought since I didn't want to get the real thing.
Newcastle is quite good but man, for a six-pack in Iowa I’ve seen prices around NINE bucks and that’s not just at some gas station trying to gouge you but at the better places to buy alcoholic beverages.
I’ve been meaning to try Zima. I’d heard it was a girly man concoction but I figured I might like the taste. Oh well, it sounds like I didn’t miss anything.
Zima was huge in SoFla around 1991 or so. I remember, as my mom drank it thinking it was non-alcoholic.
I was trying to remember what those were called. We drank them back when we were teenagers and the drinking age was 18. They were popular with the high school girls. Us boys drank Coors Light and we always had those California Coolers on hand for the girls to drink.
Schlitz- “The Beer that made Milwaukee famous” was their slogan.
When in Mexico, you can ONLY drink beer. I don’t trust the water and I know if I drink Corona or Dos Equis, I will be safe.
DING! DING! DING!
Just today I saw it on sale (until Dec. 3) for just $5.98 a 12-pack. I had to go somewhere but tomorrow I'm planning to pick up 4 12-packs. This market looks scrungy but they have the BEST deals in town for many things.
Genesee Cream Ale.
Reading this thread, chatting with my husband, he tells me that Genny Cream Ale was the first beer he ever had. First I heard of that in our last couple decades togethers. Me, I begged my Dad to buy me a case for my 16th birthday party as I had it at a party or something and liked it (remember, it was decades ago when supplying beer wasn’t a big deal).
I drank Genny Cream Ale throughout high school but don’t know what happened once I entered college. Never had it again. Your post was a blast from the past. I still remember the commercial...
“Velvet?”
Oh, you were so close. It was corduroy.
I picked up a case of PBR pounders on Friday. I love the stuff.
I knew this thread would take off and burn for a long time. Post as you please.
I am very generic in my reference to large breweries; I’m talking large regional breweries founded pre-WWII that survived regional sales and went on to become nationally recognized. So, I’m talking Bud, Miller, Coors, not Strohs, Keystone or Rolling Rock.
I don’t think of myself as a snob. I don’t discount good beer based on the fact that it may be made by any of these breweries, it’s just that I probably would bypass anything that they sold on the shelf for something local or from a small brewery ~ all things being even.
I think some of the big breweries have some kind of ownership in smaller groups. Often they go to great extremes to camoflauge their relationship. I believe this may be true about Lienie’s and Icehouse. In the end, it really wouldn’t matter to me.
I like Lennies Red, but have never been much of a Wheat beer fan.
I think you would like Smithwicks. I drink it for sentimental reasons; I studied in Ireland and when I drank ale there ~ infrequently as I prefer the native stouts ~ Smittys was the ale of choice. For many years you could not get it here. If you like Bass Ale you will enjoy Smithwicks. An added benefit is that it seems to be very reasonably priced for an Import Ale.
Let me know if you get some and you like it.
Slainte mhaith! (To yer health)
Zima gives you wicked hangovers in the morning. And I’m not talking about normal dry heaves or puking and all is well - you’re literally sleeping next to the porcelain throne all day. The ironic thing is, is that Zima tasted great (IMO), like Sprite on steroids, and when you’re out at the clubs like I was back in the 1990s, you just can’t stop drinking it.
Falstaff as teenager, because we got it for free.
When I was in high school, in philly, drinking age in NJ was 18 then 19. Then 21. lol. We used to drive over to Jersey to buy beer/booze. It was so much easier to get it there. Even back in the early 80s, if IDs were checked, and they were so fake, no big deal. Down the shore, we used to stand outside liquor stores, asking people to buy us beer.
There weren’t “keys” to collect in my neigborhood. No one had a car as we all walked everywhere, it being the city and all.
Drinking booze/beer was never an issue in our house. We had it with dinner, dago red wine, beer. Then when I was a teen, times sorta changed a bit and there were “issues” I was fortunate that the nanny state wasn’t prevalent back when I was a teen.
Today we’d be sued for this stuff. You’re right. We’d be rounded up like the worst criminals.
Twink, you must be in my ancestoral stomping grounds and about the same age cohort. I was actually born in Philly at Rolling Hills Hospital,
From birth to 4 I grew up in Huntington Park until our family escaped to South Jersey, where I was raised in North Wildwood.
Later I went back to school in Philly for a brief while at the Art Institute on Chestnut Street while living in Glenside, PA.
The drinking age was a joke at the shore. It was genrally understood that if the drinking age was 18 that you could get into bars when you were 16, which I did with regularity. In fact, I used to drink in the same watering holes as some of my high school teachers.
Gosh, the chutzpah of it all! My oldest is 10 years old now and while I do plan to break out an ice cold one with him when he is 18 there is no way in heck that he will be running wild like I did!
Almost going to bed til I read this. LOL!
Born and raised in South Philly. Probably around the same age as you. Spent every summer at the shore, Margate and Wildwood Crest. Had an aunt who lived on Cresse Ave. in Wildwood Crest and another who lived in Margate. So I spent most of the summer down the shore. And all of the summer once I was 15 and was able to work. Chambermaid, waitress, barmaid.
Huntington Park? heh. You did escape to Jersey. I didn’t escape til marriage but once I went to Penn State, I wanted out of South Philly. But still loved the Shore. The Shore was different...
Yeah, the drinking age was a joke at the Shore. Thank heavens for that ;) I got into my first bar when I was 14/15 in Margate. Then 17 at Maloney’s and Maynard’s. But we didn’t get drunk back then because drinking wasn’t such a huge deal. The Rainbow Room (?) in Wildwood. Miss Kitty’s in North Wildwood. Moore’s Inlet. Those were the times. We were wild back then.
Yeah, my oldest is almost 18. A senior in high school. We keep telling her she has to drink here first. Before she goes off to college or if she ever plans to drink an alcholic beverage. Drink it here, safe at home, because it does make your mind freaky. Our oldest asked to drink a beer and we’re all for that but she picked a school night and I was NO WAY. Even one beer, given she never had one before, would hit her quickly. I’d rather my kids have their first drink/beer at home.
Your 10 yr old probably won’t be running wild like you did. Plus, we are *aware* parents, lol. My parents were aware too but it was different back then. Anyway, my teens (almost 18 and 16 1/2) have never been to a party where there was beer/booze. Other than the parties we have at home. I’m thinking my two younger ones, 7th and 5th grade, will experience those kind of parties. The older two, missed it somehow.
We may have run wild but we turned out just fine :)
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