So after this video was filmed and midway in the editing process, I found out more information about the early days of Hamm’s. There’s quite a bit of ambiguity due to conflicting information online. Suffice to say, there are some inaccuracies in the account I gave of this brewery’s origins in this video for which I apologize. I try my best to be as accurate as possible when talking about the history of a brewery (since it should be one of the areas I can most concretely talk about) and this is an instance where I likely got some things wrong, through some fault of my own but also through the mess of unverified information out there. Some breweries’ history is much more well-documented and cut-and-dry but Hamm’s does not seem to be one of those. Details like the brewery being Pittsburg Excelsior Brewery in actuality, when the local papers just called it Excelsior at some point before it changed hands, and the details surrounding the ownership transferring to Theodore Hamm are something that I didn’t address, didn’t address fully or got wrong. I think the broad strokes are right and everything after that should be accurate but it goes to show the backstory of a beer or brewery can fall victim to wildly varying information and a certain romanticism. It sometimes makes it difficult to sift through all the noise. If I’ve screwed up beyond that in this video, then I hope my earlier apology softens the blow. I try not to be a total idiot just drinking beer and talking bullshit to a camera; I research as much as I can and condense it down as best as I can. Anyway, it likely didn’t bother you but it bothered me, so I hope you enjoy the video and a beer along with it. Cheers and thanks for watching!
I am really glad you made this video and continue to learn about these fine beers! I only wish you could have tasted the "real" beers back in the day! Cause they were excellent!!
Quick update on the state of Pabst: Pabst's contract with MolsonCoors expires this year, and they have been doing a phased pullout from MolsonCoors breweries in 2024, to be completed by the end of Q4 at the very latest. Pabst bought the shut-down Miller brewery in Irwindale California for $150 million in 2020, which is where their brands will be brewed going forward. I believe that they will contract another company to run the brewery instead of running it themselves (not 100% sure on that). Also, the PBR recipe is called S6-4, which is Hamms. They are the exact same beer in 2 different cans. This has been the case since the beginning of the contract with Miller. Most brands in the Pabst portfolio share a recipe with at least 1 other brand, sometimes more. None of them are their original recipes. The fun part is that MolsonCoors owns the S6-4 recipe, so I have no idea what Pabst will be putting in the can in Irwindale. I suppose they can source the same or similar ingredients, but the yeast and water will be different. I wonder if anyone will notice, lol.
With both sides of my family hailing from the Chicago area, Old Style is still what I think of when I think of blue-collar dad beer. It's what my dad would've been drinking in 1972.
All 3 of these beers were great in the old days! 1960s when I was able to drink them. They have changed so much none retain their original tastes! Cheers from this old beer drinker! Pabst was my favorite when brewed last in Georgia!
PBR was one of our go to low budget high school brews along with Old Milwaukee and Genny cream ale. Mickey's wide mouth did job for a few pennies more.
Back in my alcoholic days Hamms was the beer we got when we were broke, at around ten bucks a case. It was better than Red, White & Blue, which was about eight bucks, but it was awful, and even a drunk has to have SOME standards. Iron City wasn't drinkable unless you were already drunk on something else, and the hangovers you got from it were legendary. If you got into the Iron City you just knew you weren't gonna make it into work the next day. PBR was about the best cheap beer on the market back then, the favorite of the working class Americans. The saying went, Red neck, White Socks, and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer- an American tradition.
Growing up in northern NJ the area around Newark you had Budweiser, Schaefer, Pabst and Knickerbocker, it was the water that made the difference. All gone except for Bud.
When you find PBR on tap, it's good. If you find it in a can, well, it's cruel to put it back in the horse, but that doesn't mean you have to drink it.
I managed a beer and wine carryout in the 70's and after a while we would have some broken 6 packs, where there would be one bottle or can out of the 6 pack that was broken. We couldn't sell the 6 pack so we just set the rest of them aside. I got the brilliant idea of taking these beers and having a blind taste test of the remaining beers with the other guys who worked there. As I remember we had about 6 different beers, Bud, Miller, Hamms, Blatz, etc. To my surprise, Hamm's was my favorite. Bonus- it's so cheap today. I can get a 30 pack for $14.59 at Meijer's.
Thnx for your review ! Finally snagged some Hamms here in Wrstern Mass ?( been absent here since the early 80s), and love the flavor , mellowness and lack of bite of this Boomer Beer ! This beer beats all my other faves now including Miller PBR Genny Cream and Gansett !Value $$$ too beats all of them !
Genesee, like the beers in this video, had a very interesting history and background that was fun to explore and I did a video before this one covering their beers, if you haven't seen it already. 🍻 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t--4L3Mxl6I.html
Me being old AND from Chicagoland, Old Style WAS the beer in the 70's-80's. Hamm's/Schlitz was my Dad's beer. PBR was THE downstate beer. UNfortunately, it's impossible for a young guy now to taste test the beers we knew 50 years ago. ALL the ingredients/recipes have changed. Fortunately, MOST of us weren't beer connoisseur's back then We drank whatever was cheap. We only bought imported beer to impress the girls. 🤣🤣
Apparently Hamm's had a brewery in San Francisco and can be seen in one of the older Dirty Harry films and I bet they competed aggressive against Steam Anchor. Also, when I was younger my mom and stepdad collected light up beer signs amd sold them at auctions and they had a Hamm's sign with the cartoon bear and I always thought it was awesome.
You're absolutely right on it appearing in one of the Dirty Harry films and it was actually something I recorded for this video but it didn't make it into the final edit.
My Grandfather was a Hamm's guy and my dad was Old Style. As a teenager in the 70's Old Style was our go to brew because it was cheap. Being in Illinois everyone wanted Coor's. When I was stationed in California, I got to try Coor's and I never saw the interest. But what was funny was people in CA wanted Old Style...the grass is always greener. I do so want one of those revolving Hamm's signs for my home. I remember my dad on trips into town he would stop at his favorite bar and order an Old Style. They had one of those Hamm's signs and I could watch it for hours. That being said, my taste has changed, thanks in large part to my daughter in law who studied in Belgium and got me into the Belgian Ales. I enjoy them a lot. But they are very expensive. So I found a brewer in Quebec; Unibroue. They have a great line (La Fin du Monde, Trois Pistols, Don de Dieu, and Maudite). They are about half the price of Belgian imports, but still pretty pricey. I still prefer my brew either in bottle or draft. Cans remind me of my youth. For the Summer when outside and grilling, I will bring out the Moosehead or LaBatt's. A little lighter when it is warm. But I enjoy your reviews. Maybe I will have to give Hamm's another shot?
When I was in college, one of the fraternities caught on fire and firemen came to put out the fire. This fraternity was known for having quantities of bad beer, which the firemen saw in the basement. I remember one of them saying "Did you see that beer? Would YOU drink that stuff?!"
Old Style is still fairly popular in Chicago, but the Cubs dropped them as a sponser a few years ago. I don't know if Old Style is still served at Wrigley Field.
When Ernie Banks still played shortstop and Jack Brickhouse did the play by play and urged fans to come out to beautiful Wrigley Field, Hamms was the Cubs’ Wrigley Field beer. Heileman Old Style Lager was just one of several regular advertisers on TV & radio. Both had good ad jingles which I still remember to this day.
Back in the day, the 70’s, hamms came in 2.5 gl mini kegs that you could fit into the ice box. Very cool. And some dune buggy builders would use the empty’s as fuel tanks. F the deposit. It’s cooler looking, and cheaper than any other option. Those were the days.
Old Style is my absolute favorite beer. I has a flavor profile that never gets boring or dual. I never had a beer that tastes like Old Style. It has a uniquely sweet flavor but the carbonation and hoppy notes really balances it out. You can drink a 24 case of it and wake up without a hangover or headache. Old Style is a one of a kind of beer.
you have a pretty good nose/palate given the depth you went into here. I'm a Chicago boy so probably a little biased but I love me some Old Style. Hamms is great too but whenever I alternate, I always miss Old Style more. It just has a little more character for me personally. Oh and just a heads up, not to be too snobby, but the process of krausening is pronounced "KROY-suh- ning" just for the record, and I too have no idea if they still do it. Anyway, great review. cheers!
Good to know on the pronunciation, I just assumed it was correct hearing people say it that way. Each one of these has been entered and won multiple times in the GABF Cream Ale category in the past. Krausening is a key point in the style so they definitely all did it historically, with Old Style bringing it back in 2009 (which I may or may not have mentioned in the video) and Hamm's and Pabst being a big unknown. It's possible they still do but information like that among the Bud/Coors/Miller/Pabst ilk tends to be harder to find. Cheers! 🍻
They're still alot more palatable than anything Anheuser-Busch related. An ice-cold Old Milwaukee Light on a hot summer day is a memorably delightful cheap beer however. It's actually won some awards. Haven't seen in years unfortunately..
Back in the old HS days we lived on Old Style it was a pretty good lower cost beer, we cant get it anymore in Ohio but it takes me back to our old drinking on dirt roads days
Krausening pronounced Kroy-Zen-ing . Back in the 1980's Old style was said to have seasonal variation in taste with the better tasting stuff in the fall.
Yep, someone else pointed out the mispronunciation as well, which was an oversight on my part. I'm curious if that was pure anecdotal reporting from drinkers or shifts in ingredient availability. No way of really finding that out nowadays, I suspect.
Yah it’s an unknown to me as well I just remember old time beer tasting experts going on about this the old timers would say it was available ingredients. Personally I couldn’t tell a difference; plus how do you remember what a beer tasted like 6 months ago. When craft beers started you could really tell a difference Anchor Steam was one of the first and back then it was said to as good as a German beer.
As an ilinoi ute in the 70's, 80's, 90's Old Style was my beer, when they were sold in 1996, the taste changed, and it wasn't good. I have heard that they are moving back to their LaCrosse Wisconsin original location and hopefully back to that 70/80's taste
I was Born and Raised in St. Paul MN so one would imagine that I would like Hamm's the best out of these three. Nope! I actually do not like the taste of Hamm's all that much and prefer Old Style and Pabst.
I'm probably older than your parents and I never heard of Heilman's Old Style beer. From the design on the can it looks like a Pabst product (yuk) but you explained many breweries played hot potato with Heilman's over the years.
I guess that depends on how old you think I am. Old Style definitely did jump around a lot, as I mentioned in the video. Old Style is currently a Pabst product that is brewed by City Brewery in La Crosse, WI, according to the latest information I could find.
@@thebeeremptor I can see you just fine. My TV works AOK. My sons are almost 40 so that means I'm probably older than your folks. You look about 25 to me.
4:18 I could see that rumor being spread about Schlitz or Old Milwaukee or Stroh's or Old Style or Rainier or Lone Star or National Bohemian, but Hamm's isn't even made by the same brewery as Pabst. It turns out that there is more than one way to make a harrible beer.
While true now, Hamm's was at one point owned by Pabst so it was made by them then. I've seen varying reports online and even in this comments section (someone said they are the same, cited a recipe number, but did not provide their source) about it being "the same beer." No one ever cites a solid source for this claim. Whether that's because one doesn't exist (beer is full of this kind of stuff) or they're full of shit, I can't prove either way. In the absence of real information that shows it, I can only go off my own analysis of the beers. While they are very similar (like many beers in this particular category, and many you named are similar to one another), there's nothing that screams "these are exactly the same beer" to me. My consensus is "very similar yes, but not identical."
The few times i had Pabst it gave me a killer headache, they probably put some nasty preservatives in there or there's some fusel alcohol from crappy fermentation practices. Haven't had it after 2014 and won't, but hopefully their new parents are making a better product (doubt it lol). Had Hamm's a few years ago, not terrible, no headache either. I'd probably like Old Style most of the 3 but never tried it. Great review!
I doubt it with Pabst too but lots of these revived regional lagers seem to fall into the hands of people who appreciate it and they try to bring it back to something approximating the original beer. Old Style is definitely one I'd have in my regular rotation as a fridge staple if I could get it regularly. I'll just have to ask my folks to bring some every time they visit. Cheers! 🍻
They’re all bad but that rhymes with dad so it’s good enough for us, we’re sacrificing good taste to buy you better things to grill , now show some respeck
If you could get your hands on Stroh’s Beer I would like to see your review. I can buy Hamm’s in Northern Wisconsin a 30 pack goes for $13.49. I also found a 30 Pack of Stroh’s For $15.99 I bought the Stroh’s but it doesn’t say anywhere on the can or the packaging about being Fire Brewed. That was a big deal in their advertising back in their Hay Days. Brings my back to the late 70’s & early 80’s my old Chicago days . Thank God I don’t live there anymore.
Stroh's is on my list, as well as many other regional beers like it, but it is a little more difficult to source than some of the ones I've done or will be doing in the very near future. No promises but keep an eye out. 🍻
Those three are all horrible. Miller is adequate want cheap, Schlitz is being made to it's classic recipe again and is decent as a result. But these three were never worth the price even when free.
Unfortunately old style I will never be able to try unless I go out of nj but hamms if my favorite and genesee is my second and hamms is ten times better the pbr
My understanding is it's cheaper and faster, speeds up the brewing process and has been used since the 1970's. It should be noted that it's not "high fructose corn syrup" either, and despite the bad press corn syrup gets in general, it has no impact on the health of beer consumers since the sugars are all distilled out of the beverage during the brewing process.
Quality assurance seemed to be a big issue during the Kalmanovitz years because they wouldn't spend the money necessary to maintain or upgrade equipment, and various checks to consistency were skipped or not given their due diligence. Hence the "ruthless cost cutter" comment.
.....None of the beers you're drinking here have anything to do with the successful beers with these names they brewed back in the day......not the recipes, not the breweries and equipment, and not even the water (except maybe PBR).....Nostalgia for the good old days( if you were around then) is relevant up to the first sip of these "today" beers.....
American beer sucks shit. I had to quit drinking beer because i’d get so sick from it. Then I met a friend from Europe and he introduced me to real beer.
