News Article: News & Notes XXXII: Simply Having a Wonderful Canesmas Time

[garnetpalmetto]

As one of the resident craft beer snobs I prefer *good* craft beer, but sometimes when you're hot and sweaty after mowing the yard you just want something light. I used to go for Wicked Weed's Coolcumber until they got bought by AB-InBev and, hey, $0.625 per can is definitely light on the wallet.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

I'd be all about some sixty cent beers for the boys after a beer league game, but I doubt we'll be playing beer league games until that beer is no good.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

When I was younger, in the Midwest, our softball team sponsor was none other than PBR. We got all the free beer we wanted, but it clearly had to be PBR. A cold PBR was fantastic after a hot day on the ball fields.

 

[tarheelhockey]

On another note, does anybody actually like Storm Brew? I saw it was R&D, took a chance on a 12-pack, and completely hated it. Took me like 2 months to get through it. I can at least tolerate your average macro light beer, but this was worse than that. I want someone to tell me I got a bad batch, but it really seemed like that's how it was supposed to taste.

My theory is that if you’re a beer company and you strike a branding deal with a sports team, so you know people are going to buy a TON of that flavor regardless what it tastes like out of sheer tribalism, the last thing you’re going to do is waste one of your actual good ideas on that product. After all, the taste has no relevance to 99% of your sales.

Whatever is your cheapest, most trash-tastic flavor... that’s what ends up in those cans.

 

[AeroFishOne]

I actually really like it but I’m no beer fanatic. I’m not a fan of bitter beers prefering to stick with Bud light, Miller light, blue moon, land shark and the occasional Guinness.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

I actually really like it but I’m no beer fanatic. I’m not a fan of bitter beers prefering to stick with Bud light, Miller light, blue moon, land shark and the occasional Guinness.

I also like beers with orange wedges and limes.

 

[Lempo]

My theory is that if you’re a beer company and you strike a branding deal with a sports team, so you know people are going to buy a TON of that flavor regardless what it tastes like out of sheer tribalism, the last thing you’re going to do is waste one of your actual good ideas on that product. After all, the taste has no relevance to 99% of your sales.

Whatever is your cheapest, most trash-tastic flavor... that’s what ends up in those cans.

That's a very plausible theory. It's a known fact that one reason for the big publishers' comics going bad in the 90's was that if a hired-for-job creator for a big company got an actually good idea for a character, looks, or a plot he would save it for his own creator-owned comic (which was a scene emerging), and the salary-paying employer kept getting the more mediocre by-the-numbers stuff.

There's lots of legal stuff and setups governing the employee inventions to avoid similar problems in the technical fields where hired folks can and will come up with stuff patentable and worth a lot of money.

The Employed Inventor in the United States

Actually... thinking about it, it should be fairly obvious for a professional sports team magnate who's dealing out for a brand beer that they shouldn't expect to by chance luck out to get a premium product from their contracted supplier, unless they specifically contract for one.

 

[AeroFishOne]

I also like beers with orange wedges and limes.

I actually don’t do the fruit. Don’t mind both ways but prefer sans fruit

 

[AD Skinner]

Don't fear the fruit. Some beers are like a canvas on which you can make art

 

[Lempo]

Don't fear the fruit. Some beers are like a canvas on which you can make art

And some beers are like paint, and the world is your canvas.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Actually... thinking about it, it should be fairly obvious for a professional sports team magnate who's dealing out for a brand beer that they shouldn't expect to by chance luck out to get a premium product from their contracted supplier, unless they specifically contract for one.

I'm sure the Canes didn't want to pay a premium for it, no doubt so that's probably a piece of it, but based on how it tastes, I still think it was aimed at trying to be palatable to the widest range of people, and when you do that, you get something very unremarkable and not quite craft style. From what I can tell, the largest % of beer drinkers at the Canes games are drinking bud light, by far. You make the "storm brew" be a hoppy IPA or a dark stout, virtually none of the bud light drinkers are going to even touch it. My buddy that I go to the games with (AD and Hurricure met him at the tailgate), drinks mich ultra and bud light. He'll go without a beer rather than drink any craft brew. Yet he tried a Storm Brew and his comment. "This is ok". He didn't prefer it over bud light, but he would at least drink it where there's no way he'd touch an IPA or stout, or even something as tame as a Fat Tire.

I think they were purposefully going for a low cost, non-descript beer, and that's what they got.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

And some beers are like paint, and the world is your canvas.

Too many beers cause us to paint the canvas that is the world?

 

[Lempo]

Too many beers cause us to paint the canvas that is the world?

I've seen that happen.

 

[ONO94]

I'm sure the Canes didn't want to pay a premium for it, no doubt so that's probably a piece of it, but based on how it tastes, I still think it was aimed at trying to be palatable to the widest range of people, and when you do that, you get something very unremarkable and not quite craft style. From what I can tell, the largest % of beer drinkers at the Canes games are drinking bud light, by far. You make the "storm brew" be a hoppy IPA or a dark stout, virtually none of the bud light drinkers are going to even touch it. My buddy that I go to the games with (AD and Hurricure met him at the tailgate), drinks mich ultra and bud light. He'll go without a beer rather than drink any craft brew. Yet he tried a Storm Brew and his comment. "This is ok". He didn't prefer it over bud light, but he would at least drink it where there's no way he'd touch an IPA or stout, or even something as tame as a Fat Tire.

I think they were purposefully going for a low cost, non-descript beer, and that's what they got.

There was an interview with brewer when the beer first came out that basically explained their thought process and that is pretty much it. Make it too dark and the light beer drinkers don't buy it. Make it light and you get the widest range of possible buyers. So you end up with a "crafty" macro-type beer. It may not be as good as the better beers you can get at Canes games--but for $5, it's good enough to do in a pinch.

I did get a 12 pack about a month ago--and I still haven't finished it...not the same without hockey to distract me, I guess. Although ice cold after mowing the lawn--it is not a bad choice.

 

[Svechhammer]

I don't mind the Storm Brews. When I am looking for a beer that I plan to consume a bunch of for either a tailgate, or out all day on a lake, or any other scenario where I know I'll be drinking a lot of beer, I prefer it over pretty much everything else. In fact, I'm pretty much over the craft beer scene. Everyone seems to have an obsession with going with the hoppiest beer possible, and it just ruins the flavor. And for the most part, the vast majority of local beers are way too heavy. Drink one or two and you're full like you just had a 3 course meal. Don't have that problem with a Storm Brew. In fact, it tastes similar to Heineken in Amsterdam, before its skunked in transportation over to the US.

 

[GoldiFox]

I almost always choose Negra Modelo as far as beer goes. Nothing beats it IMO for all around smoothness, flavor, and lack of hangovers. Although I've been trying to cut out some calories/carbs so it's been mostly Bon Viv seltzers lately.

 

[tarheelhockey]

During the pandemic I’ve decided to explore the full range of modern beer selection, so I splurged and bought a case of a fancy import, Heineken.

 

[DaveG]

I almost always choose Negra Modelo as far as beer goes. Nothing beats it IMO for all around smoothness, flavor, and lack of hangovers. Although I've been trying to cut out some calories/carbs so it's been mostly Bon Viv seltzers lately.

Negra Modelo is legitimately a favorite of mine, especially if I'm out at a Mexican or Tex-Mex place since I know it's going to be on tap. But overall it's a very crushable beer that still has a good bit of personality. Reminds me a bit of a Dunkel in that regard, which for whatever reason I can't find on tap anywhere anymore so it makes a solid substitute.

 

[WreckingCrew]

I never did acquire a taste for beer...I've tried 20+ different beers over the years and didn't care for a single one. It's like all I taste is whatever bitterness is in them and nothing else. Of course it's the reason I don't drink much in general, most of it to me tastes like rubbing alcohol (or how I imagine it would taste). I can enjoy a Jack & Coke, or anything sweet enough to overpower the rubbing alcohol taste (Iron Thunder in Charlotte has something called Blue Gatorade that I could get majorly ****ed up on), but try as I might, I haven't gotten into beer (nor do I want to spend $$ buying 20 different types to try to see if I luck into one I like). Kinda sucks, always feel like I'm missing out.

 

[Lempo]

I never did acquire a taste for beer...I've tried 20+ different beers over the years and didn't care for a single one. It's like all I taste is whatever bitterness is in them and nothing else. Of course it's the reason I don't drink much in general, most of it to me tastes like rubbing alcohol (or how I imagine it would taste). I can enjoy a Jack & Coke, or anything sweet enough to overpower the rubbing alcohol taste (Iron Thunder in Charlotte has something called Blue Gatorade that I could get majorly ****ed up on), but try as I might, I haven't gotten into beer (nor do I want to spend $$ buying 20 different types to try to see if I luck into one I like). Kinda sucks, always feel like I'm missing out.

I initially had this problem. I circumvented it with crappy store ciders and Hartwall Original Long Drink 5.5 %.

 

[HisIceness]

I like beer.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I coulda sworn there was a drinking thread I was ignoring for all this

 

[Lempo]

I coulda sworn there was a drinking thread I was ignoring for all this

You can ignore the drinking but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring the drinking.

 

[HisIceness]

News and Notes XXXII- Simply having a wonderful Canesmas time and whatcha drinking thread

 

[Navin R Slavin]

I initially had this problem. I circumvented it with crappy store ciders and Hartwall Original Long Drink 5.5 %.

Oh, so Hartwall Arena is named for a booze company? Checks out.