NYT Well: "Young Drinkers Prefer Beer" (and Bud Light is the favorite)

Fact - Every beer has a time and place in this world.

They love their Bud Light in college & they drink the bottom shelf vodka like Heaven Hill

I certainly drank my share of Natty Light and Bud Light when I was a teenager and into my early 20's.

Now I'm a craft lover and more knowledgeable about the beer industry and the business practices of BMC. These days, if I'm going to buy a mass produced lager, it's going to be Yuengling. Family owned, the oldest operating US brewery, and still made right here in the US. I have no problems standing behind them.

Good, leaves the REAL stuff for us!

Well, I started with that kind of stuff too before I was ready to embrace better beers. It's crappy, yes, but I think it's also kind of necessary for some youngans to start with that stuff before they have their eyes opened to the quality stuff. If some teen who had never had a beer before tried takin' a gulp of Ruination or some such intense brew, they'd probably go into shock!

I think the development of good taste in beer is often gradual... or at least it was for me.

Haha!!!! Cracks me up, I'll be at a part and the usual is bud light but then someone will come with some Heineken bottles and everyone is all "dude can I get one they're soo good" while I'm siting there sipping on resin haha, just can't help but smile.

I am 22 now and mostly drink good craft beer for taste. When looking to simply get drunk, I pick up a bottle of cheap liquor.

A case of Rolling Rock pony's were like $3.50, and they got colder faster.

I want to click like just so i can click unlike when it changes... No disrespect but in the words of Keyshawn, "C'mon MAN!"

The easiest place to buy beer with a fake ID is at a gas station which consequently has a plethora of cheap cases of BMC products...I was guilty of this in high school, and half of college before i became wiser...

I was always interested in trying different beer well before I for into craft.(and before I was 21:-D) Yuengling and Newcastle were ny go to beers though.

It's all about shotgunning the cans of swill. Punch a hole near the bottom, put your mouth up to it, pop the top and let 'er rip. Gravity does the work. Who cares if the beer is shit when you only have to taste it for a few seconds.

Beer bongs and doing keg stands are effective for the same reason.

So that means you joined BA when you were 19?

It's different for every one of us, and every age. I drank Michelob and Budweiser first b/c that's what I had heard of at 16/17 and when you gave your mowing money to the guy that was going to buy you beer, you said, "get me some beer"...when I became aware of cost it became a game of get the most you can get for the least amount of money...that lasted until I was 22...if it was on sale for $5.99 or $6.99 a case at the Giant next to my college, that's what we got...Pearl, Black Label, Olympia, MB, MBL, Schmidt’s, etc...we didn't drink a "good" beer like Coors light for almost four years...Busch was a splurge...I vowed never to drink out of a can again when I got out of school in 90...(now cans are back)...I lived on Coors light, Amstel, Newcastle, Guinness, and Corona for the next 20 years...so, I came late to the game in 2010 and haven't looked back much either...Now I can afford what I want and I can afford to share quality with friends and inside the beer culture is a wonderful place to reside.

Probably. Dont remember. I never posted until i was 21(i didn't feel comfortable doing it) and don't think I ever even read because once I started posting I learned a lot of basic stuff.

Curiously, I can get a 40 of Steel Reserve now for $2, cheaper than you got it back in the day. Wild.

I bought 2 for $5. In reality it was $4 and change, but nobody counts change.

When I was underage I preferred tequila and hated beer. I still like tequila, but I'll admit I was deprived of the knowledge of good beer in my teens. Today's youth aren't just deprived, they are also butt fucking retarded.

Must not have been too long ago, then.

I believe this is absolutely true but also depends on the person and what the craft scene is like in their city/state. I know around here because there is such a craft boom right now and several local colleges wre close, a lot of younger people are really getting into the good stuff. For me it was a craft festival I went to at 22 and I was hooked.

2003-2007 buddy. I'm not too far removed from my filthy beer binge drinking days. I remember buying a 12 pack of high gravity cans for $6.99

I was curious about Steel Reserve because money was tight at the time; and I saw that one of the Alstroms (Jason) rated it 84, a score that's unheard of for a malt liquor. I can go half a mile to the Kroger convenience store and there it is, SR 40-ounce for $1.99. That's not a well I would go to very often, but as malt liquors go, it pretty good...and I'd still prefer it over near beers like Bud/Miller/Coors light.

No harm there. Drink whatever you want. I drank plenty of SR, Natty, Busch, Southpaw, etc. in college. I drank some good stuff in college and some awful stuff. The real world class stuff was out of reach at that time in my life.

From my first experience with a beer beyond mass-produced lager (Prior Double Dark at the college tavern, late 70's, now rebranded as Saranac Black Forest), to my first "craft" beer (Samuel Adams Boston Lager, 1993, watching Notre Dame vs. Florida State), to where I am now (tried my first Sculpin, Two Hearted Ale, Jai Alai and Sucks all within the last two months), it's been a cool journey. We all are the 5 percenters here; we got a clue and found our way out of the darkness of mass-produced swill everyone else drinks and discovered that there's something better out there. Hopefully, a significant number of young ones will eventually do the same.

It really is a great ride, always searching for new flavors. I'm always trying to get my non craft friends to drink stuff that actually tastes like something (who woulda thought "too much taste" would be a complaint?). I remember not too long ago when I thought Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was too bitter and hoppy. Now I guzzle Heady Topper like its club soda. Even if a beer is "bad" I still enjoy trying something different. I wouldn't mind trying another steel reserve after all these years!

I try not to look down on anything others choose to drink. Sometimes it's hard. I always try to push people to at least TRY something different. Not to drink better, but to drink different. Life is too short to eat the same food, do the same activities, and drink the same beer over and over again.

And yet young shows through in you. I get as drunk off a six pack of Two Hearted as a twelver of BMC...and it tastes better for the same cost.

Word.

F. X. Matt did eventually brew (under contract?) Prior Double Dark as a draught-only product in the late '80's (after the demise of previous brewer, C. Schmidt's & Sons), but the rumor at the time that it was the same recipe as their Saranac Black Forest appears to have not been the case. Fred Matt described SBF as a "similar" beer "with even more character" in one interview. More info in the article and comments at -- Schmidt’s, Scheidt’s & Prior Double Dark – another voice heard from.

Most young drinkers have never gotten the exposure to any thing but big brew companys none of the craft beers. Only way I found out about it was from my parents friends as I grew up. The younger people just need to be exposed to more Craft beer doesnt help that most clubs, bars, and resturants only promote big beer companys and not the craft. Give young people a chance I am sure they will find the good stuff in time.

This thread (and replies) for some reason remind me of Dazed and Confused. Love that movie!

those are the nation's fav beers... and they're cheap, so yeah, college kiddos will go for them. They're the "high brow" beer relative to the even more fiscally prudent option:

And honestly, marketing and expectations come into play. Many people just gravitate towards what's familiar. They all know bud, so that's what they expect in beer. Kinda like hellman's mayo or heinz ketchup.
As for me, I never drank a BMC beer Oh, I did take a few sips of schmidt's in the 70's though. Guess that counts for crap beer consumption.

Credit cards

I hope you're kidding. They shouldn't be allowed to issue CC's to people who aren't working full time. Just throwing yourself under the yoke of debt before your life really even gets started.

Never ceases to amaze me that every time someone mentions BMC, people get all worked up. Seriously, how many of you got your beer starts drinking BMC? I am guessing the whole lot, and look at where we are now - that's evolution. Everyone's gotta start somewhere. And for the life of me I cannot understand people frowning upon skunked up, corn-smelling, piss-looking beers, and (some) yet will pay a super-premium for beers that remind them of barnyard, baby diapers, soiled panties, puke and god knows what not.

Dunno about you guys, but I suppose it's good news for beer in general, that more and more people are into beer, regardless of who makes them. I'd rather take that any day over people giving up on beer altogether. It is only a matter of time before a fraction of that youth tries something outside of their comfort zone, maybe looks up some beers here on this site, and further their horizon. Atleast, that's how I got started....so there's hope, and plenty of it! Cheers!

Protip: ask for a homebrew kit for your next birthday. Once you have the supplies, you can make 5 gallons of excellent beer for like $30-60 bucks, depending on the style and abv.