NC men accused of worst crime imaginable: beer fraud

The guys own a couple of bars and a market, where they sold kegs of mislabeled beer, authorities allege. People who thought they were getting Bud Light ended up with Busch Light. Others ordered Keystone Light, got Coors Light.

Comments

[Chip]

I think the Keystone Light to Coors Light swap is a trade up, not much of a trade up, but still a trade up.

[Beer]

This happens all over the place all the time. I remember at the Red Balloon on $1 beer night you'd order Bud Light and you'd get PBR or some cheap crap.

[frank]

Not to mention vodkas, there is a place I used to go where the Absolute painted on label had started to chip off it was so old. People would order Absolute and the girl would say, "I don't think you want that," and the people would say "Yes, I do," and all the regulars would laugh.

[STA]

Recycled cat urine is all the same no matter how it's labelled. I thought this article was about BEER.

[FanDanGo]

Dude: Bud Light! Coors Light!

They weren't defrauding these guys; they were doing them a favor!

[Beer snob who only drinks 15 dollar skunky trappist beer with champagne tops]

Keystone is the downmarket label to Coors Light. Yeah yeah, light beer tastes weak but drinking beer isn't about trying to get the thing that most resembles my morning coffee.

Sometimes you just want a sixer of the silver bullet. Although I'm loving the fact that tecate and modelo especial are cheap now in KC.

[G]

Beer discussions always bring out the worst kind of offenders: The Beer Snobs.

"I only drink imported beer with a fork, because my pallate is sophisticated."

Right pal, excuse me while I shove this Budweiser up your already crowded a$$...

Happy Friday :)

[G]

Bwahahaha.....nice signature!

[TC]

G, that was the funniest post I've ever read on here. Have a good weekend!

[Sasquach]

What's funny is that people regularly refer to PBR as dirt beer, yet it consistnently wins in blind taste tests against the other major lables (bud, bud light, coors, etc...). My gramps used to drink beer that came in a white can that just said BEER in big black letters on the side of it and that was it. I enjoy a Bass or a Fat Tire or even the Boulevard Smokestack Reserve on special occasions, but I'll dring the self proclaimed "Champagne of Beers" any other day of the week.

As far as beer fraud goes, bars better be careful. A lot of bar drunks aren't so much known for their restraint and good nature. Someone finds out that you're giving them Busch instead of their personal beer of choice and keeping beer costs down might be the least of your problems.

[six pack]

pass the pretzels

[JUNGLE JIM]

Who drinks Keystone Light anyway? Sounds like he did them a favor.

[G]

I'm gettin' thirsty.....

[The_Golfer]

JJ - what I was thinking. Keystone Light, rut gut, kind of like any Budweiser. To me, Busch Light is an upgrade too.

[Mikeybackwards]

I am a self professed beer snob (h/t to G; I wasn't gonna post until I saw his line). For me it is not about the price of the beer it is about the quality. I will drink a $15 beer, but I will also drink American craft beers. My description of my favorite beer is more like that typically seen in a wine magazine than a beer blog. But it all comes down to taste.

My first beer ever was in Germany at 8 y/o. It was about 3 oz. of house dark diluted with about 20 oz. of water. I didn't care, like all of the other men at the bar, I had beer. When I was 16, my family returned to the USA. I was invited to a party and was told in a conspiratorial whisper that there would be 'beer'. I was given a Budweiser that I promptly spewed all over my host who then beat my a$$. When the fight was done; he asked why I did what I did. I explained that I thought he was saying I was a little kid who couldn't handle my alcohol because that 'King of Beers' tasted like the diluted beer I had when I was 8 y/o.

If you need a test to see what I mean about taste; take a good American craft beer (Boulevard; Goose Island; Flying Monkey; Fat Tire, etc) or a good European beer (Stella Artois; Bass; Boddington's; Murphy's Irish Stout) and let them sit until they are about 50 degrees or so in temp. Do the same with the mass market beer of your choice. Taste both and you will see the difference between a good beer and a sour, watery liquid.

BTW; Pabst makes a very decent dark draught beer, if you can find it.

[Quad Kings]

I think it is very irresponsible to publishthis piece, about beer, at the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend, when you know people will be drinking to excess, and your posting makes light of a very important and dangerous situation: the consumption of beer.

[Here endth the sarcasm]

If you go to the Red Ballon and don't catch a disease I think you should consider yourself lukcy. PBR is the least of your worries.

Hey Mickeybackwards.
I've got a $15 beer waiting for you. Come on over.

[Sweet Jon E]

Hey Saschach -
I think Miller High Life is the Champagne of beers, not PBR.

Wow, all this beer talk is making me thristy. If you ever get the opprtunity, make your way to the Flying Monkey brewery in Olathe and have yourself a fresh, made that day Pale Ale.

[Butch]

Bud Light and Busch Light are virtually the same beer packaged differently. I've been told that Busch beers are whats in the bottom of the big Kegs when Budweiser beer is extracted from the top half. To me, they both pretty much taste the same.

[Sasquach]

I know SJE, High Life is actually my cheap beer of choice. I just wanted to see if people recognized the moniker. I like PBR too, but I prefer to stare at the senorita sittin on the moon.

[six pack]

Love the Boulevard beer. Anybody ever had Anchor Steam? Real nice one as well.

High Life's slogan is "The Champagne of Beers." Which begs the question...if Swiller Lowlife really is the Champagne of Beers, then what's the Beer of Champagnes? I'm guessing it'd be further from the Moet White Star end of the spectrum than it'd be nearer the $3 a bottle Andre Cold Duck.

Good beer needs slogans no more than Porsche needs radio ads screaming "No Money Down!" But for some reason, cheap beer needs to pretend that it's not being bought as a cheap drunk. If truth in advertising was required, Natural Ice wouldn't say it was "Ice Brewed For A Naturally Smooth Taste," it'd say "DUDE! You'll Get Totally Cocked On This Shit!"

Some slogans seem purposely vague, like Schaefer's: "America's Oldest Lager." And, umm, America's Oldest Medical Technique is, what, leeches?

Schmidt's is "Brewed in the Tradition of Schmidt's Brewery for 125 Years." So I guess they still use child labor & not pasteurization. It could be traditional to flick cigarette butts into the brew at Schmidt's for all I know.

The award for vaguest slogan goes to Schlitz (do all vaguely-sloganed beers begin with "Sch"?): "Just a Kiss of the Hops." That's Zen Master level inscrutable. I always thought that the inspiration of the "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" quote was the Zen guy finishing a 12-pack, & forgetting where his other hand was.

Other favorites: Piels (the beer named after what it does to the lining of your stomach): "A Century of Excellence." Sadly, the century started in 1850, & it's been a half-century of utter mediocrity since it ended.

Keystone: "Specially Lined Can." Yeah, Keystone ate right through the old unlined ones. Look, this is like saying it's delivered in really nice trucks; you're not planning on drinking the truck, are you?

Olympia: "It's In the Water." Hey, it's a slogan that could used as advertisement for beer, or a newspaper story about living downstream from the paper mill, or a horror movie (Jaws 19: This Time the Shark's Drunk).
I've received some new info on Olympia, from Turner Morgan, who went to college in the Olympia area:

It's bottled in neighboring Tumwater.
Tumwater. It's in the water.
The beer's water has Tums in it? Talk about skipping a step.
Logical next step: Olympia Immodium.
Milwaukee's Best: "Carefully Brewed for a Clean, Smooth Taste."
"Yeah, we used to have it Brewed Wackily by Kolonel Koo-Koo the Klown & his Circus of Performing Monkeys, but they burned the factory down."

Not all stupid slogans are on cheap beer; Dos Equis costs twice as much as the above rotgut, & it warns: "Worth the Experience." Umm, yeah, and Suffering Builds Character. I'm sure getting your leg sawed off is Worth the Experience if you've got gangrene...

Hey, if that crap's Milwaukee's Best, what's Milwaukee's second best? Paint thinner?

[Keith G in P.V.]

Is someone handing out Chimay? I'll trade my 12 pack (for me, a year's supply) for a Bleu. Come to think of it, that Chimay was about the same price as the Bud Lite 15-pack I picked up for my daughter.

[Keith G in P.V.]

PHILADELPHIA/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian brewer InBev NV [INTB.BR], the world's second-biggest by volume, is working on a $46 billion bid for Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc [BUD.N], according to a source familiar with the situation

There are kids killing kids, babies having babies, unimaginable crimes against kids and the elderly, and somehow this story generates this much publicity? How is this even newsworthy (after reading the first 2, I didn't bother to read the rest of these idiotic comments). Here it comes: drunks damages for life!!!!! Served the wrong beer!!!! Call the lawyers!!! It should be worth millions in punitive damages!!!!

[The_Golfer]

We been invaded by trolls.

I need a beer.

[Keith G. in P.V.]

[hands Golfer a cold one]

[Bill CK]

Anchor Steam rocks! If no one could tell the difference in the taste of Keystone Light and Coors light then there is something wrong with their taste buds. Plus, who orders Keystone light out. That is float trip beer!

[Beer Drinkers Wife]

Keystone is the downmarket of Coors Light (as already pointed out) and is perfectly fine. I don't even drink beer (of any kind) and can tolerate CL and Keystone. Get off your high horses and relax. It's beer for gods sake.

[BedlamX]

After a few years in Germany, I got used to the darker beers, myself. Came back to the states and searched all over for one that came close to the bock we had at the strawberry fest in Erlangen (sp?). A friend of mine turned me on to Shiner Bock and I have been hooked ever since. It ain't $15 a beer (or even a 12-pack), but you can get it in kegs from certain liquer stores. I do find it funny, though, that many places put it in the "imported beer" section of their menu even though it is brewed in Texas. I know most Texans think they are their own country...but that doesn't make it so :P

[Seth]

I was in Margarita's one night and ordered a Boulevard Wheat. I could read the menu right through the glass (Boulevard Wheat is unfiltered, so it should be cloudy). When I pointed out to our waitress the mistake and she went to check it out and came back and told us that, no, it was in fact Boulevard Wheat. Normally I wouldn't care, but I didn't like being lied to, so I sent it back.

[in2ropin]

Look I'm with the troll. I want to talk about babies killing babies.

So, when a baby first raises their........... Wait a minute, was that Babies killing adults?

Oh never mind,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Ash]

Sweet Jon E: I love Flying Monkey's Pale Ale. I also love the pints of beer they give out free every other Saturday. Go for a 15-minute tour, stay for an hour drinking free Kansas City beer.

[STA]

Anyone who is stupid enough to let a cold beer sit around until it is at 50 degrees just to compare warm-beer taste is probably dumb enough to pay $90 a six-pack. Oh, excuse' moi, a fine-beer transporatation kit. Whatever. Who the hell cares what a beer tastes like when it is warm?

Do you have to hold your pinky out when you drink it. or can ya just grab a can and slug it down with your fresh-made quiche?

[Foster Brooks]

ibeen a beerdrinkr allll mi life and ti haznt...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....adn besides i nevr get hagovers...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[kc dude]

In honor of the official start of the Summer beer season, one of the funniest comedians to ever grace the planet Earth....Foster Brooks....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6xDs_x8c2I

[james]

"BUDWEISER" is the only beer!!!!!

Just goes to show you that most of these pot-bellies don't know one beer from another.

[Mikeybackwards]

STA, please, stay away from a topic that would exhibit your stupidity; which I guess means staying away from any and all topics that don't involve belching, fart jokes, and other sophmoric/moronic pursuits.

But if you want to drink another guys piss and pay for the pleasure, please continue hanging out in the locker room sniffing the jock straps.

[Rosie]

Oh dear. Someone forgot to tell Mickey not to take you guys too seriously. He's right, of course, about good dark beers and stouts tasting better at a higher temperature. If they are too cold they are bitter. I'm not exactly a beer snob, and I don't spend thousands on touring breweries like one guy I dated, but I really don't like most beer -- you can pour it back in the horse for all I care. The really good darks I like, and the unpasteurized varieties taste better 'cause they haven't been heated, and there ends my beer knowledge. Does anyone have a good farting joke? I'll pass on the jock strap sniffing.

[Tapper John]

Standford & Sons in Westport used to be the worst culprit for doing that. The tap handles meant nothing. It was all Old Mikwaukee or whatever beer Stan could get the cheapest kegs of.
If you're drinking beer in Kansas, beware. They could very easily be serving you 3.2 beer. It's not uncommon and it's not illegal.

I'll drink all American PBR or Coors products anyday over soon-to-be European owned Butwiper!

I am NOT"John Tapper" what's wrong with this website?

[STA]

Wow, Mikey. You seem to have quite a fixation on homoerotic thoughts. Is it the warm beer or what? Were you abused by apriest?

[ddh]

Beer fraud punishable by death or having to look at rosie O'donnel nude lol.

[Mikeybackwards]

STA, it is called responding in kind. You are the one who started with your characterization of anyone who wants something that is quality as effete. I saw way too many people like you around the lockerrooms when I was growing up playing sports who wanted to act tough rather than work hard to be a quality member of a team.

The piss comment was aimed not just as an insult, but as someone else pointed out, most American 'beer' is about the same quality as cat urine. I gave a simple test anyone could do to learn the difference in quality. By the way, when is 50 degrees warm - only when talking about cheap-ass beer that has to freeze your tastebuds so you don't realize how awful it is.

If you want to continue playing high-school insult games though, feel free to fire back.

As for price, I have paid $15 for a beer; but not for a piddly 12 oz bottle. If you ever go to Gomer's at 99th & Holmes (or any similar store that has more than your AB/Miller/Coors/Boulevard selection, you will see that alot of beers are sold singly in larger sizes (and I'm not talking forties or double-dueces). But those beers have specific qualites that benefit from the larger bottle. Knocking one of those (Chimay Grand-Cru, for example as someone mentioned above) back over the course of an evening with a nice grilled steak and baked potato is definitely a pleasure.

Not all of us drink just to get drunk. In fact, if the beers I drink didn't have alcohol, I'd still drink them because they taste good. On the flip side, if I can't afford good beer, I'd rather drink water than drink any of the mass market American swills that you call beer.

BTW, a little known fact about American Beer: it wasn't always as bad as it is now. Prior to Prohibition, while there were large-scale regional brewers; most beer was local or only available in a small region. Each of these beers had their own taste and qualities. Only the largest of the regional brewers were able to survive prohibition by converting to other industries. An entire generation of workers and brewers were lost and with it all of their knowledge of brewing. When Prohibition was lifted, the big regionals started brewing again, but decided to go after a larger market. To do this, the big 4 brewers (Anheuser-Busch; Miller, Pabst, and Coors)did not want to offend anyone's local/regional tastes. This resulted in playing to the lowest common denominator and resulted in a bland, weak, characterless beer. It is only now, 85 years later that Americans are beginning to learn and demand a better quality beer. Just like with quality tools, quality beer cost more, but provides more value than the cheap stuff. As to the references to Keystone Beer - when Coors began to expand east of the Mississippi they sold Coors as Keystone to imply a more local connection (Pennsylvania being the Keystone State).

So insult away, my friend. I will laugh as you drink Augie Busch's and Peter Coor's piss.

[mdinaz]

I must chime in on the idea that good beer is somehow "effete" or "snobish". I too was clueless about beer until I lived in Germany for several years. At a party someone had brought some home-brew which was as good as the German beer. But both ran out, and I was forced to grab a Bud which someone had brought for some reason. I literally spewed it out, it was so bad. Since then I try to find the beers that best emulate what we had in Europe (even though the alcohol content here is far lower than in Europe - 12% vs 5%). But my favorites range from Shiner Bock to Fat Tire to Negro Modelo (and even Pacifico, but only if bought in Mexico which is only a couple miles from my house). Tecate - that's just Mexican Keystone Lite.

I drank Keystone once - around 1988. Spent the next two days in the bathroom.

Good PBR story: My parents went to an upscale bar in Overland Park. My stepmom goes up to the bar and asks for a PBR. Bartender looks at her and says "Lady, this isn't a bowling alley". Horrified, she goes back to the table and tells my dad what happened. So he goes up to the bar and asks for some German beer by name. Bartender says they don't have it. He asks for three other beers, bartender says they don't have it. Finally, my dad says in an exasperated tone, "Is this an effin' bowling alley?"

Good beer doesn't have to cost much. Shiner Bock can be had here for about $6 a sixer at Safeway. Fat Tire is usually $7 a sixer and Negro Modelo is usually about $8 a sixer. Yeah, not as cheap as your 30-pack, but tastes a whole lot better and I don't need to drink 12 to have the same effect.

[Tapper John]

FTR: PBR [aka Pabst Blue Ribbon], as well as 30 other brands, such as Lone Star, Olympia, Strohs, Schlitz, Blatz, Schafer, etc., are all brewed and bottled by Miller. Which is owned by South African company. Coors is owned by a Canadian company, [Molsen].

[Mikeybackwards]

Tapper, you're right about how regional and even craft beers have been bought up through consolidation in the beer industry. SABMiller (South Africa)is the now the world's largest brewer. I believe however, that Molsen-Coors (co-headquarted in Denver CO and Montreal QC was actually a merger rather than Molsen buying Coors. If InBev (from Belgium) completes it's takeover bid for Anheuser-Busch, it will become the world's largest brewer.

IMHO, the consolidation of the brewing industry has led to some drop off in quality in some of the 'craft beers'. Rolling Rock (bought by AB in 2006) is a prime example of this; it has become more hoppy and often is shipped 'green' in kegs resulting in a generally more sour beer than before - but still drinkable in a pinch.

Also, As proof that AB does understand the difference between its stable of 'yard beers' which are generally undrinkable at any temperature; and what it takes to create and sell real beer - they brew and/or distribute many of the imports I recommend and drink - i.e. Stella Artois; Bass; Grolsch; to name a few. Also, SABMiller & Molsen-Coors has an agreement to co-produce; market; and distribute each other's products for the US market.