Try?
I remember the conversation like it was held yesterday, although in reality it occurred 24 years ago, in 1984. I was 20 at the time, and already I had developed a love for beer. Not satisfied even then with a bland Budweiser or Miller (you couldn’t get Coors in Rhode Island in those days, so it wasn’t even on the radar), I drank mostly St. Pauli Girl and Beck’s in their pale and dark varieties.
Then one day that spring, I was talking with my dad about beer. My dad was born and raised in Philadelphia, and he had taken a liking to the beers of a local brewery, the Christian Schmidt Brewing Company. At this, the earliest dawning of the craft beer Great Awakening in America, Schmidt’s had already been brewing beer locally for more than 100 years, since 1860 actually.
Of course, I didn’t know that then, and it really
didn’t matter. All I knew was my dad said this stuff was only sold in the
spring, that it was good beer, and that it was $8 a case. That’s right, a
case. So of course, I snapped up a case, enjoyed it, and became a rapid
return customer.
Schmidt’s Bock was by no means a match for the bocks offered by craft brewers today, and it wasn’t as good as imported ones, either. But it was better than Bud to this reminiscing beer enthusiast, with a little bit of the slightly sweet, chewy malt that makes a bock a bock. I still remember to this day sticking those little stubby bottles out my basement window in the snow, and drinking them ice cold in March. Heresy, I know, but what the heck did I know then?
Schmidt’s Bock may be gone, but it is not forgotten, and it was a much-needed oasis in the uniformly bland beer desert of the day.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
