Friday, 08 January 2010

• Lone Star Beer

  This beer review is about Lone Star, "the National Beer of Texas." [ed. - National?]
  
  

  
  

  
  This is a beer that knows its place.  It doesn't pretend to be anything it's not, and it's definitely not trying to impress anyone.  This is plain and simple Texas beer and it doesn't need to explain itself any more than it has to.
  
  When it comes to taste, I would definitely agree that a good pint of Guinness or Shiner has Lone Star beat hands down.  As for strength, you're better off with something like Arrogant Bastard or Old Rasputin.  Lone Star itself has a taste that I've heard described as "filtered gnat's piss served ice cold to hide the flavor (or lack thereof)."  That statement isn't entirely untrue.  Given all of the above, why the hell would I choose Lone Star as my #1 best beer?  The answer is simple, and it begins with a small bar at Texas Tech University.
  
  Not too long ago, I used to frequent a little hole-in-the-wall bar called Bash's in Lubbock.  The place definitely didn't cater to the snobbish type.  The roof leaked, the bathrooms just barely passed health standards, and the whole place reeked of smoke, but hot damn, it was a good place to go when you were stressed out or had a lot on your mind.  I have a lot of memories from that place, but none as strong as all the times the guys on my floor would get together on Fridays and have a few drinks.  Most of the time, we'd order something with a little more class than Coors/Bud/Miller, but something changed as we got closer to graduation.
  
  One of my friends had accepted a job offer in Missouri.  It was a great offer, but he was pretty upset that he had to leave Texas.  He loved Texas and just about everything in it.  He loved the diversity, the people, the food, the Alamo, everything.  He knew it was going to be different up in Missouri, and although Missouri is a fine state, they just don't appreciate good Tex-Mex, Dr Pepper, and Buddy Holly like we do here in Texas.  As graduation got closer, we had a little celebratory outing for him at the bar.  It wasn't a planned affair or anything, just a business-as-usual outing.  We started off with Shiner Bock, but one of my friends decided to get a Lone Star on the next round.  Given the name of the beer and what it might mean to a guy who was about to leave his home state behind, we all ordered a round and toasted the Republic of Texas.
  
  Lone Star - The National Beer of Texas.  It didn't matter that it wasn't the best beer in the world.  It didn't matter that everyone in the bar could agree that Shiner was the better beer.  All that mattered was that we were drinking a beer that features the Alamo and Stephen F. Austin on the bottle.  This went beyond the beer.  This was about Texas and everyone who loves her.  For the few remaining weeks we had left, we had Lone Star whenever we got together.  To me, that beer doesn't make me think of "complex aromas" or "subtle flavors."  It makes me think of my old friends at Tech and how much I love this state.  It makes me think of the good times and the bad times we had - how we struggled with calculus courses from hell, battled physics, and still found time to have Nerf wars in the dorms and make potato cannons.  Those were tough days, but I made a lot of good friends, too.
  
  That's why Lone Star is my favorite beer.  Say what you want, but I'm sticking with it.
  
  What's your favorite beer?
  

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