For my first Top 10 list of 2010, I’ve decided on a decidedly unreal topic, Fictional Beers. By fictional, I mean beers that were created in literature, film, television or other similar media. I drive my wife nuts whenever we watch a TV show or film, trying to identify the beer on the screen to see if it’s a real brand or one the filmmaker’s made up. At least initially, all of the brands here were conceived and created only in the mind of a writer. You’ve seen them in the hands of your favorite characters on the screen or read about them in the pages of comics or novels. Some proved so popular that they made the jump to real products. So for my 21st Top 10 List, I present my favorite fictional beer brands. Let me know your faves. Here’s List #21:
Top 10 Fictional Beer Brands
| Spud Beer from Saturday Night Live While SNL spoofed many beers over its long television run, being a potato fanatic makes this one my personal favorite. Most people seem to like Schmitts Gay Beer or ColdCock Malt Liquor, but I prefer “the beer that made Boise famous.” 
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| Olde Frothingslosh from the Pittsburgh radio show “Cordic & Company,” with host Rege Cordic Olde Frothingslosh Pale Stale Ale might have stayed a footnote in radio history, had it not been for Iron City Brewery (then Pittsburgh Brewing) making up actual cans of this beer (with just regular Iron City inside) for collectors. The beer started out out as just another joke on Cordic’s radio show in the 1950s with the beer’s taglines “A whale of an ale for the pale stale male” and “Hi dittom dottom, the foam is on the bottom.” The first cans were done in 1955, but they were revived again in the 1970s, this time featuring plus size go-go dancer Fatima Yechberg (real name: Marsha Phillips) on the label and the popularity of the cans soared even more than in the fifties.  |
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| Dharma Beer from the TV show “Lost” This might be higher if I was still a fan of Lost, but I stopped following the show somewhere in the muddled season three. Still, like Repo Man before it, I love it when everything looks the same, as if it was all made by one entity.  |
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| Heisler Beer from the ISS, featured on countless programs. Heisler Beer is the most famous beer you’ve never heard of. It was created by Independent Studio Services as a prop to be used in television and films. A partial list of TV and films it’s been used in includes American Pie Presents: Band Camp, Beerfest, Bionic Woman, Bones, Burn Notice, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, Desperate Housewives, Dollhouse, Everybody Hates Chris, How I Met Your Mother, The Hulk, Malcom in the Middle, My Name Is Earl, The Pretender, Prison Break, The Rainmaker, Star Trek: Enterprise, Stealing Harvard, Superbad, The Shield, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Training Day, Two and a Half Men, Veronica Mars and Weeds. See Wikipedia for a more complete list.  |
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| Olde Fortran Malt Liquor from “Futurama” Also created by Matt Groening, Futurama had several fake beer brands on the animated series, such as Benderbrau Cold-Fusion Steam Beer, Löbrau Beer, Pabst Blue Robot and St. Pauli Exclusion Principle Girl Beer. But Olde Fortran is the one I recall seeing most often, so that’s why it’s number six. 
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| Buzz Beer from the “Drew Carey Show” Years before the FDA stuck their nose into caffeine and beer, Drew Carey was working on Buzz Beer in his garage.  |
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| Samuel Jackson from “Chappelle’s Show” I loved Dave Chappelle’s show, and while he had many more poignant and funny moments, as far as beer spoofs go, this one was freaking hilarious. 
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| Shotz Beer from the TV show “Laverne & Shirley” This one may be lost on the young folks, as this Happy Days spin-off has been off the air since 1983, having run for eight seasons beginning in 1976. But all the leads worked at a brewery, Shotz in Milwaukee, so it sticks with me in my memory, at least, and perhaps those who are old curmudgeons like me, too. In retrospect, it’s surprising no brewery stepped up and made a Shotz Beer. 
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| Elsinore Beer from the film “Strange Brew” Given that Strange Brew is the greatest beer movie ever made (though I still hesitate to actually call it a “good” movie), it’s only natural that Elsinore Beer — no longer with rats or drugs in each bottle — should be one of the top fake beers, too.  | |
| Duff Beer from the TV show “The Simpsons” How could it be otherwise? No brand so thoroughly explored all that’s repugnant in big beer advertising and marketing as Duff Beer has done for twenty years. 
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It was, as always, really difficult to keep the list to ten, and to put together this list I also compiled a more complete list of Fictional Beer Brands, listing as many as I could remember or research. Take a look and see if there’s any you can think of that I missed. Here’s a few more that nearly made the list:
Butterbeer, from the Harry Potter series, Flager Lager, from “Magnum P.I.,” Newton & Ridley from England’s “Coronation Street” (I have friends who are fanatical about the show), Pawtucket Patriot Ale, from “Family Guy,” Rocketfuel Malt Liquor, from “News Radio,” Romulan Ale, from “Star Trek,” Tenku Beer, from “Kill Bill,” and last, but not least, the generic Beer (like every other product in) the film “Repo Man.”
Let me know your favorites, and if you see any that you think should have made the list, please post a comment.
Also, if you have any ideas for future Top 10 lists you’d like to see, drop me a line.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/679770/
Schmitts Gay…one of the greatest beer skits ever! Definitely would be on my list, but I thoroughly enjoyed the post!
Brilliant post Jay!
I chuckled through the whole list Jay – thanks for a laugh on an otherwise bad day.
Duff Beer all the way!
A Belgian brewery bought the rights to brew Springfield’s finest – complete with red label and Duff font. I couldn’t resist the urge to try it and then couldn’t finish the glass !
“Willer beer” from the The Kentucky Fried Movie,
and “Butz Beer” from – The Groove Tube
Ah, but surely there is a six-pack or more of meritorious brew from The Simpsons, beginning with Duff Light and Duff Dry, which pour from the same spout as Duff into three separate conditioning tanks, plus, if I can make the umlaut work, the imported Düff, which Moe creates with a black marker. I forget the “real” import Moe offers Homer after his label grafitto is discovered, though.
And lest we forget Drew Carey’s Buzz Beer or The Family Guy’s Pawtucket Patriot, the latter being to my knowledge the first true mass media send-up of craft beer.
Errors of omission on my part! I skipped over #5 on the list and didn’t follow the link. My apologies.
Sod all this fictional beer nonsense anyway. I’m going for a pint of Newton & Ridley’s!
Stephen, Moe offers Homer a Red Tick Ale. They then cut to a scene of the brewmasters tending to a vat of beer with dogs swimming in it. After a taste the brewmaster comments “Needs more dog.”
For SNL beers, my favorite was always AM Ale. http://www.hulu.com/watch/61333/saturday-night-live-am-ale
Actually, the Repo Man beer is real. It was part of the plain wrap movement which dominated many supermarkets in the very early 80’s. I believe that particularly label was produced for Ralph’s Market. (the blue stripe over white background).
I remember every supermarket at that time seemed to have its own “plain wrap” brand. Some variation on the product name over a white background.
cheers
fraggle
One beer missing from the list(s) (and one of my favorites) seems to be “Black Death Malt Liquor”, which was the brand advertised on a T-shirt worn by the “Dr. Johnny Fever” DJ character on the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati”. (I don’t recall there ever being a mock-up bottle/can, tho’- which might disqualify it?)
Googling turns up a lot of reproduction shirts currently for sale, but not much more info. Pretty sure I recall the shirts being sold in beer publications (Zymurgy, maybe?) at the time, but not sure which came first- the one worn on TV, or the sale items.
I’m glad to see that Dave made the list. “It’ll get you drunk”. I’m with the first commenter, the Chris Farley and Adam Sandler sketch is shear brilliance.
My favorite is Norbecker, from the 1985 movie “Beer”:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088781/
“Whip out your Norbecker!”
1. Must be ”Pißwasser” from GTA IV
http://biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=6966
Can’t find a picture of the ‘Yebichu’ beer from Neon Genesis Evangelion. 🙁
If you list top 10 fictional spirits then #1 is definitely Tenafly Viper from ‘Street Trash’ – http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b85/bjdaug01/Cinema%20Wasteland%20Fall%202006/Viper.jpg
Correction: the generic beer in Repo Man was NOT fictional. It was quite real. That used to be the design of the generic products the Ralphs supermarket chain out here in California used to sell in the 1980s. I once even bought a six-pack of “Beer” and had a similarly-designed t-shirt that had the blue horizontal stripe and the word “Shirt” emblazoned across the top.
+1 to Schmitt’s Gay–hilarious!
My top 5 cartoon beers are here (there’s obviously some overlap): http://kooztop5.blogspot.com/2012/03/top-5-fictional-cartoon-beers.html
You mentioned Beerfest under Heisler, but what about the one the movie is centered around ‘Schnitzengiggles’. Also, does anyone know where I can purchase these as collectibles? Would love to add esp. Heisler and Dharma to my bottle collection.
I’d like to crack open an Alamo beer with Hank and the gang from King of the Hill, I tell you hwat. Yyyyep.
There is actually Alamo beer you can buy it in Texas
lets get a two-four of elsinore eh
Great stuff! I didn’t know the scoop on Old Frothingslosh and I am from Pittsburgh! I remember it from the 70s but just thought it was just a joke. I found this site by looking up Heisler beer… I saw it on “Colony” on USA network…
I had no idea that so many shows had Heisler beer… Thanks!!!
Duff beer started as a fictional beer, but now it’s real. Universal Studios contracted a brewer to make real Duff brand beer. I had some while I was at Universal Studios Florida and their stout is surprisingly tasty