Deep South: Lone Star Beer

You know how we love our Lone Star Beer around these parts – not really, but it somehow feels like you are not a true Texan if you don’t pop the top on a Lone Star every once in a while.

When I was in college, Lone Star was notoriously one of the “bitter” beers (Texans used to call it “horse piss in a can’) but now it’s not so bad. At least it compares respectably to your other “premium” beers … like, ah, Busch, Keystone and Miller High Life.

OK, so Lone Star is cheap beer. But it has become so ingrained into the Texas mythology that Lone Star is frequently sung about, and bartenders will be happy to slide a cold longneck into your palm any time you want.

If you can, grab a six pack of Lone Star for your next barbecue. Then watch as some lucky person plunges a their hand into the ice and comes up with a cold, dripping Lone Star – and a big Texas smile. Oh brother.

Here are some Texas drinkin’ songs; the ones marked with an asterisk contain “Lone Star Beer” in the lyrics, naturally.

MP3: “Lone Star Beer Commercial” by Two Tons of Steel *

MP3: “What I Like About Texas” by Jerry Jeff Walker *

MP3: “I Gotta Get Drunk” by Willie Nelson

MP3: “West Texas Holiday” by Pat Green *

MP3: “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” by Kinky Friedman *

MP3: “Bad Liver and a Broken Heart” by Hayes Carll

MP3: “Bob Wills Music and Lone Star Beer” by Red Steagall *

MP3: “Drinkin’ For Two” by the Hollisters

MP3: “Outlaws and Lone Star Beer” by C.W. McCall *

MP3: “En El Cielo No Hay Cerveza” by Flaco Jiménez

MP3: “Lone Star Beer” by J.W.W. and the Prospectors *

MP3: “Goin Back To Texas” by Ed Burleson *

MP3: “Bar Exam” by the Derailers

MP3: “Up Against The Wall Red Neck” by Jerry Jeff Walker *

The National Beer Of Texas

 

Lone Star Beer – it’s a Texas thing.  Since the end of Prohibition, Texans have enjoyed this brew which shares the nickname of our state.   As long as I could remember, it tasted frankly like horse piss in a can.  For a long time it was brewed in San Antonio but in 1996 the company was bought out by Stroh Brewing of Detroit.  After that, you rarely saw Lone Star any more.

And it was too bad: Lone Star’s brewery in San Antonio was one of the greatest places in the world to visit.  They had exhibits featuring all kinds of exotic animals, a crazy walk-through wax museum depicting the history of Texas (complete with an Indian scalping some stupid settler) and a real cowboy bar where they gave you little cups of beer.