Balletine Ale

I'm looking for Ballantine Ale sightings. Just how far West is this classic brew available? I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area.

nb

Reply to
notbob
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This page, on a great Falstaff/Ballantine website lists distributors that carry various brands...

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...tho' it looks to be a pretty much an Eastern-Mid-West brand these days...

Well, I occassionally found it LA (circa 1976) - once I was actually served a bottle with one of those "sideway" oval logo's, brewed in Newark (only 3 years old at the time). And Fritz Maytag used to always be quoted about Ballantine XXX Ale's hoppiness ('course, things HAVE changed in the beer biz since then...)...

Reply to
jesskidden

Reply to
Bill Becker

Ah, but you should have had it, back in the day, in deposit bottles! Only had it a few times from Newark but the Cranston deposit bottles were great stuff! [As were "sister brews" like Pickwick Ale and Croft Ale, which came mostly in 16 oz. deposit brown longneck bottles IIRC]. And the incredibly rare draught Ballantine XXX Ale! I used to drive miles out of my way to hit this little hole-in-the-wall bar, attached to gas station (!) in Somerville, NJ to get a glass ! Seems there was some upscale eatery- some sort of steakhouse- in Plainfield, NJ, on a deadend street near the railroad tracks that used to have it, too (late 70's)...the kind of joint that only had a bar for folks who were waiting for a table, they weren't use to a coupla of long haired guys bopping down for a few mugs of Ballantine, but, screw 'em...

But, nostalgia aside, I'd say Ballantine Ale (regardless of the era) DID tend to lose some of the hoppiness with age, especially in the bottles. (Unfortunately, it often made up for it with skunkiness...). Cans DO preserve the ale better BUT many folks think the skunked bottles are "better" (more authentic?)- Go figure. Pour a can into a glass and it's not the old Ballantine Ale, but it's pretty good for a megabrew.

I don't think ANY brewer ever brewed different beers for cans-bottles-deposit bottles-kegs- but the different "tastes" do point out the effect the package (and lack of pasteurization, in the case of kegs) CAN have on beer. The deposit bottles just seemed to be the best- kept in the dark shell, thicker glass, better cap, etc. Of course, for me the Cranston brew had a sort of sweetness/maltiness that seems to be missing in all the more recent variations and that's the brewery I was getting the ale from when it was a constant in my house (late 70's-early

80's).

And then there was Ballantine India Pale Ale...

Reply to
jesskidden

Thanks, but I'm more than familiar with Ballantine's history. Both the ale and the IPA were readily available in CA in the mid-late 70's. In fact, Ballantine IPA was my first exposure to the style and I've been an IPA freak ever since. I'm also quite familiar with their other offerings, my homebrew mentor having at least 2 bottles of the original Burton's IPA. I know Falstaff is the current owner of the brand and am just interested in how far East I have to drive to get a couple cases cuz no one is gonna deliver it to my door or local liquor store. :)

nb

Reply to
notbob

Oh, sorry, wasn't trying to lecture you on history- just got nostalgic (thanks to a coupla bottles of Hop Wallop...) when Bill mentioned the can vs. bottle debate. That Falstaff fan page link just seemed to be a good place to start, since it seems he's done a lot of research and collected alot of "sightings" on where Ballantine Ale is still distributed. He also give the Pabst e-mail address for finding their brands and implies they've actually answered people (!)- S+P is not known for being consumer friendly.

Hmmm... I've got 5 or 6 but only 2 are still full. Just waiting for some monumental event to come along...

It seems that Falstaff as a company (along with General & Pearl) are gone now, all merged into "Pabst" (S+P Corporation) but they still use the name on the BA label...

Doesn't look good for driving. The further west the site lists is Illinois.

NO? Maybe Bill's come across the brand being carried by one of the retailers who ship beer. They tend to list micros and imports but seems some of them could get Ballantine Ale and the cans would be lighter and easier to ship. The Ballantine Ale page on the Falstaff site also mentions a number of retailers, some seem to ship.

Reply to
jesskidden

I can only go as far back as the mid 70's when I drank more than my share of Ballantine Ale (from Falstaff) in Southern California. When I moved to Casper Wy in 1980, I had a very reliable supply of the stuff there too, though only the bottled product, until sometime in the 90's when it disappeared from the shelves. My last contact(til I bought it online) was on a trip to FT. Collins where I picked up the last 2 6ers on the shelf AND my first and only Ballanttine IPA.

Best regards, Bill

PS: My actual first tasting of BA ocurred sometime back in the 60's when I was just a kid. Being of European heritage, the parents allowed me a beer during sunday dinner.

Reply to
Bill Becker

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