Why Is Rolling Rock A Premium Beer?

I think it's a good summer beer but I have no idea how they can get away charging a premium price for it. It's just not that special and I doubt if the brewing process is either.

Reply to
grifty
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The same reason Corona all of a sudden got cachet several years back: marketing, pure and simple.

Reply to
Joel
Reply to
The Submarine Captain

I don't consider it even a good summer beer.

They get away with it because suckers will pay for it.

A "premium" beer is any swill the brewer calls a "premium" beer.

vince norris

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Reply to
vincent p. norris

Ball-N-Cock is a shitty beer, no two ways around that one. Don't drink it, and if you think paying $18.00 a case is premium price then I see Pabst in your future...

_Randal

Reply to
Randal

A premium anything is a brand for which buyers will pay a premium price. Calling a beer premium is marketing, selling it for $2/bottle makes it premium. Withness all the four-packs at six pack prices lately.

Reply to
Bill Davidsen

Yes, *provided* we agree that "premium" is defined as "a beer sold for a high price" and not as "a beer of superior intrinsic physical qualities."

The "catch" is that, as economists will tell you, "Consumers tend to take price as an index of quality" IOW, if swill is sold at a low price, people will tend to think it is swill. But if it carries a high price, gullible consumers will tend to think it must be great stuff.

One example: many people continue to pay a high price for Bayer aspirin although it has been repeatedly demonstrated to be no better than generic aspirin. There are countless other exaamples.

How many times have you heard, or read, "You get what you pay for."

NOTHING could be further from the truth! It is the slogan of those who want to defend the high prices of their mediocre goods.

vince norris

Reply to
vincent p. norris

~ I think it's a good summer beer but I have no idea how they can get ~ away charging a premium price for it. It's just not that special and I ~ doubt if the brewing process is either.

Grifty,

Please ignore all those snobs who think you shouldn't drink Rolling Rock. They're probably hung up on notions that beer should include lots of hops and barley, rather than lots of corn and rice. IMO, RR is just dandy when when all I want is a bland beer with a nice corn pop flavor in a pretty green bottle.

Still, it is hard to make the case that RR is worth $5.50 a 6. Unless you REALLY like that corn flavor.

Aaron

Reply to
Aaron Leonard

While true of beer, that's not universally true. For instance, the use of "premium" with regards to ice cream is controlled nomenclature, and requires a certain percentage of milkfat to qualify.

But for a lot of goods, including beer, it has no reflection on the product itself.

-Steve

Reply to
Steve Jackson

Hey, Proletariat Prince Aaron... Didja happen to notice that Grifty essentially said the same thing all the 'snobs' did? "It's just not that special and I doubt if the brewing process is either."

Don't call folks snobs when you're acting like one yourself. It's not our fault you have an infantile penis and can't afford a Porsche.

Reply to
Lew Bryson

~ > Please ignore all those snobs who think you shouldn't drink ~ > Rolling Rock. They're probably hung up on notions that beer ~ > should include lots of hops and barley, rather than lots of ~ > corn and rice. IMO, RR is just dandy when when all I want ~ > is a bland beer with a nice corn pop flavor in a pretty green ~ > bottle. ~ >

~ > Still, it is hard to make the case that RR is worth $5.50 a 6. ~ > Unless you REALLY like that corn flavor. ~ ~ Hey, Proletariat Prince Aaron... Didja happen to notice that Grifty ~ essentially said the same thing all the 'snobs' did? "It's just not that ~ special and I doubt if the brewing process is either."

What's not "special" about a mashbill that has more adjunct than any other brew?

~ Don't call folks snobs when you're acting like one yourself. It's not our ~ fault you have an infantile penis and can't afford a Porsche. ~ ~ -- ~ Lew Bryson

(Heh, I got Lew all worked up ... I feel like a true rfdb troll now!)

Maybe I can afford a Porsche but choose to drive a Buick?

Reply to
Aaron Leonard

Make up your mind, wad-breath: is corn in a beer "bad" or not? You sound kind of schizo here, like you can't make up your mind if you love Rock or hate it, if you want to be a snob or hate the snobs. Did you have problems with toilet-training?

Don't flatter yourself. I just like to break the warm-and-fluffy mold occasionally, and you got in the way.

Maybe you should stick to public transit.

Reply to
Lew Bryson

So in our scintillating colloquium on Rolling Rock, Mr. Bryson actually ferretted out a philosophical question that I'd sort of been half-pondering for some time ...

~ Make up your mind, wad-breath: is corn in a beer "bad" or not? You sound ~ kind of schizo here, like you can't make up your mind if you love Rock or ~ hate it, if you want to be a snob or hate the snobs. Did you have problems ~ with toilet-training?

So here's the thing: I know intellectually (and because my wife tells me so, and she actually has a very keen palate, except that she doesn't like Bavarian Hefes or any Belgians) that Rolling Rock is a "bad" beer due to its having virtually no flavor other than some sweet corniness.

BUT not infrequently I'll grab a Rock (or a box thereof) and find it to be thoroughly satisfactory. In a way that, at that moment and in that context (e.g. while grilling chicken wings when it's

105 out) that most "good" beers would not be. I.e. the "good" beers - even the relatively refreshing ones like SNPA or PU - would be less effective in this regard.

So, when it comes to Rolling Rock, it's a bad beer that I sometimes quite like, yep.

I don't think that Rolling Rock's "badness" (or my liking it) is a simple blandness effect - the Rock is "badder" (and usually I like it better) than a purer exponent of blandness for blandness' sake such as Keystone Light or Mich Ultra. Because it actually has some character (albeit a "bad character") in its almost cloying corny sweetness. Sometimes (when it ain't cold enough) I DO find it cloying, and then I wonder what the heck I'm doing drinking this junk. But at the right temp, and when I'm not paying too much attention to it, I dunno, it's just the thing.

Another bad beer that I pretty much like quite a bit, btw, is Shiner Bock, which shares the Rock's maizey heritage, but has more of a muffiny thing going on. I couldn't make the case to anyone that Shiner Bock is a "good" beer, but on the other hand, there's no beer that I'd rather wash down a chicken-fried steak sandwich with.

So, yeah, I am kind of schizo here. I gotta admit, you nailed me, Lew!

Aaron

Reply to
Aaron Leonard

Let's draw the distinction between taste and quality here. Taste is individual and shouldn't be judged. When you go into a store to buy beer and you stand in front of a cooler figuring out what to buy you don't have to answer to rfdb or anyone else.

But beers can be judged according to quality, which is different. Quality comes from the types of ingredients and brewing know-how used in the process. You can say that you have a taste for Rolling Rock and nobody can fault you for it. But if you assert that Rolling Rock is a higher quality beer than craft brewed beer, you will be called on it.

Tom W

Aar> So in our scintillating colloquium on Rolling Rock, Mr. Bryson

Reply to
Tom Wolper

Reply to
Steven Gee

Define "quality." Is it brewing to a taste that you like? Is it brewing with certain ingredients and recipes? Is it brewing a beer that's free of infection, mistakes and flaws in the brewing, fermentation or bottling/canning/kegging processes?

Quality is *every* bit as subjective as taste, and you can't pass it off as some sort of objective standard.

If "quality" equals brewing a beer that tastes like you think beer should taste like, that's a question of taste.

If "quality" equals brewing with certain ingredients or not certain ingredients, it takes little to no effort at all to find a well-regarded beer that brews using the recipe you would otherwise pan.

If "quality" equals brewing beer that's free of flaws and mistakes, the likes of Bud and Rolling Rock kick a great deal of craft breweries' scrawny little asses all over the countryside.

So, what's quality? And how does that become objective enough to "call someone on it"?

-Steve

Reply to
Steve Jackson

When I head back home to the Midwest, I usually visit White Castle and have some sliders. I find them totally satisfactory. I would never argue that they are good. In fact, they are arguably the worst burgers on the planet.

Not everything enjoyable is good. And there's nothing wrong at all with admitting enjoying something that is bad.

-Steve

Reply to
Steve Jackson

Do what you gotta do, Steven. I snap every now and then, I won't lie to you. Needless to say, I don't snap in the book. But if I always had to play nice and tell everyone who said stupid things about beer that they were perhaps misinformed and pat them on the head...I'd strip my gears and drool all day. I yam what I yam, an' 'at's all what I yam. Most people who've 'met' me on the Internet who later meet me in person tell me I'm much nicer in person. Kinda like Scheidt.

Reply to
Lew Bryson

There are some nasty pieces of crap around here that you can buy frozen at the grocery store. I did, once, when I was just getting started writing and we were on a seriously tight budget. They tasted like hair oil. We never bought them again, and just thinking about them makes me gag. Next to them, a sack of sliders is heavenly.

Bingo. But acting like something you enjoy is bad and beneath you...that's something you don't need to do. You like it. Get over it. Move on. And extend the same courtesy to others.

Reply to
Lew Bryson

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