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BEER during wartime


LIFER
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Like most of us on the site, we are always looking for uniforms, gear, patches or other things military. Almost passing it up, it caught my eye, being an older Budweiser can. Upon giving it a closer look, I saw it had Military use Tax Free on the top.

I told this to another Nam Vet, and we got to talking. Mentioning about the bees that were available during the war. They were (with the possibility of forgetting one) Budweiser, Schlitz, Pabst (Blue Ribbon), Old Style, (Carlings) Black Label and the locals, 33 and Tiger beer.

Does anyone else know if this was the only beer, and if it was just during wartime. As for the Bud can, it now has a new place, and the price was right......free.

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Garandomatic

Gotta ask my dad about his friend that was in Chinooks... Tom and his crew stole an entire skid of cases of some SE Asian beer, loaded it up, and brought it back to their base. As I recall, the climate and cans didn't mix well. They landed, and before they had their chance, everybody else stole it from them a case at a time. The cans were all rusty, and the beer being warm, it wasn't long before everybody brought quite a bit of it back and returned it because it was so god awful.

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everforward

My dad can remember drinking Wiedeman’s while at Ft. Knox in 1945.....screw-top cap I think......

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Retired Army Noncom

Pallets and pallets of Bud, Schlitz, etc etc flying through the air in a cargo net under a sh ithook is a memory that will always be there.

 

No Tiger 33 (Korean), that was the local brew sold and not from the PX/BX or Class 6. I preferred San Miguel out of the PI. when you could find it in Nam. All cans out of the Class 6 would have had an Armed Forces contract number somewhere.

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Garandomatic

Wildest Nam beer story I ever heard/saw... A buddy and I set up at our local airport when a B17 came in with some of our USAAF stuff. Fellow walked in, saw it, and came back with his souvenir. He was on one of the freedom birds that landed in Hanoi to bring POWs home. The North Vietnamese gave each guy on the crew a banana and a bottle of beer, and he saved his. I'll post it when I can.

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This is the only beer/wartime related item I have. It is a OD beer can from Schaefer Brewing in New York that was on offer during 1944-1945.

 

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Rene

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  • 2 months later...
Garandomatic

Went to an utterly staggering store today called "Jungle Jim's". Ever thought "You know, I want to cook some sort of Asian dish tonight, and I NEED ingredients that are actually from the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, etc.?" This place has aisles for any country you can imagine. Their beer selection is off the charts. They actually had Vietnamese "33." It is in a green bottle and very light, which is not at all what I am about, but I bought it anyway for the experience. I find green bottles always have a twang to their taste, and you had better drink it quick, because if the last inch of it gets warm, it isn't too good. It's chilling now, will post a review after bit!

 

This place, though... Dry aged beef, whole fish, a real-deal early American Punt Gun, two 16"/50 shells from Iowa Class battleships in their seafood section, a WWII era USN firetruck... Hot sauce dept. that looked bigger than my house... Unreal.

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Garandomatic

The 33 was interesting. My favorite taste in beer is a fairly meaty lager. Real brown, lots of malt flavor, etc. I think my favorite beer of all time was Thirsty Dog's Balto Heroic. Not an IPA guy, they make me feel like there'll be a swift headache inbound whether it is or not. Not my cup of tea, but it apparently is everyone's cup of tea based upon the countless zillions of varieties of IPA available.

 

So, walking into the 33, which I read a little about after this post popped up originally, I figured it would be made to French tastes, and might resemble Heineken, since the color, green bottle (I swear green bottles are the reason for the twangy taste), and proximity of Holland to France. Heineken has more flavor to it, which depending on your taste or the temperature of the bottle, can be good or bad. Was extremely dry and crisp, and while you might say it did lack much of any beer flavor, would be darned refreshing after mowing the grass on a hot day. Didn't hate it.

 

That said, God knows what it would have been like 50 years ago. I hate how every brewery has changed their beer over time. Pre-prohibition, I hear Budweiser and the like was fuller, more flavor, almost a syrupy feel. Now it and others are light and chuggable, and are no longer a staple of diet like they used to be. 33 might have changed, might have sucked in '68 with the green bottle letting that tropical sun in to skunk the beer inside, but this wasn't bad in 2018!

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Beer was stored on pallets in the sun, hot isn't the word and was old. San Miguel was best, fresh and in bottles. 33 ( Ba Me Ba) was OK in the ville if really cold. Tried Tiger once, knew why everyone called it tiger pee,LOL. Lots of beer stories, posted a few here, some funny. Still have my " church key" on a V-40 frag ring.

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