Drinking a 40 something year old Hamm’s beer

Since everyone has lost their minds during the 2020 pandemic-shutdown-quarantine thing, I decided to join the bat shit crazy general public and take my life into my own hands by drinking a nearly 50 year old skanky beer.

The bottle itself is from the early 1970’s with a St Paul MN & San Francisco CA label. This is dating it back to before the closure of the San Fran brewery. Also the bottom of the bottle has a 71 embossed on it which could dictate the year? Nevertheless this beer was old and I was going to see what it tasted like.

The color of the beer had changed from the light golden color we know of what Hamm’s looks like today to a darker tone, almost looking like an Oktoberfest Märzen style beer. There was an added bonus of deposits floating inside the bottle that I would have to drink!

I cracked it open, poured some into one of my Hamm’s glasses I got from my Uncle, who actually got it from taking the tour of the brewery back in the the rathskeller in the sky days, and filled it up.

I smelled it and then took a tiny sip and it was a mix of apple cider vinegar and some boozy caramel flavor. At first I didn’t think it was too bad but after I drank some more, I realized it wasn’t a great flavor, especially when that flavor remained in my mouth for the rest of the day and into the next morning haha.

So if you ever want to crack open an “old one” to see what beer drinking was like back in the good ol days, Id advise maybe not doing it or just be mentally prepared that you will be drinking a terrible tasting concoction.