I Drank Shit Beer and I Liked It. Kinda.

To the tune of a pop ditty by Katy Perry... 🎵 I drank shit beer and I liked it. 🎵 Kinda.

When I started this beer tasting project a few months ago I quipped that unlike when I was exploring beers for the first time at age 19-20, there was no need to re-test brands like Bud and Miller. They're shit beer, and I quickly learned years ago there are other brands that are so much better if you but open your mind to alternatives beyond the mass-produced American piss-water brands. (Nowadays, though, many of the small brands are owned by the conglomerates that churn out swill, but that's a different story.)

It's a standard part of any story of discovery that the protagonist softens an assumption, allows for something he'd previously ruled out, and finds something new: a serendipity. Mine's not quite a serendipity as much as something that doesn't suck as much as I thought it did. 😅

My unexpected turn for this blog entry is Miller High Life. I was inspired to try it when I read an online listicle entitled something like, "10 Bartenders Share The Best Underrated Beer." Miller High Life was the pick of three of them. I should note I know nothing about these people except they got employed tending bar— which apparently does not require years of post-graduate education and a grueling residency program. It doesn't even require something so simple as a cosmetology license. ...Oh, and to get name-checked in this article they had to be friends with a cheap feature writer for some media outlet like Buzzfeed, except cheaper than Buzzfeed. 🤣

I picked up a 12-pack of High Life at a local store last week. Getting 12 bottles for $8.99 made a good first impression. That's less than half the cost of many of the beers I've been trying recently. It's quite a bargain for a brand that bills itself "The Champagne of Beers".

But how does it taste?

I've tried Miller High Life on four occasions since last week, three time with various food and once on its own. It goes surprisingly well with food. With both pizza and potstickers it was a fine accompaniment. The beer was light enough to fade quickly into the background, allowing the flavors of the food to shine, while asserting itself just enough so I remembered I wasn't drinking water.

The place where Miller High Life is weak is on its own. The light overall character is fine for sipping solo, particularly on a warm day— of which we've had plenty lately. But when consumed on its own the beer has a nasty finish, an aftertaste that puts the piss in its piss-water reputation.

Overall I'm glad I expanded my beer (re-)tasting 2022 project to include Miller High Life. When I was much younger I tried a pack of Miller (ugh) and a pack of Miller Lite (also ugh), and for a while Miller Genuine Draft, aka MGD, was my go-to cheap beer. I'm not sure I ever had High Life before! Now that I have I'm not sure I'll bother with it again. The only thing it's got going for it is cheap price. That's not compelling to me anymore; I can easily afford better beer. And there's definitely better beer out there. In fact I've quaffed one while writing this blog. I'll post about it soon!

Pizza Hut's "The Edge" - It's Pretty Good

In the world of pizza delivery chains, Pizza Hut gets short shrift. People seem to like it less than Domino's and Papa John's. That's strange to me because I find Pizza Hut much better than the others. I even tried Domino's again recently... they're not better.

Last week when I got the jones for some Pizza Hut pizza I checked their Deals page and saw a limited time special called The Edge. Basically it's a thin crust pizza with toppings right up to the edge. As that sounded like virtually the same as their standard "Thin & Crispy" pizza I was concerned it was a gimmick. But they were offering a deal on it with a 5-topping combo, and I like their thin crust pizza, so I ordered one.



While the ad copy seemed a bit gimmicky, the actual pizza came through above my expectations. The crust is a little different from a standard Thin & Crispy pie as it's rolled flat instead of curled up at the edges. The big different seems to be the cheese. On this pie there's plenty of it. That's a worthwhile upgrade from Thin & Crispy-land, where they're often stingy on the cheese.

Note the pizza's also cut in a Chicago cut. That's right, it's a round pie but some dweezil is like, "Duh, I only know how to cut squares." It gives you a mixture of those weird, mostly edge pieces and those "How do I pick this up?" center pieces covered with toppings literally edge to edge. For Chicago style pizza fans, that's all part of the fun.

"How can this be Chicago pizza? It's not deep dish!" you might object. There are actually three styles of Chicago style pizza. Deep dish pizza, the kind with a thick crust, is the one most people from elsewhere know as "Chicago style pizza". But there's also Chicago thin crust and stuffed pizza, where there's a crust on bottom and on top, kind of like an apple pie.

As a Chicago-style thin crust pizza this one's close. To be truly authentic it would need to have the toppings under the cheese. But that's really a form factor issue, not a taste issue. The taste of this one is good. The toppings are adequately generous, and the cheese is plentiful. I'll keep ordering these as long as Pizza Hut sells them.