I somehow just ran across this old thread when I was looking for something else this evening.
About three weeks ago, just before my wife and I headed into Labatt and Molson country, our Lutheran church Pastor/fishing partner (who grew up just a few miles west of Dwight, but on the SD side, and who got his bachelors degree in agriculture from SDSU) brought a 6-pack of Hamms Beer to enjoy after he put his wife on an airplane for a one week vacation with her non-midwest family.
He thought it was a reel hoot to bring a 6-pack of Hamms beer to enjoy -- and it was. It is currently $2.95 a 6-pack here in WV. A 12-pack is $3.95. It is now made in Milwaukee by Millers. No Hamms Bear on the label. It just says that it is made under the traditions of the family of sky blue waters, or something like that.
The really crazy thing is, that a few days later at the airport in northwest Canada, we were destined to share two fun weeks with some wonderful other former-Minnesota crazies, the same age as Lynda and me, with whom we shared more than just a lot in common. It was ridiculous how much we had in common. We were like mirror images to each other.
To make it even crazier, I found out that our new-found friend's mother's family were Hamms, of the Hamm's beer family. He told me that all his rich relatives died poor by the 1960s, when the Hamm family was no longer involved with the brewery in the Swede Hollow section of St. Paul, MN.
My cousins still have a number of Hamms neon signs at their cabins in northern Wisconsin that came out of our family taverns. I still have a number of Hamms openers and other memorabilia.
I'm on a medicine that blocks the taste of anything with carbonation, so I can't tell if the new Hamms is anything like the old Hamms. All I remember is that 50 years ago it was about the same as Grain Belt, Fitgers, and better than Northern, Lienenkugles, Breunigs, etc.
Have fun fishing,
Ken
P.S. I'll be flying into Minneapolis later this week on my way to the South Shore of Lake Superior later this week for several fun-filled days with my crazy friends and relatives. Anybody want to meet at Toby's on Thursday afternoon about 5:00 PM?
