Sunday, May 9, 2010

What's up with the Rolling Rock '33'?

A few days ago, I got the chance to sample a bottle of Rolling Rock Extra Pale Premium Beer, and I think the best way to describe it is “Sprite Meets Beer.”
That’s not to say that it wasn’t good, I just couldn’t drink the thing without trying to convince my mind (and taste buds) that I wasn’t drinking Sprite.
First off, the bottle is lime green just like a Sprite bottle and when I poured the contents into my giant, clear glass Viking mug it fizzed and bubbled for more than a few minutes just like Sprite. It was somewhat weird.
Rolling Rock Extra Pale contains 4.5 percent alcohol by volume and was first brewed in 1939 by the Latrobe Brewing Co. in Pennsylvania. In 2006, they sold out to Anheuser-Busch and now the beer is brewed in New Jersey.
The back of each bottle also contains the following message: To honor the tradition of this great brand, we quote from the original pledge of quality. ‘From the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe, we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment, as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you’ ‘33’.”
In interesting bit of trivia about the No. 33, which is printed prominently on all bottles of Rolling Rock. One widely held idea is that it is to mark the repeal of prohibition in 1933. However, according to one former CEO, the “33” signifies the 33 words in the beer’s original pledge of quality. According to Wikipedia, there are several other lesser-known theories or urban legends about the “mysterious” number 33, but none have ever been verified.
In the end, I enjoyed the bottle I sampled, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. It was pretty average, and I won’t make a special trip to get any more. On the upshot, it wasn’t half-bad, and I can scratch it off my list of beers that I’ve never tried. Also, on the plus side this beer has a twist off cap, which I prefer.
For more information about Rolling Rock Extra Pale, visit http://www.rollingrock.com/.
Have any of you out there in the reading audience tried Rolling Rock Extra Pale? If so, what did you think about it? Let us know in the comments section below.

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