MYNORTHWEST BLOG

Rainier, Olympia did OK in cheap beer rankings

Jul 3, 2013, 2:24 PM | Updated: Jul 5, 2013, 2:03 pm

A man living in a tent was able to put out a fire in his tent with a can of beer. (Olympia Beer)

(Olympia Beer)

When it comes to the domestic draft, they have a bad rap. Sure in Washington we go ga-ga for our microbrews, but when the going gets tough and the tough drink all the Fremont Summer Ale before 4 p.m., you turn to the ‘champagne of beers.’ Or something worse.

As summer ramps up, Will Gordon at Deadspin decided to rank 36 of them: From worst to least-worst.

Two Washington beers made the list, and they’re classics of course. Olympia came in at the 9th least-worst. Gordon said, “This one smells a little bit like the produce section of a carpeted grocery store, but it goes down pretty smooth otherwise.”

Rainier fared slightly better as the 7th least-worst brew. According to Gordon, “This is on the sweet side of mediocre, but it’s a bright, clean kind of sugar that tells soothing lies about freshness and purity.”

The worst beer, which is probably no stranger to college dudes, is Keystone. Miller High Life – the champagne of beers mentioned earlier, did only a little better with a ranking of 31.

The best of the worst is a personal favorite of mine as a former Midwesterner: Premium Grain Belt. Even when “the good stuff” is on tap, if there is a bottle of Premium around, I’m game. “I always think of Minnesota as a secretly sexy place,” Gordon wrote. “Toss in a smooth, creamy, and dreamy local budget brew like Grain Belt and it’s a wonder Minnesota hasn’t seceded to form its own naked blond utopia.”

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Rainier, Olympia did OK in cheap beer rankings