When I was a boy we children were permitted to drink beer only when there was a family crab feast. I understand this would be a crime today, but the long arm of the law does not extend to the grave and my mother can claim to have been forced to agree to this by my father. Each child could drink 4 ounces of beer from a glass, beer that was poured from a can. This beer was always National Bohemian. This company had a brewery in Baltimore among others around the country. It was a regional discount beer that has somehow survived the big three America beers and the microwbrewery movement. There was National Premium, which was slightly smoother, and has recently been brought back.

The beer has been brewed since 1885 and has been intimately involved with baseball, with two trademark slogans I used to hear from play by play announcers and a third that is not trademarked:

“From the Land of Pleasant Living”

“Oh what a beer!”

“Ain’t the beer cold!” which is also the title of the book by that play by play announcer.

The beer was conceived in the context of the beer league baseball culture of the late 19th century.

It is a good beer on a hot day, has a better taste difference when cold than most beers, and has a strong hops aroma unlike mainstream American beers, but only a mild hops taste, which makes it refreshing. There is not enough flavor to interfere with food taste and is marketed side by side with snacks more than other brews.

White guys usually drink it out of a can and sometimes a bottle or glass.

Black guys generally prefer it out of a mug from the tap or from a 40 ounce bottle, although 24-ounce cans have recently been marketed to black patronized liquor stores.

The locals of both races call the beer Natty Boh, with some older white guys just asking for “a one-eyed man,” taking note of the distinctive one-eyed mustachioed icon, who is dressed up as a MLB catcher on the can I am drinking from. The Utz potato chip company, out of Hanover PA, have even married their potato chip girl icon to the one-eyed man in advertising.

The price of Natty Boh ranges widely as it is regarded as an acceptable fall-back retro-brew by moneyed hipsters.

Single 12-ounce cans can be had at micro brew bars for 2.50

A 16-ounce mug from the tap of a sports bar is running at $1.50.

A 30-pack at a liquor stores generally runs $17.00 with the 12-pack for 8.99 to 10.99

In ghetto liquor stores the 12-pack runs 7.99 to 8.99,

The 24-ounce can 1.50

And the 40-ounce glass bottle 2.25-2.50

I always make my first beer or two a Natty Boh, and if I’m going to be at the bar longer, will move up to an IPA for my last drink.

At home, when knocking myself out for a short nap, I add one shot of whiskey to a glass mug poured from a 12-ounce can and call it a day. The whiskey knocks me out and the beer waked my up in 2.5 hours.