Billy Beer

Billy Beer
Official logo
Brewery	Falls City Brewing Company Cold Spring Brewing West End Brewing Pearl Brewing Company
First Brewed	1977

Billy Beer was a beer that was brewed in the United States by the Falls City Brewing Company^[1] and promoted by Billy Carter,^[2] brother of then-President Jimmy Carter.^[3] The beer was also produced by Cold Spring Brewing, West End Brewing, and Pearl Brewing Company. Introduced in 1977, the beer saw dismal sales figures while in production, but at least two billion cans were produced.

Billy Carter was selected as spokesperson for the beer because his brother was president and it was widely known that he enjoyed drinking beer. However, it was also fairly widely known that his brand of choice was Pabst Blue Ribbon.^[1]

Label

The side of a box of 12 cans of Billy Beer with Billy Carter on the packaging.

Written on each can were these words of endorsement:^[4]

• Brewed expressly for and with the personal approval of one of America's all-time great beer drinkers - Billy Carter
• I had this beer brewed just for me. I think it's the best I've ever tasted. And I've tasted a lot. I think you'll like it, too.

Hoax

After Billy Beer stopped production, advertisements appeared in newspapers offering to sell Billy Beer cans for several hundred to several thousands of dollars each. However, since the cans were produced in the millions, the current value of one can ranges from 50 cents to one dollar.^[5]

Cultural References

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• On the animated series The Simpsons, after sipping from a can of Billy Beer, Homer declares, "We elected the wrong Carter" in the episode "Lisa the Skeptic".^[6] In the episode "The Otto Show", Homer finds a can of Billy Beer in the pocket of his old concert jacket.^[7]

• In the series NewsRadio, character Jimmy James (played by Stephen Root) admits to having drunkenly urinated in the White House Rose Garden. Billy Beer was named as the beverage-culprit. This is probably a reference to the notorious event in which Carter once drunkenly urinated on an airport runway in full view of the press and dignitaries.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.falstaffbrewing.com/falls.htm
2. ^ http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_098/TECH_V098_S0104_P004.pdf
3. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE4D9153BF931A35756C0A96E948260
4. ^ http://www.falstaffbrewing.com/_borders/billybeercan.gif
5. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06EED61738F935A35751C1A967948260
6. ^ http://www.snpp.com/episodes/5F05
7. ^ http://snpp.com/episodes/8F21.html

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