The Food (W)Hole goes Dog Style; what’s next, Milwaukee’s Beast?!

I was in Whole Foods the other day, and there, right up front, I saw this display of Old Style beer as you come into the store, just in front of the pristine produce section and right next to some fancy Rick Bayless chips. I immediately snickered and I had to take this picture with my cell phone.

Ah, memories. Back in the day in Iowa, every run-0f-the-mill bar worth its salt had Old Style (aka Dog Style) on tap. In fact, you were much more likely to find it than Budweiser or Miller when I was in college 20 years ago. It was everywhere and it was cheap-ass beer, “beer” just a half-notch above “beer” like Milwaukee’s Best (“The Beast”) and Meister Brau (“Mr. Beer”). When we were broke college kids who wanted beer, we used to pool our cans and bottles so we could cash them in (a nickel apiece in Iowa) and buy a six-pack of crappy near-beer beer like Dog Style.

And now it’s on sale at Whole Foods. Actually, I had seen it at Whole Foods before (along with Pabst, believe it or not). But I had never seen it featured quite so promienently. This is usually a spot of the store where they try to sell fancy wines and cheeses, or at least reasonable beer. So, what is the Food (W)hole thinking here? Annette suggested that perhaps it was an effort to tap into some sort of nostalgia; I think that maybe the person who decides on the displays has a sense of humor and/or a sense of the kitch. Or maybe they just have a whole bunch of this they have to get rid of.

Of course, $9.99 for 18 is a pretty good deal.