Perhaps I should explain the title before I do anything else. I was once married to an entomologist, and she was reading about a handy way to catch flying bugs that land on trees. She had this recipe, see, and it called for one can of flat beer and a couple of cups of sugar (I can't remember the exact beer to sugar ratio, sadly).

The idea was to paint the goop that resulted from the mixture on trees. Bugs are attracted to the stuff, fly over to it and then stick tight for later collection. As she wanted a cheap beer, she bought a six pack of Schlitz and used a can of it in her "tree painting" recipe. There. That should explain things.

Schlitz is about the cheapest beer out there, and you can get a whole case of the stuff for around $8.00. Here's the problem with it, though -- it's just not that good. Oh, sure, it's better than Hamm's, Pabst and other cheap beers, but it's still not all that good.

Schlitz, indeed, has a very straightforward flavor -- it's bitter and full of hops. The stuff foams up good and proper and tastes a bit "skunky." It doesn't smell too good, either. But, is it terrible? Nope. But it's not that good, either. It's simply an inexpensive beer and the taste reveals the cheap ingredients and brewing process that come together to make this swill. While foamy, "hoppy" and bitter aren't terrible qualities, those are not the ones you seek in a fine brew.

The aftertaste, too, is fairly rank, and this stuff will make your breath smell and your mouth taste just awful. For some reason, the aftertaste reminds me somewhat of the horrid, bitter taste of milkweed (anyone who took a bite of nasty, nasty milkweed as a kid will know what I'm talking about). However, if you get a cheap beer, you might expect to find such horrible qualities in it.

What's strange about Schlitz is that it was once extremely popular. In the 1970's, Schlitz was touted as the beer for "real men," and even Clint Eastwood was spotted drinking a tin can of this stuff in a Dirty Harry movie. Schlitz, though, has lagged in popularity like a bunch of other cheap beers from the 1970's and is getting harder to find. The beer isn't as uncommon as, say, Hamm's, but it's not as easy to find as Budweiser, either.

What foods go well with this? How about something cheap like a frozen burrito or one of those Red Baron pizzas? I wouldn'w taint a good meal with Schlitz, but I might drink it with something out of the microwave or a sack of food from Taco Bell.

So, in the end, Schlitz isn't great, but it's okay for a cheap beer. You could do a lot worse, but why not do yourself a favor by spending a few extra bucks and getting a good beer?

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