Stella...then and now

[Macneil]

I've just poured a nice glass of Stella lager, really nice drink, reassuringly expensive and all that, but when I was in my teens and 20's it was a nutter's drink, enjoyed by lads who just went out looking for a fight in a club. Is it the same beer? Or has its recipe/brew changed over the years?

[43034]

It's much weaker. 4.6 now, 5.2 in years gone by

[Drezza]

Does seem to have the gravy stained wife beater connotations, probably my favorite widely available lager along side Kronenberg.

[Uncle John]

Not the same beer at all.

De tuned from Wife Beater to asleep on the sofa at 10.

I’m sure it had some weird chemicals in it in the old days.

[lost in espace]

It was brewed in Bedford in about 1988, some college friends managed to get some freebie Red Stripe from the brewery and did a business presentation with some joke drinking to much amusement. Neil carried on drinking leading to an infamous bus trip home involving a carrier bag with holes in and him being really ill.

[Jer_1974]

What I find a bit mad is 27 years ago Stella was £1.29 a can at my local corner shop. I know it's a bit weaker but my local corner shop now sells a case of 10 for £11.00.

[ambuletz]

I remember growing up in my teens/early 20s during the mid-00s ..... stella was miles above any other beer in taste. much fuller, tastier. and a little stronger.

now its just crap. i never buy it. ill only buy the bottles if all thats on sale is the other crap beers. big disappointment. Same goes for other beers, san miguel, heiniken, kronenberg. These all used to be beers I really enjoyed. But now I can't stand.

If i'm having a beer it's a belgian beer, or one of the german ones done under their purity laws (like aldis rheinbacher)

[Driver101]

Jer_1974 said:

What I find a bit mad is 27 years ago Stella was £1.29 a can at my local corner shop. I know it's a bit weaker but my local corner shop now sells a case of 10 for £11.00.

It's the same for most popular beers. Alcohol duty has risen, but the price is still the same as all those years ago. Alcohol has never been more affordable.

[robsco]

Stella is my go to, has been for years. I just find it so drinkable, unfortunately they have just reduced the alcohol content again recently. As per most lagers, it is dreadful from a can. As a bottle served ice cold from the fridge, one of life’s great pleasures.

[Flumpo]

When I first started going out drinking, Stella was about 25p more than fosters or Carling which were about the only larger on tap you ever saw back then.

So it was for when you were flush or being fancy, but without fail everyone would make the wife beater joke or raise eyebrows that you were on it tonight.

Being moronic 16 year olds it didn’t take long to realise it was better value to buy a fosters for £1.25 and a single vodka shot for a pound. Combine the two and it got you drunk much quicker than the 25p more Stella.

I’m nearly throwing up even trying to think/remember what a fosters with a vodka shot in it tasted like.

[Motoring12345]

Stella was my go-to during uni and until mid 20's, even with the bad rep The nostalgia of drinking hot cans throughout Glasto! I then discovered IPA's and stopped drinking them.

I recently had one and it tasted like water, initially thought it's due to the strong IPA's I drink but from the responses looks like it's sadly been changed.

[GT03ROB]

Way back in the day when it was around 5%, most stuff in the pub was only around 3.5%, Now it seems there are quite a few draft beers that are around 5% so I don't think it stands out as much from the crowd. Moretti, Peroni, San Miguel draft are all around the same strength as Stella I think

[MisterJD]

Slightly off topic but does anyone else remember the gold topped Fosters cans that were from duty-free/booze cruises in mid-late 90s and early 2000s?

The ABV was stated to be the same as UK Fosters, and they weren't Fosters Export either, but there was some magic inside. A lethal brew!

[bungz]

Has indeed changed, not got the sharp clean taste it used to have.

Inbev ruin taste out of beers they brew.

The stuff brewed in Belgium that you get in mainland Europe is a bit more familiar, its still strong too.

[Fury RS]

bungz said:

Has indeed changed, not got the sharp clean taste it used to have.

Inbev ruin taste out of beers they brew.

The stuff brewed in Belgium that you get in mainland Europe is a bit more familiar, its still strong too.

Uk Stella is not the best. Heineken, 1664 and Super Bock are my go to Lagers.
As said above the imported 'Proper' Belgium Stella is a much nicer drink. Used to be able to buy it in a couple of the small independent shops local to me but seems to have disappeared over the last couple of years unfortunately.

[SimonTheSailor]

Don't forget you quite often have Stella 4 on draft in pubs now.

Must have stopped an awful lot of fights.......