I'm sure the last time you walked to the back of your local Walgreens to pick up your prescription for antibiotics you thought to yourself, "Man, I wish this drugstore sold its own brand of incredibly cheap beer."  Okay, me neither.  But Walgreens apparently wants us to think exactly that when we enter their stores as they begin to market the release of a new 50-cent beer that is brewed exclusively for their stores.  The lager, entitled Big Flats 1901, is likely aimed at reducing the number of headaches the recession continues to cause but early reviews have claimed that one of the effects of the beer is, in fact, headaches.

The news shouldn’t be too much of a surprise as it comes less than a month after the Illinois-based Walgreens announced that it would be entering the ever-expanding grocery market.  CEO Greg Wasson says that he wants Walgreens to be looked at as a “retail health and daily living store” rather than simply a “retail drugstore”.  The fact that there is still a market for tasteless beers such as Keystone and Natty Light leads us to believe that there will be plenty of people who will happily guzzle this so-called “Premium Brew.”  The light beer is sold in six-packs that cost $2.99 and is 4.5 percent alcohol-by-volume, which is slightly higher than Coors Light and Miller Lite.  The tagline on the can, “It’s the water that makes it,” seems poorly thought out considering one of the biggest knocks against other cheap brands is the incredibly watered down taste of the brews.  As odd as the decision may seem to some, during Prohibition, drugstores wrote scripts for whiskey without question so maybe Walgreens just wants to return to its roots.

Of course, if you live in Pennsylvania, it is unlikely you will be able to try this novelty but you can take solace in the fact that residents in these places likely share your sorrow.

Apparently, this will only be the chain’s first foray into the alcohol market as an Australian winemaker will be releasing a $12.99 per bottle wine entitled Colby Red to grace their shelves by Mid-February.  Our unofficial recommendation is to stick to the cold medicine.

02.09.11