When the home press descended on Plains , GA , during the 1976 presidential hunting expedition , the diary keeper were looking for some insight into Democratic competitor Jimmy Carter ’s character . They find something even near : Carter ’s hard - drinking younger brother , gas station proprietor Billy .
The media quick fall in love with the bespectacled , beer - chugging younger Carter . Billy ’s Southern - fried buffoon character and over - the - top friendliness provided the gross counterpoint to his chum ’s earnest demeanor , and his wag kept the pressing stockpile with sound bites like , “ I catch a red neck , white socks , and Blue Ribbon beer . "
In 1979 , the Associated Press described Billy as a “ professional redneck , ” and that ’s a fairly accurate assessment of Billy ’s activities in the early eld of his brother ’s presidential term . He fundamentally travel the country drinking beer , hit case appearances , and cash checks . His most notable undertaking , though , has to be the beer that bore his name .
The Birth of Billy Beer
As Billy Carter ’s odd , beer - swill down star was rising , the august Falls City Brewing Company ’s fortunes were pass off . Louisville - based Falls City had enjoyed a good deal of succeeder as a regional beer maker since its 1905 institution , and the company even cope to prosper during Prohibition by bring in near beer and soft drinks . By 1977 , though , the small brewer was having trouble vie with national brands , and its most recent attempt to win back some mart share , a light - bodied beer called Drummond Bros. , had n’t buoy the company ’s view much .
Falls City did n’t desire to simply wither into oblivion , so in 1977 the company approach the rural area ’s most visible drunken redneck about forming a partnership . Never one to wrench down free beer or an easy buck , Billy correspond to market his own brand of beer .
The precise term of the partnership were n’t clear , but various sources report that Carter received $ 50,000 a year to licence his name and provide promotional services . Billy also got to pick the beer ; Falls City brew up a stage set of mental test sight and let him choose the one he think was the tastiest . Carter had gamy expectations for the project and even joked , “ Maybe I ’ll become the Colonel Sanders of beer . ”
It seems funny now that Billy Beer is an infamous flush it marque , but Falls City had a major problem to address before it started making Billy Beer . The brewer correctly surmised that a beer endorse by the President ’s black - sheep brother would become a national mavin , and it would be unacceptable for a regional brewery like Falls City to see so much demand . To sidestep this problem , Falls City license the Billy Beer brand and formula to three other regional brewery : Minnesota ’s Cold Spring , Texas ’ Pearl Brewing , and New York ’s West End . Billy Beer was do to get the total nation quotably tipsy .
Billy-mania Begins
Billy Beer sop up an enviable amount of national attention when it debuted in November 1977 , and Jimmy Carter ’s suspensor and detractors likewise rushed out to buy a six - pack of the novelty cans . The 12 - packs even came emblazon with a photo of Billy and his pal enjoy nippy derriere of the brew . Each can – the only data formatting in which the beer was offer up – bore Billy ’s signature and the promise “ I had this beer brew just for me . It ’s the best beer I ’ve ever smack . And I ’ve taste a muckle . ”
This revelation might shock you , but Billy Carter – the same Billy who later show as a foreign agent of the Libyan government and accept a six - anatomy “ loan ” from Colonel Gaddafi – was n’t being whole dependable about his beer ’s smooth taste . Most contemporary drinker felt it was apparent that Falls City had put more thought into the merchandising architectural plan than the brew itself , and even Billy would later jokingly delineate Billy Beer as the reason he quit drinking .
Of course , even if the beer had been nectar , the mark had another major vault to clear : Billy Carter . Hiring a extremely quotable , frequently drunk attention hound turned out to be a refutable determination for Falls City . Billy had a habit of advert promotional events for his beer and parroting the company line about how delicious he thought it was , only to later get sloshed and admit to reporters that he still drank Pabst Blue Ribbon at menage . That ’s about the best sum-up of Billy Beer that we can find ; it was so noxious that not even Billy Carter would drink it .
Falls City had survived Prohibition , but it could n’t survive Billy Beer . The beer maker apace ascertain that it ’s intemperate to make a durable profit on a Cartesian product that tastes so unfit nobody wants to purchase it a 2nd metre . In October 1978 , Falls City announced that it was conclude its room access after less than a yr of cranking out the first brother ’s lather . The brewery ’s president say that the fortunes of Billy Beer " sank with the popularity of the President , " but many metier informant , includingTime , nail the beer ’s chintzy lineament as the true ground for its fall .
Wisconsin ’s G. Heileman Brewing Company acquired Falls City ’s non - Billy brands and continued to bottle them at other breweries . Reynolds Metals grease one’s palms 9 million unfilled Billy Beer cans and melted them down , and Billy Carter left the beer industry .
Billy Hits the Secondary Market
This unceremonial death should have been the end of Billy Beer , but the short - lived fad catch a second wind in the former ' LXXX . What caused Billy ’s resurgence ? Americans became thoroughly convinced that their unopened cans were 12 - ounce gold mine .
At some point in 1981 , classified ad begin pop up in newspaper publisher around the country pop the question $ 1,000 for any unopened sise of Billy Beer . Anyone who was sitting on some unopened Billy Beer became rapt about turning hideous beer into big money . A week or two later , the same papers would run classified advertising from someone who desire to trade their Billy Beer for a bare $ 200 a Captain Hicks , a bank discount of 80 - percent off of its “ true ” time value !
This scam should have been fairly filmy , but it shoot a flock of people . can of Billy Beer became the booze - fill Beanie Babies of their sidereal day . By the time Ronald Reagan run into the White House , mass were convinced that their lavatory of crummy beer were more valuable than stock certificates . In December 1981,The New York Timesran a letter to the editor program from a can collector who tried to explain that , no , these mutual cans were n’t precious commodity . He peg down the economic value of a can at somewhere between fifty cent and a dollar . Two weeks later , theTimesran a rebuttal alphabetic character that stridently decried the accumulator ’s point and declare , “ I care to put the matter to breathe by informing your readers that I was in person bid $ 600 for one unopened can . ”
If that story is true , we hope the letter author take the deal . As anyone who pile up baseball cards in the ' 80s can narrate you , Billy Beer perfectly agree the cast for a worthless collectable . It was made in elephantine quantities . horde of people had speculatively saved some . It had no intrinsic time value . Rumors of the beer ’s value persisted throughout the tenner , though , and marketer ground suckers , er , client from time to time . In 1988 theTimeseven reported on a West Virginia distich who had bought a sealed pillow slip for a bare $ 2,000 .
That poor couple plausibly wishes it had its money back . Although the “ Billy Beer is worthful ! ” myth has n’t entirely become flat , the cans ’ are n’t exactly demanding a queen ’s ransom on today ’s collector ’s marketplace . A quick perusal of recent eBay auctions shows that an unopened can of Billy Beer tops out at around $ 10 , while a six - gang might fetch $ 15 - 25 . On the plus side , the beers probably do n’t taste appreciably bad than they did in their 1978 heyday .
