The Brew Noob

The Dirt Cheap Chicken spreads holiday cheer.  Seasons Greetings from the Brew Noob and Toothpick Swords!

Dirt Cheap is a local discount chain of Liquor and tobacco stores in the St. Louis metro area that serves as “the last refuge of the persecuted smoker”.  Their memorable low-budget ads featuring owner Fred and the Dirt Cheap Chicken (the mascot seen in this ad) were a regular fixture on the TV airwaves growing up in the area.  

To me the store seemed ubiquitous, and with taglines like “Cheap-cheap! Fun-fun!” from their mascot and slogans like “the more she drinks the better you look”, hardly adding glamor to this young adult’s impression of beer drinkers.  Indeed, the store carried their own line of Dirt Cheap Beer, presumably to compete alongside St. Louis mainstays like Nattie Light and Busch beer.

In retrospect, it’s kind of a small wonder I gained a taste for craft beer at all, growing up in the macro-brew capital and consistently exposed to ads like these for Dirt Cheap.