Bud Light Years

A few days ago, when I wrote about it being the twenty-fifth anniversary of Owen Hart's death, I noted that I had been thinking about 1999 a lot.

Today is another one of those days.

May 28 1999 is the date I left sixth form college. I didn't really go through the last twenty-five years knowing the exact date. All I did was work out - from memory - that we officially left on the Friday following Hart's death. Had that not happened, I doubt I would have been able to pinpoint the moment when classes ended in order to prepare for our final exams.

On that Friday, we had a mass in the hall which ended in the late morning. That was followed by nearly everyone at the nearest pub. We spent the rest of the day there before everyone had to leave for their school buses.

I lived close to the building, so I walked home with a friend. I recall stopping to talk with my dad's friend Neil. He laughed at how inebriated I was. Looking back, I think that may have been the last time I ever spoke with him because he retired and moved home not long after that. I wrote about him passing away a couple of years ago.

To cut a long story short - I was back out hours later planning to meet people from college in a nightclub. 

I ended up heading there with a housemate of somebody I worked with. I don't recall much of that night other than the nightclub had introduced Bud Light for the first time.

As a Budweiser drinker, I thought I would give its blue-labelled brother a go. 

It was the first - and last - time I ever drank Bud Light. I disliked it immensely.

I recently read an article about Bud Light's time in the United Kingdom. The article states Bud Light returned to the UK in 2017 which was '16 years after the last attempt to introduce the beer to the country ended in failure.'

It's no surprise to me to see the writer acknowledge its failure in the UK. It was dead on arrival as far as I'm concerned.

To do the working out, the beer must have lasted two years before it was discontinued in 2001. Going by the article, it appears as though the beer has been back on shelves - within this country - for the past seven years. 

I thought it would be fun to close today's post with a few toasts.

As you can see, I've bought myself a bottle of Bud Light and will take a sip twenty-five years to the day of my first (and - until the bottle is popped: last!) one. 

I'll toast all those people I knew, and still know, who were around on that day. And after doing that, I'll see if I still believe Bud Light is revolting.

* * *

I wrote the above part of this post this morning. As I write this current part, it has just gone 11PM and I have drank the bottle of Bud Light.

It is a lot better than I remember. To be fair, at the time I drank the first Bud Light in '99, I was already plastered after having spent the best part of the day drinking. I was also a huge Bud fan back then, so I would have been biased against what could be viewed as a lesser version of the beer.

I haven't drank regular Bud in a very long time, so the Bud Light was more welcome tonight than it was back in '99.

With that said, if I had to choose between the two, it'll always be a regular Bud. 

It might not be another twenty-five years before I drink another bottle of this stuff. I simply won't go out of my way to buy another one soon.

How about in five years from tonight for the thirtieth anniversary?