When Did They Start Calling It "Natty Boh"? (Columbia: sale, club)

[Calvert Hall '62]

Never heard this term until a few yrs. ago -- certainly less than 10. Back in the days it was simply "Boh," in commercials and among the general populace.

[boomtownfunlover]

Originally Posted by Calvert Hall '62

Never heard this term until a few yrs. ago -- certainly less than 10. Back in the days it was simply "Boh," in commercials and among the general populace.

aka "National" as in gimme a National. I didn't think anyone drank the stuff other than Bailey Goss and Chuck Thompson. Now National Premium, that was pretty good beer.

[Calvert Hall '62]

Originally Posted by boomtownfunlover

aka "National" as in gimme a National. I didn't think anyone drank the stuff other than Bailey Goss and Chuck Thompson. Now National Premium, that was pretty good beer.

Amen to all that. The bunch I ran with in early 1960s called National Boh "gutter p*ss." But nowadays you see high end sports shops that sell Ravens and Orioles gear selling expensive "Natty Boh" T-shirts. Go figure.

That said, in Spring 1962 Boh had a promotion selling three one-quart bottles of the stuff for $1!!! That's 96 ozs. -- eight beers -- for a buck. Our standards came down; that kind of sale was too good to pass up, even 50 yrs. ago, and even for gutter water.

[P47P47]

We either called it "National", "Boh", or "geezerbeer". Never cared for it, but liked National Premium and am glad to see its return to the market. National Brewing Co. also produced a brand that sold for less than Boh called "Van Lauter". It was rather hard to find, and I considered it to be much better than Boh.


I think that "Natty Boh" was coined by the same folks that came up with the wholly artificial name of "Charm City" in the mid-'70's.

[Calvert Hall '62]

Originally Posted by P47P47

We either called it "National", "Boh", or "geezerbeer". Never cared for it, but liked National Premium and am glad to see its return to the market. National Brewing Co. also produced a brand that sold for less than Boh called "Van Lauter". It was rather hard to find, and I considered it to be much better than Boh.

Never heard it called "geezerbeer" and have no recollection of "Van Lauter," but do recall when National started Colt 45 malt liquor. It provided good competition for Country Club malt liquor which had been about the only other malt you could find in pkg. goods stores in the early 1960s, altho a few of them carried Champale.

I have to laugh at the memory of a National promotion in the 1950s wherein they dialed random phone numbers from the White Pages, and if you picked up the phone and your very first words were "Hello Mr. Boh," they'd give you a prize. They generally dialed during an Orioles game although they dialed at other times also.

[P47P47]

We used "geezerbeer" as a generic term for Boh, Black Label, American, Arrow 77 and other beers like those that older guys drank.

Carling Brewery had an economy beer like Van Lauter that I think was called "Columbia". I tried it once and didn't care for it. I think that both Van Lauter and Columbia disappeared with the merger of Carling and National, but can't say for sure.

I liked Carling's domestic version of Tuborg. For a while Carling-National was the importer for Carlberg, when it was still in those really cool-looking tapered bottles.


Loved the "completely unique experience" commercials for Colt 45. There are a couple of them on YouTube.

[Calvert Hall '62]

Originally Posted by P47P47

Loved the "completely unique experience" commercials for Colt 45. There are a couple of them on YouTube.

You gotta be talking about that unruffled, Mr. Super Cool whom nothing can excite .... except Colt 45 of course. Yeah, they were great ads. I suspect that the ad men were taking advantage of the super cool spies from the flicks that were popular at the time, like James Bond. Heh.

[P47P47]

Colt, Colt, Colt 45,
Colt 45 Malt Liquor,
A completely unique experience,
Colt 45 Malt Liquor,

[PhenomenalAJ]

I think its because of the popularity of the Natural beer brand like people call Natural Ice and Natural Lite "Natty Ice" and "Natty Lite", people call it Natty Boh. I'm 31 and grew up in MD and for a long time thought they were from the same company since they were all "Natty".

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by PhenomenalAJ

I think its because of the popularity of the Natural beer brand like people call Natural Ice and Natural Lite "Natty Ice" and "Natty Lite", people call it Natty Boh. I'm 31 and grew up in MD and for a long time thought they were from the same company since they were all "Natty".

Interesting hypothesis, although it could cut the other way too. Are "Natty Ice" and similar slang just present in Maryland, or all over the country? I don't know the answer, but it is a interesting question.

Personally, I don't like Natty Boh, it has an off taste of bad shrimp to my palate, like a bad batch of Miller Lite (which shares the same shortcoming.)

I always went with Schlitz for American Lagers. Deep golden color, dry not sweet, a little hoppy but not too bitter. Old Milwaukee was a good one too, tasted just like Schlitz........come to think of it, I am not convinced they weren't the same beer poured in different cans.

Natural Ice was my "poverty beer," most alcohol per $ of any beer, plus it was pretty palatable. Those were the good old days.....or maybe not so much.