Colt 45 (malt liquor)

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Colt 45
Brewery	National Bohemian, Pabst Brewing Company, G. Heileman Brewing Company (in Texas)
Style	Malt Liquor

An advertisement for Colt 45 featuring Star Wars actor Billy Dee Williams

Colt 45 is a brand of beer (or malt liquor) introduced by National Bohemian and currently brewed by Pabst Brewing Company and G. Heileman Brewing Company in Texas. While Colt 45 has been criticized for its very strong hop taste, many drinkers enjoy its high alcohol content -- a common quality of malt liquor. It tends to be cheaper than most other beers in the United States, a quality partially responsible for its popularity.

Colt 45 is thus named because it was once sold in 45 ounce bottles (1.3 litres). Its label has changed little since its creation in 1963, and Colt has always been careful never to show a gun in their advertising, in order to ward off potential lawsuits from Colt Firearms, maker of the famed Colt .45 pistol.

During the early 1980s, the company ran an advertising campaign featuring actor Billy Dee Williams. In the commercials, he popularized the slogans "Nothing is Smoother Than an Ice Cold Bottle of Colt 45" and "It Works Every Time."

Malt liquor is often associated with African-American culture and rap music, but in the 1970s and early 1980s it was also popular with suburban white youth.^{[citation needed]} This beverage is also popular among certain elements of the American punk rock scene (probably popularized by the US street punk band The Casualties).^{[citation needed]}

Colt has released a 22 ounce bottle (0.65 litre), slotted between the 40 ounce bottle (1.18 litre) (and sometime 32 ounce (0.95 litre)) and the single serving sizes. The 22 quickly became known as the "Double Deuce".

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in California have also conducted a study which has shown that malt liquor is favored by homeless, unemployed drinkers. ^[1]

[edit] Trivia

In the U.S. television series Seinfeld, a landlord informs Cosmo Kramer that his mother Babs Kramer used to frolic throughout the apartment drinking Colt 45. (Season 3, Episode 26)
Afroman wrote a song entitled Colt 45. (It was actually titled Crazy Rap, but the chorus starts "Colt 45 and 2 zig-zags..." therefore it has been incorrectly called Colt 45)
At Close Range features Sean Penn and another actor drinking a Colt 45 within the first half hour.
Colt 45 also appears prominently in the 1970s nostalgia film Dazed and Confused.
Colt 45 in particular is celebrated by the surfer Jeff Spicoli in Cameron Crowe's novel Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and a Colt 45 T-shirt is worn by actor Sean Penn in the film version of the book.
During The Sopranos Season 3, Episode 29, Janice Soprano is drinking a Colt 45 while talking to her brother Tony on the couch
In the 1997 movie Money Talks Paul Sorvino asks Chris Tucker if he would like some "Nice Dom Perignon '85". Tucker responds with "How 'bout some Colt...45."
In the blink-182 song A New Hope there is the line "Drinking Colt 45's with Lando", in reference to Billy Dee Williams' role as Lando Calrissian in Star Wars.
In the movie Soul Plane, the flight attendant described Colt 45 as "liquored up beer"