Narragansett Beer may not be recognizable the world over, but the film in which it appears sure is — Steven Spielberg’s 1975 mega-masterpiece Jaws. The beer is the favorite of Quint, actor Robert Shaw’s immortal shark-hunter, and it’s most visible when the character crushes a can of it to intimidate Richard Dreyfuss’ Hooper. This year, Narragansett has, for a limited time, reintroduced their 1970s can design seen in the film, featuring a sailing ship and a red diagonal stripe (a fitting look, given the trail of blood that Jaws‘ titular great white shark spills). The limited-edition can can be found inside all Narragansett twelve, thirty, and eighteen-pack cases at participating retailers. Since Jaws takes place throughout the Fourth of July holiday weekend, there’s no better time for you to “crush it like Quint!”
According to the Narragansett website, Quint’s brew of choice is New England’s oldest beer, founded all the way back in 1890, and was New England’s top-selling beer from the 1890s through the 1970s, and the Boston Red Sox’s official beer for three decades. Nowadays, Narragansett is “the forty-fifth largest brewing company in America and the fastest growing in the Northeast.” So like the nice folks say, “HONOR THE MAN. CRUSH THE CAN.”
Have you ever HAD Narragansett? It’s brutally awful.
I live in Rhode Island (but I’m not FROM this Hellhole) and you’re totally right. It’s right up there with Genesee beer. It’s the crap you drink when you can’t afford to drink crappy cheap American beer like Bud.
But Rhodeys pride themselves on loving rubbish like bad beer and ‘coffee syrup’ and greasy little ‘spinach pie’ things.
Good. I would have been disappointed if Quint were found to be drinking a specialty micro brew.