Part 1 | Part 2 | Top 40oz. Selections

All the pictures in this article are credited to The 40oz. Crew

I'm sure that all you drinkers have tried a 40oz. of malt liquor at some point in your lives. There's nothing like a good old 40oz. of Olde English to quench your thirst. For most of us, we were young, it was cheap, easy to get, and it got us drunk… So fuck it, why not? So now that you think you've been there and done that with the 40's, its time to meet Bruz and The 40oz. Crew. Bruz, a 26 year old mortgage broker by day and the 40oz. king of the world by night brought together select people from all over the world who were as passionate about the 40oz. as he was. They became known as the 40oz. Crew through his now popular website www.40ozmaltliquor.com.

Members, who go by satan165, White Mike, ImissMy64oz, and Bruz himself, helped me gain some insight on their unique subculture. All of these guys are knowledgeable and have a strong passion about their 40's to the point where it has become an addiction (as well as a great reason to go on road trips all over with their friends.) "I developed a passion for 40's immediately that I never felt collecting with anything else." - ImissMy64oz. "I want to compare & contrast 40's, find the best, the strongest, even the worst out there… and I want to share all my 40oz. knowledge (and experiences via photos) with the rest of the world; hence my website. People drive hours out of their way in search of new 40's, pay hundreds of dollars for never before seen rarities, and even fly 1,000's of miles to meet and drink with fellow 40oz. Crew members. This isn't a past time, it's a passion." -Bruz. "I would reach for an Old English or Private Stock before drinking many premium high end beers." -White Mike.

Bruz's collection currently consists of 374 different bottles and growing by the day. It includes three 64oz. bottles and two 45oz. bottles. Although many microbrews are also distributed in 64oz jugs, they don't count in his collection. He even has multiples of the same brands with different mouth sizes, glass color, and label designs. satan165's collection is currently at 120 bottles. (I heard of DJ's with records all over the place, but I was just picturing walking into someone's cribs with crates of fuckin 40's all over the place.) "I have shelving for about 85 and I keep the rest (more common ones, like regular OE) in my storage area of my condo. But, I do have four OE variations on my shelf; OE ice (discontinued years ago although it was fuckin delicious), OE HG, OE Canadian (it's 8% stronger than the others plus it has French writing on it), and OE Charcoal Filtered (which looks like a regular one with the old original recipe changed many years ago.)" -satan165.

"My first 40's I remember being Colt 45 (wide mouth), Olde English 800 (wide mouth), St. Ides (wide mouth), the original Crazy Hourse, and Phat Boy. By the time I actually started collecting, these bottles were no longer available. The wide mouths were now being made in small mouth bottles, the original Crazy Horse was starting to disappear off store shelves due to its logo being that of an Indian chief's head (Ancestors were filing a lawsuit against the company), and Phat Boy was discontinued due to its seeming to be marketed towards young black kids via its bright colors and use of the word "Phat." Phat Boy was a classic too cause it was the only 40 with ginseng in it! Not to mention St. Ides was 'Premium' back then, whereas now it's 'High Gravity' with higher alcohol content!" -Bruz

"In the 90's, we discovered 64oz. bottles of Olde English. Those shits were available but only in the hood of Chicago on the west side. We used to ride out to the west side where the heroin pushers would be hanging and hit liquor stores out there for 64's. They would sell us brews without ID's, so it was all gravy. We would buy 64's by the case until one day, we went out there in late 2000 and all the 64's were gone…" - ImissMy64oz. "The 64-ouncers were definitely dropped by all of the few companies that made them due to community groups and what not that said they contributed to alcoholism and binge drinking." -satan165.

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