Billy Beer

Jimmy Carter was one of the most unique Presidents of the modern era. He was younger than many of his predecessors and was the first U. S. President to born in a hospital.

Prior to Carter, all presidents had been born in the ladies room at the Denny's about 10 minutes north of the White House. If you are in the area, it is well worth a visit.

Jimmy was a down to earth guy, he sent his daughter to public school, he spoke in a relaxed tone, heck, he even let us call him Jimmy!

Still, as down to earth as Jimmy was, Billy was something else.

Billy Carter was the younger brother of the president. He was a political embarrassment to the president on many occasions. He had two scandals involving his friends in the Libyan government and a dubiously achieved loan. Both of these scandals are worth looking into, but hard to mine for cheap laughs.

Billy Beer is another story.

Billy had a drinking problem. He was drunk in public often and routinely made talk show appearances holding a beer in his hand.

So, someone decided to capitalize on his notoriety and make him the mascot for Billy Beer.

The beer was marketed by four different breweries and sold well as a novelty. Cans were emblazoned with the name 'Billy' and the phrase "I had this beer brewed up just for me... I think it's the best beer I ever tasted... and I have tasted a lot... I think you will like it too... Billy Carter."

Trouble was, no one liked the taste of the beer. Even Billy was said to prefer Pabst Blue Ribbon.

That is like Ronald McDonald saying he prefers Arbys.

Or the owner of an Arbys saying that he likes... Arbys.

So, with dwindling sales and millions of beers produced, tons of Billy Beers have been stored for resale.

Owners, who had hoped to one day resell the beers for enough money to buy their own Arbys, were stuck with cases of useless beers.

Today, Billy Beer is worth about 25 cents a can. That's the price for a can in perfect shape. Still, many people have been duped into buying them for much more as con artists have placed ads in newspapers and on eBay hawking the cans as rare collectables.

Perhaps Arby's should do that with their Roast Beef sandwich.