When I was in college in Iowa for a few years, I’d often get dragged into a Shakey’s or Pizza Hut and was surprised that almost without exception, they all had dark beer on draft, and I happily partook.
It was usually a dark lager supplied by Pabst, Miller, and especially Schlitz as I recall. This was circa 1970-72.
The beer (such as it was) was actually usually much better than what either place was passing off as pizza in those days. :mrgreen:
I particularly remember that both the Pabst Dark and the Schlitz Dark were actually not too bad.
I spoke to a Pabst brewmaster at the Newark plant when I returned to NJ in '74, and he confirmed that their dark beer was not just caramel colored (suggesting that the Miller Dark was likely made that way) ; rather, he stated that at Pabst they actually used roasted malts to achieve the color and a slightly richer flavor.