To offer something like sour beer
News News blog
Before the introduction of pasteurisation, beer production often resulted in beer with a sour taste instead of the desired drinkable beer.
In order to minimise the damage, this inferior product was advertised (usually unsuccessfully) using blatant marketing methods. The phrase "to offer something like sour beer" can be found as early as Hans Sachs (1494-1576).
The last sour beer, Berliner Weisse, was almost extinct in Germany by the middle of the 20th century. In other parts of the world, however, sour beers remained a speciality or were rediscovered and brewed anew.
The meaning of the phrase is "to want to sell something at any price"; "to want to advertise something in vain" or "to advertise a product that does not sell".
