All I Wanna Do Is Zima Zima and a Boom Boom

As far as we can tell the official death of the '90s arrived on October 20, 2008. It started with the death of Layne Staley and ended yesterday with the announcement that MillerCoors LLC will stop making the malternative beverage, Zima.

Zima has been called a lot of things - crap, awful, Sprite with alcohol. To us, Zima is the godfather of today's pop-malt beverages in the same way Neil Young is the godfather to alternative music. Were it not for Zima we might not have Mike's Hard Lemonade, Smirnoff Twisted, and any of the lame beers now being pushed with lemon and/or lime. For better or worse, there's a market for these drinks.

It's not the drink itself rather the memories it evokes. Wearing flannel and work boots with shorts like Eddie Vedder. Pretending to like Mudhoney because they're from Seattle. Wondering why Metallica dressed alternative and still played heavy metal (please remember to get your Metallica music legally!). Most importantly - watching Singles with your girlfriend and running off to the house party hoping to get her drunk on Zima while you forced down Natural Light Ice - because every beer was "ice" back in the day.

So, good bye '90s. Today we grow up and pretend to care about our jobs. Zima - well, we actually thought you left years ago.