If you know a Texan, you know there’s nothing they love more than Texas — and Lone Star may just be a Texan in beer form. Located in the hills of Austin, this brewery came into being in 1884 as Texas’ first large-scale mechanized brewery. It tastes like the big country, minus the steers. It goes down like a Texas sunset, minus the heat. And it keeps you coming back for more like, well, Texas.

As the “National Beer of Texas” (could there be a more Texan statement than that?), Lone Star sets the tone for any number of good times. Whether it’s at a backyard barbecue, aboard a deck boat roaming the state’s many waterways or letting the twangy cry of a Fender Stratocaster carry you away to musical nirvana at a concert, Lone Star is the beer for the occasion.

How did this beer become so ubiquitous? Its century of groundwork notwithstanding, it was the 1970s that saw a massive surge in popularity. The Cosmic Cowboys of country music adopted the beer as its official beverage. This included Willie Nelson, who happened to be a friend of the marketing and promotions manager at the time. Before long, all of the Texan pride Lone Star put into their beer was recognized — in the Austin music scene, in every corner of the state and, just as rapidly, in the rest of the world.