Presidential sibling Billy Carter gets his own beer

On September 16, 1977, William Alton Carter III, then-President Jimmy Carter’s younger brother, appears at a press conference in Louisville, Kentucky, to announce that he is lending his name to a new beverage: BILLY Beer.

The new brew would first hit store shelves in the Carter family’s home state of Georgia, then roll out nationally by November 1, Louisville-based Falls City Brewing Company announced. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll become the Colonel Sanders of beer,” Billy Carter told reporters.

In addition to the BILLY logo, the new can sported a facsimile of Carter’s signature and his endorsement: “I had this beer brewed up just for me. I think it’s the best I ever tasted. And I’ve tasted a lot. I think you’ll like it, too.”

Attesting to Carter’s beer-expert bona fides, the can also carried the legend: “Brewed expressly for and with the personal approval of one of America’s all-time great beer drinkers—Billy Carter.” He was reportedly known for occasionally popping a can for breakfast.

BILLY Beer lasted a little more than a year. Once operations shuttered, the brand stirred some excitement in the beer can collectors’ market, then a hot hobby in the U.S. When Carter was told in 1981 that a single can had recently sold for $1,000, he commented that, “I’d like to see the dumb--- that paid that much for it,” adding that he might still have a couple of six-packs left that he’d be willing to sell the guy. Today, the Brewery Collectibles Club of America characterizes its commemorative BILLY Beer cans as “incredibly abundant and virtually worthless.”

Lending his name to a beer brand wasn't the only way Billy Carter drew attention to himself as the colorful Carter sibling. The one-time farmer and gas station owner consistently used his time in the spotlight to amplify his self-described “redneck” bonafides. According to the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, his endeavors included publishing a book entitled Redneck Power: The Wit and Wisdom of Billy Carter, having a toy pickup truck model kit named after him, judging a bellyflop championship and taking a bit acting part in a TV movie about lady truckers.

According to The New York Times, Carter underwent alcohol addiction treatment in 1979, declaring himself a “reformed alcoholic” that year. He died of pancreatic cancer in 1988, at the age of 51.