Songfacts®:

• This is the first single to be released from American country artist Billy Currington's fourth studio album. In this song the narrator declares that drinking beer is all he's good for. This follows the "beer is good" content of Currington's 2009 single "People Are Crazy," in which he sung the line "God is great, beer is good and people are crazy."
• The song was written by Troy Jones, who also co-wrote "People Are Crazy" with Bobby Braddock.
• Currington told Country Weekly that "Beer" was inspired by fond memories of growing up in Rincon, Georgia. "Our Friday night parties weren't in somebody's house. They were in a field somewhere with a bonfire," he said. "We had trucks with loud stereos and kegs in the back... I've got good memories of dirt roads."
• Troy Jones told The Boot the story of the song: "Some songs, you don't start out with a title. And I didn't with 'Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer.' I was riding down the road a few years back and got this tune going in my head. For some reason, I got to thinking that I didn't go to college. All I have is a high-school education. I don't have a trade -- I'm not a welder and I'm not a mechanic. I was thinking, well, the only thing I can do is pick a guitar and write songs! So when I got home, I picked up my guitar and those first few lines just started coming out -- that I wasn't born for digging deep holes or paving roads, and all that stuff. And it just kind of rolled out from there!
  I didn't have a title, so I was trying lines like, 'I'm pretty good at... ' all these different things. And then I thought ... hmmm ... well, I'm pretty good at drinkin' beer! (laughs) I worked on the song a while that afternoon and finished it up on maybe the third day. Really, this song just wrote itself. For whatever reason, that day, it just came. Once it started, it just kept coming. A lot of songs, you'll work on them for weeks. But sometimes you'll get a gift. And this one was a gift.
  I actually didn't even think it was a hit when I wrote it! I thought it was a pretty good song and it was fun to sing, and I had fun singing it at writers' nights. But I never thought, boy that's a hit, like I did when I wrote, 'People Are Crazy.' It's funny, sometimes I'll think a song is great and play it for my publisher, and they'll go, 'Oh, OK ... that's good. You got anything else?' Then I'll play something I think stinks, and they'll go, 'Oh we love that!' And I'll go, you do? (laughs)
  For whatever reason, stuff seems to happen when I'm on top of wheels! Believe it or not, even when I'm on my lawnmower! I do drive a lot, I'm always going somewhere. I grew up down in Port St. Joe, Florida., a little fishing town down there. I drive down there several times a year. My mom's down there, so I go spend a couple of nights with her once in a while. I'll walk around and around that little town I grew up in ... and when I get back home, I generally write up a song or two. It really does inspire me to write."
• During an interview with The Boot, Currington explained why he believes this song connects so well with his fans: "I actually heard it on the same [demo] CD as 'People Are Crazy.' It was written by the same guy. He connects well with the people who love to drink beer and party. I had played that song, 'Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer', a hundred times, and then I started playing it for other people, and I had seen the reaction that it got. So, that was the reason I recorded it. I just really believed in it by the time we had to record an album. So, I'm still in love with it when I play it live."
• The Boot asked Currington what his favorite beer is. The singer replied: "My favorite beer would be, I don't know. [laughs] I don't really drink a lot of beer, to be honest. When I do, I like weird beers. I like to mix it up. I go from a Blue Moon to that dark beer, Guinness, to a Budweiser back to a Pabst Blue Ribbon, whatever. I don't care. [laughs] I don't drink enough to care."
• At the end of the song a can is heard being popped. However, despite the song's subject matter it was not a beer can. Currington confessed to The Boot: "That was a root beer. That was the only thing we had in the fridge [laughs], but it worked."
• Currington explained the concept for the song's music video in an interview with 96.3 KSCS: "The guy that shot it was Potsy. He did my last couple of videos – 'People Are Crazy' and a couple of others. He sent me this idea on the song one day and I was reading it and the whole time I was thinking, 'What a joke! I am not wearing a wig. I am not wearing a moustache. I'm not doing any of these things. I don't want to a part of no beer pong.' So, I just wrote him back and was like, 'Man, thanks a lot, but maybe we don't even do a video for this song.' And, he said, 'Man, you are crazy! Everybody loves this concept!' And, I'm like, 'Who?' [laughs] So, I started hearing the people at my label saying, 'Man, it'll be fun. It'll be different. Go try it.' And, I said, 'If it doesn't turn out good, you'll trash it, right?' And, they agreed. And, it turned out funny."