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Blind Testing Light Beers (Coors, Bud, Keystone, + craft)
Posted on 7/12/18 at 10:30 pm
Posted on 7/12/18 at 10:30 pm
quote:
There was no other conclusion after reassemblingour panel of brewers from last summer’s macro beer tasting to taste 15 light lagers blind. Five of the 15 could be considered craft beers; four of them finished in the top six.
The three brewers — Jim Cibak of Revolution Brewing, Matt Gallagher of Half Acre Beer Co. and Brian Pawola of Pollyanna Brewing — eagerly signed on for the tasting. Each declared a love for any beer that’s light, refreshing and well-made, no matter who makes it.
quote:
The wrinkle to the tasting, they were told, was that the classic brands — like Bud, Miller and Coors — would be doing battle with similar beers from craft breweries.
quote:
I assembled 15 beers that could reasonably be called “light lagers.” Some have “light” (or “lite”) right there in the name. Others are a brewery’s interpretation of a light, easy-drinking lager. They were served to the panel in random order, blindly
quote:
We tasted the beers across more than two hours in a private room at Half Acre’s brewery on Balmoral Avenue. I grabbed them one by one from an ice chest and poured the (mostly) pale yellow liquids out of view of the panel into the same short clear plastic cups Half Acre uses for blind evaluations of its own beers.
Using a grading scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest), our panel members spent a couple of hours in search of the lightest, cleanest and most refreshing beers on a recent warm summer afternoon.
quote:
Beer No. 1 was a classic, and I wondered if it gained an unfair advantage by going first and dancing across clean palates? Perhaps. But our judges universally applauded it for doing the things a light beer should: It boasted just a touch of malt character while remaining, in their words, “clean” and “refreshing.”
Pawola said it was “dry and bubbly, with a touch of malt.” Cibak admired its “crisp bitterness.” Most important, Gallagher said, it wasn’t “flabby” — a crucial flaw among many light beers.
What makes for a flabby light beer?
“Lacking bitterness balance to the sweetness,” Gallagher said.
Coors Light, they said, was anything but flabby. They quite liked its combination of malt character, refreshment and balance.
quote:
The first curveball came with beer No. 3. Of all of the craft entries into light beer, Founders Brewing’s Solid Gold has arguably had the most buzz, in part because it made the most forceful entry, landing in 15- and 24-packs (just like Big Beer) with aggressive pricing to match (just like Big Beer). It is the clearest example of craft beer trying to play Big Beer's game.
Though Founders doesn’t tout Solid Gold as “light,” that’s clearly a piece of the intent, with an alcohol volume (4.4 percent) closer to Bud Light (4.2 percent) than Budweiser (5 percent).
All three members of the panel examined Solid Gold in prolonged silence. Then all at once they keyed in on its vast difference from the first two beers: Solid Gold is darker and has a bit of haze. It was clearly a craft effort at “lightness.”
quote:
Based on its color, beer No. 6 elicited even more raised eyebrows than Solid Gold — it was amber-colored, inching toward brown, and easily the darkest beer in our tasting.
Looks like Anti-Hero,” Cibak said of his brewery’s flagship IPA.
Was he bothered by a light beer — one that employs the word prominently on its label — that’s so dark in color?
“Doesn’t bother me at all,” he said.
It was Sam Adams Light, a beer that far predates the rest of craft brewing’s embrace of light beer; it was first released in 2001. In that way, Sam Adams Light seemed very much like a throwback, a craft version of light at a time that the classic light beers were still something to shun at every turn.
And so it was for Sam Adams Light, whose flavor backed up the appearance. Cibak described it as “toasty, caramel flavor.” Pretty impressive for 4 percent alcohol — even less than the evanescent Michelob Ultra (which is 4.2 percent).
quote:
Because the first beer they tasted — Coors Light — appeared to be the favorite among the major brands, we decided to taste it again, to be sure that it didn’t have an advantage based on simply being the first beer sampled. However, another taste only reinforced their decision.
“Pretty good mouthfeel,” Cibak said.
“I like the malt character,” Pawola said.
quote:
How the beers scored
Here are the average scores for the 15 beers tasted on a 5-point scale, with beers listed in order of finish, highest score to lowest.
TOP TIER
Coors Light: 3.5
Firestone Lager: 3.5
Totally Naked: 3.5
Solid Gold: 3.5
Spiteful Lager: 3.2
Corona Light: 3.2
MIDDLE OF THE PACK
Keystone Light: 2.8
Miller High Life Light: 2.8
Sam Adams Light: 2.7
Miller Lite: 2.7
BOTTOM RUNG
Busch Light: 2.3
Corona Premier: 2.3
Bud Light: 2.3
Trader Jose Light: 2.2
Michelob Ultra: 2
LINK
This post was edited on 7/12/18 at 11:04 pm
Posted on 7/12/18 at 11:06 pm to tduecen
Tiers look right but switch bud light and corona light.
Posted on 7/12/18 at 11:08 pm to tduecen
quote:
Pretty good mouthfeel
Posted on 7/13/18 at 4:20 am to tduecen
LOL, Coors Light is the winner
Posted on 7/13/18 at 4:54 am to tduecen
I can’t imagine this going over well on this board.
Posted on 7/13/18 at 6:15 am to Tigertown in ATL
quote:
I can’t imagine this going over well on this board.
I’m popping some popcorn as I type.
Posted on 7/13/18 at 6:42 am to tduecen
Bud light should be #1. List is shite.
Posted on 7/13/18 at 6:53 am to tduecen
Anyone who thinks a lager blind taste test is going to start a FDB riot,
Posted on 7/13/18 at 7:00 am to tduecen
How did Parish’s lager do ?
Posted on 7/13/18 at 7:03 am to CHEDBALLZ
quote:
LOL, Coors Light is the winner
It tied for the win, but yes, a winner.
I've really been digging on some Solid Gold this summer. I wish more places would stock it.
Posted on 7/13/18 at 7:03 am to tduecen
Coors lights did get the benefit of being first. I think that if it were later in the tasting, palate fatigue would've moved it down some.
Coincidentally I bought a 15 of solid gold. It is a damn fine lawnmower beer.
Coincidentally I bought a 15 of solid gold. It is a damn fine lawnmower beer.
Posted on 7/13/18 at 7:20 am to puffulufogous
They retested the Coors light at the end and nothing changed. Among the big brand light beers, I agree it's the best.
Posted on 7/13/18 at 7:43 am to Jake88
quote:
Coors light
My go to when i am not drinking IPAs or PAs
Posted on 7/13/18 at 7:54 am to tduecen
quote:
TOP TIER
quote:
Corona Light: 3.2
Posted on 7/13/18 at 8:08 am to Pitch To Johnny
I’ve always preferred coors light to bud, miller, etc.
Posted on 7/13/18 at 8:22 am to TigerWise
This post was edited on 10/12/22 at 7:47 am
Posted on 7/13/18 at 8:23 am to tduecen
Several years ago some friends and I did this for a radio show... 6 macros (Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Mich Ultra, Keystone Light, and I can't remember the other) plus Abita Light and Sam Adams Light.
Sam Adams Light was the unanimous winner, the Abita got lost in the shuffle of the macros.
Mich Ultra I think was the worst.
Sam Adams Light was the unanimous winner, the Abita got lost in the shuffle of the macros.
Mich Ultra I think was the worst.
Posted on 7/13/18 at 8:24 am to puffulufogous
quote:
Coors lights did get the benefit of being first. I think that if it were later in the tasting, palate fatigue would've moved it down some.
Did you miss this part?
quote:
Because the first beer they tasted — Coors Light — appeared to be the favorite among the major brands, we decided to taste it again, to be sure that it didn’t have an advantage based on simply being the first beer sampled. However, another taste only reinforced their decision.
“Pretty good mouthfeel,” Cibak said.
“I like the malt character,” Pawola said.
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