Light beer redux

It’s a great time to be a beer drinker in northern Alabama.  The hops are freed.  Stem & Stein is right down the street from my house.  Life is good.

Yeah, except I’ve been drinking beer like I’m rich and thin, and I’m neither.  So it’s time for a little research.

Premium light beers torment me.  I like Sam Adams Light all right, for example, but all the way through the glass it reminds me that it’s not a real Sam Adams.  Plus, there’s no price break at all.

How about a new exploration of the lighter domestics?  Hey, as much of a beer snob as I’ve become, I’m an open-minded fellow.  Is there an acceptable price/taste trade-off down there at the bottom?

Here are some selected findings, semi-organizedly.  (Sheesh, this is a grueling project, but someone’s got to do it.)

I didn’t realize there were any beers left on the market for 50 cents apiece, but Busch Light is one ($5.99 for a 12-pack at my local Publix).  Truly, it’s not so bad.  It doesn’t taste like much of anything, of course, but I didn’t find it markedly worse than anything else I tried.

Michelob Ultra and Bud Select are my favorites of the under-100-calories-per-12-oz. mass market swills.  I think this is mostly because they’re not so corn-heavy, which seems to be the defining characteristic of this category.  However, they’re not consistently any cheaper than any number of much better beers, so they’re not going to be long-term players.  Mich Ultra is $21/case at Costco, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is $24, okay?

I get in a mood for a Bud Light Lime from time to time, but it has the same price problem.

Coors Light is drinkable and becomes much more appealing if you’re hot and thirsty, just like about everything else down here.  However, it easily wins the Most Ridiculous Can award, though I suppose there is a certain gadgety appeal.  Dig:

• The mountains turn blue when the beer is at “optimal drinking temperature” (and dude, if you need that to tell you whether it’s cold, you just go ahead and set that ninth beer back in the cooler anyway).
• The top includes a molded “Vented Wide Mouth®” for a “smooth pour.”  (Yeah, as if millions of beer connoisseurs routinely and lovingly tumble this shit into a favorite pilsner glass.)
• The liner is “Frost Brewed®,” which “locks in Frost Brewed® taste.”
• The can is tall and skinny, which wreaks potential huggie havoc.

Despite not caring for Miller Lite much at all, I had planned a date with the Beast Light, but I think I’m going to stop here.  I’m pretty sure I’ve gathered enough data.

I think the best thing for me to do is to continue to drink whatever I want, and just do it a little less often.

(Damn.  Reality bites.)

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