Does anyone here like Miller Light beer? I think its wonderfull. That is what i am drinking on tonight
i wouldn't rather drink my own piss, but i'd rather drink dozens of other types of beer instead. it would be extremely generous to describe miller lite as sub par....
well.. miller light did win the 2006 world beer cup for being the best american style light beer. arty:
that doesnt mean shit - look at the category: american light beer. the worst beer in the world, essentially. being the best of the worst isnt something to boast about...and winning that label once in an annual competition even less so! give me something with flavor instead.
well.. american beer is all i have ever had.. im sure you have had alot more than myself. so we will leave it at that. I personally like the taste of it. so thats my opinion
i myself like light beer. so, give me a light beer that you think is best. and i will try it out? somthing that i can purchase in the u.s i live in texas
Texas is the home of Shiner Brewery, and they make a bunch of affordable and drinkable beers. I like their Dunkelweissen, but it definitely isn't a light beer. They also make another weissbier that's pretty light (it has a blue label, can't remember the exact name). Sam Adams Light is surprisingly good (and I don't care much for light beers), but it's a little pricier than Shiner. Yuengling and Leinenkugel make some good affordable beers in a variety of styles, but I don't know if you can find them in Texas ... but you may, they're both pretty big companies. If you like really, really light beers there's always Amstel. And last, but certainly not least, you should be able to get some Ed's Original Cave Creek Beer, which as far as "lightness" is concerned is along the lines of Corona ... but much, much better. Everybody ought to have at least one six-pack of Cave Creek before they die.
Thanks for the ideas gaston, i will put all of those on my list to try. Shinerbock is a really good one too, thats probably one of my favorite texas beers. Sam adams is pretty good also. I will go out this weekend and try and find some eds original cave creek
its not a good example of a hefeweizen, and as a hefeweizen it fares poorly, but as a very affordable step up from budweiser and miller, i think that shiner's hefeweizen is a good choice. like i said it isnt a good hefeweizen, but it is still tasty and you're sure to see it somewhere. a much more flavorful way to go would be to try blue moon. its got a ton of flavor for an american macrobrew, but its got a really bright and infinitely drinkable character. it's unique (among widely available american beers) flavor comes from the addition of wheat to the brew, as well as orange and coriander. many people like to add an orange wedge to their blue moon (and i've noticed people doing this lately with more traditional witbiers in my area, and even occasionally with a hefeweizen) but i dont think its necessary or desirable. but if it tastes good to you, go for it. i'm happy with the orange thats already in it. leinenkugels classic or amber are not bad, and at least in my area its widely available. the classic would be a typical american beer in style, but would have richer malt flavors and a hint of hops that you dont find in almost any american macros. the amber is also decent. the sunset wheat and berry weisse and others i've tried are shit, though. one macro that actually DOES have a hint of hops and doesn't suck wildly, in my opinion, is strohs. dont get me wrong, it's dirt cheap beer, but its fuller bodied and actually has a hoppy bitterness in there. its a definite old-timey american beer, catering to american tastes and really cheap to boot, but actually drinkable and even, on rare occasions, pretty nice. here it goes for $8 a 15 pack and gets put in the same area as PBR and Gennessee and Icehouse and such. don't get me wrong, i think its decent for the price and i would always pick it over budweiser or miller, but there are dozens of beers i'd rather drink than stroh's. when i'm on a budget though, i dont mind it too much usually. sam adams light would be a good bet, as mentioned. the problem with finding good light beers is that light beers aren't designed to taste good. this is why they need multi billion dollar ad campaigns to get people to buy them. american brewing was begun by european immigrants, and there are very few authentically american styles of beer, though we do tend to have differences in our styles from the original, and often better, european beers. for ages beer was mostly pretty dark, and really filtering beer is definitely a very recent development. in the 1800s the first pilsner was created in plzen, in what is now the czech republic. the creator named his company Pilsner Urquell and it is still being made today. you can buy it at any good liquor/beer/wine store, and at least in my area in most large supermarkets. its definitely among my favorite lagers (a beer made with bottom-fermenting yeast, as opposed to the top-fermenting yeasts used with ales) and the original pilsner style beer, which gets it's name from plzen. "pilsner" became a word meaning almost any golden lager regardless of where it was made. pilsners (aka pils, pilsener) became very popular very quickly and spread all over the world because they are generally far more refreshing and lighter in body than most ales or dark lagers, and are found more universally palatable. pilsner urquell is indeed a pretty light, crisp, and refreshing beer, but still maintains exquisite balance and complexity, and a very full flavor - quite unlike many other pilsners, especially those brewed in america. in general americans have taken an attitude of wanting LESS flavor and less calories but maintaining the alcohol levels generally. a lot of american beers actually are pretty weak, often at less than 5% ABV, because in an attempt to make them more refreshing and lower in calories, they brew beer using fewer ingredients which results in less carbs and less alcohol, but more water. so if you like these types of flavors but want to try better beers, the first step is to try similar STYLED beers but just higher quality..... you may like bass pale ale. its got some good hop flavors and has richer, darker malts than american macro brews, despite the name. it's not pale at all compared to miller, but it's pale compared to many other ales. the american macro breweries like budweiser and miller and coors all try to make pilsner styled beers, but using lower quality and fewer ingredients, and often with adjuncts such as corn not normally found in higher quality beers. it brings down the price and it makes for lighter and less flavorful beer. since they are trying to produce pilsners, try some famous and readily available pilsners....pilsner urquell is probably the best i can find most of the time, but things like heineken (if it's fresh) from the netherlands, stella artois from belgium, or becks from germany are a good first step away from miller. none of them are mindblowingly wonderful, but they're the types of beers most americans like when they first start exploring the different types of beer. they're pretty good, and more likely to be to your taste than pilsner urquell at least at first. going to a bar, particularly one that specializes in imported or craft beer, is a good way to try new beers because you only have to get a single glass of any one of them, and if you dont like it you dont have to get it again. heineken on tap may be more consistantly decent, but i've had a lot of hit-and-miss with bottled heineken. heineken, becks, blue moon, stella artois and bass are all likely to be seen, often on tap, at almost any bar other than little redneck dives.
You should write a book on beer. wow. That pretty much covered everything I wanted to know and more. Thank you
glad if i was any help no books for me though, i'm far from an actual expert. more like an enthusiast/drunk. rat knows a good bit more than i do about this sort of stuff, as well as some other folks on this board. and really, i can say a beer is bad, but its just my opinion. honestly just drink whatever you like...if you really do like miller then theres nothing wrong with enjoying it....especially considering how affordable it is compared to many beers. i just personally dislike it generally. but i'm an indulgant person. some of the things i know the best....cigars, beer, rum, drugs, coffee, cigarettes, marijuana...i enjoy these things tremendously and this type of thing has always fascinated me, and its what i like to learn about more than many other things. this may not necessarily be a good thing, i guess
Great, I didn't expect (considering the original post) that you'd like a Bock. You definitely want to try the Shiner Dunkelweissen. For years Stroh's made a very good Bock (seasonally only), but I haven't seen it in years. Sometime when you feel like splurging, treat youself to a bottle of Chimay's Trappist Ale. It's thick, rich, very high in alcohol, and absolutely wonderful. Drink it cool, not cold, in an open glass so you can get the full "nose" - it's near to a barleywine but I think it's much better. There are several versions most easily distinguished by price, and this is one of the few products that the price represents the relative quality. I'll agree that the Blue Moon products are good, unfortunately it seems that the Belgian Wheat that Nesta described is the only one stores around here stock regularly. Damned shame, it's my least favorite of their beers. They make a Pumpkin Ale that may still be in stores, it gets tiresome after a while but I always look forward to it each fall.
i'm not a huge fan of blue moon, but as has been said its a pretty good macro beer. right now there are two or three available depending on what store i decide to go to. chimay is wonderful, but there are three VERY different beers they make. chimay premiere comes in a red labeled bottle, and i believe its a standard belgian dubbel. its the least alcoholic of the three at a mere 7%ABV, but if you're used to miller lite and such it will definitely kick your ass. chimay cinq cents comes in a pale label and is essentially a very strong, very rich witbier, and probably my favorite of the three. it weighs in a bit stronger at 8%ABV and in my opinion makes a damn near perfect companion to a very strong cigar. chimay grande reserve is in a dark blue label and is a belgian tripel. it is similar in flavor to the premiere, but richer and stronger at 9%ABV, and probably my second favorite of the bunch. at least around here they all cost exactly the same if a store carries all of them, but you're lucky to find a store that carries more than one of them (usually the premiere or grande reserve) a 75cl corked bottle runs me $9-11 each around here. you definitely pay for quality, but also pay for other things such as rarity (its not made in a lot of factories around the world like budweiser or molson....its made only in one location as far as i'm aware, by trappist monks in belgium) it should, as has been mentioned, be served in a wide, open glass. it specifically ought to be served in a chalice type cup, but i don't have one myself and tend to go for oversized red wine glasses or more frequently my larger snifter. like many belgian beers it has glassware specifically designed to be the best shaped and sized vessels from which to serve it, but any similar glass should do. i've only seen chimay come in two sizes. normal 33cl bottles with metal caps and big 75cl champagne style bottles. i think there are larger bottles available some places as well, but they are hard to come by. the corked 75cl bottles are the better deal as you get a little bit more for your money, and because they tend to have more of a layer of sediment in the bottom. the sediment is yeast and is very good for you. some people dont like the taste of the sediment and strive to keep it in the bottle and out of their glass, but i dont worry about it because i think its quite tasty, and the health benefits are an added bonus. however, i do often try and save it until the very end and just drink the bottom portion of the bottle seperate from the rest of it. these beers are good slightly chilled, cool, or at room temperature, but generally should never be served cold.
