Mike has the beer style he needs to learn more about as a result of the Jar of Destiny Pick 10. This video shows how he pulled me into his American Light Lager Research. In it, we taste 5 beers in a row and try to figure out the best aspects of this style. It’s not everyone’s favorite, but it is a challenge to brew a good one at home. Here’s the labor of love in video form.
The Research Set Up
After a run to the store, Mike poured 5 beers for us to taste. I didn’t see what he poured so it was a blind taste test for me. For better evaluation purposes, he left the beers out of the fridge so they could warm up. Ice cold beer makes it hard to decipher flavor notes so we sacrificed a bit of the enjoyment for our collective understanding.
Once the beers were pours and the camera was rolling, it was on to the tasting.
Our Thoughts
Here’s our breakdown of each of the beers:
Night Shift Nite Lite
We think this beer has the most flavor and body. It might be because it is adjunct-free, whereas most other light lagers use rice or corn syrup.
Coors Light
This beer came off as unremarkable. Mike says that it likely has corn syrup as an adjunct.
Bud Light
We found this beer to be the lightest, most crisp, and cleanest tasting. Mike states that Bud Light may have a hint of apple in its flavor.
Miller Lite
This beer is Mike’s go-to summer beer. It has the strongest aroma with ester-y notes that are not in the other beers
Pabst Blue Ribbon
This beer has bigger body and taste as compared to the other beers. We know Pabst Blue Ribbon isn’t considered a light lager, but Mike wanted to a curveball for comparison.
The big thing Mike got out of this research is the need for adjunct and possibly enzymes to drive the final gravity down to get the light, crisp profile. I am looking forward to the results.
BREW ON!