July 2007
Beer
Best of the light brews
TASTE TEST Light beers from Michelob, Sam Adams, and Coors edged out the competition from Budweiser and Miller.
If you have been drinking Bud Light or Miller Lite, the best-selling light beers in the country, it might be time to consider
a new brew, our taste tests show. Although those two beers were judged very good, several others scored higher. The top light
beer: Michelob Ultra Amber, which hit the market just last year.
Americans now drink more light beer than any other kind, and more varieties have frothed up recently to quench that thirst. But shoppers beware: There is no standard for light beer, so you will find calories, and taste, all over the lot.
More expensive brands such as Sam Adams and Heineken have entered the fray in recent years. Market leader Anheuser-Busch, meanwhile, has expanded its premium Michelob light line and introduced Budweiser Select, a “new beer offering a bold taste” and with just 99 calories a serving. We gathered those pricier newcomers together with top-selling light brews and beers that have done well in our past tests. Then we sat down two experts with more than 25 years of experience tasting beer and put their trained palates to work.
The experts saw no bottles, no cans, no labels. All they got was sample after sample of beer, straight from the fridge, poured carefully into wine glasses to allow for some foam formation.
MATTER OF TASTE
As they sipped they focused on whether a beer tasted fresh and had a balanced mix of floral, fruity, malted grain, hops, and
other appropriate flavors. If a beer tasted skunky, stale, soapy, or had a weak finish, that was noted as well. Overall, the
light beers we tested were similar in quality to domestic and imported full-calorie beers, but they had a less-intense flavor.
We found that six brews were better than the rest--three light Michelobs, including the newer Michelob Ultra and Ultra Amber, Sam Adams Light, Budweiser Select, and Coors Light in a can. Bud Light and Miller Lite were very good as well, though they fell a notch below the best beers because of slightly lower flavor complexity.
Heineken Premium Light, on the other hand, was described as a “simple beer with boiled hops” and at least some off-notes in every sample.
Taste matters, of course, but we suspect most people turn to light beer because of the calorie savings. Fair enough, but note that unlike “light” food products, there are no government standards for “light” beer. Companies using the term have to list calories (and carbohydrates, protein, and fat) on the label. Generally the light beers are lower in calories than their regular-beer siblings, but you need to pay attention to the labels.
A Bud Light, for example, has 110 calories a serving vs. 145 for a regular Budweiser. But the range of calories across the category of light beers is wide, from 64 calories for the cardboardy Beck’s Premier Light to 119 calories for the very good Sam Adams Light.
The calorie savings, however, doesn’t exactly give you license to swill. Light beer has almost as much alcohol as regular beer. The calorie cut comes mainly from a reduction in carbohydrates. Keep that in mind when you designate a driver.
How to choose
Americans now drink more light beer than any other kind, and more varieties have frothed up recently to quench that thirst. But shoppers beware: There is no standard for light beer, so you will find calories, and taste, all over the lot.
More expensive brands such as Sam Adams and Heineken have entered the fray in recent years. Market leader Anheuser-Busch, meanwhile, has expanded its premium Michelob light line and introduced Budweiser Select, a “new beer offering a bold taste” and with just 99 calories a serving. We gathered those pricier newcomers together with top-selling light brews and beers that have done well in our past tests. Then we sat down two experts with more than 25 years of experience tasting beer and put their trained palates to work.
The experts saw no bottles, no cans, no labels. All they got was sample after sample of beer, straight from the fridge, poured carefully into wine glasses to allow for some foam formation.
MATTER OF TASTE
ALL SIZES Bud Light comes in many containers, including aluminum bottles, far right, but keep an eye on unit costs.
We found that six brews were better than the rest--three light Michelobs, including the newer Michelob Ultra and Ultra Amber, Sam Adams Light, Budweiser Select, and Coors Light in a can. Bud Light and Miller Lite were very good as well, though they fell a notch below the best beers because of slightly lower flavor complexity.
Heineken Premium Light, on the other hand, was described as a “simple beer with boiled hops” and at least some off-notes in every sample.
Taste matters, of course, but we suspect most people turn to light beer because of the calorie savings. Fair enough, but note that unlike “light” food products, there are no government standards for “light” beer. Companies using the term have to list calories (and carbohydrates, protein, and fat) on the label. Generally the light beers are lower in calories than their regular-beer siblings, but you need to pay attention to the labels.
A Bud Light, for example, has 110 calories a serving vs. 145 for a regular Budweiser. But the range of calories across the category of light beers is wide, from 64 calories for the cardboardy Beck’s Premier Light to 119 calories for the very good Sam Adams Light.
The calorie savings, however, doesn’t exactly give you license to swill. Light beer has almost as much alcohol as regular beer. The calorie cut comes mainly from a reduction in carbohydrates. Keep that in mind when you designate a driver.
How to choose
Check our Ratings
(available to subscribers)
to find the kind of beer that’s right for you. Here’s what else we learned from our tests:
- Pay less, get more. Except for Sam Adams Light, at about $7 a six-pack, the best-tasting beers were all in the mid-price range,
about $5 to $6 a pack. Three cheaper beers--Busch Light, Natural Light, and Keystone Light, at less than $4 a pack--were almost
as good and are CR Best Buys. The other more expensive imported beers (Heineken Premium Light, Amstel Light, Corona Light,
and Beck’s Premier Light) fell to the bottom of the Ratings because of defects, including oxidized and metallic flavors.
- New brews offer a different taste. Most light beers are domestic lager-style beer, lightly hopped, with pale malt, fruit and
floral character, and a mild flavor overall. Michelob Ultra Amber and Sam Adams Light are somewhat darker beers with a more
intense flavor--more hops, more roasted malt, more fruit, and, well, more flavor. They also have slightly more calories than
most of the other lights we tested. Yuengling Light is in the same style, but it didn’t fare as well because it had cardboard-tasting
off-notes as well as some other defects.
- Try these calorie cutters. If you’re counting calories, try a Michelob Ultra, Budweiser Select, Busch Light, Miller Lite,
or Natural Light. All have fewer than 100 calories a serving and taste very good, though all have slight drawbacks--such as
lower flavor intensity. Michelob Ultra, Budweiser Select, and Natural Light have a finish that tasted a bit too much like
club soda. Run, however, from a Beck’s Premier Light. Though a beer with just 64 calories per bottle might seem tempting,
our experts said there was “little beer flavor in this skunky light beer with cardboard and oxidized notes.
- Do not shun cans. They might not be trendy, but they protect beer from light and tend to keep it fresh longer.
- Consider a keg for parties. In past tests, we found that keg beer tasted fresher (and therefore better) than beer in a bottle
or can. We expect the same to hold true for the light beers we tested this time around.
- Beer is a delicate drink. Fresh is better when it comes to beer quality (“aging” is for wine lovers), and freshness is lost when beer is exposed to light and heat. So pay attention to expiration dates when they do exist. Unlike many foods, old beer won’t make you sick, but you might be in for a nasty surprise if you decide to pop the top of the can that’s been sitting in the back of your refrigerator since last summer’s pool party.
