Now Beer This: Cheap Beer Challenge

Today, I thought about what I would do if I had to choose between Miller High Life and the self-styled “King of Beers,” Budweiser. It kind of feels like a dare, but I’m up to it. Turns out, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

If you’ve been paying attention at all, you’ve probably reached the obvious conclusion that I’m a craft beer nerd. Rumors of me drinking High Life and/or Bud is like hearing about Fonzie wearing a Members Only jacket — it just ain’t right. But this question of “what would you choose?” was posed to me, and I had to explore it. It’s actually more realistic than it sounds, y’know. Let’s say you’re stuck at a dive bar in Armpit, WV, or if you’re at anything to do with SEC sports — there’s a 93% Miller High Life and Budweiser are going to be what’s available. So how do you choose?

First, I wholeheartedly recommend that you taste everything for yourself and draw your own conclusions. Everyone likes what they like, and there’s no accounting for taste. You do you. Bearing that in mind, I’ll tell you what I think about each. And before you ask about Bud Lite, Miller Lite, etc., I had to draw the line somewhere, so I decided to not include any “lite” beers as they are fundamentally a different product altogether. It would be like taste-testing Coke and Diet Coke. Guess what?! The one with the gosh-darn real sugar in it is way better! Quel su-freaking-prise! So we went with the two flagship beers of these behemoth breweries to see which won out.

Miller High Life: What the what?! I actually CAN smell hops. Pleasant noble hop aroma, so I’m stoked and frankly surprised. Taste is quite dry, with just a hint of malt sweetness, but none of the corn I expected, balanced by reasonable hop bitterness, but no hop flavor at all. It is actually champagne-like in its dryness, and I can’t even believe I’m writing this.

Budweiser: Hop aroma is absent, but that’s only remarkable to me in that it was present in the High Life. There is a light pils malt aroma that precedes the taste, which is sweet and corn-like. It reminds me of that murky water that’s in a can of corn, and I shouldn’t have written that because now you’ll never drink it.

My verdict? For my tastes, the High Life was the way to go. I liked it’s dryness and the mere fact that it even approached its nickname (the Champagne of Beers, if you didn’t know) was impressive. For fun I’d like to put the High Life up against Pilsner Urquell and see how things go. As for Budweiser, if you’re looking for a sweeter beer, that’s your better option.

Am I going to rush out and buy a six-pack of either of these? Hell to the naw. Drinking this stuff has been like going on a TAB binge, and the next beer I drink is going to be so bloody fresh and hoppy that I’m going to sprout hop bines out of my eye holes. But I feel enlightened as to what I would do if I had to choose between these two, and I frankly feel ever so virtuous for giving either a try. Yay, condescension!

(Don’t) go getchoo some!

‹

Now Beer This: My Top 5 All-Time Favorite Beers

Over the holidays I was discussing favorite beers with friends and I thought about if I was pressed to name my Top 5 beers what would make that list. That sounds like a pretty simple thing. But it ain’t. I’ve had A LOT of beers in my time. TONS. I’ve gone out of my way […]

Now Beer This: No Tricks, All Treats - Halloween Candy & Beer

Halloween Candy and Beer! You might have access to A LOT of Halloween candy come November 1, and somebody’s got to do something about it. So why not try some candy and beer pairing experiments? There are WAY too many candy varieties out there to make for a concise article, and I’m old enough that […]

Now Beer This: Beer-Related Travel Bragging

Maybe it’s poor form for me to tell you I got to go somewhere really cool and try some unusual, delightful and rare beers – but don’t think of it as travel bragging. Think of it as me sharing my experiences in the international craft beer world for your enjoyment. There! Isn’t that better? Last […]

Now Beer This: Coffee Beers, 'Tis The Season

I am a study in contrasts, to be sure. On the one hand, I love traditional beer styles and brewing methods and curl my lip at new-fangled, fabricated styles. On the other hand, you throw some coffee into ANY beer style, and I mean ANY beer at all, and I’m probably going to like it. […]

Now Beer This: The Beer Nerd Preaches on Berliner Weisse

If you had asked me six or so year ago, what European beer style is least likely to become popular in America, I’d have told you “Berliner Weisse, almost certainly.” Why? Back in the day, there were two things that drove beer popularity: hoppiness and ABV. The Berliner Weisse does neither of those things well. […]

Now Beer This: Weiss Guys

Before the Hazy IPA became a thing, before there were sessions, and maybe even before there were Radlers, the summer beer of choice was often a wheat beer. The German Hefeweizen (“yeast wheat”) is probably the most ubiquitous of these sweeter, lighter brews. With a grain bill consisting of about 50% wheat, this one is […]

Now Beer This: Differentiating Between Ales and Lagers

What makes Ales “Ales” and Lagers “Lagers?” When people find out I’m a Professor of Beer-ology, I almost always get this question from them. It’s a great question, and I’m happy to answer it. I can give you a short answer, but the long answer is SOOOOOO much more informative, and helps you to understand […]

Now Beer This: Beer Humbug! My Beer-Related Pet Peeves

I get all crotchety during this time of year. All of the forced cheeriness and murdering of trees for decoration — “destroyers and usurpers!” as Treebeard would say. I normally write a lot about what I like about craft beer and the beer world, but today, Mr. E-beer-neezer Scrooge is going to let you know […]

Now Beer This: Thanksgiving Day Beer Pairing Ideas

First, I should admit that we don’t do a traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner at my house. Years ago we all admitted that the thing we looked forward to the most was pies — so we decided to only serve food in pie form, changed the name of the celebration to Pie Day, and we’ve been […]

Now Beer This: What Should You Be Drinking This Fall?

Pumpkin beers are not, contrary to popular belief, the ultimate in craft beer options for the Fall. Many of my beer-obsessed brethren would agree that most pumpkin-themed beers are not really worth the effort; instead of getting something interesting, you essentially get an amber with too much pumpkin pie spices thrown in to it. Not […]

›