Let's talk about American light lagers for a bit. You know, beers like: Budweiser, Rolling Rock, Pabst, Hamms, Genesee, Coors, Labatts, Corona, Yuengling, Milwaukee's Best, Schaefer, Miller...you get the idea. While craft beer might be all the rage among beer enthusiasts in this country, it's easy to forget sometimes that we are largely a macrobrew country. Despite the fact that microbreweries have experienced tremendous growth during the past few decades,
macrobrew (combined) sales still command 78% of the American beer market.
Speaking for myself, I actually don't dislike American light lagers. Owing to the time in which I came of age, macros serve as a sort of benchmark for what 'normal' beer is like. There is a strong thread of consistency to the style and most beer drinkers would like be hard pressed to identify specific brands under blind taste test conditions. My only criticism of the macrobrew universe is that it is
only one style of beer, and consequently lacks variety and interest.
I routinely keep my beer fridge stocked with some sort of macrobrew. I find it's useful for times when company is over - and admittedly we don't have a lot of company, but much of the company we do have tends not to have very....
diverse palettes. My father or FIL, for example, might not openly turn their noses up when given an IPA or a stout, but in those few instances when they've been served those, I've found the bottles afterwards to be still two thirds full - draw your own conclusions. But either will happily drink a Stroh's and ask for seconds, so that's one of the reasons I have it around. If you've ever heard the expression 'lawnmower beer' then you know American light lagers are ideal for the purposes of rehydrating and cooling off after a hot afternoon mowing the lawn. They're also ideal for long days spent at the lake or other places outside where you may want to consume a number of beers throughout the day and don't want to experience much elevation from alcohol and the 4.2% ABV most macros hover around is optimal from a (large-ish) consumption standpoint.
Do you drink American light lagers? If so, when?
