Happy New Beer!

As a new year opens up, many of us strive to change our ways, to do things differently than we might have last year. Often, a top resolution is to lose weight, get back in shape, or be healthier. If this is your plan, as it is mine as well, then eat less, exercise, and choose healthy foods. However, don’t sacrifice your enjoyment of life by turning to light, or even worse, low-carb beer. I say, resolve to drink better beer this year!
It would seem that, in hopes of losing weight, light beer would be a great option. And, while light beers do have less calories, carbohydrates, and lower alcohol levels than standard strength beers, the lack of many redeeming qualities sought after in typical brews should damn light beer from the start.
So, what exactly is the process of making light beer, and why is it so bad? Light beers are, for the most part, a (gasp) lighter version of a brewery’s typical lager. There are many different ways this can be attained. The most obvious method is adding water to the premium brew. A more typical method, sometimes combined with the addition of more water, is to run a batch of beer through various filters, removing ingredients, color, and most any appealing aspect of the original.
Light is also connected to lower ABV levels, so less malt and hop are used in the brewing process from the start. To fill that void, more adjuncts are added (think rice or corn), costing the brewer less, and making your beer lighter in color and reducing the flavor in the process. Forget any tempting aromas, unless metal and cooked corn work for you. Hops are usually nonexistent, malt is probably nowhere to be found, and if any taste is discerned, it will be the sharpness and acidity ushered forth by extreme amounts of carbonation.
Follow my thinking on this. Why would an individual drink light beer in the first place? These beverages have very little if any flavor. If you are a person who enjoys tasty brews, and drinks a few at a sitting, then swapping over to light beer would serve almost no purpose. The only reason I can find that people drink light beer is to become inebriated. If this is the case, then drinking six or eight light beers is similar in calorie, alcohol, and carb counts to two or three beers of regular strength. The loss of flavor far outweighs the few calories you save when drinking light beer compared to ‘regular’ beer. Resolve to drink better beer this year!
There really isn’t even a light beer worth mentioning. Sam Adams Light is tasty enough, but it’s not really a light beer. It compares with most American macro breweries premium lagers in calories, and is not a lighter version of Sam Adams Boston Lager. If you must go for the light (at least until you break your resolutions), look for a German import leicht lager.
Do not waste your money on Amstel light, it’s nothing more than a marketing ploy, and not much better than the American macro light beers. Shiner, Abita, and Yuengling Breweries all make light lagers that are a (half) step up from Bud/Miller/Coors light, for what it’s worth. Enjoy better beer this year … Cheers.
Gene’s Haufbrau has at more than 200 beers in bottles or on tap. Gene’s is located at 817 Savannah Hwy.  225-GENE. E-mail the Beer Snob at publisher@westof.net.