Bland Lager Personified
Written: Apr 27 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to drink; Smooth; Clean
Cons: Little or no complexity or character; No finish
The Bottom Line: This beer shows signs of greatness, but there is too little of the "great" stuff and too much water to warrant a recommendation
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Abita Golden |
Abita Springs, Louisiana, is known for its natural spring water. This natural resource supplies clean, pure water for consumption by the local population and the residents of Louisiana and other places. The water is bottled and sold in many neighboring locales and it makes for a nice alternative to ordinary tap water.
Another thing that Abita Springs is known for is its beer. The Abita Brewer, located in this city, is one of the South’s largest, producing five annual beers and five seasonals. One of these annual styles is Abita Golden, an easy- drinking lager beer.
Basic Characteristics of This Beer:
Pouring this product into a glass, it produces a pretty good amount of foam with a lively amount of carbonation. The color of the beer is pale golden with just a slight amount of haze. The aroma is sweet, with combinations of citrus, lemon, wheat, and a small amount of spice.
As far as the taste of this beer goes, it is rather light, with flavors of citrus and a small amount of grain. It’s like a mixture of white bread with some light wheat bread mixed in, along with just a dab of hops to be able to call it beer. It does have a clean taste, but it finishes with no flavor at all.
Abita Golden is brewed using American pale malt, Mt. Hood Hops, German lager yeast, and fresh Abita Spring water. The final product has an alcohol level of 5.25 percent by volume.
Food Compatibility:
Because this beer is very light, it can be paired with just about anything. I think it matches up best with chicken, noodles, French fries, pizza, and most any salty snack. It tends to be sweet, and since it is very light in taste, it can be compatible with all sorts of food or occasions.
Final Thoughts:
Abita Golden is a beer with promise that fails to come through. It has certain characteristics of a good craft beer, like a clean- cut taste, freshness, high price, and other attributes. But the taste is very light and it’s ultimately dissatisfying.
Abita likes to take pride in the natural spring water present in the city of Abita Springs, Louisiana, where the brewery calls its home. This clean water is one of the many quality ingredients used in this beer. The problem is, Abita uses too much spring water and not enough of the other ingredients. Light beer is fine from time to time, and it does serve a purpose. But I think there needs to be at least a little bit of complexity and character in all beer, even those that tend toward the lighter side. Abita would benefit if it had more body and more staying power. There is virtually no finish at all with this beer and the body is about as empty as, well, a glass of spring water.
It’s nice that Abita chose to brew this beer using the local supply of fresh spring water. I will admit, the spring water and the brewing process Abita utilizes have resulted in a very clean, fresh glass of beer with Abita Golden. Cleanliness is nice in beer, but so is taste. I don’t want my beer to taste so clean that I start to consider washing my clothes in it. I want at least some body and taste. And Abita Golden fails to deliver on these counts.
Among microbrews, Abita Golden is one of the most easy- drinking “craft” beers I have ever tasted. There is no bitterness, no kick, no finish, and little taste. The motto of Abita Golden could be “no bark and no bite”. It doesn’t offer much more in the way of taste and complexity than many of the popular, mainstream beers brewed by the “Big Three” brewers- Anheuser- Busch, Miller, and Coors. And Abita Golden retails for $6.99 per six- pack, which is double the price of the least expensive products from the Big Three.
Taken as a whole, I suppose Abita Golden could be worse. But it just doesn’t offer anything special. I could pick up a six- pack of Miller Genuine Draft and get more satisfaction. But it’s also not a terrible beer, either. After all, it is very versatile, very easy to drink, and it has some characteristics of fine craft beer. But these “characteristics” are too scarce to earn Abita Golden a recommendation.
Using natural spring water is a nice idea for brewing beer. But using a decent amount of quality ingredients is even better. With Abita Golden, you get good ingredients, but they are used in such small quantities that they are barely noticeable. For these reasons, Abita Golden earns a thumbs- down rating from me. I can get just as much satisfaction from a mainstream beer for about 50 percent less cost.
Recommended:
No
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