A Better Light Beer: Bud Light Golden Wheat
Written: Sep 30 '09 (Updated Sep 30 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Some flavor of citrus and light coriander, tart and refreshing, medium body.
Cons: Won't be a hit with the beer geek crowd.
The Bottom Line: A surprisingly good beer for its intended audience.
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| Bruguru's Full Review: Bud Light Golden Wheat |
Did somebody let the cat out of the bag too soon? They might have. Here it is, September 29th, and I'm sipping a glass of Bud Light Golden Wheat I bought a few days ago at a local liquor store, which shall go nameless to protect the innocent. If that puzzles you, it's because I'm also reading a press release from Anheuser-Busch dated September 10th stating that this particular brew is only available for tasting in the Company's four brewery hospitality centers, and won't be released to the public until October 5th.
But here I am drinking the stuff. And, interestingly enough, this is something I sure didn't see coming from Anheuser-Busch: a light beer loosely based on a Belgian styled Witbier? Extra points, of course, if you remembered that Anheuser-Busch was recently conquered by the Belgian brewing Empire, Interbrew.
But so it is. Bud Light Golden Wheat is described on the label as "Light beer brewed with coriander and citrus peels". The beer has 4.1% alcohol by volume and each bottle has 118 calories and 8.3 grams of carbs. But how does it taste?
Bud Light Golden Wheat pours to a cloudy orange color with a light, short-lived head formation and a slightly citric nose. As I empty the bottle into my curved Bavarian weizen beer glass, I notice a big splotch of yeast at the bottom. Don't be afraid of that yeast, amigos, there's nothing wrong with your beer. In fact, the yeast is good for you, so to rouse it, I leave a little beer in the bottle and swirl it about until I've dissolved the yeast. Then I pour it into my glass.
With the name Bud Light on the bottle I wasn't expecting a lot in the flavor department, but surprise surprise, Bud Light Golden Wheat is a much better beer than I thought it would be. It's also a big step up from boring, watery American macrobrewery light beer.
Bud Light Golden Wheat has a moderate but respectable body with a touch of malt and a crisp, biscuity wheat character. The beer is tart and refreshing, and it's laced with a hint of citrusy orange that adds some extra zing. The coriander is almost so subtle as to not be apparent, but if you try (and you allow your beer to warm a little), you'll taste it. The finish is tart and very refreshing, with maybe a faint hint of herbal, grassy hops.
Not a bad beer, not a great beer, but I think a solid one and I'll give it three and a half stars. If you normally drink light beers, then you might want to try Bud Light Golden Wheat, if only for the fact that it's lower in calories than your average brew (by maybe, 20% or so) yet still has a lot more flavor than most light beers.
But beer geeks looking for genuine Belgian-styled wit might just be disappointed. Well, better just to move along to a real one, I say to them. Budweiser Golden Wheat wasn't meant for them anyway. For its intended market, it's a refreshing product and a step in the right direction. Kudos to Anheuser-Busch for offering a light beer that actually has flavor to it, and might just introduce a broader crowd to the wider world of craft beer.
Recommended:
Yes
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