I like to look for the positive in every beer but......
Written: Sep 01 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: $7 12-packs
Cons: Light unpleasant flavor. Overhyped. Cold-filtration was around long before Miller thought of it.
The Bottom Line: An almost flavorless beer that isn’t really helped by what flavor it does have. Judge it for yourself and not for the hype. Alternatively just take my non-recommendation.
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| andaryl's Full Review: Miller Genuine Draft 3001 |
I wasn’t in the mood to review the craft brews and imports stocked in my refrigerator earlier this week and once again decided to pass by the gas station and pick up a cheap 6-pack. In a momentary lapse of concentration I decided to give MGD a go, confident that I’d heard it was better than the regular offerings from Coors and Budweiser. This is now a belief that has firmly been destroyed.
Cold Filtered Beer
What sets MGD apart is its patented cold filtration process that made this beer something of an overnight success in the early 1980’s. It sold more in its first year than any previous new beer release, and became the USA’s number 2 brand. Miller boasts that cold filtration makes for the same result as keg beer. This is true because to maintain stability, bottled products need to be pasteurized to prevent live bacteria from damaging the beer’s quality. Draft versions don’t require pasteurization as they are consumed faster. A side note should be made for bottle-conditioned ales here, which benefit from live yeast. Some beers however do not and need to be treated before leaving the plant.
So by brilliant and ingenious scientific research Miller set the way with a bottled beer that didn’t need to be pasteurized. They set out with a full-blooded advertising campaign that ensured the product’s success.
Now imagine what the guys at Coors must have been thinking. Bill Coors had actually come up with the cold filtration process some 20 years earlier, but with the company’s belief that a quality beer didn’t need phony advertising, nobody knew anything about it. In fact the only time awareness was raised, was when strikers tried to reinforce one of the many Coors boycotts by claiming (wrongfully and knowingly) that Coors’ unpasteurized beer was unsafe and unhealthy. Coors has many sad stories due to its traditional focus only on product and virtually none on the consumer. This is just one of them.
Tasting Notes
My hopes should have vanished when I saw this beer supplied in a clear bottle, but this did not turn out to be an issue. Instead I was immediately disappointed upon pouring. It’s a pale yellowy golden color, extremely clear with good carbonation. There’s a decent initial foam but this quickly dissipates to something that looks more like a pond surface scum.
The nose is pretty much all-malt. It’s got a slight off-fruitiness, slightly grapey and a little vinuous.
The palate is light in body, with a slight smoothness. There’s some carbonation but really not as much as I would expect from this style.
A slight fruity initial flavor is even briefly appealing, with signs of apple, followed by a clean innocent malty-fruit middle. There are faint signs of hop in the finish but the aftertaste is very brief and mild. What does exist of the aftertaste is pretty unpleasant with a sour almost sickening sweetness.
Verdict
I kind of made a commitment a while ago to try and pull as much positive as possible out of a beer review. But when a company shows so little appreciation for product quality and then tries to boast so much about it, criticism becomes all the easier. My one recommendation for MGD would be to serve it close to freezing and hence pretty much devoid it of flavor. The company’s likely intention is to produce a beer without flavor and to that extent I feel that they have failed.
I would really struggle to pull much positive out of this. Some will obviously like it; sales figures and the success of Corona are evidence of that. Could it be the fact that 12 packs go on sale for $7? Or just the fact that people are swayed more by advertising and image than their own taste buds? Personally I would have to place it behind Budweiser and Original Coors. Enough said? Now, should I try MGD Light?
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
andaryl
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Member: Andrew Smith
Location: California via Yorkshire
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