Miller Lite: Lite is for flavor, body and character
Written: Jul 05 '01 (Updated Jul 08 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Clean, easy drinking, available and low calorie
Cons: Lack of flavor or body, nothing of interest.
The Bottom Line: A clean beer for non-beer drinkers. Lacks the character or flavor of a microbrew or European lager. It's lower in character, but so is drinking less.
|
|
|
| andaryl's Full Review: Miller Lite 2402b |
OK, Independence Day has passed and this Brit can crawl back out of his hole again. I always joke that the idea of a Brit celebrating Independence Day is like a Jew celebrating Christmas. But then I have to admit to taking a couple of minutes off work last night and taking a peek at the fireworks.
So I decided that I’d do things American style today and opt for a beer that American’s can truly call their own. No my friends I am not talking about steam beer or cream ale. I’m talking about the beer style that probably caused all those microbreweries to open in recent years, the light beer.
Having never reviewed a light beer, I figured where better to start than with the original, brewed in 1975 by Miller. Actually my motive is more that it’s in my fridge and something I taste regularly. My wife is a slow and infrequent drinker, so I often finish her Miller Lite for her when we go out, and have also shared 2 for 1 on happy hour specials. Also a year ago, before I started beer collecting and storing, Miller Lite would often be the only beer in my fridge.
I should add that although Miller Lite is my wife’s regular drink she has discovered a recent liking Lindemans Kriek, Peche and Framboise.
What is a Light Beer?
Light beer is lower in calories and gravity compared to regular beers. A regular beer will typically have 155 calories per 12 oz bottle with light beers having around 100.
There is some truth to the common phrase “watered down beer”, but there’s a little more to it than that. If you make a beer one third lower in calories just by adding water, it would only have about 3.3% ABV, whereas Miller Lite is 4.4% ABV (that’s only 12% lower than a regular American lager). So there is an additional process that converts more of the sugars to alcohol, so that the compromise on calories is not such a big compromise on alcohol.
Miller Lite
The flagship of Budweiser is Bud, the flagship of Coors is Original Coors. I don’t know if you would call it fortunate or unfortunate, but the flagship of Miller today seems to be Miller Lite.
Miller Lite has been around since 1975 and was the original low calorie beer, with 96 calories per 12 ox serving, and 4.4% ABV. It won gold medals in the 1996 and 1998 World Beer Cup in the American-style Light Lager category. The beer is America’s number 3, behind Bud and Bud Light.
Update - Calorie Comparisons
Since I wrote this review I stumbled upon the following information. Numbers in parenthesis are calories per 100 ml)
Miller Lite (29), Coors Light (30), Bud Light (30), Amstel Light (29), Michelob Light (41).
The following are lower, but do not compromise alcohol content:
Rheingold Extra Light (27), Genesee Light (27)
These 2 are only 2.5%ABV:
Molson Light (23), Pabst Extra Light (19)
Tasting Notes
Based on 12oz bottle
The beer pours to a very pale golden, almost straw-like color, while there’s plenty of carbonation, but very little foam, and what little there is barely lasts long enough to even mention.
The nose, while uninteresting is fine, and pretty much what many non-beer drinkers want. It’s clean, with a slight bubble-gum aroma, a little floral aroma suggesting fruitiness without actually jumping out, as well as a some graininess.
The tasting is also pretty uneventful and the first few sips pretty much wash right over the palate, showing a little carbonation, but hardly stopping to wipe its feet on the way to the back of the throat. One thing I can certainly say here is that it’s refreshing, but so is a soda water with a squeeze of lime.
A few more sips and a little more restraint and concentration help reveal light notes of malt, but are a little too clean, offering no real character, while there is a smooth mellowness and hints of grain around the middle. There’s a little hop in the finish and crispness, but I would not support the brewer’s “pilsner” statement. The aftertaste is very minimal and does not really linger except for a faint memory of malt. It kind of encourages you to drink fast.
Verdict
This is nothing more than a refreshing brew, with the added bonus of a little alcohol. It’s clean with a minimal aftertaste that will make it appealing to non-beer drinkers, and I have to say that this is probably the main reason people drink it. The low calorie content also makes this beer a popular choice, but anyone who is looking for more flavor and character would surely be better served by 2 regular beers than 3 light beers.
I have to say that it’s better than Bud Light, which seems a little more watery. I will look to add reviews of other popular light beers such as Amstel (in between hard to find selections).
Food
I don’t think it really matters what you eat with this beer, but I only find satisfaction if I drink it with Buffalo wings or something else spicy.
Recommendations
The first thing I should say is avoid the cans. In fact you should avoid any light beer in a can as their lack of body can often attract a little bit of a tinny flavor. I also recommend drinking it ice cold and right out of the bottle.
I do knock light beers a little and would never ‘choose’ one. I’ll be honest in that there is nothing wrong with Miller Lite as it’s pretty inoffensive, but personally I seek a little more life and character in a beer. That said, I would drink it. I have to reinforce the old quality/quantity statement of “don’t drink more beer drink better beer”.
Price & Availability
Available everywhere that a delivery truck can get to and very cheaply priced. It will typically cost you around $9 for a 12-pack but is regularly available on sale.
Overall Rating
In a blind tasting, I would probably rate this at around 1/5 but have upgraded this to a 2 in lite of the product’s purpose and intention.
Footnote
The current Miller Lite commercial is my favorite; you know the one where the dog rushes in to the noise of the dog food opening, the cat to the shaking of the milk carton, and the guy’s buddies to the opening of a beer bottle.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
andaryl
|
 in Music, Movies |
 in Movies |
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Andrew Smith
Location: California via Yorkshire
Reviews written: 567
Trusted by: 373 members
About Me:September saw The Beatles rereleases. Need help? Checkout my guide here
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.