Select Light
Christian Moerlein Brewing Company

Doesn't really look like a light beer, with it's dirty peach hue. Doesn't really smell like one either, with an over-rippened fruit flavor reminescent of some heavier English Pales. The taste sorta teters on the characters that are present in the aromas, but then quickly fall flat. Though the brew remains ale-like, it gets thin and almost water, in a hurry. It just seems to fall apart right out of the gate. The finish is less than clean or crisp, but it's lightness holds some inherent drinkability. Gets grainy late, but holds onto some fruitiness even into the finish. Not impressed, but it is not a Light anything....thank goodness.

Translucent honey gold, much darker than others of this style. The parchment colored head of semi-stiff foam actually hangs around for a spell. Two for two. The cap looks like a slowly melting scoop of French vanilla ice cream and leaves respectable squiggles and fat fingers of lace on the glass. The appearance is pretty damn good for a light lager and is better than run of the mill in general.

The nose borders on nasty. It smells like a cross between sour, spoiled apples and sour grain. It doesn't make me snap my head back and retch, but neither do I feel like keeping my nose buried in the glass any longer than necessary. Please let the flavor be a fraternal twin to the aroma rather than an identical one.

The flavor isn't quite as bad, but it's close. Select Light's biggest downfall is that it has much more flavor than most light lagers. It has to be hard to make a palatable light beer (it must be since very few succeed), but at least keeping the flavor fleeting allows one to down them easily. If one is so inclined. I'm not.

Sour grain is still front and center and a sour apple tartness is still present, although it isn't as noticeable as it was in the nose. I like (or at least I don't mind) an appley flavor in some styles, but this one just seems wrong. Of course it's pathetically malted, did you really need to ask? There's no discernable hoppiness either.

At least the finish has the good sense to be on the short side. If anything lingers, it's a mildly unpleasant sourness. The body is a half notch above average for the style, which puts it squarely at 'light' with 'watery' gaining fast.

Christian Moerlein was born in Bavaria in 1818 and moved to Cincinnati in 1842. He opened a brewery in 1853 and made his fortune selling beer to the thirsty denizens of that city. I've heard the name since I was a kid, but never got the chance to try any Moerlein beer until now. I could certainly have picked a better style to start with because this light lager has precious little to recommend it.

Bought this at the local Grocery Outlet for 42 cents a 7oz. bottle. Was it worth it? Well, I finally have a wee bottle to put a homebrew into! Otherwise...
At the price, I wasn't going into this one with high expectations, and boy were they met. Really, a pretty standard coors light knockoff, except that there was a little more hop presence that took on a pretty unpleasant astringency at the 3 oz. mark. Very light, as advertised, which SHOULD make this one a pass-out-party favorite but for that nasty-sour/bitter bite.
However, if you have the chance, forty-two cents is a bargain for the thrill of cracking open such a cute bottle.

12oz. bottle poured into a pint glass. It pours a light gold color with two fingers of head. There is a little bit of lacing. The smell is grainy and bready. A little bit of that classic lager smell. Light on the nose. The taste has a little bit of malt, not much hops present. Pretty lifeless on the taste. The mouthfeel is light and watery. The drinkability is ok though. Like any other light beer.

This C.M. Light beer is ok, for what it is, a Light. It pours a clear, straw, golden color with a white head that forms nice to only retreat to a thin film. Nice while it lasts but the carbonation is up on this light when compaired to the lager. Lace is in spots and fades quickly. The body of the beer is more watered than the Lager. The aroma of sweet grain on the nose. The taste is crisp grain with hints of sweet malt and just alittle hop to give the mouth a slight bitter-sweet finish.
A nice Light to be had for its class. Perhaps a Sam Adams Light takes a bolder step, but thisone holds its own over the Miller/Bud Lights out there.

Appearance - pours a plain pale gold. A crisp bubbly head is brief, but holds at a very thin covering. For a light beer it's about right even if it ain't that great.

Aroma - some sweet graininess, for a light it's a little more aromatic than you'd think, but it's still faint.

Taste - nothing special, it tastes like an accurate but lighter version of their regular Select lager. One of the newer entries of many into the low-carb beer segment. A touch of malt, light sweetness. The flavor is a bit distinctive and the aftertaste may be trying to eke out some hops presence, but the attempt comes off more sour than bitter. Some trace sweetness at the finish.

Mouthfeel - predictable above average carbonation, crisp feel. Par for the style.

Drinkability - it's as good a light beer as any, and better than many.