No love for American Adjunct Lagers?

I like aal but it definitely is not one of my favorite styles. It is more of a it's hot and I'm thirsty style beer. I think the lack of love for the style is just preference for craft beer not really hate on aal.

 

Oh, yeah ... I remember that one. It wasn't my favorite of the Straub mix, but I definitely enjoyed it enough that if it existed on its own in my distribution area, I'd mix in two or three 6-packs a year. And it would be a good beer to buy in bulk for parties, barbecues, tailgaiting and such.

Is there any word on how close it is to being branched out on its own?

 

One of the fascinations I have had with BA for the past 8 years is that the same people who stomp their feet and bitch that a certain beer is great "in style" and should be respected are often the same ones to hate on bmc lagers, despite the fact that the world at large has decided those are the best in style. My personal favorite is Bud Select, but that's just me.

Another fascination for me is that, despite all the hate for American adjunct lagers, often the best selling beers from craft breweries are their version of "light" beers. For example, Rhinegeist Cougar is pretty popular here in Cincinnati. I was pouring beer at a festival last weekend, had a pils, a hefeweizen, two ipas and a kolsch. I poured two kolsches (or more) for every 1 other beer. I think it's somewhat clear that out in the world's beer market, light beer is what people want. Now, whether that is a remnant of a hundred years of bmc could be debated, but all the evidence I've seen suggests that.

 

I've been on a Miller High Life kick lately. Oh, I still keep the IPA's and a few stouts on hand - I still drink more of those, but I've rediscovered MHL in the last few years and it goes down nice and smooth when I'm up for something lighter. I went through the "beer snob hating on anything BMC" stage, but I came back around... all beer is good, some are just a little better and different beers are more appropriate at different times. Even the Bros give it an 80 "good".... BA's at large give a "poor" 63.

 

It definitely grows on you- maybe I should have sent a few more .

I see by @JackHorzempa 's post above that the IPL has busted out of the pack, so at least I got one of my wishes. Now I just have to get me some (most people have mules for beers in the Top 250; I have mules for stuff like this ).

 

She found something she'd like in return the last time she was here- a Limoncello that she can't get at home- so it seems we are becoming a bootlegging family. Again (perhaps)- we do have ancestral ties to some rural parts of Kentucky .

All kidding aside, I really do love what Straub has been doing recently and consider myself fortunate to be able to access it without much difficulty. If they were local to me, they'd be regulars in my fridge.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25317/35865/?ba=DunkelFester

That was a favorite of mine during the brief window of time that it was brewed under contract by Legacy. It was a summer staple and a killer deal. Then they dropped it again. I guess the brand was bought by Ruckus (whoever that is? They were not brewing it when I wrote that review in 2007). Regardless, I haven't seen it around here since the change in ownership occurred. Now I get my cheap adjunct lager fix in the form of Yuengling Premium. Cans.

 

That "new" Pabst brewery in Milwaukee in a former church within the old Pabst complex is going to have an initial capacity of 2,000 bbl/yr. Considering the company now sells about 6 million barrels of contract-brewed beer, about half of which is Pabst Blue Ribbon, it seems very unlikely that much PBR (if any at all) will come out of that new "microbrewery".

 

All ^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^ stuff couldn't be more correct. This also casts a shadow of inaccurate, at best, on my reviews. When I first came on board I will admit (ashamedly so) that I joined in on the AAL bashing crowd. Not so much the politics behind but rather the product itself. But I felt justified because in comparison to so many actual craft choices, the AALs did fail to deliver a taste that was on par in depth and character as the craft selections. Fast forward to the last few years when my patience for anything pretentious has gone straight out the window (as well as any inherent snobbery that I had) and I find myself questioning the actual "proper" way of critically examining an AAL. What is the true benchmark? What are target notes in both nose and taste? And finally, what is to be considered a flaw in an AAL? While I am certain that there is no shortage of actual beer judges on here, I am not one. I feel I can detect good and bad in a beer with more depth and character, but I don't have such a fine tuned palate as to do the same with an AAL.

So all this long wind to get to this point - they are brewed in a manner as to achieve a specific taste, and most every AAL is within the same spectrum of each other, so obviously this purposeful brewing has merit and should be treated as such. Perhaps I will do a quick 5 or 6 AAL side by side just to impress a more accurate scale of judgment on my part.

 

if I ever want a cheap cold beer , ill go with a pbr

 

The OP probably goes on Corvette forums and posts a thread saying "Doesn't anybody like Ford Escorts?"

 

Since closing their last two breweries - San Antonio (ex-Pearl) and Allentown, PA (ex-Schaefer & Stroh) - in 2002 or so, Pabst has also contract-brewed at City/La Crosse and City/Latrobe, The Lion, F. X. Matt, and the older Cold Spring brewhouse (pre-dating their new Third St. Brewery where they do Ballantine IPA) but I think far and away the greatest majority of their production comes out of the Miller breweries (not sure if any have been brewed in the Coors Golden or Virginia breweries).

Even before buying the Heileman/Stroh brands in 1999, Pabst had been shrinking ever since being purchased by S&P in the mid-1980s and had made deals with Heileman and then Stroh to brew some of the Pabst and other S&P brands in their breweries in regions where Pabst no long had breweries.

 

Have fun, have thought about doing this too.

Not ashamed to admit in my younger days I had a fondness for Bud and definitely had more than just a few over those years.

I bet in a side by side I would pick Bud as my favorite.

Definitely wouldn't pick Coors, honestly don't know how folks can stand it, or how I drank it myself back in the day.

 

@JackHorzempa , I like Duquesne Pilsener. Its a little sweet, little bitter, refreshing, cheap. My dad drinks Yng Light Lager, i don't think it's bad, just very light. Chester is my go-to around Christmas, a little hoppy, easy. I'd pick High Life over ML or CL or BL, but i don't mind an ice cold Bud. Strohs was my beer for years, sweeter, richer, a little more full flavored than some of the other ones i mentioned, earthy. I enjoy Old Mil and Pabst too, i've only had Schaeffer and Schlitz and Carling a few times years ago and can't really remember what i thought. Pabst Genuine Draft was good, and it was fun to drink dozens of Pabst Extra Lights. I have love for AALs, i'm not loyal to any specific brand but i have love for the category. And I like Genny Cream.