Founders announces Solid Gold Lager

Well, it sounds like you have a 'mission' here. Maybe you could discuss this beer in a New Beer Sunday thread?

Cheers!

P.S. To the best of my knowledge/memory I have never tasted Michelob Light.

P.S.S. My favorite 'Michelob' beer is my homebrewed 1896 Michelob beer which is bottle conditioning right now.

 

How could you have resisted that handsomely buxom silver foiled bottle back in the day?



As for NBS, if I can find one it shall be done. At first glance it has always seemed like Ultra pushed everything else off the shelves around here.

 

The way I remember it (based, in part, on an nationally distributed article in Time or Newsweek or some similar publication*), Michelob Light was sort of rushed to the market in 1978 to help AB compete with the amazing growth of Miller Lite - what was labeled at the time Anheuser-Busch Natural Light was already out and being sold at "premium" prices or above but, supposedly, wasn't getting great feedback as far as taste went.

Since AB was already high-gravity brewing* Michelob (those were AB boom years - growing their barrelage by 4m and gaining a point or two in market share every year- and they needed to expand capacity), they decided to add a bit more water to create Michelob Light. As a result, it did not fit the conventional stats of the other light beers of the era which were usually under or around 100 calories / 30% fewer that the same brewer's regular beer.

Instead, the first Michelob Light was 134 calories, 20% less that regular Michelob. (By comparison, that's only about a dozen fewer calories than today's Miller High Life or Coors Banquet). So, in the beginning anyway, Michelob Light was probably "better" simply because its wasn't as "light" as the other lights coming out at the time .

* The primary reason I remember the article (possibly even getting some of the facts correct ), is it was the first time I'd ever heard of "high gravity brewing".

 

JK, could you please further educate us on the history of "high gravity brewing"? Which brewery was the first to practice "high gravity brewing"? If it was somebody like AB did they do this first at one brewery and then 'roll out' this practice to their other breweries? Did they have to modify/update their breweries to conduct this practice? Are all of the mega-breweries today doing "high gravity brewing"? Are the regional breweries (e.g., Yuengling, Genesee, etc.) doing "high gravity brewing"?

Do you have any information on what QA/QC was conducted during the 'roll out' of the practice of "high gravity brewing"? For example, did AB conduct taste tests of Budweiser beers that were brewed via "high gravity brewing" vs. a Budweiser brewed the 'regular' way?

Cheers!

@Crusader

 

When I first found this on the shelf I grabbed two sixers. I have no problem necking back a AAL, but this didn't really do much for me. Still have 4 in the fridge.

 

Saw the 15pks for $14.29, same store had both Hamm's and Genny (all flavors) 30pks for about a buck less

 

I would recommend the Hamm's to you. It tastes 'better' to me and needless to say it is a much, much better deal.

Cheers!

 

Now I just need to see how Firestone Walker Lager compares.

 

Well, that beer is a Helles so I would expect it to be quite different from an AAL (Founders Gold).

Cheers!

 

Nope --- I've looked around over the years but I think you'd have to find a library with a good selection of industry publications (since most recent, late 20th century sources are not online due to copyrights). Industry texts are often very general and vague about the practice and the history of it, like this paragraph from The Practical Brewer (Master Brewers Association of the Americas 1977 Ed.)

Some sources say it's post-WWII, others noting that it really took off in the '70s-80s, with brewers the US the originator. I've seen patents from AB employees on aspects of the process, but that doesn't mean they necessarily originated it. A few of the infamous "advertising claim" lawsuits in the 1970s-1990s involving AB, Coors and Miller mention it in one way or another (as did that recent consumer suit against AB about ABV and "watered-down beer").

 

Ahh...my mistake. I thought it was an AAL brewed with corn as well.

 

Well, DUHHHHH... that's why we ask you these things!

 

Buds house lager yeast has a distinctive apple ester, maybe you don’t like that.

It is not acetaldehyde.

 

Very interesting. Thanks for that.

 

did you try it? I've had both. I think one is just about perfect and the other is pretty meh

 

Not yet. It's coming.

 

It's great, one of the best American Helles around.

As to the thread topic, I will agree wholeheartedly with @JackHorzempa that Founders Solid Gold is really not worth the money. They need to drop the price a dollar or two on each and every package for this to be competitive with beers that are, in my opinion, better than it. At its best price in my area, Solid Gold runs $13/15 cans ($0.07/oz.). Regardless of price, I personally prefer Pabst ($0.03/oz), Hamm's ($0.03/oz), Miller High Life ($0.03/oz), Miller Lite ($0.05/oz), and Coors Banquet ($0.05/oz), which, as you can see, run less than half the cost per ounce with the exception of Miller Lite and Coors Banquet.

I appreciate more brewers putting out more lagers and AALs, but if you're going to make an AAL, I think it is important to get to a price that is better than twice as expensive. I understand economies of scale are at play here, even in the case of Founders who has San Miguel backing, but twice as expensive for a beer that is, arguably, not even as good as the beers it can be most aptly compared to (and even if one prefers Solid Gold, I do not think paying twice the price can be justified, since that gap is not twice as good, but, of course, this is an opinion).

 

Realized I did not finish my thought because I got sidetracked. I bolded my addition.

 

bought a 6 of Solid Gold. Not impressed and you can buy certain AALs that taste better and are cheaper

 

Way better than Bud. Miller and Coors. Please name the cheaper ones that taste better.