Craft Beer Decides Adjunct Lagers Are Cool, Actually

Nightshift Nite Lite (and its variants) does quite well, or at least it used to the last I heard about Nightshift's sales.

This was likely a year or two ago, but they said their top three best sellers were Whirlpool, Santilli, and Nite Lite.

It's competitively priced too, I forget the exact price, but it was drastically cheaper than all their other brands.

 

There was mention of Batch 19 above and I figured some folks might be interested in hearing Keith Villa discuss the 'backstory' of this beer. I had a chance to drink a draft pint of Batch 19 about 10 years ago. I enjoyed that beer.

Cheers!

 

Personally, I enjoy normal/full-calorie/premium adjunct lagers. Beers like Banquet, High Life, and regular Bud. The full-on light versions, not so much. I have nothing against them necessarily, but they're bland and they make me feel bloated...which is the exact opposite of the "less filling" promise Miller Lite used to make. The use of adjuncts goes back pretty long way and they were actually using rice in northern Germany well before any of our mega-breweries were putting it in theirs. People wanted it, too. I think a lot of the initial craft brewers had to take up an "us vs. them" attitude, and frankly, they DID save us from having a dozen or so super similar beers. I have zero issue with changing attitudes.

 

Well, until -- like, now.

 

Lagers = Yes

Adjunct Lagers = No, thanks!

 

Agreed 100%.

Craft brewers had to differentiate themselves in every way possible, including pounding that "quality" ingredients drum even if they had stretch the truth some. I'll give a pass for that past behavior, because I'm grateful we now have real beer variety almost everywhere you go. However, we're well beyond the scrappy upstart David vs Goliath phase of craft beer and I'm ready for the false marketing rhetoric to end.

I think corn also generally gets caught in a broad social backlash against high fructose corn syrup, even though HFCS isn't used in beer apart from certain pastry type beers made by "craft" brewers.

 

This thread made me look for Founders Solid Gold, which I’ve never had. Wegmans had fresh 15 packs canned only a few weeks ago for $16.99 so decided to give it a go! Plus,
This being summer, I’ve already been back to drinking PBRs, which I do enjoy.

 

I'll stick my neck out and say I don't care for these. To me, the brewers putting out technically excellent/exceptional adjunct lagers already have helles/ pils / Czech lagers that are far more flavorful and just as drinkable at pretty much the same price point.

 

We were sitting on the porch, the waiter had pushed a Mimosa on us (oj/champagne). I didn't think much of it -- it should have been colder, given the dry Colorado heat. The Coors hit the spot, though. Didn't see what else they had on tap.

 

Wouldn’t have thought of doing that. I’ll have to try it.

 

What are you talking about? There’s New England IPAs, hazy IPAs, juicy IPAs, double dry hopped New England IPAs, and then you can make the same beer only switch out Citra for Strata, or Citra for Galaxy or…

 

Redundant, isn't it?

 

In most situations I'd rather drink water...

 

For me, SOME fraction of adjuncts is just fine. I'm sure many of the beers I enjoyed in the 70s had at least some adjuncts (I don't know which ones). I liked Ballantine Ale, Andeker, Carling's Tuborg, Huber Premium, Lord Chesterfield, Schaefer and Shaefer Bock, McSorley's Ale, Henry Weinhard Private Reseve. I'm fairly sure I would still like them now if they were available with similar formulations.

 

Hmm...?

The top selling beers in the US are Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite, Bud, Michelob Ultra,... Yes, compared to craft beer these beers are economically priced but I strongly suspect that the millions of beer consumers are drinking these beers because they enjoy drinking them, not just because they are "cheap".

Cheers!

 

I agree. One indication that low price doesn't necessarily drive AAL consumption was the shift of the market in the sixties and seventies from "popular priced" beer (usually regional or local) toward "premium beer" (Bud, Miller, Coors). More recently Corona, essentially an AAL, is extremely successful, but is priced much higher than Bud, Coors, or Miller.

 

True, but I'm thinking more along the lines of the small breweries releasing AALs. Wayfinder's #6 is within a dollar or two of their Hell/CZAF. And the recently released Block 15 Heater Allen collab pre prohibiting lager (i think?) Was more expensive than either brewer's flagship pils.