Found this new release from Coors, taking a stab at the craft market. Has anybody else seen this third shift amber? Blue and cardboard colored box? It isnt anywhere on beer advocate and i was wondering if any will add it anytime soon.
Third Shift Amber Lager reads like a Yuengling Lager or Shiner Bock beer to me. “Name: Third Shift Amber Where Brewed: Ft. Worth, Texas Where Available: On draft in San Francisco, Sacramento, Reno, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Houston, and Dayton markets. Alcoholic Strength: 5.3 percent by volume Calories: 182 per 12 oz. serving Third Shift Amber Lager pours to a golden amber hue with a nose that is sweet with light spice. A moderate pour results in a nice head of foam that manages to stick around, maintaining a thin, white layer as you consume. Third Shift Amber Lager has a pleasant, malty flavor that combines some toasted notes, pale malt, caramel, grains, and a dash of nutty character, with a clean hop bitterness that is mild and agreeable. The beer is light to medium in body and its overall flavor leans toward the sweet side. It is a very agreeable beer with a taste that will appeal to traditional beer drinkers as well as those who consume craft beer exclusively. Third Shift Amber Lager has some craft beer quality, but according to the beer blog Great Beer Now, Third Shift Amber Lager is not going to be promoted as a craft beer, but rather as an invitation beer. What this supposedly means is that the beer is intended more as a warm- up to craft beer; a product that has some qualities of a craft brewed product, but with less intense flavors and a lower price to widen its appeal. After sampling it, I can see what MillerCoors means. The beer doesn’t sport the forceful personality common to many craft beers, but it is definitely more flavorful and unique than the typical mass- produced American lager. In other words, it is like a training wheel beer for those who want to make the transition to craft beer but are not quite ready to take the leap. Third Shift Amber Lager has only been around for a short time and is only available in a few markets, but the beer has already enjoyed its share of positive press. The product won a Gold Medal at the 2012 World Beer Cup and it has received good reviews from beer critics and others who appreciate the moderate yet enjoyable flavor profile. Third Shift Amber Lager is only available in a limited number of locations at present and is sold only on tap. Expect to see it in bottles and in more locations in the coming months.” Above is from: http://www.examiner.com/review/millercoors-launches-its-award-winning-third-shift-amber-lager Cheers!
Uh. I've never seen this on draft in Austin. I might go to the wrong places though Have seen it in bottles at the store. Honestly nothing makes me yawn more than most Amber Ales. Unless the name of your beer happens to be Bell's Amber Ale... in which case I adore you.
The bottle/can labels that have been TTB-approved show that they're using the dba of "Band of Brewers Co.", even tho' the beer's website's URL is "thirdshiftbrewing.com"*. "Ft. Worth" and "Trenton, OH" give the MillerCoors connection away to any knowledgeable beer drinker. And that's M-C's standard toll-free number. * (No comment from yet Cold Spring's Third Street Brewery or their lawyers --- but I'm guessing M-C's lawyers can beat up CS's.).
My buddy works at Miller in Fort Worth and was ranting and raving about how great this beer was and he brought me 2 6-packs and after having one bottle, the rest is still sitting in my fridge. There is nothing special about this beer at all. Didn't really care for it
I have seen this in NE Ohio for about 3 weeks now...not gonna buy it...but its here. Third shift and henry weinhart are not selling AT all!
"...a product that has some qualities of a craft brewed product, but with less intense flavor..." And that's just one of my problems with products from Big Beer. Another thread asked why you would diss a beer if you didn't like the style. Because Big Beer deliberately tamps down flavor when they brew their beers. Also why I don't eat wonder bread, eat at Mickey D's, etc etc
Here is video beer review of Batch 19. This reviewer's perception of Batch 19 is pretty consistent with my take on this beer.
My assessment of Batch 19 from a sensory evaluation and authenticity perspective that I posted in another thread: As I have mentioned in a number of previous posts, Batch 19 is not a bad beer. It just isn’t a good representation of a Classic American Pilsner. In my humble opinion, Batch 19 is a modern day American Amber Lager: · It has an amber color; darker than what would result from a beer made from the traditional grist of 80% 6-row malt and 20% corn (or rice). I think the amber color is the result of the use of crystal (cara-malt) specialty malt. In my opinion, crystal malt should not be used in the making of a Classic American Pilsner. · Its dominant malt taste is a sweet caramel taste. I believe this taste is due to the use of crystal malt. I am guessing that perhaps this crystal malt taste is masking the sweet graininess that the corn could provide (presuming that corn was used)? · The beer is hopped at a level comparable to modern day American Amber Lagers. It is written that American Pilsners were more generously hopped in the timeframe before Prohibition. The event of Prohibition was instrumental to the ‘watering down’ from a taste perspective of American Pilsners. Pilsners made after Prohibition utilized less hops (less hop flavor/aroma) and more adjuncts (which lighten the beer in color and flavor). For example the statement of: “The early logbook, right before Prohibition, the beer was heavier, and had less adjunct, about 20%. When Prohibition was repealed, it went up to 33%. It was rice at the time.” If Coors (and Keith Villa) genuinely wanted to make a beer like we had in America before Prohibition there was lots of information available to them besides the logbook (which had some missing details like specific hop names, specific hopping amounts from bittering level perspective, etc.). Very simply: · Use 80% 6-row malt and 20% corn for your grain bill. Do not use crystal malt!! · For Domestic hops use Cluster (for bittering) and either Hallertauer or Saaz for the imported hops (for flavor and aroma). And importantly use lots of those hops for a discernible hop bitterness, flavor and aroma. · Using present day Coors lager yeast and present day Coors spring water is just fine. Cheers! Above is from: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/macro-cravings.52750/page-3#post-694401
What has me scratching my head (yet again), is why MillerCoors thought this would be a good idea. Do they really think there's a growing market for beers perceived as a "warm-up to craft beer?" Both Miller and Coors have stepped into the craft beer arena before, with what I assume even they would agree were mixed results (anyone remember Miller amber reserve? Their velvet stout? Or the winterfest from Coors?) For that matter, what does this say about their perception of the Blue Moon line? Those beers are too intensely flavored, so they decided to dumb down the recipe even more, making something a bit more bland than Blue Moon, but not quite as bland as regular miller or coors (assuming that's even possible)? Hey, if it sells, more power to them, but right now it seems to me that the most attractive aspect of this new offering is the following: "Third Shift Amber Lager is only available in a limited number of locations" I guess they figure that even if the beer is a complete trainwreck, there will be a certain number of customers willinig to try it, simply because it's rare and limited (at least for now).
By the way... Maybe I'm just really, really slow today, but I've looked through the list of 2012 World Beer Cup winners twice now, and I didn't see this stuff on the list of medal winners. When I put third shift into the search box, I was told my search returned no results. Did this lovely elixir perhaps have a different name at the WBC?
“What has me scratching my head (yet again), is why MillerCoors thought this would be a good idea. Do they really think there's a growing market for beers perceived as a "warm-up to craft beer?" I should first provide a caveat that I am not a beer marketing expert. So, my answer to your above question (assuming that it wasn’t rhetorical) is: Yes, MillerCoors does think that there is a “growing market” for “warm-up to craft beer”. Otherwise they would not be making this investment. The irony is that MillerCoors already has a product that I would claim is a competitor to Third Shift Amber and that is Batch 19. MillerCoors introduced Batch 19 to five test markets a few years ago. They made a decision to widely distribute Batch 19 to over 40 markets for 2012 (and nationwide in 2013?). In an article in the Washington Post there was an ‘interesting’ description of Batch 19: “It’s a decent summertime quaff, with less body than a Sam Adams but more complexity than a Yuengling Lager.” So, MillerCoors is making a beer (Batch 19) with a bit more ‘oomph’ than Yuengling Lager? Is there marketing plan to make Third Shift Amber with the exact same level of body/taste as Yuengling Lager? So, let’s discuss the American Amber Adjunct Lager market a bit. There are two beers that epitomize that market to me: Yuengling Lager and Shiner Bock. I was recently in Texas visiting family and one day we went to see the Painted Churches of Schulenburg, Texas (a very nice self-guided tour: http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsSouth/PaintedChurchesTour.htm) and nearby was Shiner, Texas so we took the tour of Spoetzl Brewery, As we approached the Brewery there were a number (six?) of large fermentation tanks sitting on their side on the front lawn. Spoetzl is expanding to meet demand. Some ‘highlights’ of the tour: · Shiner Bock became a year round beer in 1973 · Shiner Bock accounts for 75% of the Spoetzl Brewery output · Shiner beer is now distributed to 40 states and they intend to grow beyond this · Spoetzl brewery won three medals at the recent (2012) GABF: American-Style Dark Lager: Gold Shiner Bock, German-Style Schwarzbier, Gold: Shiner Bohemian Black Lager, German-Style Märzen Gold: Shiner Oktoberfest Three Gold Medals for Spoetzl, very impressive! I am from SEPA and I am very aware of Yuengling Lager (it is ubiquitous in my area). I do not know what percentage of Yuengling’s output is Yuengling Lager but I know it is the majority of their output. Over the past few years Yuengling has been growing like mad! They expanded to Ohio in the past year (or so); I have read where some beer customers actually camped out overnight by their beer stores to be the first Ohio customers of Yuengling. So, there is no doubt in my mind that there is a big market for American Amber Adjunct Lagers as demonstrated by the sales growth of Yuengling Lager and Shiner Bock. So, the question I have in my mind is: will MillerCoors capture a significant portion of this market with Batch 19 and Third Shift Amber. There is no doubt that a brewery like MillerCoors has the marketing ability and resources to compete in this market. I suppose we will see whether beer consumers will be accepting of these MillerCoors products (which are not labeled as MillerCoors products). Cheers!
My guess would have been that it was entered as Colorado Native (but it is listed as Silver vs. Gold): Category 45: American-Style Amber Lager, 40 Entries Gold: Winter Skal, Capital Brewery Co., Middleton, WI Silver: Colorado Native, AC Golden Brewing Co., Golden, CO Bronze: Cali Common, Lucky Hand Beer, Novato, CA An interesting discussion on Colorado Native (and potential marketing of that beer) is here: http://beerpulse.com/2010/04/colorado-native-lager-new-millercoors-beer-aims-to-beat-craft-at-its-own-game/ “LOCAL COMMUNITY It is right there in the name. The beer bears the state name, is brewed in Colorado with virtually 100% Colorado ingredients, and will only be sold in Colorado (at least for now). The brewery is also holding no less than ten official events over the next month to help build word of mouth for the beer. Last but not least, there is the local charity angle. A couple notes on the ingredients from the website: “As far as we know, Colorado Native is the only lager brewed with Moravian two-row barley grown in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. [...] Colorado Native is brewed with three hop varieties: Chinook, Centennial and Cascade. As with our barley, the San Luis Valley is also home to many of our hops.” If indeed Colorado Native is now Third Shift Amber (and being brewed in Ft. Worth Texas) it appears that marketing has taken it from Colorado Native to Texan? Cheers!
