Sam dams Odyssey part 2
Sam Adams Light
 |
| beer is sitting over my kegerator, and next to be beer flag |
On my last review I tried
the blueberry wit, and I expected that I would not care for the brew.
I was wrong, and found it to be a decent brew. Now this is the one
beer from Sam Adams that I have some of the least expectation for
(Cherry wheat is the one that I have the most Dredd to try, but we
will cross that bridge when we come to it). For this beer, I will be
treating it like a light beer, aka comparing it to the other light
beers I've had in the past. As a result it may have a high rateing,
but just remember, this merely reflects its rating in its weight
class.
Because of that, it might
get a decent review. I have no idea. I really have never had it
before. But yea, enough talk! Lets get started
Overall, Id be
happy to play a game of beer pong with this beer!
BA rating
(3.45\5), overall(82\100)
Remember
the rating is scaled against the light lager category!
Beer style in focus
Now that the review is
over, lets look at some of the history of light beer (information
gleaned from the Oxford encyclopedia of beer, section "light lagers"). Light beer is defined as any beer that has less caloric content than your standard
variety of beer. As a result most of these beers are brewed to have
lower levels of alcohol and malt sugars (less alcohol and final remaining sugars mean less calories). The FDA
classifies any beer that contains 33% less calories than a standard
offering as being light. In a time of health contentious individuals
(and cost sensitive consumers), combined with some clever marketing, light beer has taken the largest
market share of any variety of beer on the planet.
Their are four ways of
making “light beer”. The first is simply to reduce the grain bill
of an original recipe. The second is to sell the beer in smaller bottles
so it contains fewer calories. The third way is to employ a longer
mash time, which will result in a greater amount of fermentable
sugars and a lower body. The beer is then diluted with water. The fourth way is to use exogenous brewing enzymes
in the mash to break up a great quantity of starches into fermentable
sugars. The final product is then diluted with water, and light beer
is the final result.
Because light beer by definition has a very low amount of malt sugars and hop character, brewing defects and off flavors will be very noticeable in the final product. This means that near-perfect brewing is required to produce such beers, often requiring a detailed understanding of brewing science and a high-tech brewery to manufacture. As a result, it is actually quite difficult to produce such beers properly.
The third and fourth
methods listed above are used primarily to produce most of the beer in this
category, and has its origins in Coors light which was first
introduced in the 1940's. It was discontinues before WW2, but it was
not the end of light beer. The beer saw new life in 1967 with the
release of Gablinger's diet beer. The beer was created by chemist
Joesph Owades (and was produced by the Rheingold brewery). The beer
was not a success, but the brewery Meister Brau responded by making
their own line of light beer. Miller took over the brewery and
re-branded it as miller light in 1973. Soon Coors relaunched their
Coors light brand in 1978, and Bud Light was soon to follow in 1982.
8 years later Bud Light was the best selling beer in the world, and
it has largely stayed that way since. Each one of these big three are
very similar, but insist that they have some house uniqueness that
distinguishes themselves from the other. The lightest beer to be made
in this category was low carb beer that used a generous portion of
exogenous brewing enzymes to leave very, very little final sugars in
the beer. Marketed as low-carb beer, it had a strong early response, but sales slumped back heavily
due to its weaker taste and a overall return to standard light lagers. Today it holds a very small portion of the
style's market share.
Despite the difficulty of
their production and distribution, light beers have dominated the
market. I would say this is due to the offering of large bulk beer
purchases at lower prices, effective marketing, low caloric content,
and its 'un-beer like” flavoring. Time will tell if Light beer will
continue to dominate the market as it has since the early 90's
now you know!
Anyho, I think that just
about covers this posting. I was very surprised to find a light style
that I could enjoy (for what it was) and doubt that Ill find another
one that really fits the bill. I think that Id still prefer a Trader
Joes Pilsener or a Narragansett to this (for the price). But hey, for
a beer with few calories, it does the job better than any other.
A glass in the hand’s worth two on the shelf—
Tipple it down and refresh yourself!
— Anonymous
