“ Craft beer as a whole has been going towards these really palate-heavy hazy IPAs, milkshake IPAs and all of that stuff, and as an industry we went hot and heavy into it,” says Rich Eyring, senior brewer for Mass Bay Brewing Company, which includes Harpoon, UFO, Clown Shoes, City Roots Cider and Arctic Chill Hard Seltzer brands. These brewers desired to brew beer with robust flavor, loaded with hops, dark and specialty malts and yeast strains of distinction. This is in stark contrast to the early microbrews of the 1970s, which were arguably designed in repudiation of the American light lager.
Today, we see craft brewers also in the category. Soon after, both Budweiser and Coors released light lagers, officially ushering in a new era in beer.īeer The Wildest Flavored Beers-and the Brewers Behind Them Read Moreīut it’s not just industry titans that got into the light lager game. A marketing firm did the heavy lifting for Miller Lite, removing references to diets and focused on flavor and taste, and had celebrities and notable personalities promote the brand on television and radio commercials. Miller Lite was based on the recipe for Meister Brau Lite, a repackaged version of Rheingold’s original diet beer, which flopped. At the time, Miller Brewing Company was looking to create a beer that could appeal to a broader market and the health-conscious. Then, in mid-1970s, Miller Lite was released. Soon, the American light lager was as ubiquitous as Wonder Bread, with a lot of the same bland, made-for-all traits. Over the next few decades, advancements in refrigeration and transportation made it easier to get the lagers into consumer hands.
However, the breweries that survived-including Pabst, Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors, Yuengling and a handful of others-would go on to thrive and put their focus on lagers. shores by immigrants.īut Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 to 1933, decimated the industry. During this time, many different styles of beer were being produced, often influenced by the traditions and techniques brought to U.S. The United States had a robust brewing industry going into the 1920s, with several thousand breweries operating across the country, often concentrated in the major cities. A Brief History of Light Lagers in the U.S.A. Light beers have evolved from the 1960s to today, but the focus has always been on refreshment with a nod to the “better-for-you” mindset. This often means fewer calories, carbohydrates and, possibly, a more delicate flavor. Light beer is a lighter version of a full-strength beer.
Harpoon beer glasses plus#
Here’s everything to know about this often (unfairly) maligned category of brews, plus which light beers to buy. It’s the beer you have when you’re going to have more than three.”
“It’s the beer that you choose when you are going to smoke a brisket all day or go tailgating for six hours.
“Light lager is an occasion beer,” says Karlton Graham, head brewer of Kansas City Bier Co. But the fact is, light beer-especially lagers-appeal to a large swath of drinkers because of its fewer calories and low alcohol-by-volume (abv). However, it laid the groundwork for what would become the largest and best-selling category in beer: the American light lager.ĭespite its widespread popularity, there have been endless jokes by critics, comics and global citizens that hail from long-established beer countries against light lager. The idea of light beer has been around in the United States since the 1960s, when Rheingold Brewery released Gablinger’s Diet Beer.
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