Our experts conducted blind taste tests of eight top-selling regular and light beers, plus offerings from Trader Joe’s and Walgreens (yes, beer from a drugstore). And the winner is: Coors regular, by, let’s say, a field goal. It has balanced flavors with some citrus notes, and no off-tastes. It’s a Consumer Reports Best Buy, at $6.45 for a six-pack. Three runners-up are also CR Best Buys: Name Tag (Trader Joe’s), Big Flats (Walgreens), and Miller High Life.
Photo: k.ivoutin/Flickr
All of the tested beers are lagers, which usually have a mix of floral, fruity, yeasty, malted-grain, and boiled-hop (pungent) flavors. Most are pale yellow and light-bodied, and don’t stay foamy for long. Other face-offs:
Regular vs. light.
Light beer will save you about 20 to 50 calories per can (due to lower carbs and slightly less alcohol), but no tested light scored high enough to be very good. Best of the bunch is Miller Lite. Worst is Corona Light, a bitter brew with traces of tinny and sulfury off-notes.
Price vs. taste.
Corona Light costs far more than higher-rated Miller Lite; and Corona Extra costs about twice as much as three better beers.
Store brands vs. big names.
Trader Joe’s and Walgreens stood up to the competition, doing about as well as Miller High Life and besting Corona Extra and Bud.
Cans vs. bottles.
We tasted beer from cans, which may seem less refined than bottles, but they keep light, beer’s nemesis, from getting inside. Light can react with beer within weeks or even days to create compounds similar to those a skunk uses to defend itself.
Bottom line.
None of these beers has enough complexity and balance to be excellent, but Coors comes fairly close.
Coors come fairly close enough to be excellent? In what parallel universe, alternate reality, or Bizarro world?
"All of the tested beers are lagers, which usually have a mix of floral, fruity, yeasty, malted-grain, and boiled-hop (pungent) flavors."
Who is tasting these beers?
Speaking of Coors, what exactly does "A Banquet Beer" mean? Is that the parent company or something? I think since it's called MillerCoors, it's tied into Miller too, right?
Coors won because it has the weakest flavor of any beer I've ever had. Most "beer drinkers", I've discovered, don't really like the taste of hops and malt!
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-Jon
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Bottled:
Primary: Apple Cider
Secondary:
Drinking:
Speaking of Coors, what exactly does "A Banquet Beer" mean? Is that the parent company or something? I think since it's called MillerCoors, it's tied into Miller too, right?
I believe it's based on a short-lived joint venture between Coors and this firm.
Coors claims that it's called "Banquet" because local miners in Colorado used to have big dinners that they called "banquets" and served Coors beer but a number of other brewers over the years called their beers "banquet beer" in ads- to imply it was a "premium" beer, for special occasions, etc. I've seen old ads for Michelob and Chicago's Canadian Ace beer that use the phrase. And Haffenreffer [and Narragansett after it] made a "Croft Banquet Ale".
And, yeah, in the US MolsonCoors' Coors division and SABMiller's Miller division are merged into a joint venture, MillerCoors, and many of their beers are now brewed in each others' breweries, but that does not include Coors Banquet Beer, which they claim is still only brewed in Golden, CO (tho' it had long been shipped in bulk to Coors' Virginia facility and packaged there for the East Coast).
Last edited by jesskidden : 03-10-2012 at 11:12 AM.
back in the 70's we made a trip from Bama to New Mexico to ski at Taos. My dad bought a case of Coors to bring back and give to friends since it wasn't sold anywhere east of the Mississippi. He gave the first 3 sixers away but the fourth one sat in the basement fridge for 3 or 4 months. Being 13 or 14 I couldn't help it, I had to try this beer that was so magical and obviously Dad had forgotten he still had it. Within a week he asked me to go get the sixer for his friend, but of course I had already finished it off. He never formally accused me of drinking it, and I never in the least admitted to it but he knew why I couldn't find it.
But it really sucked back then and still does.
I believe it's based on a short-lived joint venture between Coors and this firm.
Coors claims that it's called "Banquet" because local miners in Colorado used to have big dinners that they called "banquets" and served Coors beer but a number of other brewers over the years called their beers "banquet beer" in ads- to imply it was a "premium" beer, for special occasions, etc. I've seen old ads for Michelob and Chicago's Canadian Ace beer that use the phrase. And Haffenreffer [and Narragansett after it] made a "Croft Banquet Ale".
And, yeah, in the US MolsonCoors' Coors division and SABMiller's Miller division are merged into a joint venture, MillerCoors, and many of their beers are now brewed in each others' breweries, but that does not include Coors Banquet Beer, which they claim is still only brewed in Golden, CO (tho' it had long been shipped in bulk to Coors' Virginia facility and packaged there for the East Coast).
Thanks, Jess. I was hoping someone sooner or later would have an answer to that. I've never heard of the term "banquet beer" before and it always bothered me when I heard it in commercials.
Good story Corky. I grew up in a household that viewed alcohol as "evil". So the only beer I got to drink came from my buddy's parents.
While no fan of the megaswills, I will admit to liking regular "Coors Banquet Beer." It's decent pilsener for an American, yellow beer. It's crisp, clean, & refreshing. It actually HAS some flavor (malty grains comes to mind) that isn't overpowering or objectionable. If someone offered me one, I would accept. It's no Pilsener Urquell, but tolerable.
As for it's bastard son, Coor's Light, I wouldn't even pour it on my compost pile: "FAHGETABOUTIT!!"
Only organics go into there.
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I've seen better looking hops on a one-legged rabbit..
Long ago, back in the summer of 1983, I was working carpentry in the Washington DC heat. My boss every day at 5pm would purchase a 6 pack of ice cold Coors and we would each drink three on our drive home to Alexandria, VA. I thought then it was the best beer in the world. Even though I liked Coors, I thought the light was horrible.
That was before the era of microbrews and before I discovered craft beer in 2004. About once a year I'll purchase a six pack of Coors and put it in the freezer to get it good and cold. This brings me back to those younger years in Virgina (never tasted like I remembered it back then). I still can't believe we drank them while riding in a car.
One other thing that was interesting is back in my home state of Michigan I was not legal to drink, but in Virgina I was because the drinking age was still 18.
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