Blitzed Smashed and Drunk: The Great American Lager

There is something to be said about The Great American Lager. The King of Beers, except for a brief marketing ploy at the turn of the millennium, has been the title held by AB/Inbev’s own flagship beer, Budweiser since the 80s. I’m not necessarily one to disagree with the moniker for marketing purposes, but I think it’s a bit presumptuous. Is one beer really the King of Beers? Is it worth all the hype? Don’t get me wrong, I think Budweiser does a great job with marketing and has many memorable commercial spots, but I don’t think they are the be all, end all.

Traditional Budweiser, the Great American Lager, is nothing more than a mass produced American Adjunct Style Lager. Beers of this style are pretty much all the same. They are brewed by the big breweries and are mass produced for consumption. For the most part, this directly affects the taste and flavor of the beer. American Adjunct Lagers tend to be very light bodied, pale and fizzy. These beers are brewed by using adjunct grains like rice and corn to help reduce the overall reliance on other, more expensive malted grains in order to cut cost and produce higher volumes of beer. By using adjunct grains, these beers tend to have a very grainy taste and a nice sweetness that is present. These flavors, however, come at the cost of them having very little bitterness, a thin malt taste and a moderate alcohol level. These beers are not high in alcohol content, averaging between 4 and 6 percent ABV. Despite being somewhat bland and underwhelming, they are loved by the masses and are great to session. One of the most obvious draws to these beers is their particularly low price point, both to buy for home consumption and out at the bars.

The best way to prove it is with a little math. A keg of Budweiser from the distributor goes for between $100 and $120, depending on where you get it. This is net of Tap Fees, Rental Fees, Deposits, etc. Mind you, restaurants and bars get it at an even further discount because they are doing a significant amount of volume business on these types of beer. A Keg of beer, which is half a barrel of brewed beer, is 15.5 Gallons. 15.5 Gallons of beer is 1984 ounces of beer. 1984 ounces of beer is 165 12 ounce glasses of beer. Let’s be realistic and say we end up with 150 glasses of beer, factoring in whatever waste there is when pouring beer and tapping a keg. Assuming the keg runs us $120 and we end up being able to pour 150 12 ounce glasses, we’re talking about drinking beer that costs ~80 cents a beer to cover the costs of grains, water, hops, plant costs, transit costs and distribution costs. That translates to roughly a dollar to a buck and a quarter per pint cost at a bar. Figure then, that these beers are sold on special or at the bottom end of the price point in order to increase sales. This, of course, is one of the biggest reasons why the American Adjunct Lager tends to be one of the highest selling beers – it’s a very low margin, high volume product that has become ensconced in American culture and loved by all… especially the NFL, MLB and NASCAR crowds.

So without further ado, I present the BSD Rankings of American Adjunct Lagers.

Blitzed, Smashed and Drunk’s Favorite American Adjunct Lagers

1. Miller Genuine Draft – MillerCoors/SABMiller Brewing Co. Oh poor old MGD. Miller really produced something that’s bottom of the barrel here. MGD is not a bad beer. It’s just not that great of a beer when you consider that there are better tasting, less bland American Adjunct Beers to enjoy. It gets the not because it’s MGD and you can’t talk macro lager without discussing the fact that MGD is as macro as they come.
2. Dos Equis Lager – Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, S.A. de C.V.. Dos Equis is not a bad beer by any means. It has a much fuller taste than most other beers of this type, and that’s a good thing. The only reason why it falls out so low is that despite the fact that it is really great with Mexican Food, it’s a mediocre beer, and on a list full of them, it’s hard to find pause to rank this higher.
3. Genesee – Genesee Brewing Co./Dundee Brewing Co.. Oh Genny. Genny original. I like this beer and it actually is a better tasting bland beer. It gets downgraded significantly on the basis that no one drinks Genny unless you’re from Western New York… otherwise, this beer that tastes a bit fuller than Budweiser would be ranked a few points higher.
4. Dixie – Dixie Brewing Co. This is a hard one for me to rank so lowly. I happen to think Dixie made a great American Adjunct Lager and have had many a bottle of it, especially thanks to friends who introduced me to the brewery before Katrina hit. If it were still made locally, this would be one of the best American Adjuncts out there. After Katrina, however, the brewery contracted this beer out to another brewery and the quality hasn’t been the same. It gets its points for being a throwback and showing potential… It’s worth trying if you can find it.
5. Miller High Life – MillerCoors/SABMiller Brewing Co. The Champagne of Beers rounds out the top half of the list. It’s significantly better than its lower ranked brother, MGD, and it does so without trying too hard. High Life knows what it is and does a better job exemplifying this style than does MGD, which is why it gets ranked a whole lot higher.
6. Pabst Blue Ribbon – Pabst Brewing Co. PBR does the trick any day of the week. It’s sessionable. It has enough flavor to balance the beer without losing sight on the style. It does taste better than the Big Three. So why is it so low? I put it as the epitome of an OK beer. It’s not quite amazing and it definitely isn’t a Miller Genuine Draft, but it’s enjoyable and for the cost, it’s a great buy for the price if you want to be cheap about drinking.
7. Throwback Lager – Victory Brewing Co. Victory’s Throwback Lager is one of those rare finds. It’s a rotational beer, meaning it comes out whenever Victory wants to pull it from the wretches and brew more. This is different from most beers on the list as it’s a 1920’s Style Prohibition Lager. Basically, Victory brewed an American Adjunct Lager based on how they brewed Adjunct Lagers during prohibition and produced a very mild, enjoyable beer. It’s crisp and refreshing while not being too offensive. It’s a nice session beer and worth trying if you can find it.
8. Coors – MillerCoors/MolsonCoors Brewing Co. The original Coors. The Banquet. The classic golden can from Golden Colorado. This beer would be ranked higher, and rightfully should. The beer is more flavorful than the rest of the competition, and has a taste that is much more robust and rounded than the likes of MGD, Bud and even brands like PBR. It’s not bad, especially when you consider the style of beer. I personally prefer it because it brings out all the high notes of malty sweetness without being overpowering, not that much adjunct flavor and even a bit of bitterness. It’s worth enjoying a can if you can.
9. Budweiser – AnhauserBusch/AB-InBev. Budweiser is the number 2 beer because of marketing. It’s all marketing. It’s not a bad beer or a bad example, but Budweiser has become synonymous with the American Adjunct Lager. However, with amazing super bowl spots, the Clydesdales, and a litany of great advertisements, marketing agreements and sponsorships have Budweiser (and Bud products) continually at the top of the bestselling American Beer Brands lists for a reason. If you can only try one real American Adjunct Lager, make it a Budweiser.
10. Batch 19 - MillerCoors/MolsonCoors Brewing Co. This is a gem that I found while out at a Buffalo Wild Wings. I never had it and they just popped the keg for the first time. Boy was I in for a surprise with this one. Batch 19 surprised me with an extremely well balanced, drier, clean American Adjunct Lager. This is a 1920s Prohibition Style Lager that has retro written all over it and by far the most complete example of what a both the 1920s Prohibition Style Lager and the American Adjunct Lager should taste like. While this doesn’t have the marketing to go along with it, it has something far better, a beer that is crisp and malty with enough bitterness in it to really awaken the taste buds. It’s Session Friendly and, if it came in cans as opposed to a bottles, I’d keep a 6 pack of Tall Boys in the Fridge if I ever wanted to be retro. Well played MillerCoors with a great American Adjunct that should be tried by anyone who can get it.

I know it’s a shock to see that the King of Beers got dethroned by an upstart from Coors Brewing, but Batch 19 is a far better beer than Budweiser. Most of the list is serviceable and is drinkable without batting an eye. As for the rarity on the list, find it and enjoy it if you can. Victory does a really nice job with their Throwback Lager. If you think I got it wrong, what your American Adjunct of Choice.