by Lynette Alice

Created on: September 06, 2008   Last Updated: December 18, 2008

When it comes to comparing the taste of light beer versus regular beer it would be easy to take the cop-out route and say "Well it all depends on the individual." In part it does, but that doesn't change the fact that many light beers nowadays taste just as good if not better than regular beers. All beer drinkers realize there is good and bad in both genres so the real question should be more along the line of can light beers taste just as good as regular beer. I'll not just give you my opinion to prove this point but a little dose common sense to go along with it. This is best washed down with a pull of your favorite beer, a light beer preferrably unless you're the 1980's version of Manute Bol and your basketball coach is trying to put weight on you.

I will admit there are planty of light beers out there that taste like they little more than poorly flavored water, but then again many regular beers taste like muddy gutter swill as well. Back in the 70' when Miller and Budweiser introduced light beer to the market within weeks of each other and most people got their first taste of light beer what many remarked on was it tasted watered down. Well they were right. Over the years they did improve the taste as succeeding brewmeisters tweaked the formula but the fact remained light beers were still leaving something to be desired even if the top brands outsold the flagship's regualr offering of many breweries.

Here is what swings me to point that light beer tastes as good as regular beer. These days in many cases you couldn't tell the difference between the two. Unless you're a true beer afficianado that can line up a hundred or so samples and pick them out by genre and maker on a blind tasting taste. Most of the time people in such tests are completely unaware of which beers are the light variety. Take for instance Amstel light, it has a good full body and bite that belies it's caloric count. Even when poured in the glass you couldn't tell the difference on sight. Sam Adams offers a light beer that is strikingly similar in that regard. Whether or not you personally like them doesn't change the fact they taste just like any regular beer would be expected to which is pretty darn good.

The fact is that light beer was viewed as watered down and girly for years. People hung the lablel on it of being the beer of choice for lightweights. Brewers realized that if they made light beer taste more like or exactly like a regular beer while retaining the low caloric count there was big money out there to be made. Brewmeisters reworked the formula and brewing process until this was achieved with many of their beers, in some cases they even raised the alcoholic content as a byproduct of this. For the most part they succeeded in this task. Even people that don't "need" a light beer drink them now just for the taste.

The reason many people say light beers don't taste as good as regualr beers is they are operating off a stereytpe. They see the label advertising light and expect less taste and convince themself upon sampling that is true whether it is or not. Time and again on visits to the Sam Adams brewery people that assumed they wouldn't like light beer find them self knocked out by the fact that their light offering tastes just as good as the regular versions if not better. Don't believe me though, try a blind test for yourself and don't be surprised when you find you like some of the light beers more than you like the regular versions.

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