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13 Best Light Beers, Ranked for 2026

Thomas Short — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 17:02:15 +0000

Light lagers are an American institution, with Michelob Ultra recently becoming the best-selling beer by volume. It’s interesting that light lagers sell as well as they do, because so many are objectively terrible. However, some light lagers do pass the taste test, and I’d happily enjoy them pretty much any day of the week. So, here are the 13 best light lagers, ranked from best to worst. 1. Kirin Light ABV: 3.2% Calories: 95 Japanese lagers are already light and crisp, but Kirin Light takes it a step further. It’s surprising how much flavor you get out of Kirin Light. You really don’t lose much of the Japanese lager flavor despite the “light” profile, and it unsurprisingly goes great with sushi and ramen. 2. Michelob Ultra ABV: 4.2% Calories: 95 America’s best-selling beer, Michelob Ultra markets itself as an athlete’s go-to alcohol. The only time I ever have Michelob Ultra is on the links, which is part of the reason I ranked it as one of the best golf beers, but I can confirm that it does pair really well with activity. It’s incredibly light but brings just enough real beer flavor to enjoy, though it’s easy to finish these pretty quickly when it’s hot outside. 3. Miller Lite ABV: 4.2% Calories: 96 I’ll always have a soft spot for Miller Lite, which is interesting because I don’t like any of Miller’s other beers. But Miller Lite somehow brings real beer flavor that’s legitimately good to taste. It doesn’t really drink like a light beer the way other beers on this list do, and that’s what sets it apart. 4. Sapporo Light ABV: 3.5% Calories: 99 Another great Japanese lager that thrives as a light beer, Sapporo Light does pretty much everything Kirin Light does, just not as much to my taste. You could easily switch Sapporo Light and Kirin Light on this list and be completely justified; it just comes down to which you prefer more, and Sapporo is my second-favorite light Japanese beer. 5. Heineken Silver ABV: 4% Calories: 95 Heineken Silver appears on a lot of lists of mine for a few reasons. First, Heineken is one of my favorite import beers. Second, Heineken Silver keeps most of that classic Heineken flavor while cutting the calories below 100. While light beer is a distinctly American trend, Heineken Silver is an example of how good European lagers can still be when brewed light. 6. Yuengling Light Lager ABV: 4% Calories: 99 Yuengling Light Lager survives this high on the list in large part because it’s still sort of a novelty to me. Yuengling is not easy to find on the West Coast, but I enjoy getting the Yuengling Light Lager whenever I travel east. If I had unlimited access to Yuengling, then I would maybe rank it lower, but it deserves to live on the top half of this list. 7. Coors Light ABV: 4.2% Calories: 102 This is the final beer that makes the “enjoyable” cut, and sort of just barely. Coors Light doesn’t really have much flavor, and partially by design as it’s marketed to be enjoyed cold, and cold beer tastes better because you can’t taste it at all. But I would consider Coors Light enjoyable because you can’t really taste it, so it’s pretty close to water, and I like drinking water. 8. Corona Light ABV: 4% Calories: 99 I don’t like Corona, but Corona Light gets ranked as highly as it does because it’s better than what follows. Corona Light is essentially a lighter version of Corona Extra, so you’ll still need limes if you want to get any amount of enjoyment from this beer. Without diluting the beer with lime, what little flavor Corona Light offers isn’t enjoyable. 9. Pabst Blue Ribbon Easy ABV: 3.8% Calories: 99 If PBR isn’t light enough for you, the Pabst Blue Ribbon Easy should do the job. And even if PBR is drinkable for you, PBR Easy might not be. The little malty flavor that PBR brings is more or less lost with PBR Easy. Regular PBR is 4.7% ABV and 144 calories. Does saving 50 calories really justify drinking an obviously inferior beer? 10. Bud Light ABV: 4.2% Calories: 110 Trying to find the flavors in Bud Light is a chore. When served cold, Bud Light has a thin beer-adjacent flavor that lingers for way too long. When served warm, Bud Light has a little bit more flavor, but then you’re drinking warm beer that’s still not very good. 11. Keystone Light ABV: 4.1% Calories: 101 What sets Keystone Light apart from other light beers is that it has noticeable flavor, probably a result of the 0.7 grams of protein (!) in each can. You might be able to build muscle drinking Keystone Light! But the flavor from this light beer is thick and unenjoyable, the same way so many protein drinks are. 12. Natural Light ABV: 4.2% Calories: 95 Another high-in-protein light lager, Natural Light has no redeeming qualities. Natty Light drinks more like a light malt liquor than beer, which defeats the purpose entirely since the point of malt liquor is to get a high ABV brew at a low cost. With Natural Light, you get a low ABV at a low cost, but with all the downsides of malt liquor. 13. Busch Light ABV: 4.1% Calories: 95 It was close, but Busch Light wins “Worst Light Lager” from Short Brews. Maybe next year, Natural Light! Busch Light is the least enjoyable of the “light beers marketed to frat bros” category. The beer has no discernible flavor but a very discernible aftertaste that won’t go away. I wish I hadn’t tried it again, but here we are. Final Thoughts: “Best” Light Beer I would only recommend a few of these light beers to friends, because so many of them don’t bring anything to the table. But I like that more breweries are exploring light options, kind of like how non-alcoholic beers are

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Best Beer for Pizza: An Easy Pairing Guide

Thomas Short — Sat, 02 May 2026 17:31:55 +0000

Pizza and beer are a match made in heaven. Truthfully, you could pair nearly any type of pizza with any beer and get a winning combo. However, the right beer will make your slice of pizza taste even better, and vice versa. The main reason the pizza and beer pairing works so well is that the carbonation, bitterness, and clean finish of beer help the pizza flavors come through stronger while resetting your palate. Once you get to know how each of these elements affects what you eat, the pairings should start to make more sense. Quick Notes on Pairing Beer and Pizza Before getting into specific pairings for styles, let’s go over some high-level notes to keep in mind when pairing pizza and beer. Best Beer Pairing for Pizza Here are the best beers to pair with specific types of pizza. Margherita Pizza: Pilsner or Pale Ale Margherita pizza is about as simple as it gets: fresh tomato, basil, and mozzarella. You don’t want to pick a beer that overpowers the simple yet delicious pizza. A crisp, clean pilsner is a great pairing for Margherita. It’s light enough to work with the pizza without drowning out any flavor. A lighter pale ale should also work, as long as the hop profile is subtle and not overbearing. Beer to try: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Firestone Pivo Pils Pepperoni Pizza: West Coast IPA Pepperoni is salty, fatty, and a little bit spicy. A good West Coast IPA is an excellent match, so long as you don’t get anything too bitter. Look for a balanced IPA to help complement the spice and grease of the pepperoni. Beer to try: Stone IPA, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Ballast Point Sculpin White Pizza: Hazy IPA White pizza usually is a combination of garlic, olive oil, ricotta, mushrooms, and spinach. Beer won’t be competing with tomato sauce, so a hazy IPA should do the trick. A hazy brings lots of hop flavor while leaning on the juicy side, which should work really well with most white pizzas. Beer to try: New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze, Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing BBQ Chicken Pizza: Amber Ale or Märzen BBQ chicken pizza is smoky, sweet, savory, and underrated. The best pairing is something with good malt flavor, like an amber ale or a particularly malty lager like a Märzen. Malt brings a caramel flavor that works really well with the sweetness of barbecue sauce and chicken, and these beers are light enough to match well with thin crust BBQ pizza. Beer to try: Fat Tire Amber Ale, Paulaner Märzen Meat Lovers Pizza: Crisp Lager It might seem counterintuitive, but meat lovers and combo pizzas can be really heavy, and pairing it with a heavy beer can make you feel a little too full. Instead, try a crisp lager to elevate the individual ingredients of the pizza. Beer to try: Brooklyn Lager, Pacifico Veggie Pizza: Kölsch or Wheat Beer Vegetables, and by extension veggie pizzas, are light and delicate, so a heavy beer is not going to be the best choice. Instead, a nice kölsch works well with veggies without being too strong. A wheat beer can also be a nice choice, since these beers have a naturally bright and fruity flavor to them. If you want to get wild, a saison could also work really well with veggie pizza. Beer to try: Founders Solid Gold, Allagash White, Saison Dupont Hawaiian Pizza: Amber Ale No matter how you feel about pineapple on pizza, Hawaiian is popular for being sweet and salty all at once. Caramel malt sweetness is a natural fit for Hawaiian pizza, since it balances with the pineapple and works well with the ham. Fittingly, some good Hawaiian breweries make great amber ales! Beer to try: Kona Lavaman Red Ale The One Beer That Works With All Pizza If you don’t know what to get for your pizza, get a pilsner. Pilsners are incredibly well balanced, and they should pair excellently with just about every type of pizza. There are tons of pilsners out there, including some from local craft breweries that are definitely worth a try. Quick Reference: Best Beer for Pizza by Style Pizza Style Best Beer Match Margherita Pilsner or Pale Ale Pepperoni West Coast IPA White Pizza Hazy IPA BBQ Chicken Amber Ale or Märzen Meat Lovers Crisp Lager Veggie Kölsch or Wheat Beer Mushroom Pale Ale or Saison Hawaiian Amber Ale Spicy Hazy IPA or Wheat Beer

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Best Beers For Hiking, Ranked for 2026

Thomas Short — Fri, 01 May 2026 15:34:35 +0000

There’s nothing after a long hike like cracking open a cool, crisp beer. Before you go packing whatever you have in your fridge for your next hike, think about what tastes best after a hike. A heavy Imperial stout at elevation might make you sick, and a 9% DIPA might not be the best move, either. When we looked at the best beers for hiking, we focused on crushable, packable, and high-quality brews. To make it friendly for everyone, I’ve tried to only include beers available across the United States. However, I encourage you to try to find a local craft equivalent of any of these options. Here are the best beers for hiking. Best Hiking Beers, Ranked 1. Firestone Walker 805 The 805 is also one of my favorite golf beers for the same reason I love it for hiking: it’s light, and it has real flavor. At 4.7% ABV, it’s super approachable without being watery, and it’s available in cans (which is a big must for hiking). 2. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Anyone looking for a little more flavor in their hiking beer should opt for the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It’s a 5.6% ABV ale that leans bitter and hoppy, but it isn’t as heavy as an IPA would be. I wouldn’t recommend having more than one of these at the summit, but it’s a solid beer with tons of flavor. 3. Deschutes Da Shootz! Pilsner This is a repeat from my best low-calorie beers, since the Da Shootz! Pilsner is just 99 calories and 4% ABV. This is a fantastic light beer that’s both crisp and refreshing, and it won’t make you feel guilty for ruining a good hike. Also, the art on the can is excellent, so it gets some style points. 4. Topo Chico Hard Seltzer I could have put pretty much any hard seltzer here, but I’m going with Topo Chico since I think it’s one of the better-tasting seltzers that’s widely available. Hard seltzers are a lot lighter than beer, to the point that they can almost taste thin; that being said, a cold seltzer after a hike is a great option. It’s also worth noting that hard seltzer is brewed, so it’s closer to beer than you think! 5. Modelo Especial While my favorite Mexican beer is Pacifico, Modelo Especial feels like a better fit for hiking. The Especial has more malt flavor than beers like Corona, which gives you something to taste and enjoy while you catch your breath. 6. Athletic Run Wild IPA I could sing the praises of the Run Wild IPA all day long. This is a non-alcoholic beer that doesn’t skimp on taste, so you get all the delicious flavor of an IPA without any of the alcohol (and by extension, heaviness of a 7% beer). Best Hiking Beers: At a Glance Beer Style ABV Athletic Brewing Run Wild IPA Non-Alcoholic IPA 0% Topo Chico Hard Seltzer Hard Seltzer 4.7% Firestone Walker 805 Blonde Ale 4.7% Deschutes Da Shootz! Pilsner Pilsner 4% Modelo Especial Mexican Lager 4.4% Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Pale Ale 5.6% Best Hiking Beer FAQs

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How Is Hard Seltzer Made?

Thomas Short — Sun, 12 Mar 2023 15:28:10 +0000

Either you’ve tried hard seltzer or you’re the ultimate hipster, because hard seltzer is crazy popular. No, not beer popular, but popular nonetheless. I might be like one, or two, or three…or four years late to the party by finally getting around to this, but how is hard seltzer made? Before going into the nitty gritty, I’ll start with a spoiler: brewing hard seltzer requires sugar. Lots and lots of sugar. Hard Seltzer: Alcohol + Sugar = Fun? Like any alcoholic drink, hard seltzer needs sugar. Sugars are broken down during the fermenting process by yeast, and the byproduct is alcohol. This huge amount of sugar mixed with water (known as a sugar wash) replaces the need for malted barley, setting hard seltzer down a different road than beer. By avoiding barley, hard seltzers are also gluten-free. Of course, seltzer companies can choose to include barley if they want, though it isn’t common. During the actual fermenting process, most if not all sugars should be broken down into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Leftover is a tasty alcohol stew that turns into our hard seltzer. Filtering and Flavoring Frequent readers might know that I recently wrote about unfiltered beer. Well, hard seltzers also come out of their fermentation looking not-so-crystal-clear. So, filtering begins! Following filtering, flavoring finally foments. Most brewers these days like to use natural flavors in their seltzers because artificial flavors taste…less than great to most people. Natural flavoring can happen by adding fruits, herbs, or pretty much whatever to the brew. Finally, the drink is carbonated (assuming it needs more carbonation after the brewing process) and is released into the wild. Is Hard Seltzer Healthy? Hard seltzer, like any alcohol, is not healthy, strictly speaking. Alcohol is basically just empty calories, so there’s no true health benefit to drinking alcohol. That being said, alcohols are not created equal, and the hard seltzer is relatively low calorie compared to, say, a pint of barrel aged pastry stout. There are a few factors that make hard seltzer a little better than other alcohols, too. For one, these are gluten-free, so take that as you will. Second, hard seltzers have a relatively low sugar content compared to something like a pre-mixed margarita. So in recap: is hard seltzer healthy? Nope, but you could be doing a lot worse. Why Do Brewers Brew Hard Seltzer? Brewers brew hard seltzer because people want it and it’s easy to brew. Most hard seltzers should take about a week to go from raw ingredients to finished product, making it a great turnaround time for brewers. A quicker turnaround also means less floor space waiting for things to happen, meaning larger productions in the same amount of space. But consumer demand takes the cake since brewers would stop brewing hard seltzers in a heartbeat if literally nobody wanted them. In fact, I’d guess that some brewers are forced to make hard seltzers just because of demand. I don’t have any quotes on that, so if you’re a brewer and this is you, please drop a quote in the comments section. Hard Seltzer And The Future Let me predict the future for you. The year is 2037. You drive your hybrid car to the grocery store and plug it in. Looking for something relaxing on this hot summer day (temperatures have risen about 10ᐤ on average), you remember that White Claw released its 19th flavor variety pack. You lick your lips thinking about the bubblegum mint and banana sorbet flavor. Man, you miss bananas and wish they still existed. The AI attendant at the cash register asks for your ID. You send it along the blockchain, or something like that. You walk outside back into the sun, and open a can since public drinking has been legal for the past six years. Ah, hard seltzer. It used to be everywhere, and it still is, but sometimes more everywhere and sometimes less. Then you remember that years ago, you read a blog post about hard seltzer, and it nailed your present day life right on the head. If you need more future readings, hit me up.

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When Will AI Brew Beer?

Thomas Short — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 00:17:04 +0000

I hate how much I’m hearing about AI now, but it is coming for everyone’s jobs, so it begs the question: when will AI brew beer? With any luck never, because I don’t know how AI would understand balancing flavors, using the right hops, and making sure the beer is the right color. I bet AI would come up with funny beer names, but that’s about it. So, when will AI brew beer? I guess now. AI Beer: A Recipe For Disaster? With AI creating all sorts of content online, ranging from funny to scary to outright wrong, it was only a matter of time until someone decided to let AI get into beer in the easiest way possible. No, it wasn’t picking a funny name for the beer (the most obvious use case). It was letting AI create the brew recipe. Atwater Brewing, a Detroit-based brewery, decided to let AI create an IPA that blended Citra, Centennial, and Amarillo hops. Aptly named Artificial Intelligence IPA (not a funny pun at all) How does it taste? I have no idea, I never tried it. But it made the news, so there’s that. Since then, in no effort whatsoever to ride the coattails of the AI craze, other brewers have followed suit. Because sure, why not? It is worth noting that while AI did create the recipes, people still did need to brew the beer. Of course, it’s only a matter of time until machines can perfect the brewing craft and replace all humans, right? AI: A Bright Future For Beer And All Once AI is doing all the brewing, and all the jobs for that matter, one can only wonder how people will be able to afford the beer. Will AI have to start brewing beer for…AI? All joking aside, AI is not coming for everyone’s jobs, and it definitely isn’t coming for brewers’ jobs. Even it many parts of brewing become automated, someone with brewing experience needs to supervise the brew to make sure nothing goes terribly wrong. But if brewers plan to embrace AI and have it create recipes, why do an IPA? Why not have it create something that really moves the needle? I’m talking Captain Crunch, red wine vinegar, and chicken noodle soup, spontaneously fermented and aged in rum barrels for 5 months to add more notes to the blend. In reality, the AI craze is probably akin to that of the Brut IPA. Everyone brewed it, everyone talked about it, then everyone moved on. AI isn’t the answer to everything, just the same as a Brut IPA isn’t. But we can learn from the Brut IPA and use the Brut IPA as a jumping off point to get better and better beer. Maybe AI will help. Anyway, here’s a funny beer name created by AI.

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Oktoberfest 2020: Beer Festival At Home

Thomas Short — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 23:13:10 +0000

Each year, over six million people travel across the world to drink more than a million gallons of beer over a 16-day period. Yes, I’m talking about Oktoberfest, the Bavarian Volkfest that’s attained world-renown for its Reinheitsgebot brews, dirndls and lederhosen, and positive drinking vibes. However, for the first time since 1945, Oktoberfest has been canceled. But this doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate! While it’s a far cry from the tents that hold thousands of people, the street vendors serving currywurst, and the festival rides that do NOT mix well with drinking stein after stein of beer, we can celebrate Oktoberfest at home. To help us kickoff the Oktoberfest season — the original dates were September 19 – October 4 — I was sent Schofferhofer’s Grapefruit Hefeweizen Bier and Pennsylvania-based Wallenpaupack Brewing Co.’s Oktoberfest Marzen, along with other Bavarian-inspired goodies. So, here are some tips for throwing a most excellent Oktoberfest at home. Start With the Oktoberfest Bier Before anything else, people know Oktoberfest for its beer. However, the festival sets several rules for beers served: Adherence to Reinheitsgebot: All beers served at Oktoberfest must conform to Reinheitsgebot, also known as the Beer Purity Law. The good news is that plenty of great beers — Marzen, lager, Festbier, and more — follow these standards. Brewed in Munich: Yes, real Oktoberfest only accepts beers brewed in Munich. Technically the beers we drank at our at-home Oktoberfest don’t meet the Munich laws, but Munich alone can’t produce enough beer for the world to enjoy. Only some breweries (Hofbrau, Paulaner, and Spatenbrau, to name a few) meet these strict standards. While I implore anyone who hasn’t tried these beers to check them out, I get that sourcing Bavarian beers during the Oktoberfest season might be…difficult. Instead, try finding either German beers or beers that follow Reinheitsgebot. Get the Oktoberfest Glassware Any beer snob worth their weight in beer knows that flavor starts with the glassware. For Oktoberfest, this means the classic dimpled beer stein. This bad boy of a stein is unmistakable for its dimply facade, and the ring sitting just shy of the top measures out a perfect one-liter pour. For non-metric system users (like me), that’s about one-quarter of a gallon. Prost! Then there are smaller dimple mugs that carry about half as much beer. I don’t own any of these even though I think they’re neat and all, but if you want to do Oktoberfest at home, commit to the liter stein. Eat the Oktoberfest Food Ok, here’s where I kind of dropped the ball. I went to Oktoberfest back in 2013, and the young wide-eyed boy I was imbibed some Festbiers a little faster than I should have. Next thing I knew, my friends had purchased me one authentic pretzel (or bretzel, if you want to commit to the Bavarian terminology). Unfortunately, no bretzels were consumed during this at-home Oktoberfest. But we did eat well. Here we have sausages, sauerkraut, and potatoes. Was any of this prepared in the traditional Bavarian way? Nope. To be honest, we were a little more focused on the Marzen and hefe than on the food stuffs. That being said, some tasty Oktoberfest foods to prepare include: Wurst (currywurst if you can spin it) Roast chicken — yes, cook a whole chicken Bretzel Knodel, a tasty dumpling Sauerkraut Kasespatzle, some tasty noodles These are all guys I tried in Munich at Oktoberfest, so I can say with confidence that they pair excellently with four liters of Festbier. Enjoy the Oktoberfest Atmosphere Bier? Check. Stein? Check. Food? Check? Dirndl/Lederhosen? Brass band? Tent? Flags? Long tables? Scary funhouse with mirrors that people probably get lost in? Look, an Oktoberfest at home will NEVER compare to the real thing. But celebrating at home is still better than just about anything else! Pump some traditional Bavarian drinking songs through your speakers (and Sweet Caroline, and could not count how many times I heard Sweet Caroline at Oktoberfest), wear the most Bavarian-esque clothing you own, sit down with people in your little quarantine bubble, and prost to 2021 where you might actually get to go to the real thing! Remember, the original Oktoberfest dates were September 19 – October 4, so try and celebrate during that window. A special thanks again to Schofferhofer and Wallenpaupack for the great beers, and shout out to Bavaria and Germany for providing the beer world with so many simple yet perfect beers. Prost!

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What’s The Difference Between Stouts And Porters?

Thomas Short — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 19:30:25 +0000

Have you ever seen identical twins that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between even if your life depended on it? It’s pretty much impossible. Telling the difference between a modern stout and porter is probably harder. Why is it so hard to tell the difference between a stout and a porter? Because nobody really knows the difference. Brewers today can’t agree on what makes a stout a stout and a porter a porter. As a result, you can get a porter at one brewery that tastes exactly the same as a stout from a different brewery. Let’s explore why trying to find the differences between stouts and porters is so flipping complicated. Stouts And Porters: A Complex History Like any great drama, we set the stage with a complex history between our two characters. Like some great dramas, this takes place in England. Porters hail from an incredible drink called Entire Butt, a beer brewed to match the flavor of combining ale, beer, and twopenny (which was just a super strong beer). This style was popular, and it culminated in the creation of Guinness’ Single Stout Porter. Yes, a stout porter. So, Entire Butt could be described as the first porter/stout/stout porter. Why we never called the style a butt beer is entirely beyond me, and now we have to live with trying to define porters and stouts. Are Stouts And Porters Made With Hops? Nowadays, porters are generally made from malted barley. This comes from hundreds of years of tradition of trying to match the flavor of that awesome Entire Butt. As with any style of beer, hops are required — however, the hop profile in a porter is likely much subtler than anything you’d find in an IPA. Stouts are a little different. Not only can they use unmalted barley, but they also are sometimes made with malted barley. What stouts have in common with porters is the sparing use of hops. So, short answer: yes, stouts and porters are made with hops because all beers are made with hops. Which Is Stronger: Stouts Or Porters? Here’s a buzz word that always gets tossed around with beers. Some people are looking for beers so strong that the beer could pick up its drinker and carry them home. While this isn’t a thing (yet), the demand for strong beers persists. Historically, people in England called strong beers “stouts,” sort of like how you might call a strong guy a “stout chap” if you lived in England a few hundred years ago. It just so happens that during this time period super-dark porters were the strongest beers — AKA, the “stoutest.” At some point in time, people just decided that strong beers were the same as dark beers. So, all you strong beer drinkers, want to know which is stronger between a porter and stout? Neither, because strong is a highly subjective term and I could pick two stouts so unalike that you’d wish they were just called “Strong Butt” and “Weak Butt.” Same goes for porters. If you’re looking for la cerveza mas fuerte, I’d suggest something close to lighter fluid. Which Is Darker: Stouts Or Porters? Because the English language is a beautiful disaster and because strong and dark are synonymous in the world of Entire Butts…well, you can guess where this is going. Like everything else in the world of stouts and porters, the darker option depends entirely on where and how the beer is brewed. Here’s the nice thing, though — I can safely say that 9/10 times you order a stout or porter, it’ll be darker than nearly any other option on tap! It’s best to spend less time splitting the stout/porter hairs and more time drinking the hair of the dog. Am I Drinking A Stout Or A Porter? Here comes the answer you’ve been waiting for: what are you drinking? If your beer is made with malted barley, then odds are you’re drinking a porter. Today, many stouts use unmalted barley – which, fun fact, is where the coffee-like flavor of stouts comes from. Unless your brewer also added coffee. In that case, the coffee flavor comes from coffee. Keep in mind that stouts don’t always use unmalted barley. Sometimes they’ll use malted barley, depending on what the brewer wants to do. So to simplify: if you’re drinking a dark beer with unmalted barley, it’s probably a stout. If your beer has malted barley, it’s probably a porter. When in doubt, always remember this: the label on your bottle of beer should tell you exactly what your drinking. At the end of the day, your brewer probably knows what they’re doing. Just trust what they say. Unless they added pumpkin to the beer, but that’s for another post.

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Is Marijuana The Future Of Beer?

Thomas Short — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 21:10:39 +0000

Disclaimer: I’m not advocating the use of combining alcohol and marijuana use. This is just a post speculating about combining marijuana and alcohol. So don’t blame me if you do something really stupid. It was only a matter of time until we got to this point: marijuana and beer. Every state that I’ve ever lived in has legalized recreational marijuana use. Curiously enough, every state I’ve lived in also has legalized alcohol consumption. Beer, as we’re discovering, can apparently be made with just about anything as long as you use water. The lines of beer are getting blurred more and more each day (something I’ll be covering more of in the future *coughalcoholicselterwatercough*), so I’m begging the question: When will I get weed beer? Before we continue, let’s just get this straight. I don’t want to talk about how marijuana is healthier than alcohol, or how alcohol is more addictive than most drugs, or how marijuana is non-habit forming, blah, blah, blah. I just want to know if we can make weed beer. The science of a marijuana brew By now you should know that hops are one of the main ingredients of beer. Hops are what gives beer most of its flavor, and it’s integral to the brewing process. Unless you use fake hops to make an absolutely terrible beer, but I digress. Hops, scientifically referred to as Humulus lupulus, are part of the plant family Cannabaceae. Also part of the Cannabaceae family? Cannabis sativa, also known as weed, reefer, marijuana, pot, etc. The relation between the two becomes even more apparent when you look at them – side by side, the plants look like they could be cousins (mostly because they are). Images via Wiki Commons So, what would the process of brewing a beer with weed look like? I imagine a complete disaster. Replacing hops with weed is, I assume, the culinary equivalent of replacing the marshmallow spread in fudge with Peeps. That’s right, a guaranteed disaster. I’m not a science person, so there are probably plenty of reasons why you can’t just replace hops with weed. Unless you can – I really have no idea. But with all the strange brews AND due to the fact that they’re related, we should be able to have beer with weed in it, right? Current beer and marijuana uses Ok, so let’s just skip past the “replacing hops with weed” part. How about using both? As some of you have probably already noticed, the worlds of beer and marijuana are already blended. Lagunitas Brewing Company has a well-documented history with weed. Hailing out of Petalumas, California, they have no reason to be apologetic – marijuana use carries almost no stigma in the state, especially since weed was legalized on January 1, 2018. In fact, California’s biggest hurdle with marijuana isn’t convincing people that it’s ok to use, but convincing them that they should buy weed legally from state-sponsored shops instead of from their favorite dealer. The point is that weed and California are like bread and butter, and Lagunitas has taken that a step further. The innovative brewing company has released multiple products using THC and other marijuana byproducts, including their Hi-Fi Hops drink. “We’ve often dreamed of hops and their cannabis cousin partying together at the family reunion,” says Jeremy Marshall, the “Brewmonster” of Lagunitas. The fit is natural – cannabis and hops have so much in common that making a THC drink that doesn’t suck is completely doable. While Hi-Fi Hops uses THC, the drink is non-alcoholic, instead boasting the flavor of an IPA but with no calories or alcoholic content. While Lagunitas is continuing to innovate with their beer-inspired THC drinks, they haven’t used cannabis to make an alcoholic drink. Will anyone ever? Hurdles of boozy weed If at any point during this article you thought to yourself, “hey, it seems like mixing alcohol and weed in the same drink is basically a legal nightmare waiting to happen,” then you’ll love this next part. Mixing alcohol and weed in the same drink is basically a legal nightmare waiting to happen. Consider this: how do your city’s finest measure how much weed you’ve consumed? That’s right, they can’t because it’s not really a measurable thing. That’s one of the biggest hurdles with regulating marijuana. Now, consider a brewing/marijuana company wants to can both at the same time. We can measure the alcohol content, but how can you measure the weed content? That’s right, we can’t, largely because there hasn’t been enough research to understand the complete effects of marijuana. Also consider that the alcohol industry is already incredibly strict. Hell, I can’t even run Google Ads on this site because it “promotes alcohol use,” whatever that means. If we’re ever going to have an alcoholic marijuana drink that you can buy over the counter, we’ll first need huge strides to be made in the marijuana industry. While things seem to be trending that way, there’s no telling how long that will take. Until we do get that immaculate weed-beer mix, it looks like we’ll have to settle with them individually.

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Doing Dry January? These Drinks Don’t Suck

Thomas Short — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 21:58:09 +0000

Toward the end of the year, there are countless reasons to drink. Holiday parties, holidays with the family, holidays alone, bad weather…countless reasons. December ends, January comes, and you decide that Dry January is the only way to try and save those brain cells you left for dead. There’s nothing wrong with Dry January. I know plenty of people who have done it and enjoyed it thoroughly. I’m doing it and it’s fine. But the hardest part of Dry January? Finding a suitable replacement when you’re craving a refreshing beer. Don’t fret, I’m here to give you some good non-alcoholic drinks that don’t suck. Disclaimer: I won’t waste any of our time by saying “drink non-alcoholic beer.” I’ve never had one I liked, and if you have had one that you liked then you might as well power through as many of those as you can any time of the year since it’s healthier than drinking regular beer. On to the list. Iced tea with lemon I’ve had tea at least once every single day this January, and I’m planning on upping my dosage as the month continues. I typically stick to green tea since it’s simple to make, but I’ve found that iced tea with lemon is the best tea option. Hear me out. Iced tea is cold. Beer is cold. Iced tea has a nice bitter flavor. Many beers have a bitter flavor. Iced tea is accentuated with citrus. Plenty of beers pair well with citrus. They’re like cousins that have some things in common but never hang out. There are essentially 0 drawbacks to iced tea with lemon, and you can scarf these bad boys down like you would brews. Seltzer water One guilty pleasure of mine over the past year has been alcoholic seltzer waters. They’re crisp, refreshing and, if you shop right, affordable. Also, because most are technically malt beverages, they’re essentially beer without hops and barley. But more on that some other day. How do you replace alcoholic seltzer water? With non-alcoholic seltzer water, aka seltzer water. There are basically endless flavors and brands, so just pick the best one for you. Also, this is a much healthier habit to have than drinking alcoholic seltzer waters. Isn’t the point of Dry January to be healthy, anyway? Sports drinks The other night I was at a party where there were three (3) of us Dry Januaryers. I was drinking tea, one was drinking sparkling water and the other Powerade. Here was his sports drink logic: Everybody at that party would wake up feeling horrible. He would wake up feeling nutrient-rich and ready to go. Sports drinks are essentially the pettiest Dry January drink to have at a party and I loved it. Sometimes, those little petty things that you do for yourself are the only things that keep you going. Anything to get through the month. Drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, etc. are total winners. And they’re (relatively) healthy. Water Did you know that 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated? Did you know that being dehydrated makes you more pissed off? Did you know that drinking water helps you lose weight? Yup, water fixes everything. Hell, water is even one of the four allowed ingredients in the German Beer Purity Law. Without water, no beer. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking something like, “water sucks.” Well, I say that water doesn’t suck because it’s too plain to suck. Water isn’t bad, it’s just…water. Also, you can do anything with water. You can put fruit in it and be fancy. You can freeze it and watch dogs eat it. You can make it hot and cook potatoes, among other foods. Water is essentially the Morgan Freeman of drinks. No matter how much of it there is, nobody ever complains that it’s ruining anything. Don’t drink soda I feel like I need to add this. Whatever you do, don’t replace beer with soda. Other than covering up the flavor of really cheap liquor, soda has no redeeming qualities. It costs money, it’s syrupy, it’s stupid…oh, and it’s really bad for you. There you have it – things you ought to drink other than alcohol to try and keep yourself from going crazy. Wait, who are we kidding? It’s basically impossible to just stop drinking beer for the sake of it. These drinks are far from great replacements and compared to beer they pretty much all suck. But hey, if anything this has given you new resolve. Right? Got a drink that’s helping you through Dry January? Leave it in the comments below!

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