How Low Can You Go?
Written: Apr 08 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Less carbs
Cons: Doesn't resemble a beer
The Bottom Line: Michelob goes one worse with the lower calorie and lower carb beer. Devoid of any character, but non-beer drinkers might enjoy the gimmick.
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| andaryl's Full Review: Michelob Ultra Tap |
It seems that American consumers are becoming ever more health conscious. How else would you explain the immense popularity of Light beer? You could put it down to the lighter flavor, but that can’t be true, after all advertisers are telling us that light beer tastes great. It has to be the lower calorie content that’s driving the sales of these products.
Now when I say less calories, we’re really not talking about Diet Coke. A light beer will usually still have at least 60% as many calories as its regular counterpart. The reason for this is that without the calories you can not have the beer. Malted barley is the calorie and carbohydrate contributor to beer, but it’s also what gives beer its body, character and ultimately flavor. It’s also needed to provide the alcohol. The more you attempt to peel away the calories, the less you are likely to have a product that resembles beer.
It seemed that Miller Lite was going as low as you could possibly go with a 12 oz bottle that contained 96 calories and 3.2 grams of carbohydrates. But Anheuser Busch, as always, had to go one better and came up with Michelob Ultra, “The first low carb beer.”
“Lose the Carbs not the Taste,” they say in promotion of Michelob Ultra, a beer that contains 2.6 grams of carbohydrates and 95 calories (wow one less). It still has alcohol, 4.2% ABV, more than a typical English pale ale. But my affection for craft brewing, creativity and craftsmanship as opposed to science makes me ever skeptical. Miller Lite really doesn’t taste much like a beer should, could Michelob Ultra be any better?
Tasting Notes
Michelob Ultra pours as pale a color as I’ve seen with streams of big bubbled, blatantly artificial carbonation and a quickly dissipating foam.
The nose lacks any defining malt or hop character, but is somewhat soapy, like lemon dish detergent, with a touch of grain.
The palate is fizzy, light and pretty thin. There’s a quaint sweetness up front with a very light touch of lemon and honey. That lasts a mere second then disappears into a dry coarse grainy, flavorless second half. The aftertaste is non-existent.
Verdict
This is not what I would call a beer. It’s brewed like a beer but it’s completely devoid of any flavor. Some might tell me that it’s the kind of beer they like, but for me it’s like dropping a pinch of chicken stock into a pot of boiling water and calling it soup.
The only argument I can see for favoring Michelob Ultra is if you don’t like the flavor of beer. My wife drinks it and she’ll admit to that reasoning. If you want fewer calories do what I did and pour it down the sink.
For those that didn’t know already, Michelob is merely a brand name from the Anheuser Busch monster. Michelob was set up as their premium brand to compete with imported and microbrewed beers. It’s interesting therefore that they chose the Michelob label for their least beer-like beer. Maybe they needed a premium image for the beer, but I feel that characterless beer will lower the image of the Michelob brand. Maybe Anheuser Busch just figured that consumers have got them figured out already and don’t really care.
I really can’t see this beer doing any more than taking market share away from Miller Lite or Bud Light.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
andaryl
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Member: Andrew Smith
Location: Indio, CA
Reviews written: 248
Trusted by: 187 members
About Me:
Mixing in my all-time movie tribute list with reviews of what I watch today.
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