Miller Lite

Name: Miller Lite
Style: American Adjunct Lager
Owner: MillerCoors
Slogan: "Tastes great, less filling"

BeerAdvocate Rating: 53 (Awful)
RateBeer Rating: 0, 2
ABV: 4.2%


Miller Lite (or sometimes just "Lite") was originally developed in 1967 by a biochemist named Joseph Owades, ultimately making him responsible for the entire light beer category, that bastard.

When first released, it was called "Gablinger's Diet Beer" and to no one's surprise that name really didn't catch on.  The recipe was given to the Meister Brau folks and did a little bit better when it was re-released as "Meister Brau Lite."  On down the line, Meister Brau was bought out by Miller who renamed it "Lite Beer from Miller" which in turn changed to plain 'ol "Miller Lite."

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Nothing like drunks arguing over something inconsequential, eh?

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The can proclaims:

"Inside is a Pilsner beer brewed with the finest quality ingredients.  Because of a special brewing process Miller Lite gives you a light beer with more taste."

The author of that blurb should be drug out into the street and summarily shot.  Pilsner refers to a style of beer originating in the Bohemian city of Plzeň, in Czechoslovakia.  I've had a number of Bohemian Pilsners and a many German Pilsners, and they all have a particular set of characteristics.  I can also tell you that what's in this can has none of those characteristics.

*Sigh*... let's get on with it, I guess:

Serving:
Aggressively poured from a 25oz can into a Wine Enthusiast Steady-Temp Double Wall Beer Glass. The glass screamed into a pillow.

Appearance:
Pours crystal clear with a pale straw tinge.  It has a three-finger soapy head that lingered about as long as it took for me to walk into the office, leaving a bit of sticky lacing on the glass, but not in a good way.  It looks most like the scum left in the sink after the dish soap foam pops.

Smell:
The smell is of corn syrup and biscuity malt, a bit more of a presence than the other lights I've reviewed.  No hops are detected in the nose.

Taste:
It has a slightly sweet corny taste with that same "stale-crackers-and-gym-socks" aftertaste that Coors Light has, only less pronounced.  A faint taste of alcohol lingers.

Mouthfeel:
A little more body than I expected for a light beer.  Not a whole lot by any stretch, but more than its competitors.

Overall:
On the whole, this beer is merely bad.  It has all of the same bad qualities that Coors Light does, but it's a little toned down.  As such, it's not really a difference in kind but rather a matter of degree.  I'd take this over a Coors Light in much the same way that I'd choose a finger rather than a stick in the eye, and given the choice between the stick and the Miller Lite, I'd be inclined to go for the stick.

Save yourself the consternation and avoid this one too.