If lager is supposed to be such a neutral tasting beer, why is it that?...

Why is it that American lagers have such a yeasty taste?

For example, tonight I bought (don't be real hard on me, the pipeline is slim) some of that new-fangled Bush Signature Copper Lager. It tastes like regular Bush to me. Same ol' crap, new color. Well, it is a bit stronger than the regular stuff. Still, that isn't the point. Like so many American lagers, I can definitely taste the yeast. At least I think that is what I'm tasting. I know in the case of Budweiser's beers I can always tell if it's a Budweiser product from the taste of the yeast. Everything under the Budweiser name tastes like Budweiser, or a variation of it.

Now, I've had some amazing lagers that were home-brewed with care. I never got any overpowering "yeast" taste from those. They truly were "clean" tasting. I got the malts, got the hops, maybe a hint of ester here and there. But not a big yeasty taste.

To wrap up this rap. Am I alone in noticing this? I ask because I sometimes notice flavors where other don't. For instance, Nottingham has a definite flavor I don't like. I learned to dislike it by brewing an ale with Nottingham at about 80F. It was overpowering and not enjoyable. After getting a handle on my temperature control, I could brew with Nottingham and keep its signature flavor under control. Still, I learned to notice it and despite brewing very acceptable beers with Nottingham, even the slightest trace of that particular flavor is offensive to me. It's still there when brewed at 66F, it just isn't easy to pick out. However, if you've ever tasted it in the 80F range it becomes something stuck in your head and you cannot ever recover from it. Thus, I don't brew with Nottingham anymore. It's a good yeast, but I ruined it for myself.

Back to the point. American lagers are not neutral tasting. They stink of the yeast they are made with. At least that is my assessment of them. In some way, I sort of wish I could just drink a darn beer again and not be so sensitive to the flavors. Being 21 and buying your first case of beer is bliss in a funny kind of way.

 

Any ale yeast at 80 is going to taste pretty poor, except for some Belgian strains at best. As far as the yeast flavor, not sure on that. ..

 

It all tastes the same because it is all the same. Bud Light Busch Light Natural Light. Same same.

 

Miller Lite is triple hopped. That's three times the hops. No yeast character in that un.

 

A current coworker of mine was recently a process engineer at AB STL and shared the following with me:

Bud Light, Busch Light and Nasty Light are all different recipes. However, Busch Light and Nasty Light are frequently cross packaged based on demand and availability since they are close enough. Busch Light and Nasty Light never become Bud Light, but messed up batches of Bud Light (and others) get mixed into Busch Light and Nasty Light tanks before packaging. Miller does essentially the same thing to get Keystone and Milwaukee's Best.

 

Keyster light is Coors light 2nd runnings. Confirmed in Golden CO when I was 12. I just didn't understand...anything...yet.

 

That's my impression - like I said, all the same. Honestly, get a bunch of domestic light lager and have someone set up a blind test of 4 or 5 and see if you can pick them all right. Most people will get less than half correct - which is basically just luck.

 

but they do it with amazing consistency! not only do I accept our Light American Lager Overlords but I shall blindly praise them publicly for their super manly beer brewed the extra hard way; unlike all you pterodactyls with your 10.5% bourbon barrel stouts, your "bottom of the barrel" Bock beers, your "Juicy Fruit" Eepahs, and your fancy flavorful Belgian Dubbel Bubbel beers! I'll be over here with all the real men drinking my Michelob Golden Ultra 64 Select Light right out of my Vortex bottle.

 

Who waits until they're 21 to buy their first case of beer!?! Didn't they have chalk where you grew up?

 

Who waits until they're 21 to buy their first case of beer!?! Didn't they have chalk where you grew up?

 

Who waits until they're 21 to buy their first case of beer!?! Didn't they have chalk where you grew up?

 

Might want to watch how loud you say that. There's a legend 'round these parts that if you sing BMC praises too loudly, you'll get klubbed.

Some even say on cold nights you can hear the faint scream of his victims pleading "not in the berries!"

 

Poor fermentation control and insufficient conditioning/lagering leads to the house yeast character in the smaller, old, lager houses, imho. They may have suspect yeast care practices as well, and no yeast lab to speak of.



(if you live in a part of the country that still has any, anyways)

 

Funny. Methinks you need anger management, but still funny

 

Are we still talking about AB here?

 

I think miller high life uses champagne yeast. get it???? funny stuff.

 

Are you confusing yeast flavors for the flavors from the corn and/or rice adjuncts?

 

Or for horse pi$$?

-ben

 

That would be my guess. With a neutral yeast and industrial filtration there should not be any noticeable yeast character.

 

This is what I was thinking. I'm not claiming to be able to blindly pick up a glass of beer and say, "Oh, Miller lite" But I have been at a party where pitchers of Bud Light and Pitchers of Miller Lite were both circling the tables.

Miller Lite does have a distinct corn flavor to it. Bud Light also does have the characteristics of the Rice that is in it. It's especially noticeable after drinking an IPA as I had started the night drinking a couple Revolution Anti-heroes. You get used to the malt and hops, then all of a sudden get slapped in the face with the lack of hops and overwhelming adjunct flavors.

 

I am socially unstable and the world wants me this way.

 

All the irrelevant and cliche jerking off about how bad BMC beers are aside, the answer is that the Budweiser strain has a distinctive ester. It's something that is often mistaken for acetaldehyde but is actually there intentionally.

 

Whether you love or hate BMC, I think their product is more a result of economics than anything else.

 

I wasn't. The OP asked generically about American lagers.

 

Ok, darn you, I'll answer that question since it was posted 3 times.

The reason I waited until I was 21 to ever buy a case of beer was because I grew up in South Eastern Kentucky. I was drinking good moonshine, homemade wine, and of course - my good ol' dads home brew. All of this out of sight of my parents, because that was how we showed respect for parents back then. It wasn't until I started college at the ripe ol' age of 21 (slow starter) that I found myself being adored for simply being 21 and having the power to show the I.D. and legally buy beer to be smuggled back onto campus. It didn't take much encouragement from some young pretty things before I was willing to be her hero. It paid off for all of us. I'm not saying that I never drank a BMC before college, I'm just saying I never had a reason to buy a case of the stuff until then. Which, as fate would have it, was when I was 21.

BTW, I don't get thing with the chalk. Please explain.