Is Stella Artois crap to anyone else?

[neko]

I don't have much experience with Stella, but I was out drinking with a guy who said it was great because the abv is like 8-9%. I didn't believe him but I didn't have any evidence. I looked it up later and it's like 5%. It's getting close to $20 for a 12-pack so there's really no reason to buy it when there are so many other better beers that are cheaper.

 

[arturo7]

absolute crap

 

[emjay]

A beer coming from across the Atlantic, bottled in UV-transparent green glass? Of course it's going to taste like crap here, just like Heineken and even Pilsner Urquell to a large extent.

Stella is Belgian BMC and it's not something that would be amazing by beer-geek standards, but I guarantee you that drinking it fresh and on tap (rather than old and in green bottles, like we get it here), is a hell of a lot better.

The hilarious part of it all is the people here devoted to green-bottled eurolagers like Stella or Heineken... it's pretty objectively turned to crap, and yet there are people who love it and think that's what it's supposed to taste like! Pretentiousness knows no bounds...

 

[Brewsader]

As an American who lives in Belgium (long time) I always find it funny when I go back to the states and I see Stella being promoted as a real genuinely-fantastic-high-end-imported beer. Its a non-discript "nationless" lager like any of the others. It is a little sweeter than the US BMC beers and maybe some people count that as "flavor." Whats even funnier is the fact that it comes in green glass. That is specifically done for the US market. I've never seen it in green glass on this side of the ocean, and I gaurentee no one in Belgium would buy it if it did. They equate green glass with dutch brewing and that is not a good image to have in Belgium.

BTW i believe they use rice, not corn, as do most European swill makers.

 

[Paul07293]

ahh, the Budweiser of Belgium. Had it fresh in Belgium, not too bad. Here, after a long ocean voyage in a hot steel container and those green bottles, not so good.

 

[Insomniac]

Stella is known as Wife Beater over here for a reason.
I know people who love the stuff, but to me there's a nasty chemical aftertaste that I just don't notice with other lagers.

 

[brewmcq]

Barney likes it.

 

[rycov]

The hilarious part of it all is the people here devoted to green-bottled eurolagers like Stella or Heineken... it's pretty objectively turned to crap, and yet there are people who love it and think that's what it's supposed to taste like!

i was at the bar the other day and the bartender was talking about spaten (which they just got in) and said she hadn't tried it, but she knew she would like it because it came in green bottles and she always liked beer that came in green bottles. i was gonna explain what the flavor was that all the green bottles had, but i decided i wouldn't be a dick and ruin it for her.

 

[nos33]

we have no choice about refrigeration in utah. It is state law that all liquor stores are all state owned and nothing is to be refrigerated. I agree it is a crappy method but that is what we have to deal with over here. and they charge about 1.85 per bottle of that stuff. I am just glad i did not buy a whole 6 pack of this beer and only purchased 2 of them. I will give the second bottle a couple days in the fridge and see how it tastes. But all the other bottles of beer in green bottles from the LQ are fine. this Stella just sat very wrong with me for some reason. I dont mind a skunky beer every now and then but this was just foul.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I just bought a couple of these from my Liquor Store just to see what all the hype was about. After they were cooled in my fridge (liquor stores are not allowed to keep anything in the fridge around here) I popped one open and poured it into a glass. Had a very strong skunky smell and tasted like crap. It tasted like a rotten Heinekin that was left out in the sun for too long. And the next day (about an hour ago) I had a movement that smelled the exact same as the Stella.

sorry for the rant

Yep, it's crap. Never apologize for having good taste.

 

[wildwest450]

Yep, it's crap. Never apologize for having good taste.

Explain to me how something subjective can be good?


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[rycov]

should it be well?

 

[Brewstress]

Charlie Bamforth shared a story at the NHC this past week.

Being from the UK, where there are no skunks, he had never smelled a skunk in his entire life until he moved to California to take the job at UC Davis. Soon after getting to the US, he and his wife are driving around when they smell that odor and he turns to her and says, "My God, Heineken have opened a brewery here!"

Love it! I will be re-telling this story over and over again!

 

[wildwest450]

should it be well?

No, but good taste, cmon. Just because you bash a beer on an internet forum doesn't mean you have "good taste".


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[nos33]

No, but good taste, cmon. Just because you bash a beer on an internet forum doesn't mean you have "good taste".


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everyone's tastes are different. What is good to me might be bad to you. and vise versa.

 

[wildwest450]

everyone's tastes are different. What is good to me might be bad to you. and vise versa.

Exactly my point.


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[SimonHucko]

I'll probably get some hate for this, but I actually enjoy a little skunk in my beer from time to time. I know it's a fault, I know what causes it, I know that "good beer" shouldn't taste like that, but I think it adds an interesting dimension to an otherwise very plain lager. if my choices are BMC in a can or a 6er of Heinie, I'll grab the green bottle every time.

 

[nos33]

There is nothing wrong with a little skunk. I will pick up a 6er of Heinie's every now and then but something about this Stella just sat wrong with me

 

[rycov]

No, but good taste, cmon. Just because you bash a beer on an internet forum doesn't mean you have "good taste".


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i knew what you meant, i was just kidding

everyone's tastes are different. What is good to me might be bad to you. and vise versa.

wrong. i'm the ultimate judge of whats good and not good (or well..?). while i let you people have your opinions, only i can tell whats good and bad.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

All this talk about stella has me in the mood for some Becks Light.

 

[BrewForMe]

I actually tried my first stell the other night at a restaraunt, I didnt think it was too bad, but BMC definitely came to mind. The best part, I told the waitress i was gona steal the fancy glass, as she kept coming by clening the table of plates and things, she kept leaving the glass sitting there empty...I didn't have the nads to stuff it in the wife's purse, but as we were leaving the waitress caught me at the door and discreetly handed me the glass (I hope she doesn't get fired and I knew I should have left a better tip):cross:

 

[Toga]

I'd take a Stella on tap over a buttweizer but that is not saying much. It's like eating a cat turd over a dog turd............it's still a turd :rockin:

 

[ruralbrew]

I will NEVER drink that beer again. I had one at my daughters wedding rehearsal dinner. Never had one before, and it was the only thing they had that wasn't BMC, so I thought, how bad can it be? It didn't taste quite right, but I didn't want to insult the father of the groom, so I drank it. I ended up with a bad case of the sh**s the next night all through the wedding reception. Does anyone understand how inconvenient that can be when you are wearing a tux with suspenders? I shudder everytime I see it in the cooler at the store.

The worst part of it was we had the wedding reception at the Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, and I could have been drinking good beer that night!

 

[rycov]

I like the glasses. If a place only has BMC or Stella on draught, I'd take the Stella.

The glass is pretty sweet.

Umm Stella is BMC.

I just cant get into pilsner no matter how hard I try. It could be the best pils in the world it still wouldn't do anything for me tbh.

I mostly agree, but gordan biersch had a czech pilsner that I thought was pretty tasty. Actually had some flavor, not at all bland.

It could be that this is a much different style though, I don't really know too much about styles, especially pilsners.

 

[boo boo]

The glass is pretty sweet.
.

I have 6 just like that, that I won at a golf tournment a few years ago.
Yes they are nice.

 

[thezepster]

We make a pilsner at the brewpub and its very delicious. It makes me realize that there really are other things in those commercial ones that give them unusual flavors. Its a shame that commercial brands have given the name pilsner (or lager for that matter) such a bad name to us beer geeks. As long as they are made correctly they can be just as flavorful and delicious as ales.

 

[upperNY01brewer]

yep

 

[beyonder74]

I don't care for Stella either. Yuck!

 

[ParkerCantLose]

Stella has an unquestionable skunky flavor to it. The majority of people i find drinking it (without sounding too pompous or opinionated) are people that have never had good beer but have more money than the typical Bud drinker.

I'm always so sad for the drinker when i see someone spending $6 on a stella when a solid craft is available.

 

[jtakacs]

stella artois; reassuringly expensive.

99.9% of people i see drinking stella are people who a) don't drink beer and b) think they're buying the cream of the crop when they buy stella.

weird beer - fantastic marketing.