The last installment of my look at beers. Just a reminder to check out my previous beer blogs.
Part one American econo beers
Part two more American econo beers
Part three light beers
Part four miscellaneous beers
Coming soon! A special blog by my two beer correspondents, who sailed the Pacific to taste beers from different countries.
Imported Beers
All of these beers started out as imports, brewed outside of the U.S. That is not the case with some of the beers listed below.
Let’s open some beers:
Birra Moretti
From Italy, a lager that was first brewed back in 1859 by Luigi Moretti. According to their website, the flavor has a delicate citrus hop base and a top note of wholemeal bread.
I was not familiar with this beer other than seeing it in different liquor store coolers. I wouldn’t say it was light, a medium taste, there is a detectable sweetness, but not overwhelming. I like this beer. My question would be, why the 11.2 ounce bottle?
4.6% ABV
Birra Moretti is exported to over 40 countries around the world. Heineken bought the company in 1996.
Commercial #1
Commercial #2
Corona
The highly successful Mexican brand of pale lager, known for its crisp, refreshing taste and often served with a lime wedge. A top-selling imported beer in the U.S. Produced by the Grupo Modelo.
Described as fruity-honey aromas with a touch of malt. 4.5% ABV. There’s definitely a sweetness of some sort that sits under the initial taste. I like this beer a lot, but I don’t often choose it over other beers. It’s more the beer’s reputation as a party beer than it is the taste.
Heineken
One of my favorite beers. It’s malty and has a lot of foam when it’s poured, regardless of how careful you pour.
Heineken N.V. is a major Dutch brewing company founded in 1864 in Amsterdam, and now a large international brewer, owning over 170 brands.
Ingredients are malted barley, hop extract, water, and their own trademarked yeast. 5% ABV and 142 calories. Heineken describes their beer as slightly fruity, others have used the terms biscuity, cereal, or grainy notes, and then faint notes of honey, honeysuckle, or overripe banana…all kinds of descriptors. Sweetness for sure, and a slight bitterness.
In media.
Guinness
Guinness is an Irish stout known for its dark color, creamy head, and balanced flavor of roasted barley and hops.
According to AI: Guinness tastes like a smooth, creamy, and surprisingly light blend of roasted malt, coffee, and dark chocolate, featuring a subtle bitterness and a dry, coffee-like finish. Despite its dark, opaque appearance, it is not heavy, but rather velvety with a distinct, creamy mouthfeel due to nitrogenation.
The taste of Guinness turns off a lot of people who prefer a lighter-looking and mellower tasting lager. I don’t drink this on a regular basis, but every so often I splurge and order one. It’s a pub beer, shared with other beer drinkers rather than a quiet drink at home.
Guinness history began in 1759 when Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease for St. James’s Gate Breweryin Dublin. Initially brewing ales, but shifting to the popular porter style by the 1770s, they eventually ceased ale production by 1799 to focus on dark beers, becoming Ireland’s largest brewery by the 1830s. It was the world’s largest by the 1880s. Guinness is now owned by Diageo.
Dos Equis
Dos Equis is a Mexican lager, generally offering a light-tasting, smooth and golden Pilsner with a 4.2% to 4.5% ABV. Owned by Heineken, it is brewed in Mexico with a balanced, slightly sweet malt flavor.
It’s very light tasting, and a little sweet, but no strong taste whatsoever.
Moctezuma, the last leader of the Aztecs, rules the land that is currently known as Mexico. He would come to be the inspiration for the Dos Equis® label design. In 1890, Wilhelm Hasse, a German immigrant, arrives in Mexico and founds the Moctezuma Brewery in Veracruz. In 1897, Wilhelm Hasse first brews Siglo XX, the beer we know today as Dos Equis® Ambar. In 1983, Dos Equis® Lager Especial is imported to the US. In 1997, Dos Equis® is declared “fastest-growing import in the U.S.” – Dos Equis website
Dos Equis has built a huge following with a series of commercials featuring “The World’s Most Interesting Man.” Sales supposedly dipped after the campaign ended, but rest easy, he’s back.
The Most Interesting Man in the World
Stella Artois
Stella Artois, a pilsner beer, was first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. Its linage goes back to 1366. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country’s standard for pilsners. The beer is sold in many EU countries, but also in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, where it has a reduced ABV. Stella Artois is owned by Interbrew International B.V. which is a subsidiary of the world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV.
Is Stella Artois still an imported beer? In 2021, Anehuser-Busch InBev (A-B) moved production of Belgian import brand Stella Artois to its U.S. brewing facilities, including St. Louis, Los Angeles, Newark, and Jacksonville. Same recipe, different brewing location now. It’s listed as an import because of its legacy and brew recipe.
TV commercial Sarah Jessica Parker and Jeff “the Dude” Bridges.
She is a Thing of Beauty commercial Very 60’s retro
Red Stripe
A smooth Jamaican beer, Red Stripe was established in Jamaica in 1928 and brewed by Desnoes & Geddes. It’s a pale lager with 4.7% ABV.
Instantly identified by the iconic stubby bottle, Red Stripe was introduced in the U.S. in 1965. It’s brewed with Pilsen malt, hops, cassava starch, and water. Red Stripe has a bit of a bite, it maybe it’s a sting, but it’s a great taste sensation.
In 1993, 51% ownership in Desnoes & Geddes Limited was purchased by Guinness Brewing Worldwide, now Diageo, The acquisition of Diageos’ stake by Heineken in 2015.
I first heard of Red Stripe in the 1961 James Bond film, Dr. No.
Modelo
Modelo Especial is a popular Mexican pilsner-style lager known for its crisp, clean taste, featuring light hop character and notes of orange blossom honey. With an ABV of 4.4% and 143 calories per 12 oz serving,
Modelo is brewed using filtered water, barley malt, non-malted cereals (like corn), hops, and yeast, inspired by German techniques. Described as having an orange blossom honey aroma with a hint of herb. If I were to compare Modelo, Corona and Dos Equis and pick my favorite – it would be Modelo, but by a slim margin. All three are tasty.
Modelo Especial was launched in 1925 in Mexico City, 1990 U.S. debut and eventually surpassing Corona to become the top-selling imported beer in America, owned now by Constellation Brands but still brewed in Mexico.
Foster’s
Foster’s Lager is a globally recognized Australian lager, known for its crisp, clean finish and balanced flavor with malt and hop notes, often described as refreshing and easy-drinking.
Popular for its “no worries” Australian identity, and is brewed under license in various countries, with ownership now held by Asahi Group Holdings.
Foster’s Lager is a 5% alcohol by volume lager with a bright, golden color with a crisp, clean hop finish. It was a foamy head (can you say that in mixed company?). Besides the girth of the can, Foster’s has a “thick” taste that I could never quite define. It could be the Ringwood hops are only grown by Hop Products Australia in Bushy Park, Tasmania and Ovens River, Victoria, and by Ellerslie Hop Estates in Myaree, which unlike other beers, they’re added at the end of the brewing process to preserve their freshness. It could be the hops that stands out for me. Fosters is a beer I drink on a special occasion or just a spur of the moment purchase. I think of it as a celebration beer.
Founded in 1888 by American brothers William and Ralph Foster in Melbourne, Australia. Since 2011, the cans of Foster’s sold in the U.S. are brewed in Fort Worth, Texas, under Molson Coors and its ABV is different from that in Europe and Australia.
Beck’s
Beck’s Brewery, also known as Brauerei Beck & Co., is a brewery in the northern German city of Bremen. The origins date back to 27 June 1873, when Heinrich Beck co-founded the Kaiser-Brauerei Beck & May o.H.G. in the Neustadt district of Bremen together with Lüder Rutenberg and Thomas May. In 2001, Interbrew bought Brauerei Beck for 1.8 billion euros; at that time it was the fourth-largest brewer in Germany.
Since 2008, it has been owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV subsidiary Interbrew. US manufacture of Beck’s has been based in St. Louis. A German beer brewed in the U.S. Again, an import?
Beck’s is a lager beer with a distinctive full-bodied taste, fresh “hoppy” bouquet, golden color and full rich head. Adding to its complexity is a slightly fruity but firm crispness and a dry, clean finish. 5% ABV
Aroma of mild pilsner malt, light grassy hops, a hint of lemon and a hint of grain; a touch of green bottle skunk. Flavor follows, lightly sweet pilsner malt, light grassy hops with a hint of citrus and mild grain; slightly sweet finish with wisps of hop bitterness. Medium bodied with light to medium creaminess.
I agree with the hops taste and the underlying sweetness. It also has a creaminess, but it’s not significant. The prior time I had a Beck’s, it actually came from Germany, too long ago to compare it to the Americanization. The bitterness is enough to turn off some tasters. The fact that it’s been co-opted by the St. Louis company, irritates others. The taste is decent, it wouldn’t be my first mild lager choice, but I’d gladly drink one if you’re buying.
In media.
Paulaner Münchner Lager
I came across this beer by accident. It’s a delightful light, malty tasting beer, no bitterness or harsh aftertaste.
Paulaner Münchner Lager (or Helles) is a 4.9% ABV, golden-colored German lager from Munich, characterized by a, clear appearance, malt-forward flavor with light hop bitterness. It is known for its mild, elegant, and crisp taste, making it a classic, highly drinkable session beer and the #1 German lager in the US.
There are other Paulaner beers that I’m anxious to try.
Thoughts….
I believe there is no right or wrong beer. Some are smoother than others, and some pretend to be much more than they are. I’m not a craft beer guy, I stick to the macro brewed brands. To each their own.
I watched a lot of beer tasting reviews, most I didn’t find helpful. Those videos would make a great blog. Most of the reviewers were thoughtful and genuinely trying to be helpful and insightful. They ranged from having thousands of viewers to those with only a few. It proves that we can all be critics by having a beer and a smartphone.
There is no typical beer drinker. Beer is consumed by nearly everyone and cuts across income level, gender, race, geography and social order. Mass produced beer, wherever it is brewed, tries to find a wider audience. Most of the grocery store variety beers I’ve reviewed, with a few exceptions, are not that different. Certainly, some specific ingredients like rice or corn or type of hops will tend to be a bit fuller in taste. Others specify a citrusy or warm (honey, caramel) or even grassy taste. Those that I found at liquor stores, as most of the imported beers were, are generally more unique, Guinness and Paulaner being examples.
Someday soon, most beer will be brewed by just a handful of multinationals companies. We’re almost there now.
Ticket 2 Ride 
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