Heilemans Old Style Kraeusened Lager

Pabst Brewing Company
Brewed at Miller Brewing Company (MillerCoors)
Style: Pale Lager
Woodridge, Illinois USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Shaker

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pours clear yellow with a thin, rapidly dissipating stark white soapy head. Odor of straw, pretty much what you get with the recently displaced recipe. Taste is pretty mild, very drinkable and crisp. Starts off light, ends with a pretty good dry crispness, while lacking some of the sweet aftertaste Old Style used to have. I’d say its a definite improvement.

Rating for style, I think this is a solid lawnmower beer. Far better than Bud or Miller. My first sip and I was transported straight back to when I was four years old, and my dad wouldn’t be able to crack open an Old Style without me begging for just one sip. If it’s not the same flavor as the Old Style of yesteryear, it’s pretty damn close. Compared to regular Old Style, it’s got a drier, less sweet finish. If I have to drink light American adjunct macrobrew lagers, this is my go-to beer.

UPDATED: AUG 31, 2011 Here goes, lets taste the new and improved Old Style. Color and aroma same as before. Pale straw color with little or no head. Aroma of grains, wet dog, malt and bread. Flavor is slightly improved, and I mean slightly. It is still a lot of grain and malt and water and maybe just a hint smoother in the finish. I’d love to have one of each side by side as I am using memory to compare and memory is usually something I don’t keep when consuming Old Style. The finish is the only real improvement and that isn’t saying too much. So I give it one more point in flavor and that’s about it. Don’t get this beer and expect a big change, just a slight modification. Going to have to try it again later next to an old one if possible, that might help me detect the change a bit more

Light yellow pour. Aroma of rice crispness and light malt. Thin body with a very crisp flavor of rice and very dry malt. Not real good. Slightly fresher than the newer old style but still a solid suck factor.

UPDATED: MAR 20, 2009 Is that 4.1% alcohol content correct? Says who? Why would kraeusening lower the ABV content by 20%? The old version had an ABV of 5%. What the hell? This looks the same as the old version: light corn water, little aroma, thick white head that dies quickly. Lots of carbonation.The Kraeusened isn’t as sweet as the old stuff. It’s also much, MUCH smoother. The lower alcohol level is disappointing, though. ***************************************** contacting the brewer I’ve had the alcohol content corrected. The correct ABV is 4.72%

Can. Straw color and a nice tall off-white head. Decent steady flow of bubbles regenerate the head. Corn and grain aromas, no real change detected. Hints of pale malt in the front. Decent feel, not as spritzy as it looks. Some grains in the middle, but really quite thin flavor-wise. HInt os floral hops in the finish. I’ll say it does seem to be a bit smoother, but still quite lacking in flavor.

12 oz. can shared by Skyview. Clear golden pour with noticeable carbonation and a finger thick white head. Aroma is very straight forward with grains and corn. The flavor is much the same with a faint touch of hops but mainly corn and grains.

Purchased from Cellars Wine & Spirits in Shorewood, MN and sampled from 12-oz can, pours a clear golden straw brew with a decent white head that slowly dissipates to a thin white ring and film top. A little more golden grain malt and citrus hop aroma than the previous version with a hint of corn. Taste is smoother and not as gritty as the previous version, light bodied, some carbonation with a nice balanced flavors of golden grain malt, corn, citrus hops and a hint of white bread dough. Finish is light, crisp and clean cut with very little aftertaste. Definitely a smoother and easy drinking light beer compared to the previous version but not as semi-sweet as the historical Heileman product of the 1970s and 1980s. A decent session beer for hot summers and mass market light beer drinkers but not a beer geek caliper beer. Along with the recent Schlitz 1960s formula revival I am happy to see another historical brand returned with a decent light beer formula.