Heilemans Old Style

Very pale straw colour. Husky aroma and husky pale malt flavour. Aside from the huskiness, this is a fairly clean example of the style, not showing the higher alcohols or esters of many other pale lagers. Thus, it is not objectionable. Seems like it gets sufficient lagering time and is lower on adjuncts than many of its competitors.

(Bottle) The officlal brew of the Chicago Cubs. Pours a pale yellow with a descent-sized foamy white head. Corn aroma. Flavor of malt, light hops, and a metallic finish.

12oz can. Sweet corn and stinky cheese and oil scents. Semi-frothy and watery, rich and malt liquor-like... full of the typical sweet corn and cheap grain flavor.

The back-up beer for my parents when the local grocery store was out of Bud. Not much top it. You can drink it, if you want.

The darkest of the side by side tastings of american standards this evening. Not saying much still a straw color. Light grainy aroma, with just a hint of floral hops. Actually has a touch of malt sweetness, but also has a light bad vanilla extract flavor. I hate to think how many gallons of this (Blatz, and Special Export) I drank 20 years ago.

Draft. First time I have had this brew in many years. I have been at brewery years ago and I am sad that this once great brew has dropped this far. Small sweet flavor with little or no body or texture. I believe we have both gotten older.

Another typical Miller product. This beer may be OK to drink at a ball game on a 90 degree day when nothing else is available, but I can't think of any other reason to buy it (and I wouldn't pay 5 bucks a cup at a baseball game, either.)

Head is initially small, fizzy, white, fully diminishing. Body is clear light yellow. Aroma is trace malt (cereal, grain), light hops (herbs, flowers). Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly bitter. Light body, watery texture, fizzy carbonation. Someone at the plant accidentally dropped some hops into the kettle, methinks.