The Spirit World

So I walk into my local beer shop last night on my way home and I ask for a single bottle of Heineken Premium Light. I had to ask for it because it’s not out on display. The cases are hidden in the back of the walk-in cooler. Once the clerk located the bottle in question, I checked out and drove home with this single bottle of Heineken Premium Light and I was actually getting excited about trying it—I mean anything hidden away in the back with the craft brews… let’s not get our hopes up.

Heineken Premium Light has been the source of some debate in my beer circles. The beer poses a genuine problem for the serious beer consumer (and the serious beer writer). Does the beer world really need another Light Beer? Oh, I know the big beer corporations need a product to sell to consumers, but given the already wide selection of Light Beers, does adding one more to the number improve Beer World? To some extent this is an unfair and artificial question. If Blue Point (my local brewery) released a new Extra Special Bitter (ESB), you wouldn’t hear me asking “Does the beer world really need another ESB?” I would just happily buy it, drink it, and probably write about it. But the truth is that I write from the perspective of a craft beer brewer and craft beer appreciator, and these Light Beers factor very small in Craft Beer World. Why? Primarily because these beer lack so many of the qualities expected by people who really like beer.

That being said, let’s just forget about the fact that Heineken Premium Light is a Light Beer produced by a huge beer corporation. Let’s sit down with a bottle, open it, and taste it as if it were the hypothetical new ESB from Blue Point.

I selected my usual tasting glass, a tall wide-bodied stem glass—a little like a red wine glass, except this one holds a pint of beer, and the stem is shorter—and carefully poured the Heineken Premium Light. A nice layer of snowy foam formed on top of this golden beer. It’s certainly pleasing to look at. I swirled the glass a couple of times and then introduced the beer to my nose. The aroma is characteristic of light beers and American Light (or Lite) Lagers. I’m not really sure what that aroma is, but I have always assumed that it came from what ever adjuncts the brewer used to lower the production cost. (The term “adjuncts” is craft-brewer-ease for corn or rice or any other type of addition to the brew that isn’t hops, water, barley, or yeast.) Or the aroma may be a by-product of the lager yeast strain used to ferment the beer. One thing that is certain is that this aroma has nothing to do with hops or malt.

Next, I tasted the beer. Now, as you know, I drink the beer in the glass. Forget about every other beverage in the world and focus on that one drink in the glass in front of you. Is it good? Is it drinkable? Does it succeed on it’s own terms? Sit down for this: I sipped and I enjoyed Heineken Premium Light. On it’s own terms its a pleasant, refreshing beverage. It isn’t flavorless (though compared to beer it comes across as thin and watered down). My initial impression of the taste was a combination of sweetness and almost peppery spiciness. It had a slick mouthfeel and the spicy character stimulated the sides of my tongue, so there was a little hop bitterness in the beer. Additionally, I have to say that the water quality is excellent. In fact, I would compare this beverage more to bottled water than I would beer. Now that’s not intended to be a dig. I drink some fancy mineral water. I’ve paid four and five dollars for bottles of some top quality and excellent tasting bubbly water. Heineken Premium Light is a hybrid beverage, part high quality mineral water, part beer.

What I really liked about the Heineken Premium Light (in addition to its pleasant taste and refreshing character) was that it didn’t come across as alcoholic at all. I tasted this beer under ideal conditions. I was thirsty and I was starving since I hadn’t eaten dinner yet. Usually, when I drink a beer just before a meal, I sense the effects of the alcohol about half way through the glass. With Heineken Premium Light, I went through the entire glass and never once had any sensation that alcohol was entering my system. I’m thinking that this would be an excellent session beer. You could probably have several and still do a jig on one foot without falling over. This is just a guess (I didn’t do the experiment).

The bottom line is that if you are a Light Beer drinker, you should probably try one of these and see if you like it. If you are a hophead who loves those Double Imperial IPAs, Heineken Premium Light isn’t going to do anything for you. If you are somewhere between these two extremes, you’ll probably shrug and say, “Yeah, so what?” But of course we knew this already.

For a different viewpoint, check out Brenda’s post.