Landshark Lager has an interesting pedigree, and probably one I’ll bet you didn’t think you’d see reviewed under the "Macro" category. Not so. Even though it’s marketed by Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville franchise, the beer itself is brewed by—you guessed it—Anheuser-Busch and is in fact brewed to the "American Macro" style. I’ve been curious about this beer since I first saw it, but was deterred by the negative reviews and the spendy price for a six-pack … Continue reading →

I’m probably reviewing Anheuser-Busch‘s "Natural" series backwards; yesterday I reviewed Natural Ice and tonight it’s Natural Light., which was introduced first back in 1977. Oh well. Natural Light is pretty typical for the "light" beer category; it only comes in at 4.2% alcohol by volume, and, well, I picked up the can for 70 cents. What’s that tell you? Appearance: Clear and yellow with a fizzy, broken white head. Smell: Neutral, a hint of grain, … Continue reading →

Natural Ice is a relative newcomer to the Anheuser-Busch family, introduced in 1995. (Natural Light was introduced in 1977.) Along with the Busch line, the "Natural" beers are part of A-B’s "value priced" category—also called "subpremium-priced." The beer is 5.9% alcohol by volume (which seems to be the trend among the ice beers, I’m noticing) and by and large the packaging (in this case, the 24-ounce can) is fairly generic. There’s just not a whole … Continue reading →

Keystone Ice is the so-called "ice beer" version of Keystone Light (or just plain Keystone), which is purportedly "regular" beer which has been subjected to "ice brewing"—that is, lowering the temperature to below freezing so that water freezes out, yielding higher levels of alcohol. (Of course, the actual process may be quite different, but that’s the traditional urban legend story and I’m too lazy to look it up right now.) Keystone Ice, brewed in fact … Continue reading →

Last year I reviewed Busch Beer but I never got around to it’s "lite" counterpart, Busch Light. I rectified that this time around. (If "rectified" can really be the right term to apply here…) Busch is the value brand from Anheuser-Busch, first introduced in 1955. The Light version was introduced in 1989 and is 4.2% alcohol by volume (only 0.4% less than regular Busch). Appearance: Clear, pale yellow, darker than I’d expect. Very effervescent underneath … Continue reading →