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July 21, 2005

Heineken Light: The tasting

Finally, Heineken stoops to enter the light beer market, testing Heineken Light in four U.S. cities. This historic tasting took place at twilight last night on my back porch in one of them: Providence.

Our sample was small, but we aimed for pseudoscience: Heinken, Heineken Light and Miller Lite. Two Heineken loyalists, a Miller Lite drinker and, as a wildcard, one Tangueray (gin) and tonic drinker went at it.

First, appearance: The Heinken Light bottle is taller and slimmer (get it?) than regular Heinie. One wag dubbed it "The Heineken Girl."

In the glass, both Heinekens have color; the Miller merely has hue, like yellow snow.

Taste: Both Heinekens have taste -- hops taste. Miller Lite tastes watery, subtle, like sugar-free beer soda. Quenches a thirst, though, almost as well as water.

Old Heineken tastes thicker, heavier than "Light." To the Heineken fan who does not like Miller Lite at all, it's the best of the light beers, but... "It tastes like Heineken with club soda. It's more carbonated."

To the regular Lite drinker, the taste was disturbingly bitter at first, recalling what she remembers of the days when she drank real beer and didn't gain an ounce, but she got used to it. Quickly.

We asked Ken Khoury, co-owner of City Liquors in Providence, what he thought of the new Light. "Tastes like Heineken to me," he said.

We thought we had a bona fide beer expert's opinion there until he told us his favorite beer was Michelob Ultra Light, which is so watery it makes Miller Lite seem robust.

The Tangueray-and-tonic fellow thought the Light was "not bad," and would drink either Heineken on a hot day, wouldn't matter which. "Tastes like Heineken," he said of the Light.

There's the market, since the Miller Lite person was put off by the price of the new brew: $12.99 and $7.29 for a 12-pack and six-pack, respectively; the Miller Lite was $9.58 for 12 and $5.37 for six. (Your shelf price may vary, of course.)

The carbs and calories (the allure of light beer, after all):

	Heineken	Heineken Light	Miller Lite
Carbs	11.5	6.8 g	3.2 g
Calories	150	99	96

The barstool bottom line: The confirmed Heineken drinkers will stick with the heartier brew. The T&T drinker wouldn't turn down the Heinie Light. The Miller Lite drinker might buy Heineken Light again, since the slight increase in carbs seems insignificant, and the taste "made me feel like I'm drinking real beer."

If you live in Tampa, Dallas or Phoenix, you too can have this much fun on a hot summer night.

(I'm crossposting this to our fledgling beer blog, as well.)

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 2:59 PM | Permalink

Comments

I will have to try the new Heineken, thougfh around here we are very fond of the new Sam Adams light. Funny thing, I used to be an ale drinker, but then spent a year living in SE Asia where Tiger lager is ubiqutious & since I came home I only drink lagers. Anyway, thank you for your hard work -- it is difficult to keep up on such things, especially in the summertime!

Posted by: joseph on July 21, 2005 6:16 PM

I too like ken prefer the low carb beers in the summer time. I will try the new light from Heineken and see how they compare against others. Party Time

Posted by: jonny G on July 24, 2005 10:08 PM

Great tasting notes, Sheila. One question: How does Heineken Light compare with Amstel Light (which I'd always considered to be "Heineken Light")?

Posted by: Sean Polay on July 25, 2005 2:13 PM

Where in the heck can I find this beer? The only place I have seen it was in a circle k near the sky harbor airport in arizona.I was traveling on business so buying a 6 pack for the flight wouldn't work out. Please help me locate this beer. I live in southern california.
Thanks,
ksgray

Posted by: kevin on March 23, 2006 5:37 PM

I finally tried the new Heineken light just 5 min's ago tonight, it's close but not quite the same but considering the third less calories I think I'll switch when given the choice. I actually just tried the Heineken dark recently too (a week ago) and fell in love with it at first sip.

After thinking long and hard about this, here's how it's gonna down from now on (no pun intended): at home away from my joke cracking friends I'll drink the light on a regular basis while still keeping the gym visits pretty regular for the cardio workouts. On special occasions, I'll treat myself to the dark, like World series, Super bowls, child births, you get the picture. When I'm out in the general public or over a friends house I'll go with the regular Heineken, just to fit in you know, nothing messes up a beer run more than a jerk off who needs his own separate six pack of whatever light beer he's experimenting with at the time you know, just drink this and shut up already, the games on! Just a few thoughts from a long time Heineken drinker. By the way, when are they coming out with the Heineken 40 ouncer, I keep E-mailing them but they won't reply! LOL

PS I used to drink 40 Oz.'s of OLD GOLD (Old English 800) Can't get used to this little *** bottles!

The INTELLECT

Posted by: Intellect on March 24, 2006 3:17 AM

I'm a Sam Adams fan and switched to Heineken about a year ago. I loved it. They came out with the light and I decided to give it a try. Love it just as much. It isn't quite as heavy as regular Heineken so that just leaves room for more. I definitely recommend trying it. I'm working on converting those regular beer drinkers to give up the water and try a great beer with fantastic flavor!

Cheers!

Posted by: Lynn H. on July 19, 2007 5:02 PM