I went to see Bryan’s band (Bulletproof Lincoln) play last night. I got there after they had already started playing, but I still wanted to get a drink at the bar. I walked up to the bar and I glanced around for a line-up of bottled beers but I didn’t see one right away. And since I wanted to get back to the listening area, I figured that I should consider my draught options instead. They had, of course, all the usual Bad American Beers: Coors, Budweiser and so on. But, they also had Killian’s Irish Red.
And, contrary to its name, it’s not from Ireland at all — rather, it’s completely American and made by Coors. I was aware of the Coors connection but I recalled that Killian’s had at least somewhat-dark in color and I thought to myself, “Well, how bad could it be?”. So, ordered one and walked back to listen to the band. I took a few sips and soon discovered that it was not what I was hoping for. [Note to amateur copy editors: “not for what I was hoping”?]
The dark color (well, reddish, anyway) belied its true flavor — or lack thereof. If I was blindfolded, someone could have told me that I was drinking Just Another American Beer and I would have believed him. There wasn’t much flavor at all, other than the distinct wateriness. And there was an odd degree of carbonation — not a creamy effervescence like a good porter but a sharp sparkle more closely resembling a club soda.
A visit to RateBeer.com later that evening confirmed my suspicions. I looked up Killian’s and discovered that it has a score of 2.82/5.0 which puts it in the 28th percentile. To put that in perspective, I checked on RateBeer’s list of Top Accessible Beers. They define an “accessible beer” as those with over 500 ratings — in other words, beers that you'd have a pretty good chance of finding in a store.
And just because a beer is “accessible” doesn’t mean that it’s a bad beer, either. I mean, the top rated Accessible Beer is Ayinger’s Celebrator Doppelbock which is in the 100th percentile (obviously rounded to 100, but still). And even the 17th best Accessible Beer, Guinness Stout, is in the 77th percentile.
But I suppose that there are relatively few beers with that many ratings since the scores tend to trail off towards the bottom of the list. For instance, Sam’s Adams Boston Lager — an otherwise decent beer — clocks in at the 53rd percentile for the #22 spot. In fairness to Sam Adams, I don’t think it a bad beer at all, but in the spectrum of all beers produced worldwide, I can understand that it might be only slightly above average.
There’re 25 entries in RateBeer’s Top Accessible Beers list and Killian’s Irish Red squeaks in at the end. A few of the posted comments mirror my own feelings of this brew:
“Damn you rate beer, i used to honestly enjoy this, then you came into my life. I can no longer be content in my beer darkness now that you�ve shined your glorious light down upon my palate and shown me what beer can be. Pours a light ruby red with a thin clingy head. dead nose, smells blank. has a bitter tree bark flavor. overly bitter and got bad quick. […] ”
“This is what I would consider a middle of the road beer in everyway. The color a very nice red, but it cant hide its mass produced roots. […] ”
“Clear amber colour, the head quickly disappears, butter and grapefruit aroma, some malts, tart and sweet with a bubblegum-like finish — artificial and very forgettable.”
“Finish is lightly sweet, moderately bitter, slightly metallic. Light to medium body, watery texture, fizzy carbonation. I am amused by the fact that the label says "Manufactured", rather than brewed. […] ”
That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the band, but the Killian’s was a bit lacking. After a few subsequent sips I realized that the mildly non-badness of the beer wasn't outweighing the calories that came with it. So, after making it halfway through the glass, I just set it aside.
Ah, it seems your beer taste has sure evolved over the past two years . . . in June 2002, Killian’s made your top 5, which always sort of amazed me.
I think you’re right, Charles. I suppose there’s the chance that I had a bad batch last night, but my tastes probably have changed.
Generally, Killian’s should fall into the “at least way more drinkable than Bud and Coors Light, if those are my only draft choices” category. But the bar in question seems to face many beverage challenges. Proof: they can screw up a bottle of beer, as with the one I got with the top of the bottle broken off.
The one Killian’s I had there Friday tasted faintly skunked, or flat and/or old. It also wasn’t cold enough – get it somewhere with proper equipment and it’s nice enough. But it’s still not stellar.
Have you ever considered homebrewing beer? You sound like a perfect candidate for it.
Killian’s used to be my college beer. When there wasn’t anything more “upscale” than Bud/Coors/whatever, I’d always opt for the relatively better Killian’s. Now after spent much time in Europe, Killian’s is all the things you mentioned!
So I’ve thought a lot about trying my hand at home brew, but it seems expensive to get into (at least to do it right and get decent beer).
I think Lyn says it all:
It also wasn’t cold enough. Yep, we are definately talking about a light-bodied domestic beer.
But at least we’re lucky in Texas that most places stock a Mexican beer or two. That’s what I usually go for in the “cheap Summer beer” category. A nice Dos Equis or Modelo – no shame there. I suppose it still counts as an “import”, and thus maybe 50 cents more than the domestic stuff, but a pretty good comprimise.