Heilemans Old Style Kraeusened Lager

Pabst Brewing Company
Brewed at Miller Brewing Company (MillerCoors)
Style: Pale Lager
Woodridge, Illinois USA

Back in the early 80’s I lived in Chicago. I spent a lot of time hanging out at the Step High Bar on south Wacker, drank massive amounts of Old Style (when in Rome…), and consume Tombstone Pizzas that they cooked in a toaster oven behind the bar… The bar was a dive but it was within walking distance of my south loop apartment (if you can call a 300 sq ft hole in the wall with the El running right outside your window an “apartment.”)

So I’m obviously emotionally connected to this brew. Nonetheless, it really tastes like crap. Especially this “Improved Flavor” version. It pours pissy pale yellow with a modest white head that fizzles into nothing. Aroma is of weak corn. The flavor is… oh wait, there is no flavor. Really. Maybe a hint of sweet corn or slight vegetal skank, but really the flavor is nill. Maybe this is a light beer and they forgot to put the work “light” on the label.

I gotta find some old Old Style before it’s gone, though I doubt it will be much of an improvement…

KRAEUSENED! 16 oz pour into a plastic cup @ the Cubs game Saturday $6.50. Cubs 6 Marlins 1. Really nothing to drink inside the ball park. I do admit it did have more flavor than the previous Old Style. Somewhat of a saltier, sweeter taste.

Here’s rating #10 that establishes the number on the shelf tag. 24 oz. can. I compared this to a 12 oz. bottle of the old stuff after finding both from Sam’s. Assumption is the older bottle might be a bit past code. But of the new stuff: I poured it into my Sam Adams glass and a frothy head foamed up the top half, possibly due to its wide-mouth opening. Both beer looked identical in the same glasses: pale lager yellow, a bit of gold in the thicker part of the glass. The corn smell is less pronounced here, but there’s also less malt or hop smell in its place. There’s also less sweetness in the taste, but the mouthfeel is watery, something I learned after tasting this is a common complaint even among regular beer drinkers. A bit more malt comes through, and with less remaining corn, it seems more finished. Midway through, I start to get that unpleasant buzz that usually comes with trying tallboys of malt liquor. I think I’d rather put this down to the psychology of drinking from a big cheap can.

Thanks to Skyview for sharing! Yellow color with a medium head. Light grain and corn aroma. Pretty much the same flavor. Cleanly fermented, nothing offensive at all. Certainly drinkable.

pours clear yellow with a thin, rapidly dissipating stark white soapy head. Odor of straw, pretty much what you get with the recently displaced recipe. Taste is pretty mild, very drinkable and crisp. Starts off light, ends with a pretty good dry crispness, while lacking some of the sweet aftertaste Old Style used to have. I’d say its a definite improvement.

Rating for style, I think this is a solid lawnmower beer. Far better than Bud or Miller. My first sip and I was transported straight back to when I was four years old, and my dad wouldn’t be able to crack open an Old Style without me begging for just one sip. If it’s not the same flavor as the Old Style of yesteryear, it’s pretty damn close. Compared to regular Old Style, it’s got a drier, less sweet finish. If I have to drink light American adjunct macrobrew lagers, this is my go-to beer.

Here goes, lets taste the new and improved Old Style. Color and aroma same as before. Pale straw color with little or no head. Aroma of grains, wet dog, malt and bread. Flavor is slightly improved, and I mean slightly. It is still a lot of grain and malt and water and maybe just a hint smoother in the finish. I’d love to have one of each side by side as I am using memory to compare and memory is usually something I don’t keep when consuming Old Style. The finish is the only real improvement and that isn’t saying too much. So I give it one more point in flavor and that’s about it. Don’t get this beer and expect a big change, just a slight modification. Going to have to try it again later next to an old one if possible, that might help me detect the change a bit more

Light yellow pour. Aroma of rice crispness and light malt. Thin body with a very crisp flavor of rice and very dry malt. Not real good. Slightly fresher than the newer old style but still a solid suck factor.