Heilemans Old Style Kraeusened Lager

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

Can. Straw color and a nice tall off-white head. Decent steady flow of bubbles regenerate the head. Corn and grain aromas, no real change detected. Hints of pale malt in the front. Decent feel, not as spritzy as it looks. Some grains in the middle, but really quite thin flavor-wise. HInt os floral hops in the finish. I’ll say it does seem to be a bit smoother, but still quite lacking in flavor.

Purchased from Cellars Wine & Spirits in Shorewood, MN and sampled from 12-oz can, pours a clear golden straw brew with a decent white head that slowly dissipates to a thin white ring and film top. A little more golden grain malt and citrus hop aroma than the previous version with a hint of corn. Taste is smoother and not as gritty as the previous version, light bodied, some carbonation with a nice balanced flavors of golden grain malt, corn, citrus hops and a hint of white bread dough. Finish is light, crisp and clean cut with very little aftertaste. Definitely a smoother and easy drinking light beer compared to the previous version but not as semi-sweet as the historical Heileman product of the 1970s and 1980s. A decent session beer for hot summers and mass market light beer drinkers but not a beer geek caliper beer. Along with the recent Schlitz 1960s formula revival I am happy to see another historical brand returned with a decent light beer formula.

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.

9/06/2009: Old Style "Authentically Kraeusened"... I used to drink quite a bit of the "regular" Old Style when I was in college. It was decent but not really that great even then, so I was a bit reluctant to buy this now. But alas, we ran out of beer at our little cookout and the grocery store was the closest place to get some beer that was still opened. Anyway... I was quite pleased with the "new" (old?) Old Style that is "authentically kraeusened" (I know this because it is plastered all over the box and label!). The aroma and flavor are quite similar in that they are malty, slightly sweet, and don’t have an abundance of cereal grain characteristics coming through. There is actually a really mild, but definitely there hoppiness that is just enough to keep everything in balanced. This beer is feel soft in the mouth and goes down extremely smoothly. The alcohol seems like -5% though since I grank 6+ other beers before putting down 6 of these over a 2-3 hour period and felt really quite well! In the end, I was glad that we pulled the trigger on the Old Style and would buy it again in the future.

12 fl. oz. bottles Ɩ) from a 12-pack purchased at Fred Meyer in Aurora, IL and shared by Jason. Rating #19 for this beer.

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.

12oz 2009 Chicago Cubs Ivy bottle, "-Local Lore- of the Friendly Confines - 4 of 5 While trying to find a ball lost in the ivy, an opposing player once came out firing an empty soda cup instead of the ball. The runner was safe." Pours a very light super clear golden with a fairly decent white frothy head 2.5. Aroma is nice and grassy with some quite sweet malt. You know what, this Kraeusened version isn’t terrible. Bready, malty, for some reason a tad hot though, I think I can actually taste some hops, I’m serious. Light bodied with a fuller mouthfeel, actually pretty clean with softer ubiquitous smooth carbonation. For what purpose this beer is supposed to serve, and living less than 300 ft from Wrigley Field, I understand that purpose PERFECTLY, it really hits the mark; Clean, non-offensive, refreshing, and way more flavor, relatively, than Miller Lite, thats for sure. GO CUBS!!! (oh wait, I forgot I’m a Cards fan!)

Had from a 12oz. can from a friend. I was curious to try this since they’ve went back to the older version. Honestly, it’s not great, but it’s not nearly as bad as Old Style was before they went back to this recipe.

Solid not unpleasant grain aroma, ,taste doesn’t come through,however, served cold you get the slightest of sweet grain, then the watered down nothingness you expect from a macro, actually doesn’t have that unpleasant ,ugly corn bitter finish,so its an ok thirst quencher