Stella Artois

Brewed by InBev Belgium
Style: Pale Lager
Leuven, Belgium

A nice, clean Belgian lager. I’m not a huge light lager fan, but this is eminently drinkable.

Not sure how I missed rating this one earlier, but here goes. Went to a club for my friend’s going away party and asked what beers they had. Bud, Miller, Coors, Stella, and Heineken. Awesome, way to cover a broad range of styles! So Stella on tap ended up being my drink of choice for the night, as crazy as that may sound, and I downed 5-6 of them out of clear plastic cups that look like they were made for beirut/beer pong (club didn’t have a table unfortunately). I love how some people who don’t know anything about beer will see BMC and say something like, "I don’t drink that terrible piss water! I like the good stuff, like Stella!" not realizing their knowledge of "beer" is limited to pale lagers and maybe Guinness. Some people will never learn. Oh well, anyway, this beer is golden-yellow with a white head. Looks a little better than an American adjunk lager. Aroma is pale malt, grain, corn, and some mild noble hops. Flavor is pretty bland and similar to the aroma. Has a cleaner and stronger taste than BMC (although that’s not saying much) with slightly more hops to it. Palate is light with medium-high carbonation. Not terribly offensive, but still one of the worst true Belgian beers I’ve ever had.

Out of the bottle the aroma is skunk, and so is the flavor mixed with light grains and corn. On tap the skunk is gone (thankfully!) and you taste more of the clean grain with a touch of hops on the finish. (my rating is based moreso on the tap version)

Obviously I didn’t buy this. Seriously guys, someone gave it to me. I didn’t spend money on it. A bit skunked, surprise surprise. Probably improved it a bit for me in reality. Overcarbonated even for the style. Rather crisp. Cleaner than most, still not that clean.

(bottle). Clear gold color. Small white head. Light grain aroma and flavor. Avg duration. Thin texture. Moderate carbonation. Fair lacing.

Smells watery, tastes watery, no distinctiveness, no flavor, no sophistication. Awful.

Not bad overall, good for summer drinking, reminiscent of Heinie and some German mass-lagers so at least there isn’t adjuncty nonsense. Compare to Warsteiner, which I think I rated the same as this.