Carta Blanca

Carta Blanca (Blank Check) was introduced by Cuauhtémoc Brewery in 1890 in Monterrey, Mexico. This beer was the original beer of the brewery, and was the flagship beer, until the 1980s, when the Dos Equis line began to overshadow it, after the merger with the Moctezuma company in 1985. At 4.5% alcohol, Carta Blanca is an easy-drinking, mass-produced lager, and is widely available, typically in 32 oz. bottle in six-packs of 12-oz. bottles in select locations. Cans are rare, but are produced.

One will run across this beer on many menus in Mexican restaurants, and this writer can attest to the exceptional pair-ability of this lager with spicy Mexican or Tex-Mex offerings. It is highly recommended that the beer enthusiast sample this classic beer brand.

NOTE: Heineken International acquired this company in 2010.

The Winery Exchange and Private Label Beer

Founded in 1999, the Winery Exchange produces a large array of private label (store brand) beers, wines, and hard liquors. Many of their beer brands, such as Big Flats 1901, are sold under exclusive agreement with store chains, such as Walgreens. Most of their beer brands are produced at the Rochester, New York brewery, most famous for the Genesee beers, although some Winery Exchange beers are imported from Europe or Latin America.

Although the quality of the beers is questionable (I have tried quite a few and have found them inferior or even outright unpleasant), there does seem to be a continuing market for them, and many times they are marketed as craft beers, as one will notice with the brands sold at Whole Foods Market.

Like it or not, the private label segment of the beer market is strong, the Winery Exchange is a major player in it, and there is no sign that the trend will end in the foreseeable future.

George Killian's Irish Red

In 1981, Coors acquired the rights from Pelforth Brewing of France to produce their own U.S.-made version of George Killian's Irish Red, which is still common to American beer outlets, usually in bottled form and occasionally on draft and in cans. At 5.4% alcohol, Killian's Irish Red is a lager beer, although, when it was introduced in Enniscorthy, Ireland in 1864, it was sold as Enniscorthy Ruby Ale. Pelforth had picked up the brand in 1956, when the original Irish brewery ceased operations. Interestingly, Pelforth (now, a Heineken subsidiary) continues to sell a European Killian's Irish Red, which is of a different recipe and label design.

According to the Miller-Coors website Killian's is a 5.4% abv lager, but the Molson-Coors website shows it at 4.9% alcohol, and it might be sold at variant abv levels. In 2006, George Killian's Irish Stout (4.9% abv) was introduced, and it is sold in select American states. George Killian's Irish Honey beer was sold in the 1990s, but this offering did not last.

Killian's has proven to be a consistent seller for Coors, and it is commonly available. One will not often see any sort of advertising for this beer, however. This lager has won a bronze, three silver, and two gold medals over the years at the World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival, so it has a trophy case to back up its claims of quality and enjoyment.

It seems as though George Killian's Irish Red Lager will remain a strong contender in the beer world for years to come. This author has had much enjoyment from it, and it's stout variant for years.

Extra Gold Lager

Extra Gold Lager, formerly Coors Extra Gold, was introduced in 1985 as a cold-filtered, non-pasteurized competitor to the newly introduced Miller High Life Genuine Draft, now Miller Genuine Draft. At 4.97% alcohol, Extra Gold Lager, is sold regionally, usually in 30-packs of 12 ounce cans, although it is also available in bottled form. Coors describes it as "a distinctive brew with abundant flavor and a deep golden color. Extra Gold Lager starts with the slow aging of its roasted malts, which are then combined with its other premium ingredients and slow-brewed to produce this exceptional, refined lager." It is no longer described by Molson-Coors as a cold-filtered, non-pasteurized beer, however.

Upon this beer's introduction, and until the mid-1990s, this lager received heavy television, radio, and print advertising attention, and it was available nationwide. For whatever reason, possibly because the beer did not meet expected sales expectations, Coors Brewing Co. began to slowly cut back on promotions and on availability. The beer enthusiast will, more than likely, have to search hard to find Extra Gold, but this writer can verify that the beer offers a smooth, pleasant, and tasty drinking experience. One hopes that this beer will again be decently marketed.

http://www.molsoncoors.com/en/Brands/Global%20Portfolio/Extra%20Gold%20Lager.aspx

SILVER THUNDER MALT LIQUOR

One of the more obscure and mysterious malt liquor brands is the regionally available Silver Thunder Malt Liquor, which is "Brewed with classic natural ingredients for a smooth full flavor", meaning, it is made with cheap, six-row barley malt, corn syrup, hop extract, water, and yeast. What do we know about this extra-strong lager beer brand? We do not know its alcohol content, because that is not available on the Pabst website, and beyond that, this beer is not even referenced on that same site. We do know that it was a Stroh Brewing brand, introduced sometime in the 20th Century, and we also know that it won a silver medal at the 1992 Great American Beer Festival. We also know that it is sold in at least these vessels- 40 ounce bottles and 16 ounce cans, which is verified by my first-hand observation of such on a recent East Coast road trip. I notice that the label design has not been altered since at least 1996, as evidenced by literature produced by Stroh Brewing in 1996, which was sent to me by that company.

This writer has never seen it sold anywhere but in states ranging from Virginia to New York, but it is probably available, elsewhere. Since 1999 it has been a Pabst brand, and it is, like Big Bear Malt Liquor, one of their most unattended and unacknowledged brands. This beer receives absolutely no advertising attention of any kind, yet it does seem to move at a steady, if unremarkable pace. This is known to be the case, because other beers, like Falstaff and Ice Man Malt Liquor, which did not sell at an acceptable level, have been dropped by Pabst without the least sentiment or public notification.

I have tried this product on one occasion (16 oz. can in 2010), and I found it to be comparable to other mass-produced, value-priced malt liquors, such as Colt 45 and Schlitz Malt Liquor. It is recommended that the reader sample this beer, if the opportunity presents itself.

NOTE: Silver Thunder will be discontinued after 2013.

Shiner Premium Beer

Shiner Premium Beer was introduced by the Spoetzl Brewing Company of Shiner, Texas in 1909. Over the years, especially in the post-Prohibition days, Shiner gained popularity and rivaled other Texas regional brands, such as Pearl and Lone Star. Today, Shiner Premium is sold nationwide, and is the second most popular Shiner beer, after Shiner Bock, which eclipsed it in sales in the 1990s. Since 1989, the Spoetzl Brewing Company, founded by a business group and in 1915 acquired by Kosmos Spoetzl, has been a Gambrinus Company brand. Gambrinus is San Antonio based, and was founded in 1986. They own some other beer lines, such as Bridgeport.

Although Shiner Premium has, over the years, been sold under different brand names, like Shiner Special, Shiner Texas Special, and in the 1990s through March, 2013 as Shiner Blonde, the recipe (4.4% abv) has remained virtually unchanged.

Shiner is a stereotypical American-style lager, brewed with the usual corn adjunct. It can be found in 12 oz. cans or bottles, although bottles tend to be the more common vessel. Shiner receives no national television or radio advertising attention, although, in western Louisiana and throughout Texas one will see a fair number of roadside billboards touting the brand, usually Shiner Bock, though.

This writer has sample Shiner Premium on numerous occasions, and I find it holds its own against all the other national, mass-produced American-style lagers. A sampling is recommended.

http://www.gambrinus.com/index.html

American-style Lager: Budweiser Select

Budweiser Select was introduced in 2005, and it attempted to do what the failed Bud Dry (1989-2010) tried to do- present full-flavored lager beer taste in a light-bodied, low calorie beer. In other words, it is a light beer with a premium beer taste. It could be argued that Bud Dry failed because Anheuser-Busch gave that beer almost no advertising attention after the initial promotional rush, much like what happened with Budweiser American Ale. With Budweiser Select, Anheuser-Busch (InBev) has maintained a consistent, relatively strong advertising regimen for the brand. When sales began to slip around 2010-2011, alongside a reduction in advertising, InBev responded in 2012 with another strong round of advertising, especially on television.

This beer was introduced in 2005, and it is made with 2-row and caramel barely malts (and grain adjuncts) and American and Bavarian hops. According to the brewery, it spends twice as long in the brew house as regular lagers, resulting in a lower calorie and carbohydrate count. Budweiser Select is 4.3% alcohol (the same as Milwaukee's Best, as a point of reference) and has only 99 calories per serving. It is sold in bottle and cans, of various package counts and container sizes.

In 2009, InBev introduced Budweiser Select 55, which is touted by the company as being the lightest beer in the world, of which this writer can attest. Today, the name of that beer is simply Select 55.

I have tried Budweiser Select on a number of occasions and have found it to be well balanced, well crafted, tasty, and enjoyable. It most certainly fulfills its mission. However, one wonders how long this brand will stick around.