Heineken Light

Subtle changes can make all the difference between a beer that I won't drink and one that I would gladly drink by the pitcher. Such is the case with Heineken Light. The only true way to do a review on Heineken Light was to perform a side by side comparison with it's older brother, Heineken regular.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Heineken, or any Dutch or German lager for that matter. I don't enjoy the lager yeast smell or the slightly sour flavor of the hops. But the Heineken Light is different. It's very smooth with no harsh initial flavor. It goes down smooth and it has no harsh aftertaste either. I suppose this is exactly what one should expect from a Light beer.

From this side by side comparison, you can see that the beers look identical in color. On the left is the regular and the Light is on the right. We noticed the regular Heineken did foam up a bit more than the Light. Not sure if that really means anything, but it is a difference.

My wife didn't like the Light as much. Being German, she enjoys the German and Dutch lagers. Beers like Heineken, St. Pauli Girl, and Spaten really do it for her.

On to the point of a light beer these days: calories. According to the bottle of Heineken Light, it only has 100 calories. If that hundred is less than a regular Heineken, then so be it. But let's not get everyone confused. A regular soda has at least a hundred calories, and this is just one beer. How many does one need to drink to get drunk? Four or Six? Something like that.

I appreciate Heineken jumping on the light beer train, but 100 calories is a lot. If you want to save the calories but still get your drunk on, you should stick to doing shots.

Overall, I loved the Heineken Light and would recommend it. The Amstel Light commercials claim it to be the beer drinkers light beer. Well, I think Amstel has some new competition.