Comments

1

Oh man do I hope this brewery makes it. But given the chili dog and garlic fries collective palate that dominates the craft brew world probably as a business this will fail. It's too bad - there's plenty of great lighter bodied beers around the world that are an absolute pleasure to drink. Advice from the snobby seats to the owners: make lighter-bodied beers in higher alcohol categories along with lower alcohol brews. You should have Kolsch and spritzy Pilsners on tap, but also do a Belgian-style white, a Belgian Abbey Blonde (knock off a slightly scaled back Leffe Blonde for instance), an Elephant Beer type strong light-bodied lager, a very dry piney not over-hopped IPA. God speed I hope you survive the Frito Pies who pose as beer intelligentsia!

2

Answer is YES! TIRED of beer that makes you sleepy.

3

Yeah, I couldn't tell if the beers are "light" as in low ABV, or "light" as in not as flavorful.

You can get plenty of low ABV beers that have intense flavors (Guinness comes to mind) and you can get plenty of high ABV beers that are mildly flavored (Oskar Blues "G'knight" Imperial Red).

It sounds though, like Lester is saying these are both low ABV AND mildly flavored. Not sure I'd be interested but I guess if that's what someone wants then cool on them. I dunno, why not just drink iced tea with a splash of vodka if you want something mild that won't get you drunk?

4

I appreciate the in depth coverage of beer and brewing,but I feel this is somewhat miss-characterizing the difference between light beer and mainstream beer and craft beer. In the US market Light Beer is lower calorie and approximately standard alcohol. In other countries, such as Australia Light beer is lower alcohol.

Yes mainstream American lager uses adjuncts such as corn or rice to supply fermentable sugar while lessening the body and color that additional malted barley would bring. And yes the quality and sheer amount of ingredients used in craft beer can lead to higher alcohol and darker color and, you know, flavor.

If Seattle-Lite Brewing can make great beer, I'm all for it. ...but sleepy is one of my favorite side effects!

5

@1

Eh, if you really need more kick, just drop a shot of whiskey in it.

I don't want another lager-flavored malt liquor, and I don't want another small brewery that tries to put out 9 different beers with widely varying processes and traditions, and doesn't manage to get any of them right. Do one thing and do it well.

6

if it tastes good who gives a fuck if its light?

7

Fair enough @5. I like lighter-bodied beers that still have some depth of character. Hard to do with low ABV/very low calorie beers, but there are some decent ones out there. As long as it's not yet another "full loaf of bread in every pint" Quintillion Hopped Cloudy IPA I'm in.

But if any local brewers out there want to make a flavorful, dry, not over-hopped 6.5% ale you've got at least one customer.

8

LOL. I was reading this and thinking, “Man, I don’t know what they’re talking about ‘first brewery of its kind’, Lowercase has been doing excellent lagers and pilsners and other lighter styles for a while now...” Then, lol and behold...

Also, Lowercase brews in South Park. Only their taproom is in Georgetown.

9

Elitist talk describing beers with wine jargon is becoming annoying. A beer is a a personal thing and each individual likes what they like. Brewing a light beer and making it sound like it is new or never been attempted is also annoying. We have gone from bitter tasting swill being peddled as some exotic IPA to more hoppy swill being spun as unique along with hundreds of other beer concoctions and now, full circle to an actual palatable beer being brewed which is what most want in the first place.
The wheel was already invented, making a new wheel and spinning it does not make you, now, the inventor. To survive in the craft beer trend, clearly means just making a simple uncomplicated good beer and being humble about it. Which clearly exists already. Trendy beers will get dumped by trend flowers and we will all look back on some of the annoying craft brewery swill and comment on how we were duped into thinking we were connoisseurs when all that was needed was something the Europeans had perfected long ago the simplicity of good beer, cider and ale. When I drink a beer the last thing I want to think or talk about is "The Craft Brewing Industry'.
Just get on with it.

10

@9, FTW!

11

The darker the brew the better...I'd rather it was black beer. Black is a glorious color.

But in any event, remember to drink to excess and drive. Then I can meet you face to face.

12

If by “light” we mean low in alcohol, then up Airport Way is Machine House Brewery. I don’t believe they’ve ever brewed anything as “heavy” as 5% AbV. Those beers are very rich in flavor, so I don’t know if they’d meet the other “light” criterion.

@9: Using wine terms for beer and spirits works just fine by me; one local craft distiller here in Seattle obtains his grain from the same hillside in Eastern Washington every year; he claims grain, like grapes, has a “terrior.”

(If you think there’s anything “simple” about creating any of those beverages, you might want to try studying organic chemistry sometime.)

Plus, great discoveries can be made from over-the-top recipes, even if just from their failures. There’s nothing wrong with a brewer going for a new “trendy” style, especially if it provides her with the money to experiment further. Recall that hops were once a non-traditional flavoring agent for beer.


Please wait...

and remember to be decent to everyone
all of the time.

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