Brewing legends Travis and Jason Kelce, founders of Garage Beer, were inspired to create their rendition of the American Light Lager in the garage during late night hours while trying to get some space from Travis' old lady.
This is anything but easy to brew at home, starting with why do it at all. Macro light beers follow the most complicated and engineered brewing process in history. At the old Coors brewery in Golden, they used to brag that Miller Lite crossed under the Clear Creek 4 times in process. For starters, macro brewers (Anheuser-Busch, Coors, Miller) literally invented this style based on the strengths of their process, engineering the highest yield from ingredients. Note: strengths to their process and economic efficiency is the priority, not flavor, not aromatics, not...mouthfeel?
The hot brewing process involves a separate vessel for each step along the way, with some (Coors) employing "filter presses" in sparge/lautering to achieve an efficiency greater than 100% by the formal math, extracting tannin from the grain husks. High gravity wort is fermented to the upper constraints of yeast alcohol tolerance, at least 8% ABV or higher with significant use of adjuncts like corn syrup or rice (~20% fermentables), which add to the light drinking experience while providing the very-niche taste differentials across brands. But some macro lagers are the same beers, only with different labels. Post aging/lagering at high gravity in tanks larger than most homes, it is usually watered down to 4.2% ABV using de-aerated water. During this finishing process, it is clarified extensively with centrifuges and multiple filter passes. The combined effect of watering-down and clearing strips the beer of most of the flavors that were present.
What's left is an incredibly simple, easy to drink beer that's only offensive if you're asking too much of it. The process is a modern marvel. What the BJCP guidelines miss on this style is that the beer drinking experience is more about the label than the actual taste. Because beers in a competition are scored blind, this throws a monkey wrench into a beer scoresheet. One isn't sure if they should be drinking the beer in rural Missouri or a hipster bar in Chicago. The experience with 1A is highly influenced by "set" and "setting." While all the same styles: 1A. American Light Lager, these beers convey cultural messages that no other beer styles do to the same effect.
If there's still a good enough reason to make it at home, sure we can. We're all nerds here. Pitfalls for typical homebrewers will come with clarification and obtaining the neutral, watery flavor. Strive for that *small* flare of corn or rice - sub-perceptual, like you have to think about it kind of hard. I'm not sure how to transport it under a creek 4 times. Even craft beers in this realm are very grain- or adjunct-forward compared to their macro counterparts.
More Taste American Light Lager
4 lb 2 row
.25 lb corn
Lager yeast
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