Bud Light Platinum 6.0%

Bud Light Platinum 6.0%

Super pale in a glass with a foamy quick fading head. Now when I say Bud Light Platinum is pale in a glass I mean really pale, unnaturally pale. There are plenty of white wines darker than this beer. It's the colour of watered down draft. A lightly malty, white bread, barely hopped aroma with just a touch of alcohol.

What a weird flavour: it's pretty sweet but only barely, barely malty and in way that reminds me again of white bread. The alcohol comes through quite clearly and makes this taste even less like a beer. It honestly reminds me quite a bit of a vodka cooler, you know those wobbly pops that has 6 or 7% alcohol content and are a mixture of food colouring  fruit flavours and vodka? Bud Light Platinum drinks like a non-alcoholic beer that somebody spiked with liquor.

As bad as this beer is (and in case I wasn't clear enough above, I do think it is bad) it's is entirely what I expected. They're starting with Bud Light after all and as the saying goes: garbage in, garbage out. I'm just glad I was able to buy a 355 ml single instead of having to buy a six pack. While I am not a fan of it either, even Budweiser Shot is better than Bud Light Platinum because it has a least a little bit of flavour to carry the higher alcohol content a little better. If forced to choose between Bud Light and Bud Light Platinum I might choose Bud Light Platinum in the hopes that the higher alcohol would numb me to the lousy flavour. All that being said Bud Light Platinum is not undrinkable but there are SO many better beers out there why bother with this one?

On a positive note, I like the aluminum bottle for a number of reasons: it protects the beer completely from light, it is lighter than a glass bottle, it is more easily recycled than glass, I see no particular reason the bottle couldn't be reused for homebrew and no more crying over spilt beer if you drop a six pack on the way out of the store although with Bud Light Platinum not drinking it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Bigtide Brewing Company - Sampler (Canada - New Brunswick - Saint John)

Bigtide Brewing Company - Sampler (Canada - New Brunswick - Saint John)

A delightful brewpub located in historic Saint John with good beer and great food. I enjoyed one of their sample trays of four of their five beers that they currently had available all for the low, low price of $8.00 (and that's including tax!). All their beer is brewed on site although not all the types mentioned on their website are available at all times of the year. I was also allowed into the brewroom, just off the bar area, for a few photos.


Rounding out the experience the service was great too; for whatever reason one of the glasses of beer was flat and our server, Breanne, brought us a new one without complaint. I recommend this place to anyone dining in Saint John.

(From right to left: Hemp, Bitter, Wheat, Brown)

Fogbound Hemp Pale Ale

This very good beer had an unusual but pleasant bitter taste, as well as floral tones and it was also almost a little soapy, probably from the natural oils of the hemp seed. A very interesting beer and tasty; ordered a pint of this one, also took a pint of the bitter.

Benedict Arnold Extra Special Bitter

Caramel taste and bitter. Wooden tones and a sprucy hops taste. A good mix and a very good beer.

Wild Wheat Summer Ale

The least flavourful beer in the tray, a little bitter and not bad but missing the interesting characteristics (usually floral flavours) I expect from a wheat beer.

Stone Circle Brown

Being a brown ale it was not thick like a stout or a porter. An enjoyable beer, the main flavour is a musty cross between coffee and chocolate with a certain woodiness.

A special Beer Maven thank you to Breanne G.