Beer Review: Heineken Lager

Heineken USA Brewing Company Heineken Lager

This is Holland’s most famous lager. This is also one of the most available European lagers in America. Pours a very light golden color with a very short lived head. Slight hop aroma with a very clean malt background. This green bottle crap is really annoying. I know they do the skunking on purpose because most American’s think this is the taste of a superior European beer but it drives me insane. I wish they would sell the non-export amber bottles in America. I am not a fan of skunking. I can hold my own beer up to the light if I want defects.

The flavor is very clean. Almost no malt flavor followed by a sharp citrus hop flavor. The hopping is very nice with enough bitterness to balance the malt and some flavor to please hops fans. It’s just not enough. This needs real malt character with either some crystal malt or some Munich malt. Those would really add some punch.

This is a classic example of a skunked Euro-lager. I can’t tell the difference between this and Becks besides the brewing location. If Heineken wants to improve on this beer they need to prevent skunking and add more malt character. It is amazing that they charge as much as they do for this.

Final Score: 62% (Boring and Skunky, Not Worth the Money)