Year: 2022

Trust me, I enjoy a well-made West Coast IPA, a craft lager, a barrel-aged stout, or a fruited sour beer as much as the next beer snoot. But sometimes, maybe when it’s really hot out or I’m just looking for something crushable, I love to crack open a classic light beer. You know the ones I mean: the kind available at every supermarket, grocery store, and bodega from Temecula to Tampa Bay.

These light lagers — from big, macro U.S. breweries — are known for their low-alcohol content (“sessionability,” in beer nerd parlance); crisp, light flavor; and refreshing, no-frills taste. These are beers designed for crushing, not for savoring, but even acknowledging that, there is a flavor profile there, even in the cheapest beers. And that’s why I’m here today, to find out which one has the best all-around flavor via the classic blind-taste test.

Today’s Lineup:

• Bud Light
• Coors Light
• Michelob Ultra
• Busch Light
• Amstel Light
• Miller Lite
• Natural Light
• Keystone Light

The Ranking

8) Keystone Light — Taste 2

ABV: 4.1%

Average Price: $11 for a fifteen-pack

The Beer:

You might have heard news months ago about the demise of Keystone. Luckily, the brand only dropped Keystone Ice and some other lesser versions. Keystone Light, with its nostalgic taste reminding drinkers of college parties with each sip, is alive and well. Available since 1989, this crisp, crushable, 4.1 percent ABV beer is still at your neighborhood grocery store.

Original Notes:

Yeasty, grainy, metallic, skunky, and sour. The nose on this beer really didn’t leave me craving a sip. But I dove in anyway and found a crisp, very watery, light beer with muted flavors of corn, bready malts, and maybe some rice sweetness but honestly not much else. Overall, this is a pretty terrible beer.

Bottom Line:

Honestly, I wasn’t surprised to see Keystone Light land in the last spot in these rankings. Even when I was in college, I remember thinking this was a fairly awful beer that I tried my best to stay away from.

7) Michelob Ultra — Taste 7

ABV: 4.2%
Average Price: $7.50 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Launched in 2002, this beer was created for athletes and healthy drinkers who want to drink a low carb, low-alcohol, low-calorie beer. Sometimes even marketed like it’s a sports drink, this 4.2 percent beer has only 95 calories per 12-ounce can or bottle. It’s known for its light, drinkable flavor, but I don’t suggest you chug one before going for a run.

Original Notes:

The nose is all sweet grains, corn, and slight citrus zest. But all of the aromas are fairly muted and hard to find. Sipping it revealed more sweet, malty corn sweetness and maybe a little lemon zest, but mostly it just tasted like fizzy water. If someone replaced this with lemon seltzer water, I probably wouldn’t even notice.

Bottom Line:

I’ve never understood the appeal of Michelob Ultra, so I’m not even a little bit surprised that it tastes just as bad as I imagined. Why drinkers don’t just buy something with slightly more calories, a lower price tag, and way more flavor I’ll never know.

6) Bud Light — Taste 4

ABV: 4.2%

Average Price: $7 for a six-pack

The Beer:

There’s no light beer more well known than Bud Light. You can’t watch a televised sporting event without seeing at least five Bud Light commercials. The 4.2 percent, lighter version of Budweiser is usually the cheapest beer at the bar, and for good reason.

Original Notes:

This beer doesn’t smell the way beer should smell. It’s sugary sweet on the nose with a ton of rice and sweet corn and nothing else. The flavor is more of the same with some sweet corny, rice-like, bready flavors with a little bit of caramel malts and a slightly skunky and artificial taste throughout. This is not a good beer.

Bottom Line:

I’ve had my fair share of Bud Lights over the years. It’s always cheap and available everywhere. But it is yellow, very fizzy, overly sugary-water and should be avoided if possible.

5) Amstel Light — Taste 5

ABV: 3.5%

Average Price: $9 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Amstel Light is a bit of a mystery to me. I’ve never purchased a six-pack or ordered it at a bar, but it seems like the only beer you can find at a golf course. Amstel and specifically Amstel Light have carved out a nice niche in the light beer world.

Original Notes:

This beer smells surprisingly sweet. There are notes of bread yeast, honey, a lightly-skunky aroma, and maybe some hops. The flavor is just as sweet as the nose with more honey, caramel malts, sweet corn, and more of that skunky flavor from earlier. There’s a slight hops presence, but not much. Not a great beer, but not a terrible one either.

Bottom Line:

I didn’t really have any expectations with Amstel Light as I couldn’t remember the last time I tried it. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t good either if that makes any sense.

4) Miller Lite — Taste 1

ABV: 4.2%

Average Price: $7 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Miller Lite’s whole existence (at least in terms of commercials) has been to convince drinkers that it’s “less filling and tastes great” and is a better option than other light beers.

Original Notes:

This beer smells like the kind of beer that you’ll crush without really tasting. There’s corn, some bread-like malts, maybe some honey, and not much else. The flavor is lightly corny, has some sweet grains, and sugary, syrup-like sweetness. Even with that said, it is what it is. It’s a refreshing, crushable, sweet beer that does its job.

Bottom Line:

Miller Lite is always one of the better-rated light beers on the market, so I wasn’t surprised to see it land on the lower half of the list. It wasn’t at all exciting, but it served its purpose.

3) Busch Light — Taste 8

ABV: 4.3%

Average Price: $6 for a six-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

You don’t have to “head for the mountains” to enjoy a Busch or Busch Light, but it would probably be a good idea to be really thirsty when you drink one. It’s 4.1 percent ABV, only 95 calories, and claims to have the same flavor as the original Busch. Although we can’t be certain that that beer has all that much flavor either.

Original Notes:

The nose is old hay, sweet corn, bread-like malts, grains, and that’s about it. But that’s to be expected in a light beer. The palate followed suit with more bread-like malts, a yeasty, almost skunky/funky flavor as well as corn sweetness. It had a nice malt presence, but overall, it’s fairly thin in the flavor department. It was, however, very crisp, refreshing, and went down very easy.

Bottom Line:

I didn’t have high hopes for Busch Light and it really surprised me. Not with its aroma or flavor per se, but with the fact that it went down easier than some of the other beers on this list.

2) Natural Light — Taste 6

ABV: 4.2%

Average Price: $5.50 for a six-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

If there is such a thing, Natural Light is the light beer for young drinkers. At least that’s absolutely how it’s marketed. The brand touts the beer as a well-balanced “American-style” light lager for college kids. Brewed since 1977, it’s a crushable 4.2 percent ABV and only 95 calories.

Original Notes:

The nose was surprisingly citrus-centric with some grapefruit as well as dry hay, grains, and the expected sweet corn syrup aroma. The flavor was slightly skunky with sweet corn, rice, bready malts, and some yeast. Like all light beers, the flavor isn’t over-the-top. But it is easy to drink and fairly well-balanced.

Bottom Line:

I’ve had Natural Light before, but I didn’t have any memory of what it tasted like. So I had no expectations for this beer. I definitely didn’t imagine it landing so high on this list. It’s more complex than some of the other beers (at least slightly), so here we are.

1) Coors Light — Taste 3

ABV: 4.2%

Average Price: $7 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Coors Light is advertised as “cold as the Rockies.” This 4.2 percent ABV light beer gets its flavor from being cold lagered below freezing. This is designed to give the beer a crisp, crushable, and easy-drinking flavor. It’s also cold filtered. Everything is cold with this beer. Definitely don’t drink it at room temperature.

Original Notes:

On the nose, I found sweet corn, grains, bready malts, wet hay, and maybe some honey. While the palate is expected from a light beer with a more adjunct-like corn flavor as well as grains and a slight mineral flavor, this beer is balanced with slightly floral hops and a nice malty backbone.

Bottom Line:

In a world of flavorless light beers, Coors Light stands above the rest if only barely. It’s crisp, thirst-quenching, and slightly more balanced and complex than the other watery, light beers on this list. And that’s just enough to edge out all the competition in this blind tasting.

Disney has a not-so-great situation on their mouse gloves right now after CEO Bob Chapek stayed stunningly distanced about Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which has prompted employee pushback that has now turned to protests and walkouts. All of this is happening because Chapek hesitated to get political in the state housing Disney World, where Governor Ron DeSantis scoffs at any mention of “wokeness” and supported the bill that hopes to remove any mention of “sexual orientation or gender identity” from public schools.

Many Disney employees have made it clear that they view this bill (formally known as the “Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Bill”) as anti-LGBTQIA+, and last week, Marvel Studios (a Disney subsidiary) decided that enough was enough. The Disney division came forward with a blistering condemnation, and at the start of a full-day walkout by Disney employees in Florida, several of the company’s divisions made their stances known, all around 9:00am EST on Tuesday.

Prominently, this included Disney+, which Instagrammed a statement:

“Disney+ stands by our LGBTQIA+ employees, colleagues, families, storytellers, and fans, and we strongly denounce all legislation that infringes on the basic human rights of people in the LGBTQIA+ community — especially legislation that targets and harms young people and their families. We strive to create a service that reflects the world in which we live, and our hope is to be a source for inclusive, empowering, and authentic stories that unite us in our shared humanity.”

Hulu made a similar call to all “Hulugans,” which they called to come together with nearly identical language.

FX and ESPN echoed similar words.

These news followed reports that Disney planned to hold a town-hall meeting for employees on Monday, all while DeSantis is expected to put his signature on the bill and make it Florida law.

Rachel Zegler has finally been invited to the Oscars. Yes, it took the internet rallying to her side following the news that she was being left out of the awards show despite being the lead in West Side Story, which is nominated for Best Picture. But better late than never, probably. According to reports, the Academy has asked Zegler to be a presenter and wheels are in motion to make that happen ahead of Sunday’s ceremony. Via The Hollywood Reporter:

The 20-year-old Latina actress is currently in London shooting Disney’s live-action remake of Snow White. THR hears that efforts are being undertaken to rearrange the film’s shooting schedule to enable Zegler to be at the Oscars.

As for why Zegler was never invited to the Oscars in the first place, the fault reportedly lies with Disney/20th Century Fox. According to Variety, The Walt Disney Company should’ve provided her with a ticket, but for some reason, chose not to include the actress even though West Side Story was up for Best Picture. However, the scramble to get Zegler from the London set of Snow White to the awards ceremony would suggest that Disney is attempting to remedy the situation.

Zegler’s lack of an invitation also reached a boiling point on Monday when the Academy revealed a new list of presenters, which oddly included Tony Hawk, Shaun White, and DJ Khaled. That news only further intensified the anger over Zegler not being invited, and apparently, the Academy (and Disney) finally realized it had a situation on its hand.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Nicolas Cage is a bit of an enigma who offers bizarre, one-off details of his life which just makes you want to know more. Cage’s next film, The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent hits theaters next month, and as the release gets closer, we are offered more in-depth glimpses into Cage’s mind through his wonderfully candid interviews. And there are so many questions!

In his cover story with GQ, Cage ‘explained it all,’ by saying everything he has done is always on purpose. “I had some moments that I went off and did some wild stuff, but a lot of that was by design,” the actor told the mag. “I think many people in the public got swept up with an idea of me being kind of a wild madman, which was fun in the beginning.”

Cage insists that he’s actually very down-to-earth: “The misconception that I’m crazy, which people seem to enjoy, the madman or whatever—to which I simply say you can’t survive 43 years in Hollywood or star in over 120 movies if you’re crazy. You’re not going to get bonded. They’re not going to work with you,” he says, adding, “You’ve got to be healthy. My doctor says I have the liver of a 13-year-old choir boy, you know.” We didn’t know, but now we do!

Despite his shenanigans, Cage is also a talented actor who just wants to act, saying he wanted to make “every movie as if it were his last.” Death seems to be on Cage’s mind a lot, and it wouldn’t be a Nic Cage interview without a spectacular story, as he recalls bringing his father’s ashes through security after his death. “Now I’m like a live wire. I don’t want anything to go wrong. I’ve got to accomplish this. And I’m in full-on grief.” When asked to be inspected by security, Cage insists, “No, it’s my dad. It’s not a bomb. It’s my dad.”

Finally, when asked if he would want to host Saturday Night Live, Cage didn’t seem that into it. He has only hosted the show once in 1996, but he has made cameos over the years, most famously alongside Andy Samberg’s impression of his National Treasure persona. Cage revealed the show has asked him to appear this spring, though he seemed on the fence about it. “I feel like saying, ‘Well, why don’t you call Andy Samberg? I mean, I hear he’s available.’” Maybe to be fair the two should host together.

Hey! It’s Che Diaz!

….is what Che Diaz will probably be saying in the upcoming season of And Just Like That, because a new season has officially been ordered by HBO Max!

The Sex And The City sequel series premiered in December to, uh, some mixed reviews and catastrophic scandals. On top of that, fan-favorite Kim Cattrall did not appear in the new season, which gave the show a bit of a rocky start. Despite that, fans seemed to appreciate seeing what exactly Carrie and Co. were up to these days, so a second season is in the works. This isn’t much of a surprise, as Sarah Jessica Parker recently hinted that there were more stories to tell.

Sarah Aubrey, head of original content at HBO Max, said in a statement:

We have been delighted by the cultural conversation generated by these characters and their stories, set in a world we already know and love so much. We are proud of the work Michael Patrick King and our wonderful writers, producers, cast and crew have done to bring these stories to the screen. We can’t wait for fans to see what’s in store for Season 2!

The main cast is all slated to return to the SATC extended universe, except for Cattrall, obviously, though she will likely be hinted at in passing, as the show did last season. Get ready for some more Che Diaz, everyone!

Toronto quartet Pup have been a bit of a DIY punk rock phenomenon. The critical darlings effectively broke through with the 2019 album Morbid Stuff, and the band are clearly poking fun at that in the new video for “Totally Fine,” which is presumably the final pre-album single before The Unraveling Of PupTheBand drops next week.

The song sees Pup raucously beating through another punk anthem. The drums are wild, guitar riffs are flying all over the place, and it’s the reckless abandon that people have come to embrace about the band. The video, however, is on a whole new level. Part Don’t Look Up and part sinister Steve Jobs saga, it sees the band “quitting music,” to go corporate, only to prove themselves as crooked as the very corporations who govern us all — they’ve dubbed it one of the “Greatest Music Videos Of All Time.”

It’s a cathartic song released among capitalism’s never-ending hoopla and the band shared a statement on the serendipitous inspiration behind it:

“We wrote ‘Totally Fine’ after a long creative drought. We all agreed to take a break from PUP during lockdown, to take some time to deal with our mental health and get some space from each other. After 3 months of not writing any songs, ‘Totally Fine’ was the first thing to pop out. It broke this creative dam wide open, just months worth of pent up frustration all smashed into this one song. After that, we ended up going on a bit of a tear and wrote the rest of the record really quickly. The drumming on this song still blows our minds. It’s so manic and wild and makes the song feel like it’s about to fall apart at any moment, which is kinda like how it feels to be in PUP.”

Watch the video for “Totally Fine” above.

The Unraveling Of PupTheBand is out 4/1 via Little Dipper/Rise Records. Pre-order it here.

When Lorde released her album Solar Power last year, one of the immediate highlights was the Robyn-featuring cut “Secrets From A Girl (Who’s Seen It All).” Now, Lorde has gone ahead and given the tune an official video, which premiered this afternoon.

Lorde previously told Apple Music of the song, “This is me talking to my younger self trying to impart some of the things that I learned. It was a fun place to write from. To me it’s very Eurythmics meets Robyn. And then we got Robyn to do the incredible spoken part. She’s someone I have learned a huge amount from, through song. She really completed the experience.”

She also told Spotify, “I was listening to ‘Ribs’ and just thinking about who I was at that time of life. I was so apprehensive about what was to come. I took two of the chords from that song and reversed them. This is future me talking back saying… ‘It’s going to be OK.’”

Last summer, she noted of Robyn, “I think there’s just so much room in Robyn’s world for being a hot mess or being this sort of ball of emotions shooting out in every direction. I think about a song like ‘Call Your Girlfriend’ — she’s not in a traditional hero’s role; she’s telling someone to break up with their girlfriend so they can be with her. But she’s also having a huge amount of empathy for that other woman – that is some really big, complex adult sh*t to be tackling in a dancefloor banger!”

Watch the “Secrets From A Girl (Who’s Seen It All)” video above.

Solar Power is out now via Universal. Get it here.

Kid Cudi has always been multi-talented, making his acting debut in How To Make It In America the same year he dropped his debut album, Man On The Moon: The End Of Day. His acting career turned out to be no fluke or passing fancy; he’s since gone on to appear in more than 20 feature films including the recently released horror flick X, as well as taking on a slew of roles for TV including his Netflix series Entergalactic and Kids See Ghosts, both of which are currently in post-production.

Now, Cudi will add feature film director to his extensive, growing resume with Teddy, a film project with Netflix that he also wrote and will star in. In a lengthy Instagram post explaining its origin, evolution, and concept. He also thanked the film’s co-producers, who include Jay-Z, James Lassiter, and The Harder They Fall Director Jeymes Samuel (lotta Jameses there, eh?). Jay-Z, of course, executive produced The Harder They Fall with Samuel (aka The Bullitts), while James Lassiter is best known as the co-founder of Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment and also co-produced The Harder They Fall, as well as King Richard.

“This year im directing my first feature film ‘Teddy’ at Netflix which I wrote and will also be starring,” he wrote. “This is a story I started writing in 2013 because I always wanted to write my own movie, so I said f*ck it and started doing it. The road has been long, from it being a tv show for years to finally being a film… I cant wait for u all to meet Teddy, his friends, his family and take a walk in his world for a bit. If I could sum up what the movie is about in one sentence, id say this: It’s as if I took the song ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ and wrote a movie about it.”

So far, there’s no release date for Teddy, but stay tuned.

Yesterday was the first day of Ketanji Brown Jackson‘s Supreme Court confirmation hearing, and yup, The View hosts had a lot to say about the Republican’s line of questioning, which basically amounted to airing petty grievances. As always, Whoopi Goldberg kicked things off by coming at the Grand Old Party for using the hearing as an excuse to “bitch,” which is not a world Goldberg uses lightly on the daytime talk show.

“But of course, yesterday, some Republicans whose names you know, used their time at the hearing to bitch,” Goldberg said at the top of the panel discussion. “They put their grievances out there, grievances from like 1910, all the way up to yesterday.”

Following Goldberg’s remarks, co-host Sunny Hostin, who’s served as a prosecutor, revealed she got emotional watching the questions hurled at Jackson by Republican senators. Via The Wrap:

“I will say I spent yesterday rewatching the proceedings and crying the ugly cry, because like you, as a black woman who went to predominantly white institutions my entire life, I know how hard it is, it was for her to get to where she is,” Hostin said. “And I know what it’s like to be the only person in the room. And I cried because my daughter now will see this, because my cousins now will see this, and little girls all around the country will see this.”

To the surprise of no one, the situation did not improve during the second day of Jackson’s confirmation hearing. Senator Lindsey Graham took up the torch this time and proceeded to demand answers on Jackson’s faith as well as her history as a defense attorney for Gitmo prisoners. He also continued to drag out ancient grievances, which resulted in the South Carolina senator being widely mocked on social media.

You can see some of the reactions to Graham’s questions below:

(Via The Wrap)

Sometimes I think I would be happier if I only watched daytime TV. Kendall Roy’s permanent existential crisis? Jimmy McGill’s transformation into Saul Goodman? The Yellowjackets finale? Too depressing. Give me Drew Barrymore having a delightful chat with Keanu Reeves; Drew Carey taking The Price is Right on the road; and Kelly Clarkson faceplanting after Anne Hathaway recognizes “Since U Been Gone” before she does. That’s happiness right there.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the American Idol champ competed against Anne Hathaway in a game of “Sing That Name That Tune.” After Clarkson asked the band to “play a fricking song I’ll know,” they obliged, and started performing “Since U Been Gone.” Within the first five seconds, Hathaway stepped forward and started belting out the titanic chorus. A defeated Clarkson dropped to the ground and wondered, “How did you know it from just that?” Because it’s a perfect song, that’s how.

“Kelly Clarkson, if you do not understand how much we all love that song…” the WeCrashed actress replied. “Everybody here knew it on the first one. Everybody here knew it!” Clarkson then yelled out an expletive, but I can’t tell which one because it was bleeped. Let’s assume it was “Kelly Clarkson.”

You can watch the clip above. And check out some reactions below: