One Of America's Most Beloved Beers Is Also The Worst Tasting Overall

The blue and white packaging has become nearly ubiquitous among U.S. tailgate and college football panoramas. It's one of America's most beloved beers, despite its taste. We could, of course, only be talking about Bud Light. This Everyman brew was once the top-selling beer in America (these days, parent company Anheuser-Busch sibling Michelob Ultra wears the crown ... which also has us puzzled, frankly). Bud Light is still sold at major league baseball stadiums across the country, and it's the official beer sponsor of the NFL. From family cookouts to apartment refrigerators, a case of Bud Light is likely there — even though, in Tasting Table's definitive ranking of 10 popular American beer brands, this brew fell to last place for flavor (or lack thereof).

The Bud Light website promises that its beer is "always brewed with four simple ingredients for a clean, crisp taste." In this American-style light lager beer, that quartet is water, barley, rice, and hops. On the palate, the beer arrives subtly sweet and thin-bodied with the clean finish advertised. The brew features virtually no nose and an inoffensive pale straw hue. As we mentioned in our review, we wouldn't refuse a can of Bud Light if it was the only available option, but its neutral palate leaves much to be desired. Quoth our taste-tester, "Not only does this beer taste kind of like funky water, but it has a slight tinge of sweetness that doesn't taste pleasant to me in the absence of a stronger, hoppier bitterness in the mix." All in all, there isn't much to it.

Perhaps our chief issue with Bud Light is calling it "beer" at all. By our count, "beer-flavored water" offers a better-fitting moniker. Bud Light is refreshing, smooth, and easy to drink. There's very little aftertaste, no bitterness, and with its lightweight mouthfeel, it puts up near-unrivalled points in the crushability category. Ask any seasoned imbiber: Bud Light was likely many folks' first beer. At the end of the day, Bud Light is nothing fancy, and tastes like nothing, and that's arguably the point. The lager arguably fits the quintessential, platonic ideal of "beer" more aptly than some ultra-complex offerings available on the craft market (no shade to IPA fans), and it can slosh out of a red plastic pong cup without creating a mess (after all, it's basically water). Yet, Bud Light still delivers a 4.2% ABV that can get the job done if you crack enough of 'em.

In a Reddit thread that inquires, "Does anyone drink bud light anymore?" the top comment answers, "Not since I've been able to afford better beer (~2011)." Others chime in, "Honestly even if I was going for cheap bud light would be one of my last choices, it's really bottom of the barrel even for it's price point." Ultimately, at least it's not as bad as Busch Light — which is literally the last beer you should settle for. Word to the wise: Garage Beer is a major skip, too. At least the price is always right for Bud Light. At Target, a 30-pack runs for just $21.99.