With the trend for craft beers and microbreweries exploding in the U.S., I’ve noticed a few of the big name beer companies spinning off and brewing more niche offerings in hopes of riding that wave.

Sam Adams has done it, Budweiser has done it and now I had the chance to try Miller’s attempt to get into the craft game with their new Amber Lager, called Miller Fortune.

Of all the cheap light beers that are apt for mass consumption, Miller Light is my least favorite. There’s something distinctly off-putting about its taste when compared to, say, Bud Light or even the watered down Coors Light.

I was hoping that Miller had taken a step in the right direction with Miller Fortune, but I wasn’t so lucky.

I bought a six-pack of Fortune, which cost me slightly more than a six-pack of Miller Light would have, but the premium price didn’t come with a premium taste. In fact, I could hardly tell the difference between Miller Fortune and a normal Miller Light.

I bought the six-pack with anticipation of finishing it off in one sitting (don’t judge me), and while the beer is light enough and bland enough for binge drinking, I simply couldn’t get past the flavor.

It’s hard to pin down what Miller Fortune tasted like, but for anybody who has experience drinking 40 ounces of cheap malt liquor or shotgunning Keystone Light, Miller Fortune wasn’t too far off from my experiences doing both of the aforementioned.

The beer had a distinctly golden color, but its taste was also metallic — not a good thing. There were also hints of corn in the taste, just like plain Miller Light, and drinking Miller Fortune was so unsettling that I had to stop myself after three beers.

Don’t be mistaken by the clever label and marketing by Miller: their new Amber Lager offering is not a premium beer, it’s not micro-brewed and it’s definitely not on par with the craft beers that it seems to be trying to emulate.

Published on March 20, 2014 at 12:47 am

Contact Tom: tsharkey@syr.edu