Reviewed by Ken Carman

Why did they bother?

What the hell has happened to Abita?

I used to hang around at Abita back when the old brewery; now the brewpub… they moved the actual brewery where they bottle a tad closer to Covington, LA… was in downtown Abita Springs. Nice magnolia hangs over it. The first brewers used to open up the back and let homebrewers like me sample the wares.

It’s been a long time since they had much to talk about in their bottled beers, though I did have an Abbey beer a while back that was decent from Abita. Abita Light is something that is so light there really is nothing to talk about.

A few points of honesty…

1. I had it warm: but all the other beers I mentioned here I have had warm too; and I stand by my comments.

2. I dislike lagers and light, or “lite,” beer. But there are far better example out there to be had.

3. I bought it to “spoil.” That means I’m attempting to improve my palate as a judge. So first I took small smamples and added phenols, DMS and diacetyl. Then I drank the rest as is.

I did notice that the DMS; a flavor like cooked corn, was still there post “spoil,” but that’s not abnormal for the style. The problem was: nothing else but fizz.

So if you want fizzy corn water, buy Abita Light. But otherwise even St Pauli’s NA and especially Clausthaler NA have more flavor. I’d recommend Sam Adam’s Light any day over this.

Common on Abita! One of the advantages of being a micro is you can do better than this. I know: I’ve tasted it before at the brewery… both back then and just a few years ago at the new location. The brewpub? Well that’s another story, and another review, for another article.

I sure hope it will be kinder than this one.