Ice beers have a sneaky place in the market. They are not malt liquor. They come in an astonishing array of can sizes. And it feels like they're all made by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Ice beer is stronger than the standard American lager and typically falls in the 5 to 6 percent alcohol-by-volume range. You won't find ice beer on tap; instead, it's probably the 24 oz. can in a cooler of ice by the cash register, tempting impulse buyers.
I've always been fascinated by how ice beer is made: The beer's temperature is slowly reduced until ice crystals form but the entire beer is not frozen. Those ice crystals are then extracted, leaving a slightly more potent beer because some of the water has been removed. And yet I've never had an ice beer that didn't seem watery.
Natural Ice was one of the first beers I ever drank (and swore off). It has been a decade since a can sat in my fridge and I figured it was time to see whether I was missing anything, if for no other reason than it's nice to walk out of the liquor store with change. So that's how a small suitcase of Natural Ice ended up in the vegetable crisper next to a 24 oz. can of Bud Ice. Crank Asher Roth's "I Love College," and let's get to it.
Natural Ice
(5.9 percent ABV, brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev). At first pour I get a very specific memory: what a floor smells like in a fraternity house the morning after a party. I'd say we're off to a banner start.
The light yellow brew is metallic and grassy and hard to hold in my mouth. Sipping's not really possible and gulping only seems to exacerbate the fact that there's a reason I've avoided Natural Ice for a decade. I get through about half the can, which breaks my rule of finishing a whole beer before judging it.
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I HAVE DRANK MANY GALLONS OF BOTH OF NATTY ICE AND BUD ICE. BUD ICE GOES DOWN SMOOTHER AND QUICKER THEREFORE GIVING A QUICK BUZZ, QUICKER THAN NATURAL ICE. FOR A QUICK BEER BUZZ THAT TASTES GOOD I GO WITH BUD ICE 2 24OZ CANS GIVE A QUICK PREGAME BUZZ. FOR VALUE I BUY 30PACK NATURAL LIGHT 13.99IN NJ LESS CALORIES THAN NATTY ICE.
I made the mistake of buying a case of Keystone Ice for a weekend camping trip. It's a mess when:
1. Your beer leaves a strange aftertaste (it does)
2. You don't have anything else to drink alcohol-beverage wise
3. It's too far to drive into town to make a better choice.
In high school we held the Beer Olympics with about 12 cases of Natty Ice and five teams of four. If (when?) you threw up, you were disqualified. I puked behind the garage and no one saw me, so I returned and played the best game of quarters in my life.
Proud moments.
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