Cheap Beer No. 4: La Crosse Lager

It’s been four months since we last visited the land of cheap beer here and that’s exactly how long it has taken me to clear the cellar of the first three batches of crap that started off this series. That’s one of the problems with the cheap-beer thing. They don’t seem to want to sell this stuff in any quantity less than a case, so each time you invest in a dud you wind up with a whole lot of bad beer lingering around, mocking your frugality. Now that the cellar is open, though, the quest for a cheap, decent beer must continue. And this time, we’ve got a beer that isn’t going to taunt me every time I go downstairs to visit my stash.

La Crosse Lager is all right. What more could you want from a beer that comes in 30-packs for under 13 bucks? You don’t buy this kind of beer expecting to discover your next favorite brew, but you also don’t buy it hoping to land two-dozen tins of gut-churning bilge water, either. That’s where La Crosse Lager wins out. There’s nothing too offensive going on here. The beer has a slight, malty sweetness and less than a hint of hops and that’s about it. It doesn’t taste great, but it doesn’t taste bad and that’s the important thing when you’re going the cheap route. The beer has a bit more body and color than your typical macro-swill and happily lacks the tongue-burning carbonation that often accompanies American light lagers. I’d take it over Budweiser any day. Overall, it’s a fairly pleasing beer to guzzle in the quantities its pricing inspires (and it goes great with a huge mound of extra-spicy nachos). The beer gains nothing by pouring it into a glass so take it straight from the can and save yourself some clean-up.

One interesting side note about this beer: There’s a rumor floating around that La Crosse Lager is made from the same recipe used to brew Old Style in the 1960s. It’s probably bullshit, but who knows? Here’s a link to the site where that rumor may have started. Something to keep in mind if you decide to try this one.

Final verdict: Would I buy this again? You bet!