Simpler Times Lager - Minhas Craft Brewery

scottfrie

California

3.48/5  rDev +19.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

12oz can into SA perfect pint.
A: Pours a pale straw color with a huge bright white head that slowly faded into a rocky film that left sticky patches of lace down the glass.
S: Dry grains and lager yeast dominate. Very light and a bit sweet smelling. I get notes notes of corn as well.
T: One of the more flavorful AALs I’ve had, and at least it doesn’t taste offensive. Dominate notes of sweet malts and adjuncts mix well with lightly spicy and crackery flavors of lager yeast. Watery, grainy, and sweet all-around.
M: Watery light body, slick and refreshing mouthfeel, expected fizzy carbonation for the style.
O: A decent drink especially for the price. Better than the major brands, but still not the best example of the style. Impressive lace.

Serving type: bottle

08-01-2012 20:01:47 | More by scottfrie

jimmah120

Minnesota

1.88/5  rDev -35.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

"Enjoyed" out of the can. Tried this one because I enjoyed their pilsner and thought this would be similar.

The nose was very faint corn and maybe a touch of grassy hops. OK for a pilsner smell, I thought. The taste turned out to be awful, it was extremely sweet to the point of being syrupy. It tasted like someone took the juice from canned corn and added beer flavored Kool-Aid mix. The one good thing I can say is that it hid the alcohol well.

If you like sweet canned beer that gets you hammered, look no further. If not, go with their pilsner - it costs the same and is a much better beer.

Serving type: bottle

05-25-2012 00:11:18 | More by jimmah120

AlCzerik

Georgia

3.7/5  rDev +26.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

This is a great beer for the money, and it also very convenient because it comes in a can.

Appearance: Its an American Lager. I think you know what you are getting here.

Smell: See above.

Taste: It is a little on the sweet side, even for an American lager, but for the hooch that you are getting out of it....well worth it.

Overall: GREAT BANG FOR YOUR BUCK.

Serving type: bottle

03-04-2012 14:49:39 | More by AlCzerik

jar2574

Missouri

2.42/5  rDev -17.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

Trader Joe's. Gold can.

Simpler Times looks pretty good. High level of carbonation, decent white head over clearish yellow beer. Not as transparent as BMC beers.

The smell is unremarkable. You can tell it's a beer, but it's pretty faint. Smells more malty than hoppy.

The flavor is disappointing. Metallic, mild malty sweetness, a touch of hop crispness but not enough. It's not horrible but it's not great. Too sweet for a lager, in my opinion. Lagers are meant to be session beers and this one would get old after 1 or 2.

Mouthfeel is OK because the high level of carbonation makes up for an otherwise uninteresting beer.

Serving type: bottle

10-25-2011 23:53:44 | More by jar2574

mmmbeer

Massachusetts

3.03/5  rDev +3.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

12 oz. can from Trader Joe's. Pours bright gold, lightly carbonated, with a few floaties and an inch of frothy white head that dies fast, but retains a collar and leaves a few wisps of lace. Metallic and minerally in the nose, along with corn, cooked grain, hops?, and a bit of sulfury yeast. Fairly mild on the palate, except for some sweet corn, maybe some hops and a light apple note on top of a moderately carbonated, fairly full body that has a drying finish. Not that bad of a brew, but it tastes very industrial, and reminds me more of a malt liquor than a standard American lager.

Serving type: bottle

01-24-2011 20:08:53 | More by mmmbeer

vandemonian

Maryland

2.95/5  rDev +1%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

This beer has a light amber colour and is only slightly carbonated. The smell is yeasty with a hint of fruit, maybe sour apple. The taste is of sour hops and honey which fades into a smooth aftertaste.

This beer is a little sour/acidic for my taste.

Serving type: bottle

09-12-2010 06:37:34 | More by vandemonian

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

2.7/5  rDev -7.5%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75

Wasn't impressed with the appearance and aroma, not much to either, yellow, faint.

Taste, a little reminiscient of Weinhard's, which ain't a bad thing. Kinda plain. Minimal hops, minimal malt. This is a plain beer, not bad, just, well simpler times I guess.

It's real drinkable, its pretty cheap and there's nothing to like or dislike.

Serving type: bottle

03-07-2010 00:42:15 | More by Beerandraiderfan

MTNboy

Missouri

3.13/5  rDev +7.2%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

This was a very adjunct beer. It was also very basic. The aroma was sweet with a little bit fruity and floral tones. It had a golden yellow body that was average all around. Average head, lace and body carbonation. The taste was corny and grainy. This beer has light and easy to drink body with a decent amount of fizz.

Serving type: bottle

12-13-2009 12:47:29 | More by MTNboy

tai4ji2x

Massachusetts

2.95/5  rDev +1%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

12oz bottle. underside has "8262 73W0235". tasted in late april/early may 2009, alongside the canned version.

similar appearance, maybe creamier and more stable head, fading to a full ring. comparatively better lacing.

aroma has less sweet corn, more sulfurous notes.

taste has more metallic notes, with those same phenols and fusels, which linger and persist throughout.

feel is constantly astringent. the carbonation is less fizzy than the can, but that astringency... ugh...

Serving type: bottle

06-29-2009 05:30:54 | More by tai4ji2x

Spikester

Oregon

2.9/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Clear golden with a large white head. No lacing to speak of. Smell is a corny. Taste is sweet corn, bread, yeasty, and a slight winey quality that I usually taste in malt liquors. Not anything special. From a brown bottle bought at Trader Joes. It's one redeeming quality is that it was cheap.

Serving type: bottle

05-28-2009 05:27:27 | More by Spikester

Zorro

California

3.03/5  rDev +3.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

$2.99 a six-pack at Trader Joe's so you know it has to be good!

Ultra clear yellow beer with a tall white head.

Smell is malt and soda crackers with a decent noble hop scent. Mostly grassy and herbal hops with a slight lemon edge to it.

Starts out sweet with a faint hop flavor and a fairly big corn flavor right up front. Aftertaste is mostly sweet. Some cooked vegetable flavors here, but a hop bite too. Tastes like sweet Budweiser.

Mouthfeel is OK.

Not good, but not horrible either. Tastes a bit like fermentation was halted before the yeast used all the fermentable sugars. Not great but not awful either.

Serving type: bottle

05-19-2009 02:41:41 | More by Zorro

ChainGangGuy

Georgia

2.23/5  rDev -23.6%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Appearance: Pours a clear, light yellow body with a very thin, white head.

Smell: Vague floral hop character conjoined with a tired malt and corn flake scent.

Taste: It's a cheap beer with a cheap taste. Cereal grains with a drizzle of sweet corn syrup. Vague floral hops with just a touch of bitterness, though not quite enough to balance, leaving you with a somewhat sweet finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Medium-low carbonation.

Drinkability: Not recommended. Even for a simple lager, it's a below average, underperfomer.

Serving type: bottle

03-27-2009 17:06:50 | More by ChainGangGuy

ATLbeerDog

Georgia

2.13/5  rDev -27.1%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Pours a clear straw color with almost no head whatsoever. Smells only of sweet adjuncts and fermented corn flakes. Not much malt presence in the nose. First sip is bland cereal and just a tad of hop bitterness. Not much positive aspects in this one. Simpler Times needs more complexity.

Serving type: bottle

03-15-2009 00:27:57 | More by ATLbeerDog

Overlord

California

2.78/5  rDev -4.8%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Spied at Trader Joe's. What the hell.

Pours a bright golden hue. Huge white foam head. Uh oh.

Smell is grainy and sweet. Uh oh.

Taste is actually more palatable than I though it would be. Yes, there is a grainy, cereal-y sweetness, but also a bit of nice lemon/citrus burn and a touch of hoppy bitterness to balance out the overly sweet malt base. Decently carbonated.

A notch or two above similar brews.

Serving type: bottle

02-27-2009 07:49:26 | More by Overlord

shroompod

Ohio

3.35/5  rDev +14.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Pours clear golden yellow. Decent head retention with a small amount of lacing.

Aroma of stale barroom which is about average for style.

Slightly sweet on the palate , with a slight metallic aftertaste.

Mouthfeel is light , carbonation is good.

An easy drinking brew that I'd put above most Macros.

Serving type: bottle

01-16-2009 01:35:03 | More by shroompod

argock

Virginia

2.53/5  rDev -13.4%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Poured from 12oz brown bottle into a clear pint glass. No freshness date. Single purchased at Trader Joe's for $0.83.

A: Appealing honey-gold with 1.5 finger off white head that disappears quickly and leaves no lace.

S: Minimal aromas of cereal grain, corn, and noble hops

T: Flavor is not hefty with cereal grain sweetness followed by mild noble hops bite and not much else. Long metallic aftertaste is not a bonus.

M: Light-bodied and highly carbonated to give a clean feel. Nothing terrible or good here.

D: Without the metallic aftertaste, this would be a good value beer, but as it stands, I would not buy it again even for what little I paid. I would rather drink Miller High Life anytime and it is cheaper.

Serving type: bottle

01-08-2009 04:26:34 | More by argock

CaptainIPA

Wisconsin

3.1/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Purchased as a single, 12 oz. bottle from Trader Joe's. Brewed by the former Joseph Huber Brewing Co. in Monroe, Wisconsin.

A: Pours a pale golden color with a generous two-finger head that recedes within seconds. No visible lacing. Active carbonation.

S: Moderate floral hop nose; a hint of malt and not much else.

T: Clean and crisp with notes of pear and banana in the background. Somewhat grainy around the edges. Sweet, floral finish.

M: Light-bodied smoothness with moderate carbonation.

D: Easy drinking, to be sure. A decent lawnmower lager. Add this to your list of affordable, go-to, summertime pounders.

Serving type: bottle

12-17-2008 00:53:22 | More by CaptainIPA

Tone

Missouri

2.33/5  rDev -20.2%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Pours a clear yellow with only slight head and no retention. There also wasn't any lacing present. Smells of adjunct in lager and especially sour ones at that. Fits the style. Tastes of adjuncts in lager with a strong sour aftertaste. Crisp body with quite a bit of carbonation. Got this at Trader Joe's and the price was very cheap. Overall, quite a bite to this lager and not very good at all.

Serving type: bottle

12-16-2008 18:51:55 | More by Tone

illidurit

California

2.45/5  rDev -16.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

12 ounce bottle. Clear gold color with a nice white head albeit fizzy. Cereal grainy aroma with some generic sweetness. Flavor is grainy with banana and corn syrup. Very light, easy to pound. Cheap as hell, so I guess it is a decent alternative to macro swill or maybe it could be a summer barbecue beer but nothing I would ever really seek out.

Serving type: bottle

12-13-2008 09:09:22 | More by illidurit

cdkrenz

Wisconsin

4.6/5  rDev +57.5%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

A - Nice think pour to a golden body. The head is white and stands about a half in tall before fading away at a medium pace.

S - The scent is firm and malt with a hint of orange and alcohol.

T - This lager is very good. The flavor is well rounded with spectacular malts.

M - The feel starts out a bit coarse but quickly levels and spreads in a soothing coat throughout my mouth. I really don't know of a way this feel could be better.

~ I'm obviously very impressed with this brew. I beleive it to be the best all around lager I've ever had the luxury to enjoy. My thanks to my hard working, intelligent and of course beautiful wife.

Serving type: bottle

10-30-2008 02:00:22 | More by cdkrenz

vurt

California

3.08/5  rDev +5.5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

12 oz. bottle purchased at my local Trader Joe's and sampled in a pint tumbler.

Appearance:
The color is pale yellow-gold and it is perfectly clear. The pour raises a clean white head composed of large-ish bubbles. Starts off about 1 finger high and vanishes in a couple minutes, leaving behind isolated and patchy collections of bubbles. Not even a foam collar around the edge remains.

Smell:
Not much to talk about here. A weak pale maltiness with a bit of corn. Plenty of sweetness, though it reminds me more of apple juice than malt. Minimal hop aroma combines with a bit of hot alcohol at the finish.

Taste:
Starts off with the apple juice sweetness that's prominent in the nose, then follows with a bit of caramel flavor in the middle. Goes a bit chalky/minerally at the end. There is a little more hop flavor than the nose suggests, but it still doesn't add up to much. Corn flavors come through in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel:
Light body edging towards medium. There is definitely more heft to this than a standard American macro lager. (But hey, there has to be _something_ to it to get the ABV up above 6%.) The carbonation starts out rough but quiets down quickly.

Drinkability:
The higher-than-usual alcohol is surprisingly well hidden. There really aren't many clues that this beer clocks in at 6.2%. It strikes me as being too sweet for the style, and perhaps a bit too heavy as well. That said, it seems to be a decent value. There's nothing obviously bad about it, and for the price ($3.99 for a six) you could do a hell of a lot worse.

Serving type: bottle

10-25-2008 03:57:41 | More by vurt

mpyle

Maryland

3.58/5  rDev +22.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

App - pale gold color, brilliantly clear. Pours white head, moderate in size and with decent retention.

Aroma - Generally clean, a bit of a spicy/solventy aroma (almost seemed like alcohol). A bit of copper penny. Some malt, minimal hop.

Flav - Bland initially, but some solid hop bitterness kicks in midmouth. Finishes dry and slightly bitter, clean.

MF - Moderate carbonation and high carbonation. While not necessarily style inappropriate, the high carbonation is a bit astringent and detracts from the beer.

D'ability - slightly bland, but a clean and nicely bittered lager. A nice, big lawnmower beer for the money.

Serving type: bottle

10-19-2008 17:39:23 | More by mpyle

AMW

Massachusetts

3/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

By no means is this beer awesome, nor is it a drain pour. But at roughly 3-4 bucks for a six pack of 6.2% abv beer, it's a super value.

Sure it may not be the tastiest, but on a summer day, grab one of these and mix it with some lemonade and you have a pretty decent radler at roughly 4-5% abv for only 50-75 cents.

Serving type: can

05-22-2013 17:21:42 | More by AMW

bbluemzbeer

California

4.75/5  rDev +62.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

Appearance: Yellow body and good head.

Sm ell: Smell likes and malt with a blend of light hop aroma.

Taste: Crisp and clean with a sweet malty flavor and small amount oft bitterness at the end.

Moutful: Slightly thicker than expected given the lightness of color and clarity.

Overall: For around 4 dollar a six pack at traders joes beats the other beers at higher price point. At 6.2% AB this will give you some kick. This is a great session beeer. I will sure buy some more of this beer !

Serving type: can

04-15-2013 04:00:08 | More by bbluemzbeer

adams82

Michigan

1.7/5  rDev -41.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 1 | feel: 3 | overall: 1

Pours nearly golden, not quite fizzy yellow water; appears more robust than other beers of this style.

Smells like an adjunct lager. Sweet nose; slightly grainy smelling, but corn dominates. No hops, nothing offensive. How bad could it be?

Taste is dreadful! Super sweet, and I don't mean malty! Corn syrup dominates the flavor profile of this beer, with huge hints of sour apple and alcohol; no grains, no malt, no hops. Awful.

Mouthfeel is surprisingly firm; I figured with the amount of cane/corn sugar in this beer, it would be really thin and watery, but it actually has substance.

I imagine my great grandparents would have brewed a beer during prohibition that tasted much like this. If that's what Minhas was going for, then they hit the nail on the head, otherwise, this is a horrible representation of a fairly pedestrian style.

Note to self; beers labeled as coming from Monroe, WI must be avoided. Just because the can doesn't say Minhas, doesn't mean it didn't come from Minhas. I'm glad the 6 pack was only $3.49.

Serving type: can

02-18-2013 19:47:25 | More by adams82