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10 Barrel Brewing drops leanest beer yet in Pub Light

The 2.0 release following 10 Barrel's popular Pub Beer

10 Barrel Pub Light.
Mark Stock / The Manual

West coast brewery 10 Barrel is going lean and mean. The Oregon outfit’s latest release, Pub Light, is a lager boasting less then 100 calories per serving. It’s the lighter cousin of Pub Beer, a wildly popular lager the brewery debuted a while back.

Consider it big craft’s take on Michelob Ultra. The sporty beer is just 4% ABV and available year-round, in both 12-ounce and 16-ounce cans. It’s one for the cooler on the sunniest of days or hottest of tailgate gatherings.

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While perhaps not as refreshing as Cucumber Crush (a fine sour beer), one of the label’s finest inventions, Pub Light is light and thirst-quenching. It’s quiet clean, showing pleasant and subtle cereal and grain notes. There’s a little kiss of hops on the backend.

As consumers continue to gravitate towards lighter beers, this one will no doubt satiate the masses. It fits right in with the many session IPAs, pilsners, pale ales, and fellow lagers that are in high demand right now. 10 Barrel also has an NA IPA, as so many craft breweries do at the moment.

If you’re looking for a new light beer option this spring and summer, Pub Light should be in your mix. It’s not the world’s most flavorful beer, but for the category, it fares quite well. Sometimes, you just need a trim beer.

10 Barrel got its start in beautiful central Oregon back in 2006. Since, it has become a major player in the craft beer movement, winning numerous awards and ultimately being absorbed by AB-InBev in 2014. The label runs several pubs throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Mark Stock
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
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