Long ago, America developed a reputation for great-tasting beers. This is thanks to the mass emigration of European brewers in the early 20th century. As such, many of the best American beers were produced by craftsmen generationally versed in the art of brewmaking. Something changed along the way, however, as America is now known for its seemingly endless offerings and varieties of the worst beers ever.
Perhaps it’s a favoring of quantity over quality or a prioritizing of low-carb over taste. Whatever the case, America produces some truly foul beers. Some of the worst beers earned their reputation due to their increasingly watery contents. Others, however, like Steel Reserve, seem designed to be as pungent and bad-tasting as possible. Sure, beer flavor is a preference, as evidenced by the growing trend of pale ales that half the market readily hates. There are some beers, however, that trigger the senses in a way that can’t be ascribed to style or provenance. In this article, we will explore 15 of the worst beers in America. (For beers of quality taste, discover the best-tasting beers in the U.S.)
To compile a list of the 15 of the most disliked beers in America, 24/7 Tempo consulted a range of beer enthusiast and food review publications including Beer Advocate and Eat This, Not That! Next, we selected beers that made different online listings for the worst beers. We also chose bad beers from personal experience. After that, we confirmed aspects of the beer’s lineage, content, and reviews referring back to sites like Beer Advocate.
Budweiser Select 55, Anheuser-Busch Lager
As you’ll see, Anheuser-Busch is one of the biggest offenders when it comes to bad-tasting beers, and Budweiser Select 55 is no different. Designed as a low-calorie, low-carb light beer, Budweiser Select 55 technically meets those requirements while offering nothing in the way of taste.
With a 2.40% ABV, Select 55 is another one of the beers that tastes like water infused with a crawl space. When you drink it, you’ll marvel at how water can be so sour and somehow leave you feeling queasy after a couple of sips. Don’t forget the smell, which upon opening, wafts into your nose like a subtle assault of malevolent forest spirits. Light beer it is, good tasting beer it is not.
Natural Light, Anheuser-Busch
Ah, the famed Natty Light. Created by Anheuser-Busch as a cheap, moderately high alcohol content, near-beer, Natural Light arguably gets a bad rap. It’s sort of flavorful and will get you drunk without breaking the bank. The problem with Natural Light is it requires optimal conditions to be considered drinkable.
Unless you painstakingly chill Natural Light to almost freezing temperatures, it will not go down smoothly. At room temperature, it will treat your tastebuds to something akin to a moldy shed or an old beer left out in the sun for a couple of days. It’s sour, yet watery, sweet, yet still watery. It’s not the type of beer to impress, but it will function well-chilled in a cooler for a backyard cookout.
Keystone Light, Coors Brewing Company (Molson-Coors)
Though it’s marketed as one of the select beers brewed in freezing temperatures for extra smoothness, Keystone Light won’t win any tasting awards. It’s a cacophony of weird flavors like musty hops, grape vodka, and sugared corn mash. Yet, somehow, these elements do not make a sum greater than their parts. Plus, the 5.5% ABV does little to endear it to taste buds.
Instead, Keystone Light is watery and dry, yet pungent in all the worst ways, and is favored by fratboys everywhere.
Sharp’s, Miller Brewing Co.
Close up of a customers at a bar holding a beer and making a toast with people having fun at the background
Marketed as a near beer for nondrinkers, Sharp’s features a 0.40% ABV. As such, it hardly qualifies as beer, let alone alcohol at all. Sharp’s is another fermented water beer, offering little more than foul-tasting liquid and a slight veneer of bubbles.
Many reviewers lambast Sharp’s, recommending the other king of nonalcoholic beers O’Douls as a better option. Either way, Sharp’s won’t get you drunk, or even buzzed, with probably a dozen or so cans required to get you feeling it at all. While it may be a saving grace for former heavy drinkers, Sharp’s is so little like actual beer it almost ceases to exist.
Beer 30, Melanie Brewing Company
Another one of the worst beers in America is Beer 30 by the Melanie Brewing Company. With the tagline “Anytime is the Right Time!” one may think it’s the type of beer that serves all occasions equally well. Instead, drinkers are treated to what functions as basically spiked sugar water with lingering notes of a factory.
Though it claims a 4.00% ABV, Beer 30 doesn’t give much in terms of appreciated flavors. A passing breeze of its scent will make you wonder where the strange fruit flavor comes from. Upon tasting, you’ll be treated instead to a noxious mix of water, sugar, and perhaps, gunmetal. Anytime may be the right time, but there are precious few moments in the day that call for a Beer 30.
Natural Ice, Anheuser-Busch
Much like its fewer-calorie cousin Natural Light, Natural Ice by Anheuser-Busch remains a staple of bad beers everywhere. Also like its cousin, the Natural Ice offering does little in the way of providing good beer flavor. Instead, it requires an Arctic Circle-level temperature to go down smoothly.
At the same time, however, Natural Ice gets a bad rap. It’s cheap, has a surprisingly high alcohol percentage of 5.90% ABV, and goes down well if cold enough. If anything, Natural Ice tastes better than its reputation would lead you to believe, yet remains a watery, unpleasant beer of the lowest quality.
Schaefer Beer, Boston Brewing Company
Another one of the worst beers in America is Schaefer Beer. Originally made by the Schaefer Brewing Company, it was passed off like a delinquent cousin to other companies throughout the years including the Stroh Brewing Company and the Pabst Brewing Company, before landing in the lap of the Boston Brewing Company. Once a staple of the American beer drinker, Schaefer has been relegated to the margins for good reason.
With a tagline like “The one beer to have when you’re having more than one,” Schaefer, no doubt, favors quantity over quality. If there’s anything to say about Schaefer, it’s that it tastes like the 1970s. You know, a time of civil unrest, an oil crisis, and skyrocketing violent crime rates. On a more specific level, the beer tastes like a combination of metal sports bleachers and mildewed corn. Ultimately, Schaefer is one of the worst beers in America because it finds an unhappy middle ground between water and hops.
Milwaukee’s Best, Miller Brewing Co.
Another one of the worst beers in America is, no doubt, Milwaukee’s Best. With its exemplary name, one wonders what Miller Brewing Company was hoping to accomplish. That’s because it’s one of the lowest common denominator beers out there. Perhaps the name was born out of denial, or rather, Miller was taunting its consumers.
That’s because Milwaukee’s Best is one of the most inoffensive beers on the market that still somehow manages to offend. It’s also known as “swill” by longtime drinkers. When poured out, it looks like acid rain, yellowy, with a white head that quickly dissipates. Smell-wise, it gives off the aroma of a mismanaged farm after a heavy storm, like wet hay mixed with aluminum. As for taste, Milwaukee’s Best sips like heavy mineral water infused with poisonous corn. It’s another beer in a long line of weak, yet foul, offerings from Miller Brewing Company.
Miller 64, Miller Brewing Co.
Much like other light beers on this list, Miller 64 by the Miller Brewing Company is so light with a 2.8% ABV that it almost ceases to be beer. Upon pouring the beer into a frosted glass, its yellowish, watered-down profile gives the appearance of slightly dehydrated urine. You think to yourself, OK, at least it will be refreshing on a hot day.
And yet, an unpleasant taste remains, much like a dirty hamster cage. There are elements of straw, corn, and even expired fruit in there, yet they do not combine in harmony. If anything, Miller 64 is an unholy union of bad flavors somehow made worse by its low alcohol percentage. Refreshing it may be when thrown into the back of the throat, but it won’t win any flavor awards. It’s the type of beer that can be drunk all day without fear of domestic disturbance or police reprisal.
Olde English 800, Miller Brewing Co.
As with other malt liquor beer varieties, Olde English 800 does not exist so much to taste as much as to slam down your throat for a quick ride to drunkenness. Made by the Miller Brewing Company, Olde English gives the appearance of a classier offering in the malt liquor aisle. What you’re greeted with upon tasting, however, is easily one of the worst beers in America.
It’s not sweet, it’s not sour or hoppy, yet it still tastes foul in a way that’s hard to pinpoint. Sure, it goes down relatively smoothly and its incredibly cheap price tag is hard to argue with. Olde English 800, however, gives the aromatic impression of a cornfield left to rot and a taste that hovers somewhere between sweet vegetables and rusted iron without ever making up its mind. Like other malt liquor beers on this list, it’s designed not for taste but to get you drunk on the cheap. In that department, at least, Olde English 800 is effective.
Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch
Another one of the worst beers in America is Bud Light. Say what you will about the staple product of Anheuser-Busch, given recent headlines and identity politics controversies, taste-wise, Bud Light is inoffensive. It aims for no great marks, offering an easy, unencumbered way to drink instead.
What makes it so bad, however, is how little it resembles beer. With a 4.20% ABV, it functions more like fermented water featuring a (very slight) spoiled honey taste. It’s so watery, in fact, putting down a six-pack of Bud Light will barely wet your whistle. It’s not the type of beer you’d seek out to buy, but if offered, it’s unlikely you would reject it either. (For other historic American beers, discover the oldest beers brewed in the US.)
Bud Light & Clamato Chelada, Anheuser-Busch
Look across the web and you’ll see that reviewers are torn on Bud Light & Clamato Chelada. Designed by Anheuser-Busch as a fun fusion beer for fans of Micheladas, this beverage seeks to capture that unique flavor of clam juice, beer, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, and lime.
However you square it, a true Michelada, though demonstrably refreshing, is an acquired taste. As for Anheuser-Busch’s homage to the classic drink, however, the Bud Light & Clamato Chelada tastes like the mutated love child of a bad beer and a bloody mary. It’s not the type of drink to appease most palettes, but for some out there, it may just hit the spot. One wonders, however, why the company picked Bud Light of all beers to be a complement to Michelada’s special sauce.
Red Dog, Miller Brewing Co.
Another one of the worst beers in America is Red Dog by Miller Brewing Company. Judging by the angry, almost-demonic-looking bulldog gracing its label, it’s a beer that seeks to offend. It projects a tough, powerful image that says you better be careful when drinking us. And yet, it’s 4.80% ABV pales in comparison to some of the lighter beers featured on this list.
Upon drinking Red Dog, you’ll discover the dog has more bark than bite. It’s another beer in a long line of watery, yet unpleasantly hoppy beverages that does little more than give a buzz. The best thing one can say about Red Dog is that it tastes “beer-like.” Barring that, however, no dignified drinker should waste their time with this beer.
King Cobra Premium Malt Liquor, Anheuser-Busch
What can be said about King Cobra Premium Malt Liquor that isn’t expressed by countless vomit stains tinting a city’s sidewalk? A “premium” malt liquor offering from bad beer offender Anheuser-Busch, King Cobra features a formidable 6.0% ABV. Yet, with a name and logo denoting one of the more poisonous creatures on earth, one wonders what Anheuser-Busch is trying to tell us.
Perhaps the name is a warning much like a toxic chemical sign, as King Cobra is easily one of the worst beers in America. While it goes down smoothly, don’t let that fool you. Fortunately, it has a subtle apple smell. Unfortunately, it tastes bad. Its flavor sits somewhere between freshly cut grass and the juice that collects in the bottom of a trash can. Much like other malt liquor beers, King Cobra is the favorite of derelicts and underage drinkers everywhere because it’s cheap, sold in large bottles, and gets you hammered. While it may be one of the worst-tasting beers, it remains the undisputed king of gas station malt liquors.
Steel Reserve 211, Steel Brewing Company
Another one of the worst beers in America is undoubtedly Steel Reserve 211. Created by the Steel Brewing Company (a subsidiary camouflage of Miller, which is a further subsidiary of Molson Coors), Steel Reserve 211 purports a high-gravity brewing technique that imparts the beer with an ABV between 6.0-8.1%.
Affectionally known as “Miner’s Piss” by those who have drunk this foul concoction, Steel Reserve truly attacks the senses. It’s hard to describe its flavor except that it tastes almost spicy, yet sour. Sure, the high-gravity brewing results in a drinking experience that gets you drunk quickly, but at what cost? Though Steel Reserve is somehow scarce on worst beer lists, it deserves special mention due to its foul, pungent odor, and even worse taste. It’s a quick ticket to inebriation, but it sure seems to punish you for your impatience along the way. (For unseemly watering holes, discover 15 signs you’re in a bad bar.)