I've Tried Hundreds of Beers. This Cheap Lager Is an Ideal Sipper for Hot Days

I’ve written about alcohol for nearly two decades. And while I’ve written many articles about whiskey, rum, tequila, and other spirits, I began my professional career back in 2006 writing about beer for my local newspaper. Back then, the county in New York where I live only had three breweries. Now, there is around thirty. If you didn’t realize just how popular beer is, there are currently just under 10,000 breweries in the US. That’s up from just over 1,000 in the year 2000.

A lot of these breweries—large and small alike—are crafting IPAs, stouts, porters, and other random beer styles. But it’s difficult to beat the appeal of a well-made lager.

After you spend an afternoon mowing a lawn in the hot sun, what type of beer do you reach for? There’s a pretty good chance you aren’t craving a heavy, malty stout or sweet, rich barleywine. You’re probably going to crack open a crisp, refreshing lager.

The bottom-fermented beer style is brewed at lower temperatures than an ale and known for its crisp, clean, and thirst-quenching flavor profile. But like many beers, there are various different styles that land under the lager umbrella. Under the lager include pale lagers, pilsners, amber lagers, helles lagers, schwarzbiers, bocks, Vienna lagers, doppelbocks, and märzens. Today, we’re most concerned about the classic, crushable pale lager. Specifically, the often maligned American adjunct lager.

Some craft beer drinkers might describe the style as fizzy yellow water, but there’s no debating its popularity. Brands like Budweiser, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Miller High Life are never out of fashion. And while we could write about the appeal of all of those brands, there’s no lager closer to my heart than Narragansett Lager.

Even if you’ve never tried Narragansett Lager, you’ve likely seen this iconic can. It’s visible throughout the first summer blockbuster Jaws, iconically chugged and crushed by Captain Quint.

In my opinion, there’s no better beer to greet the beginning of spring with than Narragansett Lager. This classic, crisp, clean, and thirst-quenching beer is brewed with six-row malt, a mysterious blend of hops, and Iowa-grown corn. It gets its water from Lake Ontario and Hemlock Lake—which incidentally is around 20 minutes from my house.

Founded in 1890, this timeless lager is known for its balanced, crushable flavor profile that begins with a nose of cereal grains, sweet corn, and lightly spicy, floral hops. The palate is crisp, effortlessly thirst-quenching, and loaded with flavors like cereal grains, sweet corn, honey, citrus, and light floral hops. The finish is pleasantly bitter, dry, and leaves you craving more. This is especially true on an unseasonably warm spring day.

I didn’t even get to the best part yet. This surprisingly well-balanced, memorable lager is as affordable as beer gets. Why drink one of the other adjunct lagers with little to no substance when you can crack open a Narragansett Lager—especially if it’s in the stylish 1975 throwback can—for around $8 to $9 for a six-pack of 16-ounce cans. In a world of $20 craft beer four-packs, it's an undisputed bargain.

There’s one more thing. While it’s produced in Rhode Island and Rochester, NY, it’s available in all corners of the U.S., from New England to Northern California and most places in between. Next time you stop into your local grocery or beer store to grab a few cans for the weekend, instead of grabbing your usual macro-brewed lager, try a Narragansett Lager instead. You’ll be happy you did. 

Related: I Tasted Macro and Craft Light Lagers Side by Side. My Top 3 Might Surprise You