Calories aren't the only thing missing in light beer

Here are the very familiar faces of the three largest light beers. Each one featuring its own modern, oft-upgraded graphic design. Stylish and sleek with all their angled lettering and such.

Maybe it's just me, but isn't there an element missing from these designs? After all, beer drinkers stare at these little billboards for a good long time. Couldn't they offer a little something in return? Why not some details about the beer's distinctiveness? Where's the stuff about what makes the brand special? All we get are stylized mountains on Coors Light, a water splash and graphic swirl on Bud Light, and a remarkably similar vortex on Miller Lite. More style than substance, as the saying goes.

But according to some who should know, there is real substance to light-beer making. Listen to Pete Coors in a recent interview. "Brewing... light beers, is a huge challenge. The craft guys can't compete with it. Brewing a really good, full-flavored lager beer of this style is not easy."  

Why aren't facts like this being touted by Big Beer? Way back, Coors once proclaimed itself...

Whatever happened to that? Why couldn't the same be said of Coors Light these days?

Craft beer geeks routinely lambaste light beers as "yellow fizz." How about a little return-fire?

What about Bud Light? Is it even "Beechwood Aged?" How would we know? And would it ever be referred to as "the famous" Bud Light beer, as its parent brand has been for decades? If not by its maker, then by whom?

Where are the stories of how--and where--the beer is made? And with what ingredients? Where are the interesting little facts that add legitimacy to, and build kinship with, a brand? Where are "signature elements"... like, say, the founder's signature?

And what about good old-fashioned bragging? The kind that's always been a part of salesmanship. "The legend" and "champagne" indeed!

It seems brand history, talk of ingredients and brewing methods are all left to light beer's "parent brands." Which of course means fewer and fewer drinkers actually see them anymore. Why would a marketer choose to do that and effectively reduce the ways to connect with its brand?  Without these bits of heraldry and information, light beers seem less substantial, more like soft drinks.

Regardless, does selling millions of barrels of light beer mean it must be done without pride? Or is the elimination of every pride-in-the-brewing communication--including bragging--one more weakness of light beer? Could this void possibly even be playing a part in the downward volume trends of all three big brands?

Just try and find a craft beer label that doesn't somehow absolutely venerate what's inside the bottle or can.  

(Okay, we did find one.)

No Label Brewing Co., Katy, Texas