Thirsty Thursday Eve - Eulogy for Kirkland Light Beer
I love Costco and I like beer. As such, it would logically follow that a cheap light beer under the Kirkland label would be right up my alley. And for a time, it was. Unfortunately, Costco has since discontinued their light beer.
Recently, I was perusing Costco for my usual grocery run when I noticed that they had a new craft beer pack in stock. I’ve had good experience with Kirkland Signature branded beers in the past, and the craft beer packs are typically really cheap for decent beer. As such, I decided to investigate a bit, to see if maybe I would want to pick up a case.
During my research, I searched for a comprehensive list of all the craft beers that Costco had yet produced. The packs seemed to occasionally have repeat styles, so I wondered if maybe there had been a few that I missed along the way. My favorite was certainly the double bock, but I hadn’t seen it since perhaps the first craft beer pack I ever purchased from Costco.
Eventually, I came across an article where Kate Bernot mentioned the “recent demise of Kirkland Signature Light beer” (Bernot, 2018). Uhh, what? Surely those haven’t been discontinued. I hadn’t seen them in my local Costco for a while, but I also hadn’t really looked for them. I assumed maybe they had been moved around, or temporarily out of stock or something. Certainly they hadn’t gotten rid of the light beer entirely.
This unexpected discovery siderailed my previous topic to ascertain whether Costco had truly canned their light beer production (pun intended). Sure enough, multiple sources confirmed that Costco had discontinued the product at some point in 2018. I was genuinely, if only slightly, disappointed.
I won’t lie and say that the Kirkland Signature Light Beer was great, but it wasn’t awful either. At less than 50 cent per can, it was super cheap. And being low in both cost and calories, it was a great beer for maintaining a buzz. Drink the good stuff at first, and then switch over to the Kirkland once you care less about taste and more about staying at your happy point. It was good enough that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to share it with your drinking buddies, but cheap enough that you weren’t breaking the bank to pick up a 48 count at 22 bucks or so.
Maybe Costco will bring back their store brand light beer once the craft beer craze dies down a little. I do enjoy a good craft beer, but I also like having cheap stuff available to keep the party going. Plus, I don’t care for any IPA I’ve had, besides one or two, and that seems to be in nearly every craft beer pack I’ve seen lately. I’ll keep an eye out at my local Costco, but I’m not getting my hopes up for now.
Resources:
BeerAdvocate. (n.d.). Kirkland Signature Light Beer | Kirkland Signature / Costco Wholesale Corporation. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/21516/138131/
Bernot, K. (2018, December 16). Taste-testing Costco's $20 "craft brewed" beer variety pack. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://thetakeout.com/taste-test-costco-craft-brewed-beer-review-1831104003
Bernot, K. (2018, December 12). Pour 48 out: Costco has discontinued Kirkland Signature Light beer. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://thetakeout.com/costco-discontinued-selling-kirkland-light-beer-1831041904
Hanbury, M. (2018, December 12). Costco has stopped selling its Kirkland Signature Light Beer, which one customer said tasted like 'a urine-soaked diaper'. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-stores-stop-selling-kirkland-signature-light-beer-2018-12
Klockars, K. (2018, June 28). Kirkland Light Lager: It's a Beer. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.guysdrinkingbeer.com/kirkland-light-lager/
Puhak, J. (2018, December 13). Costco discontinues Kirkland Signature Light Beer. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/costco-discontinues-signature-kirkland-light-beer
RateBeer. (n.d.). Kirkland Signature Light Beer. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/kirkland-signature-light-beer/288709/
U/randycolpek. (2018). R/videos - I made a commercial for KIRKLAND Light Beer... Sadly, they expressed no interest. Here's the outtakes. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/89kfws/i_made_a_commercial_for_kirkland_light_beer_sadly/
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| Source: http://dan4allseasons.blogspot.com/2015/03/bottomshelf-beer-reviews-light-beer.html |
Recently, I was perusing Costco for my usual grocery run when I noticed that they had a new craft beer pack in stock. I’ve had good experience with Kirkland Signature branded beers in the past, and the craft beer packs are typically really cheap for decent beer. As such, I decided to investigate a bit, to see if maybe I would want to pick up a case.
During my research, I searched for a comprehensive list of all the craft beers that Costco had yet produced. The packs seemed to occasionally have repeat styles, so I wondered if maybe there had been a few that I missed along the way. My favorite was certainly the double bock, but I hadn’t seen it since perhaps the first craft beer pack I ever purchased from Costco.
Eventually, I came across an article where Kate Bernot mentioned the “recent demise of Kirkland Signature Light beer” (Bernot, 2018). Uhh, what? Surely those haven’t been discontinued. I hadn’t seen them in my local Costco for a while, but I also hadn’t really looked for them. I assumed maybe they had been moved around, or temporarily out of stock or something. Certainly they hadn’t gotten rid of the light beer entirely.
This unexpected discovery siderailed my previous topic to ascertain whether Costco had truly canned their light beer production (pun intended). Sure enough, multiple sources confirmed that Costco had discontinued the product at some point in 2018. I was genuinely, if only slightly, disappointed.
I won’t lie and say that the Kirkland Signature Light Beer was great, but it wasn’t awful either. At less than 50 cent per can, it was super cheap. And being low in both cost and calories, it was a great beer for maintaining a buzz. Drink the good stuff at first, and then switch over to the Kirkland once you care less about taste and more about staying at your happy point. It was good enough that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to share it with your drinking buddies, but cheap enough that you weren’t breaking the bank to pick up a 48 count at 22 bucks or so.
Maybe Costco will bring back their store brand light beer once the craft beer craze dies down a little. I do enjoy a good craft beer, but I also like having cheap stuff available to keep the party going. Plus, I don’t care for any IPA I’ve had, besides one or two, and that seems to be in nearly every craft beer pack I’ve seen lately. I’ll keep an eye out at my local Costco, but I’m not getting my hopes up for now.
Resources:
BeerAdvocate. (n.d.). Kirkland Signature Light Beer | Kirkland Signature / Costco Wholesale Corporation. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/21516/138131/
Bernot, K. (2018, December 16). Taste-testing Costco's $20 "craft brewed" beer variety pack. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://thetakeout.com/taste-test-costco-craft-brewed-beer-review-1831104003
Bernot, K. (2018, December 12). Pour 48 out: Costco has discontinued Kirkland Signature Light beer. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://thetakeout.com/costco-discontinued-selling-kirkland-light-beer-1831041904
Hanbury, M. (2018, December 12). Costco has stopped selling its Kirkland Signature Light Beer, which one customer said tasted like 'a urine-soaked diaper'. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-stores-stop-selling-kirkland-signature-light-beer-2018-12
Klockars, K. (2018, June 28). Kirkland Light Lager: It's a Beer. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.guysdrinkingbeer.com/kirkland-light-lager/
Puhak, J. (2018, December 13). Costco discontinues Kirkland Signature Light Beer. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/costco-discontinues-signature-kirkland-light-beer
RateBeer. (n.d.). Kirkland Signature Light Beer. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/kirkland-signature-light-beer/288709/
U/randycolpek. (2018). R/videos - I made a commercial for KIRKLAND Light Beer... Sadly, they expressed no interest. Here's the outtakes. Retrieved April 17, 2019, from https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/89kfws/i_made_a_commercial_for_kirkland_light_beer_sadly/
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