Best Cheap Beer: 14 Beers That Won’t Burn a Hole in Your Pocket

If you’re tired of ordering the same drink, here are some of the best cheap beer brands available in the market. Good cheap beers are everywhere; it is just a matter of finding out what they are. The suggestions listed here are some of the cheapest beers you could possibly drink.

Check them out and pick your favorite.

Best Cheap Beers: Here Are the 14 Cheapest Beers You Must Try

The world is flooding by the day with microbreweries, and with generic beers popping up in every corner of the city, it is all the more a reason to try refreshing beers.

Without further ado, we present to you a checklist of what you can try this weekend:

1. Coors Banquet

A classic version of the American Lager, the Coors Banquet is from the Coors Brewing Company from Colorado. It is a sweeter and fruitier beer than its other range.

It has a sweet flavor profile with strong fruity notes and flavors of banana, corn, and grain by the side. It has an ABV of 5 percent and an IBU of 15. This is listed as one of the cheapest beers in the market. A six-pack is available for $8.

This beer is super easy to drink and light on the palate. However, a couple of these may seem overly sweet on the palate. If you aren’t a fan of fruity aromas, then this isn’t the beer for you.

• Color: This beer is gold in color with a medium head that dissolves in less than five minutes.
• Smell: For an adjunct Lager, a strong fruity finish is the first thing that jumps off the pour. Aromas of banana, corn, and wet grain can be felt behind the initial bright burst of fruity aroma.
• Taste: The beer has an upfront sweetness. Usually, Lagers aren’t aromatic or appealing on the first go. But Coors Banquet gives a nice relaxed sweetness shadowing notes of banana, bread, and bubblegum. Rich malt also dominates the palate. Due to fine carbonation, the beer feels fuller and less syrupy.
• Mouthfeel: Rich, creamy corn flavors stick to the tongue at the initial sip. Darker malts with fine carbonation allow a caramel-like flavor to dissolve on the palate.

2. Yuengling

A low-calorie light beer full of character, Yuengling is a full flavor beer, masterfully brewed without sacrificing on quality. This beer is a classic example of Light American Lager.

It is clear and dark yellow in color. With low levels of adjunct sweetness and milk bitterness, this beer is easy to drink. This is the beverage choice when you want something apart from a Bud or Miller. It costs about $6.50 for a six-pack.

• Color: Yuengling is dark-yellow in color with a big, brittle white head.
• Smell: No extreme aromas are popping out of this beer. Light levels of caramel malt flavor and sweet floral hops can be felt on the initial pour.
• Taste: It is an easy drink, smooth on the palate. It doesn’t have an alcohol aftertaste. It has a hoppy taste with a tinge of bread and slight bitterness.
• Mouthfeel: This is a good, light beer to grab a couple at a time. With just about 99 calories a can and medium carbonation, this beer is almost flavor-neutral.

3. Hamm’s

At an ABV of 4.7 percent, this Lager adjunct is literally the best budget beer one can buy. It is an excellent beer to keep on hand for one of those long hot summer days.

It is cheap, easy to drink, and even lower on ABV. Less than 50 cents of a good time, this beer is your answer. A six-pack is available.

• Color: The beer is clear pale yellow in color with enough carbonation and a tall head. The head, though, vanishes quickly, leaving a thin lace.
• Smell: Some hops, some malt, some corn with an overall mild aroma.
• Taste: This beer tastes a tad bit sweet with extremely low bitterness. It is crisp and refreshing to drink. It does have a funky aftertaste. It has balanced carbonation, which makes it light and dry.
• Mouthfeel: The overall feel of the beer is thin and smooth. It leaves no bready or malty flavors behind.

4. Tecate

The one and only, the most refreshing and the most pleasing summer drink and talk of the town. Tecate original Mexican Lager is almost like a Pilsner and has a champagne-like effervescence. A six-pack costs about $6. This is one inexpensive beer you must try.

• Color: The pour is pale straw and the white is short-lived. It is almost clear golden in color and has a fizzy noisy head leaving a lace behind.
• Smell: The beer has light floral hops, more of barley malt and bread-like aromas. There is some inclination towards cereal grains.
• Taste: there is a tinge of apple and sweet corn finish in the beer. It is grainy and malty at the beginning, with light floral notes as an after-finish.
• Mouthfeel: It is a refreshing beer, light in body, light on the tongue, and shows a malt profile. Overall it is crisp and refreshing for a summer day. It goes down super easy and doesn’t feel bloated.

5. Rolling Rock

This beer originated in Pennsylvania and is the best tasting cheap beer in the world now. It has a light body, is hoppy in character, and comes in a distinctive green bottle.

The beer is brewed in glass-lined tanks. This process is considered the cleanest brewing method to date. A six-pack costs about $6.

• Color: It has a pale straw yellow color and has decent retention.
• Smell: Flavors of lemongrass, soda crackers, and sourdough biscuits are prominent. Notes of fermented yeast can be felt as a backbone.
• Taste: The beer is smooth and rich with mild hop bitterness. There is a subtle balance between the basic malt and a small hint of sour fruit.
• Mouthfeel: This is an adjunct that leans a little towards the sweeter end. In a word, this beer is “smooth.” This is one cheap light beer you want to try.

6. Genesee Cream Ale

The brewers of this beer had one goal in mind – to brew a beer as smooth as a lager and as crisp as an ale. This is how the Cream Ale took birth. This is a unique beverage, essentially a “lagered ale.” A six-pack can be purchased at about $6 to $7.

• Color: The beer has a clear pale straw to light golden color with a decent-sized white head.
• Smell: The smell is inclusive of wild fruits, herbs, some floral notes, a tinge of vanilla, old tobacco, and autumn leaves. There is also a hint of toasted coconut. There are some notes of corn.
• Taste: The beer is both light and heavy at the same time. It is tangy with peppermint sweetness predominating other flavors. There is mild hoppy bitterness too.
• Mouthfeel: There is a subtle mix of sweet and dry bitterness at the first sip. There is mild carbonation which rests on the middle of the overtakes the edges. This is not a bitter beer; it is more balanced and easier to drink.

7. Stella Artois

Stella Artois is over a century-old Belgian brand. This is the best-selling beer in Belgium. Stella believes in saving water by drinking beer. A six-pack of Stella Artois costs about $10.

• Color: It has a shimmeringly burnt golden color with a nice white foam head and rimming. It is dense and frothy to look at.
• Smell: It has aromas of warm cereal grain, toasted malt, and mild hops.
• Taste: The beer tastes face forward with the smell. It is grainy with a bit of honey-like sweetness and the presence of very mild hop bitterness.
• Mouthfeel: The beer is medium to heavy in mouthfeel, velvety, and layered on the palate. Overall, it is a good brew with 5 percent ABV for its price.

8. Pacifico Clara

This is a Pilsner-style Mexican Lager, crisp and refreshing like the ocean mist. The brewers have used the finest quality ingredients like premium two and six-row barley, the finest variety of hops and yeast to bring this stellar beer to life. A six-pack would cost about $8.90.

• Color: The pour is yellow and fizzy. There is almost no white head, a very little foam with good carbonation.
• Smell: This beer has a strong smell. Mostly of malted barley, like other lagers. It also has the aromas of corn and grains.
• Taste: It is known for its light, crisp taste with a slight hint of bitterness. The beer reveals a surprising sweetness on its first sip.
• Mouthfeel: It has a light and gentle body. Squeeze half a lime, and you have the perfect balance of sweet and sour. Overall, it is a refreshing beach beer with a crisp and clean mouthfeel.

9. Narragansett

This is the famous Rhode Island Lager and a pop culture icon.

• Color: The beer pours clear, medium gold, with plenty of bubbles rapidly rising to the top of the glass.
• Smell: The beer smells of bready malts and grains and has a tinge of ripe bananas.
• Taste: Flavors of bready-malt and light sweetness take over the palate. There is a slight hop presence noticeable.
• Mouthfeel: it is a crisp beer with a medium body and moderate to heavy carbonation. It has a clean finish and is mostly easy to drink.

10. Alaskan Amber

The Alaskan Amber Ale uses glacier-fed water and a mix of European and Pacific Northwest hop varieties to get a malt-forward flavor to this brilliant beer. A six-pack costs less than $10.

• Color: The beer has brilliant clarity and a strong copper color. It has a deep amber hue and orange highlights.
• Smell: Rich malt, bready, toasty, and layers of caramel give this beer a rich complexity. Light flavors of cherries and a touch of piney hops add character and depth to the beer.
• Taste: Alaskan Amber has a rich mélange of nutty, caramel character with some spicy hops and little bitterness at the back. It is smooth, lightly sweet, with mild fruity and floral esters.
• Mouthfeel: Overall, this beer has a toasty malt finish, dry at the end with slight fruity esters that create a nice balance in the beverage.

11. Miller Lite Lager

This beer falls under the Light Lager category. It is low on calories and light on its alcohol by volume percent. At 96 calories and 4.2 percent ABV, this is an easy-breezy drink. It has a smooth, light, and refreshing taste. This beer has a medium body with a hop flavor, solid malt character, and a smooth finish.

It is the most popular cheap beer in Illinois. The makers of Miller Lite do not care about the aroma that comes out of the glass or the head of the beer. They only care about having a good time. It costs about $7 for a six-pack. This is the cheapest beer you’ll ever find.

• Color: This beer has a crystal-clear pale straw color with almost no head on pouring. It looks super filtered.
• Smell: It has faint grassy notes and is on the grainier side. It also has notes of fermented barley.
• Taste: There is a hint of hop, and it tastes mostly like cracker malt. There is also some slight sweetness to the flavor, which overrides the barley taste. The overall taste is crisp and refreshing with notes of corn, biscuit, and tart.
• Mouthfeel: It has a clean and crisp finish. The light carbonation makes the pour and the drink easy. Due to light carbonation, folks call it “a pour as easy as water.”

12. Bell’s Two Hearted Ale

This is an IPA brewed using centennial hops from the Pacific Northwest. It has a perfectly balanced hop aroma and fruitiness. A six-pack costs about $12.

• Color: It has a slightly orange-amber color with a small white head and a set of very complex American hops.
• Smell: Some caramel notes appear at the beginning. Aromas that highlight are floral, citrusy pine, and light orange with significantly less malt character.
• Taste:  It mostly tastes biscuit and caramel malt flavors. There is some bitterness in the end that cleanses the palate.
• Mouthfeel: It is a beer with a medium body and light carbonation. The overall mouthfeel is dry with a caramel finish. It is a very pleasant and drinkable brew.

13. Stiegl Grapefruit Radler

Made with real grapefruit juice, this deliciously refreshing Radler beer is pleasant and tangy to taste. It is a fruit beer and doesn’t fall under the BJCP category, but it is an enjoyable drink. A six-pack costs about $13.

• Color: It has a cloudy straw yellow color with champagne-like bubbles rushing to the top. The thin white head leaves quite some lacing.
• Smell: Fruit character ranges from mild to moderate. It has a pleasant grapefruit smell for obvious reasons, which overpowers any malt character present. It smells fresh and fruity.
• Taste: The beer is extremely smooth to taste, just like freshly squeezed juice. The fruity flavors are loud, making it a perfect summertime drink. There is the presence of light malty character towards the end.
• Mouthfeel: This beer is super light, easy to drink, and light-bodied. It is a perfect drink for a day at the beach.

14. Bud Light

This is the best-selling, most popular beer in the United States. It is a premium light lager with superior drinkability. A mix of American and European hop varieties is used to brew this masterpiece. A six-pack starts at $9.50.

• Color: Pours a clear straw with plenty of effervescence and a thin white head. There is no lacing, and the white vanishes quickly.
• Smell: Bud light has a subtle hop aroma and delicate malt sweetness. It smells of corn, hay barn funk with little hop aroma.
• Taste: This beer has a fresh clean taste with a light hop character along with sheer crispness. Overall, it is crisp, dry, light, and smooth.
• Mouthfeel: It is a light-bodied beer with a crisp and dry finish delivering ultimate refreshment.

Is Cheap Beer Better?

Not necessarily. But with beer, you should never sacrifice taste for the price, especially when good-tasting beers are readily available in the market.

With the world experimenting with beers, there will always be cheap options. Sure, fancy stouts, IPAs, mainstream lagers, and ales are booming the craft beer industry, but inexpensive beers are equally in demand.

FAQ

Do all cheap beers have a lower ABV?

Not necessarily. Some cheap beers may have a higher ABV than others, depending on the brand and the brewing process. However, in general, cheap beers tend to have a lower ABV compared to more expensive or craft beers.

Do all microbreweries brew cheap beer?

Not all microbreweries produce cheap beer; some focus on premium or artisanal products.

Are cheap beers only available on tap?

Cheap beers are available in both bottled and canned forms in addition to being on tap.

Conclusion

Alongside all these choices are the big brands targeting their loyal customers with consistency. But if you are the kind who enjoys a change in flavor every once in a while, or a beer enthusiast who doesn’t mind going the extra mile for a new beer adventure, then this list is for you.

With that in mind, the top five most famous cheap beers from the above list are:

• Miller Lite Lager, Miller Brewing Company, Chicago, Illinois
• Coors Banquet, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado
• Yuengling, Yuengling & Son, Pottsville, Pennsylvania
• Stella Artois, AB InBev, Leuven, Belgium
• Genesee Cream Ale, Genesee Brewing Company, NY

Beer is one drink that can be enjoyed at any time of the day. Whether it is at the end of a long day, a picnic in the park, or a random sunny beach day, cheap beers are always a win-win on any occasion.