The other day, we were on a road trip, and my wife made a stop to pick up some of her favorite foods from Trader Joe’s, which we do not have at home. I stayed in the car, perhaps to have a beer; I cannot recall. Anyway, she kindly asked if I cared for anything, and I requested some Mission St. Pale Ale, one of the finest cheap beers around, found exclusively at Trader Joe’s. And I warned her that if TJs did not have any Mission St., do not get the Boatswain IPA, which is an abomination.
My wife came back with a sixer of Simpler Times Lager. I was not optimistic. But, now in our possession, I was game to crack a can, give it a taste, and pen a review for this august site, ILoveCheapBeer.com.
People who enjoy a Stella Artois might like Trader Joe’s Simpler Times. I am not one of those people. Stella is a Belgian pilsner. And it carries the characteristic slight sweetness of a pilsner while adding a Belgian yeast flavor. Simpler Times gives you that general flavor profile with a lot less of the finish and refinement that a Stella offers.
Simpler Times does possess two redeeming qualities. First, the potation is decidedly cheap. At $3.99 for a sixer and $7.49 for a half rack, Simpler Times is hard to beat. Second, the ABV is a solid 6.2%. I don’t always care for a high ABV in my cheap beer, as I like the act of drinking at least as much as the effect. But I don’t care for the act – and taste – of drinking Simpler Times very much. So, I appreciate the high alcohol content value proposition.
Trader Joe’s contracts out all their brewing. And, in the case of Simpler Times, Minhas Craft Brewery produces the swill for TJs. Minhas is a Canadian alcohol producer formed in the 90s by two brothers, petroleum engineers both, so they could produce tequila. However, Simpler Times is brewed in Monroe, Wisconsin, which might be better known as the Swiss cheese capital of America.
Minhas had expanded from tequila and other spirits into beer and purchased the former Joseph Huber Brewing Company brewery in Monroe to increase capacity and gain a US presence. Huber made some classic cheap beers in its day, including Augsburger. But Huber had long since filed for bankruptcy when the Minhas brothers came along.
Many of Trader Joe’s contracted beers are top-notch, including the Mission St. Pale Ale that I had requested (Mission St. is brewed by Firestone-Walker, enough said). Simpler Times is not one of these great TJ’s beers. Like Boatswain IPA, which is also brewed for Trader Joe’s by Minhas, Simpler Times is too be avoided, unless, of course, you are looking for a really cheap beer or a crappy Stella. What more can you expect from a couple of petroleum engineers turned Canadian tequila producers who got into beer because they saw it as a growth market.
