Simpler Times Lager is exclusively made for and sold by Trader Joe's. It's brewed by Minhas Craft Brewery, a brewery that's been making beer since 1845, in the heart of downtown Monroe, Wisconsin. It began life as the Blumer Brewery but then changed its name to The Joseph Huber Brewing Company in 1947. In 2006, the Mountain Crest Brewing Co. of Calgary, Alberta, Canada purchased the brewery, and some of its brands. The brewery subsequently was renamed Minhas Craft Brewery, and it is the second oldest continually operating brewery in the U. S., (after Yuengling Brewery, in Pottsville, Pennsylvania). Now, in addition to brewing their own beers, Minhas makes a lot of contract craft brews, assisted by their 20 million gallon capacity. Trader Joe's is one of the companies Minhas brews for, making their Simple Times Lager, as well as a pilsner style beer.

Trader Joe's has vastly enhanced its array of bespoke brands, products made by, often, familiar corporations and companies, but branded as Trader Joe's, or as exclusively available from Trader Joe's stores. This is my first tentative foray into exploring Trader Joe's beers; they have an entire flotilla of pretty much every conceivable variety and style of beer. We picked up a six pack of Simple Times Lager for $3.99; that's about $0.67 cents a 12-ounce can of beer.

This is, to be blunt, a craft-brewed version of your typical American adjunct lager; it's a lager style beer, made with grain other than malt. In this case, I suspect the adjunct grain was corn. This is a warm, pale gold in the glass, with a decent head, and a fair amount of carbonation. It has a slightly sweet, malty aroma, with barely a hint of hops. The taste too is malty—even bread-like, and noticeably sweet with just a hint of hops in the finish. This really is a lower-priced better version of your Miller Genuine Draft, your Pabst Blue Ribbon, and your Budweiser. It's not exactly a session beer at 6.2% ABV, but it's a great beer to take to a barbecue, for drinking on the deck on a hot Saturday after an afternoon spent mowing the lawn, and yes, I'll probably buy it again. You can see reviews here and here. Trying Simple Times Lager from Trader Joe's has also made me curious about the other Trader Joe's branded and distributed Craft brews, especially the Minhas brewed pilsner. I'll let you know.