Natural Light, formerly Anheuser-Busch Natural Light, nicknamed Natty, is an American reduced-calorie light

lager Lager (; ) is a Type of beer, style of beer brewed and Brewing#Conditioning, conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be Pale lager, pale, Amber lager, amber, or Dark lager, dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially availab ...

brewed by

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

. Its ingredients are listed as

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

, barley

malt Malt is any cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air, a process known as "malting". Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar, ...

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

grains,

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

, and

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

. One serving contains 95 calories, 3.2 grams of carbohydrates, 0.7 grams of protein, and 4.2% alcohol by volume.

History

Introduced to market on July 31, 1977, the brand formulation had , to compete with Miller Lite's , and was called "Anheuser-Busch Natural Light." The brand was Anheuser-Busch's first widely-distributed

light beer Light beer (sometimes spelled lite beer) is a pale lager that is reduced in ethanol, alcohol content or calories compared to regular beers. Light beer began to be mass marketed in the United States in the early 1970s, following test marketing and ...

, followed by Michelob Light and

Bud Light Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in oth ...

, introduced in 1978 and 1981, respectively. (Bud Light's name was also shortened from its original "Budweiser Light.") Natural Light was originally priced at Budweiser levels, which has traditionally been considered part of the "premium"-priced segment. The name was later shortened to the current Natural Light, and was re-formulated to have similar taste but slightly fewer calories. Some television commercials for the brand featured comedian Norm Crosby. Another comedian, Bill Saluga, was noted in some of these for his officious character of "Raymond J. Johnson Jr.," whose tagline was essentially, "Ya doesn't have to call me Johnson." This he would follow with a succession of other names by which others could refer to him. It was Crosby, however, who most customarily mocked the brand's unwieldy name in the said commercials by urging people, "Just say Natural." Over the years, the brand was also re-priced downward, especially after Bud Light was introduced, eventually ending up at its current value pricing. It is commonly consumed by college students because of its low price. Natural Light Beer has also been referred to as "Natty Light" in some circles. It is also a common beer chosen for drinking games due to the inexpensive price of 30-pack cases. In 2018, Natural Light began selling special release 77-pack containers in

College Park, Maryland College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located approximately from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. Its population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the home of the University of Mary ...

. In an attempt to broaden its brand beyond the college-age demographic, Anheuser-Busch overhauled Natural Light's packaging in 2023, returning to the logo and can design used in the late 1970s.

Reception

The magazine ''

Consumer Reports Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy. Founded ...

'' in 2001 published a review of many beers in which Natural Light was ranked as the number two light beer and additionally characterized as one of the "best buys." Additionally, in 2008, Natural Light received a Bronze Medal in the

World Beer Cup The World Beer Cup is an international beer competition organized by the Brewers Association, a trade group A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organizatio ...

in the American Style Light-Lager category, and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' lists it as the fifth largest selling beer in the U.S. In contrast, Natural Light currently maintains a combined aggregate score of 47 out of 100 (awful) on beer rating site BeerAdvocate.com, while being listed as the worst beer in the world by RateBeer.com.

References

External links

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Natural Light Fact Sheet
{{Anheuser-Busch Companies AB InBev brands American beer brands