I learned the term “lake beer” at some point in my 30s, having been to a lake only a couple of times and having never been physiologically able to crush a large number of beers, no matter how cold they were. If you are a normal person who spent at least an average amount of time outside as a child, Matt Carney has the review you need for Quittin’ Time, the semi-recently revived house beer of beloved Tulsa institution QuikTrip, now brewed by other beloved Tulsa institution Marshall Brewing.
I am here for the indoor sippers. I am here to think about Quittin’ Time, a lager definitely meant for people who don’t want to think about their beer that much. Happy to report that though I don’t work the sort of job (mostly e-mails) where I need to come home (which is where I work) and unwind by cracking open a beer, I really do like Quittin’ Time, even as a slow sipper. It has more noticeable hop and malt flavors than some of its market analogs but is still very light in flavor and—important to the entire Carman family of food thinkers, who sampled the beer at Easter brunch with me—no real aftertaste. Quittin’ Time knows when it’s quittin’ time.
I remember the first time a slightly-older-than-me friend showed up to a slightly-after-college party with a six-pack of Michelob Ultra because of its lower calorie count, and I thought, “Wow, the beginning of the end of coolness.’ On this side of learning what lake beers are, I now understand the necessity of his concession.
So, apparently, does QuikTrip, which earlier this year unveiled Quittin’ Time Light: 3.6% ABV versus Quittin’ Time’s 4.3%, 97 calories instead who-knows-how-many, low-carb, and one gram of protein—a curious thing to advertise on the label of a beer, even though we’re in the age of needing to know how much protein is in everything.
I am a husk of the former self who went to that party and, intentionally or not, Quittin’ Time Light is a husk of Quittin’ Time. It is undoubtedly lighter, to the extent that it doesn’t really taste like anything at all save for a lingering bitter aftertaste. Sippers and thinkers? Maybe this one isn’t for you. Carb-conscious can crushers? Probably not going to care as long as it’s cold enough, but that’s for Matt to answer.
