Hey Stella!

I'm a firm believer in the notion that the best beer is the one you like best.  If you enjoy drinking it, who am I to tell you it's a bad beer?

That said, just because some folks enjoy drinking Milwaukee's Best doesn't mean you and I have to.  We can do better.

So let's step up a bit from the Beast to a Belgian with an unfortunate nickname.

On the whole, I think the Belgians brew the world's best beers.  Sadly, this is not one of them.

Stella Artois is an example of a style called Euro Pale Lager.  You might have seen Stella's TV ads, which are becoming more common.

Even if you haven't seen the ads or heard of Stella, you probably know a couple of other Euro Pale Lagers.  Heineken is one, as are Harp, Grolsch, and Birra Moretti.

These beers are the European equivalent of Bud, Coors, and Miller.  They are designed to appeal to a wide audience and offend very few.  The problem with that approach is that in trying to please everyone, you end up with a beer that has no soul.

Stella Artois is such a beer.

Stella's not a bad beer.  It's okay, but that's all.  It's nothing special.

It's better than the Bud/Coors/Miller triplets, but that's not saying much.

Stella has a pale golden color, thin body, and a moderate head.  It has a clean, fast finish -- that is, the flavor doesn't linger.  Bitterness is minimal; alcohol by volume (ABV) is 5%.

It's a very easy-drinking beer, perfect for summer in Texas when a heavier beer would be overwhelming.  There are better summer choices (which we will cover as the weather heats up), but there are also plenty of worse ones.

On our amazingly clever rating scale, I give it two and a half bottles out of five.

Here's some of Stella's backstory:  Stella is brewed by the biggest brewing company in the world, and the one which took the mighty Anheuser-Busch out of American hands.  Anheuser-Busch InBev was created in 2008 when Brazilian-Belgian brewer InBev bought Anheuser.  They brew dozens of different beers, including Bud Light (no thanks), Beck's (meh), and Hoegaarden (terrific).

The original Artois brewery was founded in 1366.  And by looking at the bottle, they want you to think they've been brewing Stella that whole time.

But that's not quite how it happened.

Stella was first brewed as a Christmas beer in 1926.  Nothing wrong with that, but I think the label is a little misleading.

In Great Britain, Stella is also known as "wife beater."  Apparently, many British pubs have had problems with rough crowds who drink a lot of Stella and cause trouble.  Some pubs dropped Stella from their menu, and when they did, the rough crowds vanished too.  InBev has spent the last several years fighting the beer's image problem in the UK.

And where, you ask, did the name "wife beater" come from?  Right here:

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.