I haven't tried Platinum yet, heard that it has a little more Alc Content than Bud Light and is a tad more heavy.
Obviously the American domestic beers are low quality, but they serve a purpose. If you are going to be tail gating or drinking at a crowded bar, usually a light domestic beer is a good choice. I have never seen anyone at a tail gate drinking anything besides a domestic beer and if there was a party that was drinking something more "sophisticated" I would raise an eyebrow. Same with a bar. Being "that guy" who is drinking some import wearing his sweater with his collared shirt poking out of the top is not really the image you want to be portraying, unless you are at one of those kinds of bars.
Exceptions: Old chicago, etc.
I wouldn't even go so far as to say that they are low-quality. It is more of a case of low-taste.
The types of beer in question are made from the lightest Pilsner malt and adjuncts such as rice or corn that make up for the lack of ABV that the (small amount of) Pilsner grain will not produce on it's own. It is also lightly hopped since there is not a big malt bill to balance out which would lend a bitterness to the brew that would be too harsh for easy drinking and would offend the taste-buds of most beer drinkers not prepared for it. It also has the mouthfeel (carbonation level) akin to soda-pop which also lends itself to being a very refreshing beverage. Affordable, plentiful and refreshing, they will certainly be the beer of choice for most tailgates and outdoor gatherings.
My hat is sincerely off to the brewmasters of these beers for the skill involved in making it. It is hard style to master as any hiccup in the process is immediately noticable. Mash temperatures MUST be closely monitored, boil times are longer (due to the use of only pilsner malts which tend to lend a DMS (dimethyl sulfides) or "corn" taste if not boiled long enough) and lagering (resting) temps and times are important as to not have any diactyl flavors (which taste like butterscotch).
It is very, very difficult to make an American light lager, especially in bulk, with the repeatability that they constantly achieve. I can't say that I am able to do it but, then again, I haven't the motovation to try, either. There is no way that I can achieve the kind of beer in question for the price that I am able to buy it at the store for.
What bothers me the most are the marketing campaigns that force-feed the public about "great taste-less filling", "triple hops brewed", cold-filtered, etc. Beer that is less-filling has more fermentable sugars, meaning all starches were converted in the mash or highly fermentable adjuncts such as corn or rice are used meaning that the consumer is getting cheated on true brewing ingredients. Most (but not all) beer of this style is triple-hops brewed. There is a bittering addition, a flavor addition and an aroma addition. Most bottled beer is cold-filtered because, the colder a solution is the more solids will precipitate out of solution for filtering. It all sounds great for marketing to the layman, though...
In my opinion, a "true" pilsner beer (not what the big brewing companies claim that they sell but one made from all-pilsner grain and no adjuncts) is much more tasty and refreshing, even though it may cost more to make (since barley is more expensive than rice or corn) and will have a few more calories and a slightly heavier taste but not so much that it would be a "heavy" beer.
The only "true" american beer style is a "steam" beer such as the kind that Anchor brewing puts out along with a few American wheat beers. It is a lager-style beer using a lager yeast that ferments at higher temps without the off-flavors associated with it. Most other "American" beers are a spin-off of a European style. What big brewing companies claim to be "The great American Lager", etc are just a lightened, bastardized, cheaply made (with regard to cost of ingredients) version of what could be a really good, tasty beer.
Unfortunately, after prohibition was repealed, there were not many breweries that were solvent enough to get back into production and a select few had cornered the market in a rediculously short amount of time, basically controlling what kind of beer was available to the public and didn't give much of a choice of what a truly good beer could be. A case of choosing the best of bland beer. Even more unfortunate is the fact that most American beer companies have either merged with other foreign firms or have sold their company outright.
Ultimately, I can't say that this a completely bad thing, though. It has led to a resurgence of locally owned and regional micro-breweries that use locally grown ingredients, and have a less stringent policy of what kind of beer to make and has led to some really awesome beer.
There is a much bigger world of beer out there. I encourage everyone to visit their nearest brewpub and sample their wares.
