Joseph Owades created light beer, forever changing the way America drinks

Here is the story of the American who invented light beer — and helped create craft brewing as we know it today.The brilliant biochemist Owades (1919-2005) turned centuries of brewing know-how upside down in the 1960s when he developed a revolutionary process for brewing full-flavored beer with fewer carbohydrates and calories. (Courtesy Owades Family)"He lived long enough to see light beer become a national phenomenon," his son Stephen Owades, an MIT-educated musician in Cambridge, Mass., told Fox News Digital in a phone interview.For an encore in the 1980s, Owades provided his brewing expertise to a generation of young entrepreneurs eager to make small-batch American beer but lacking the expertise.America now boasts more than 9,000 craft breweries, thanks largely to the success of Owades-aided pioneers. CRAFT BREWERY INDUSTRY REBOUNDS NEAR PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS"He was present at the creation" of craft brewing, Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams) founder Jim Koch boasted to Fox News Digital in an interview.Koch called Owades "a mentor."  Jim Koch of Boston Beer Co. told Fox News Digital that Owades "was our brewfather. "I call him the hired gun of the craft beer industry."  Simon Owades fed the family by working as a cloth cutter in New York City’s robust but labor-intensive garment industry. In addition to creating light beer, Joseph Owades also provided his brewing expertise to a generation of young entrepreneurs eager to make batches of American beer but lacking the expertise. Rheingold created a shadow company called Forrest Street Brewing and marketed the new brew as Gablinger’s Beer to avoid sullying the flagship brand name."They were afraid of the blowback," said Stephen Owades. The new owners rebranded the product Miller Lite and threw the full weight of their marketing muscle behind Owades' innovation.It slowly built a cult following among working-class enclaves of the still heavily industrialized Midwest — as Miller Brewing executives allegedly learned in the course of their due diligence while purchasing Meister Brau Lite in 1972. Light beer remains a largely American phenomenon, say industry experts.Owades' innovation had finally met its moment. Light beer remains a largely American phenomenon, say industry experts.Owades, ironically, was not a beer drinker.