Has anyone tried this new offering from Anheuser Busch? I found it to be quite a nice surprise. Not top shelf but a good tasting beer and a step in the right direction for AB.
Budweiser American Ale
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I saw the commercials and it piqued my interest. I'll have to try some soon.
first impressions were not too good,
http://www.phoood.com/weblog/archives/000242.html
http://www.phoood.com/weblog/archives/000242.html
It isn't too bad for AB. It reminds me a little bit of a Redhook ESB. I had some a couple of weeks ago at a restaurant which serves only the big three American swill beers. Since this is made by Big Swill maker #1...they carried it. I was glad to have some.
I tried for a while to give the benefit of the doubt and try new offerings from major brewers, but you are just always disappointed. It isn't in their interest business-wise to offer beers that depart very far from the standard big-brewer lager formula, and so they never do. The ideal beer for the overwhelming majority of consumers in North America, is clean, crisp, and essentially without flavour.
This one almost certainly plays the same trick as bud and is made with a significant proportion of rice, something which should make anyone with the slightest taste for real beer cringe!
This one almost certainly plays the same trick as bud and is made with a significant proportion of rice, something which should make anyone with the slightest taste for real beer cringe!
I've tried it, and had the same impression as the OP -- not bad compared to A-B's usual offerings.
Would I buy it again? No.
Does it make me hopeful that A-B/InBev may offer additional actual beers in the future? Yes.
Would I buy it again? No.
Does it make me hopeful that A-B/InBev may offer additional actual beers in the future? Yes.
I cannot drink Budweiser beers w/o getting a raging headache. but they come in handy when steaming seafood.
marty
marty
I tried it, and actually found it to be half decent. I don't consider it a great pale ale by any stretch of the imagination, but as a "generic" ale, it is worth checking out. For only slightly more than the cost of Yuengling, but quality is approaching that of Sierra Nevada. Just a little bit of hop flavor, and a decent mouthfeel/body, very clean fermentation, and only a hint of rice/adjunct flavors.
I thought it was worth picking up, and I'll probably end up buying it again. I'd love to drink Victory Storm King every weekend this winter, but I just can't afford it with prices the way they are now.
I thought it was worth picking up, and I'll probably end up buying it again. I'd love to drink Victory Storm King every weekend this winter, but I just can't afford it with prices the way they are now.
I went on the AB tour for the first time a few months ago when I had some friends in from out of town. They actually bragged about how they use rice in their brewing process and all the supposed benefits to the flavor it has. It made my beer-loving heart cry.
I know, it's so funny. Instead of just admitting that it's a cost saving trick, they try to argue that it's done purposefully to create a more clean and crisp beer. They say that on their website too.
But it sells, I know so many people who will proudly state that Budweiser is the best beer ever and their favourite by far. And with the same kind of people you can give them a better beer from a smaller brewer in a unique style to try and they'll say that they hate it. I think it's just a matter of what people are used to and what they drink for.
The same story in Canada is the popular beer Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale which is absolutely not anything near an IPA, it is a bland lager like every other beer. Yet people will say that they are big ale fans because they drink it.
Every time I try to diverge and go for the cheap imitations, I'm always disappointed. I keep coming back to Sam Adams Boston Lager. I'm craving one now, as a matter of fact. 
I would agree that most people should probably not be looking at this product as some sort of competitor to their favourite micro brews. Particularly anyone who is fond of stuff like cask conditioned ales. Sorry boys. You should have been on this one TEN YEARS ago. However, it is at least an attempt to respond to the huge surge of micro brewed beers. What the heck? I am going to buy a sixer of this. The last product made by American owned A-B.
As an aside, why do we always say; "micro brewed"? While most of our favorites are, it is not alway so. Missouri is also home to Boulevard Brewing Company of Kansas City, which will now be the largest AMERICAN owned brewery in Missouri. They could hardly be called a micro brewery anymore with a large regional distribution. They are certainly not going to compete with the scale of Inbev. The point is, they have made beers SINCE THEIR INCEPTION which to my tastes are superior in every way to the light/pilsner/lager normally associated with U.S. mega breweries. Yet they manage to put these out the door for not much more than the "regular" stuff. Look at A-B's Michelob division. They have a whole range of new beers out that are anything but re-workings of the old Michelob. I suspect they will not fall into the same price category as our favourite small batch brews. This is water the big boys will have to dabble in to survive. America and other countries have made their minds up. They want real beer and are willing to pay more to get it. I wonder if we should all give them a once over just for the fun of it? It is truly a shame that A-B and Coors took so long to grasp the "threat"(really no threat just good competition) of quality, REAL BEER. With their massive wallets and brewing technology(lets not delude ourselves, they know of what they do) they could have produced some premium lines of beer that would have rekindled the larger scale industry. I hope Inbev buys up a BUNCH of the old name beer brands and reformulates, repackages, and reinvigorate the large U.S. brewing industry. We already have arse kicking micro brews here. With a healthy dose of PAYING ATTENTION to the customer demands, maybe Inbev and other large companies will finally offer up a true choice between swill and divinity. Lets hope. BTW, sorry to go off topic. I just wonder what will the future holds with A-B/Inbev?
Regards, Todd
As an aside, why do we always say; "micro brewed"? While most of our favorites are, it is not alway so. Missouri is also home to Boulevard Brewing Company of Kansas City, which will now be the largest AMERICAN owned brewery in Missouri. They could hardly be called a micro brewery anymore with a large regional distribution. They are certainly not going to compete with the scale of Inbev. The point is, they have made beers SINCE THEIR INCEPTION which to my tastes are superior in every way to the light/pilsner/lager normally associated with U.S. mega breweries. Yet they manage to put these out the door for not much more than the "regular" stuff. Look at A-B's Michelob division. They have a whole range of new beers out that are anything but re-workings of the old Michelob. I suspect they will not fall into the same price category as our favourite small batch brews. This is water the big boys will have to dabble in to survive. America and other countries have made their minds up. They want real beer and are willing to pay more to get it. I wonder if we should all give them a once over just for the fun of it? It is truly a shame that A-B and Coors took so long to grasp the "threat"(really no threat just good competition) of quality, REAL BEER. With their massive wallets and brewing technology(lets not delude ourselves, they know of what they do) they could have produced some premium lines of beer that would have rekindled the larger scale industry. I hope Inbev buys up a BUNCH of the old name beer brands and reformulates, repackages, and reinvigorate the large U.S. brewing industry. We already have arse kicking micro brews here. With a healthy dose of PAYING ATTENTION to the customer demands, maybe Inbev and other large companies will finally offer up a true choice between swill and divinity. Lets hope. BTW, sorry to go off topic. I just wonder what will the future holds with A-B/Inbev?
Regards, Todd
Drinkable. And I am a total beer snob so that is saying alot.
I was actually a little surprised. It's half-drinkable. I can not stomach regular Bud or Bud Light.
I completely agree with this statement, but I'd like to add something to it. I may be a self proclaimed beer geek, and brew my own beer, so I'm rather picky. While I don't enjoy the majority of A-B products, I do feel that they are without a doubt one of the best breweries in the world....
Before you cringe, let me explain. Anybody can make a good beer. (Hell, if I can do it, ANYBODY can). It is very difficult to brew something with a light flavor and not have any major flaws in the fermentation. It is even harder to do that consistently. This is where A-B truly shines. You can get a Bud in LA, or in Rome, and they taste exactly the same, year after year. I may not like the flavor of most of their beer, but I sincerely respect how difficult it is to do what they do.
Interesting. My dad's the exact same way. He thinks its the beechwood. I (having inherited my mother's allergies, but apparently not his) don't have a problem with it, although my consumption of Budweiser is generally limited to
I haven't tried the Ale. I'm not really inspired to, but I know my neighbor likes it. God knows he owes me enough beer that I'm sure I'll be able to pluck one from his fridge sometime soon.
I always wondered how Budwieser could tout "fresh by date" and "Beechwood aging" in the same sentence.........
Its a lager, so you have to age it. I think they age it for 30 days. Aging beer for a short period allows the yeast to clean up after themselves. The beechwood imparts absolutely no flavor. It is cut into large curly strips. This creates more surface area at the bottom of the tank for yeast to settle on. This is necessary since they are aging in extremely huge tanks.
I suspect the born on date is a marketing scheme to get you to drink the beer faster.
I cannot remember the last AB beer I drank. 20+ years at least. I went through my Miller Lite and Coors Light phase. Heck I even had a Old Mil Best phase (poor military days). All of it gives me a raging headache these days. When I do drink beer today it's the darker varieties such as Guinness, Becks, Negro Modelo and the like. I've tried a couple of the newer Michelob darks. They're ok, but nothing to get all excited about.
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