Tag: Budweiser

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Notice That it is “Kings” of Beer

First clue the series “Kings of Beer” is bad is obviously, Budweiser, the second is that it is a competition show.  Now I doubt this will be as positive and transformative as say the Great British Bake Off or Queer Eye.  My bet is that they are looking for drama as evidenced by the press release which states that “elite brewmaster from 65 breweries and 23 countries BATTLE it out…”  and “Judged by… experts who are “SEQUESTERED DEEP” within the walls of Room 220 in St. Louis.

All to create a mediocre beer in the best light. I wonder if a brewer from Platform Brewing will win?

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States Rights

Is it just me, or is Budweiser suddenly making jabs at our current dysfunctional federal government?

First there was their Busch history reboot/retcon that was a hallelujah to immigrants during the most hallowed of Super Bowls.

Now, the Belgian (barely) beer brewer is pushing a states right agenda. Last year was “America” bedazzled cans with the Budweiser name scrubbed for patriotism. Now, they are rolling out labels for all 50 states. California replaces America as does the catch phrase “Eureka” and the Golden State in smaller fonts below it.

We have gone from….

…to this…

…and soon ….

So many questions – Are County beers next? Did the area code idea fizzle? Will someone crazed completist try to acquire all 50 cans?

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This Land is Belgium

So this came about last week but I wanted to read the insta-responses before posting my own. But I recommend also reading THIS and THAT to get a rounded picture.

If you base your beer buying choice based on the word America and all the emotions that it evokes. Well then foreign owned Budweiser may have you covered. They have applied for and received special dispensation for a summer season label that swaps out the Budweiser and replaces it with America. As well as whatever other flag draped patriotic words they could find.
budweiser america main (Custom)
And they are truly banking on people buying for that reason only. Maybe Americans will. It has been a weird and wild primary season and I suspect that many a political after-party will have buckets of “America” chilling on ice for the sheer easy-ness of the image that it will send. The flag lapel pin of beer, as it were.

I have my doubts though. Barring cans being emblazoned with first names or photos of Trump or Clinton, what percentage of consumer who already buys this type of beer is basing it on the label? Has there been a study done on it? My gut tells me that the average purchaser will pick on A) price or B) ingrained love/hatred of one brand over another. There might be a group of “undecideds” out there but of them, I again ask, what percentage will pass by reason A on the way to C) that label has America written on it.

I have grown accustomed to the avoidance of the beer inside the container but I also understand that mountains turning blue or a vortex neck might sway people for novelty in ways that a few word choices simply cannot. The cans will be made in far too great a quantity to be collectible though collecting is preferable to drinking them.

Or is this just some psychological experiment from the advertising world? The knowledge that they are a foreign owned company has probably seeped into their customer base and this may just be a way to stop the spread of the pernicious fact based rumor that they are run from Belgium/Brazil. What does it hurt them to slap a few patriotic words on a new label? Probably a drop in the marketing budget. All in exchange for forestalling their sales slide. Blatant misdirection has worked for the Tangerine Terror this political season (see Trump in his own version of 11 22 63). So, why not for America-wiser.

I fully expect to see a Point the Way USA IPA this summer in red, white and blue striped cans. Or perhaps a Patriot’s Peachy Pumpkin from Elysian.

I also fully expect craft brewers to answer this call with patriotic and hoppy puns combined.

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The (Now?) Annual Budweiser Super Bowl Ad reaction

Once again, Budweiser has taken the Super Bowl stage to bash craft beer…..

I understand that people loathe the righteous anger spilled over a stupid beer ad. I do. But if I have to scroll past post after post of David Bowie remembrances on Facebook and Donald Trump rants on Twitter because, that’s your jam, well, now you are paying the price for interwebs freedom of speech.

I also understand that this ad was the craft beer fans potty break time. The “Not” ad, as I call it, wasn’t for us. Bud knows craft beer people ain’t coming back. They have lost us. Who they are trying to keep and who are they trying to gain is what’s important and again where I think they have failed.

The ad is aggressive support for their consumer base. From the thumping bass music to the simple ideas, it is like the friend who has your back and is willing to fight for you. But that friend is wicked confused. I could go slide by slide and pick apart what works, “Not” Sippy and what doesn’t “Not” Small but I am more concerned about the internal marketing communication at SABInBevMiller.

Last year they basically pissed over their purchase of Elysian and their pumpkin peach beer and in 2016, they have doubled down on that tactic. The weird anti-fruit cup slide in the ad is in direct contrast to their Shock Top ad in the same Super Bowl. And they have added a swipe at imported beer which is odd for a Brazilian/Belgian company that does import a tiny bit of beer.

Why air an ad that fights your other brands?
A) It gives fodder to the group that hates you because you are giving them ammunition to hurt you with.
B) It confuses your customers that like both Bud and Shock Top (whether they know they are one in the same company)
C) it demoralizes the employees of Shock Top and the Imports (which would be a great band name) because they are now deemed as “Not” Bud.

Maybe the company is just too big to talk amongst themselves though I believe that the marketing and advertising side must be fenced off from the production side on purpose and that lack of communication leads, inevitably, to mixed messages. At the very least, Bud Light, Bud Regular and Shock Top should stay out of each other’s way. In a perfect world all three would work in concert to promote all of Budweiser.

This is all armchair quarterbacking but Budweiser needs to keep their advertising and marketing simple. Especially in a venue like the Super Bowl. Attack ads aren’t in the spirit of the context. People want funny, they want celebrities and/or they want poignant.

Here is a great example from a brand (Star Wars/Duracell) that took the love of the old movies, the hatred of the stupid prequels and the anticipation of the new Force Awakens and made a fun ad filled with childhood wonder….

Or you could really make an impact like Honda did by teaming up with Uber to provide free rides home. That is how you do it Budweiser. Oh and stay away from monkey-dog-baby hybrids. That shit scared me.

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Bud at it Again

So Budweiser would have us pair artisanal burgers with fancy buns and all sorts of toppings with their beer.

Here is the thing though.  People who enjoy a really good burger probably don’t want your Big Mac beer. Again, ABInBev, who are you advertising too?  Just show semi normal men with hot women and an outdoor grill. That is your diminishing market. 

You may have also seen that they have bought David Chang and his loathing of craft beer to judge a burger contest as well. But Chang lost cred with craft beer and is probably unknown to Bud fans so the only winner is whoever pockets the prize money and then drain pours the Budweiser. 

Maybe if a Don Draper were around, he could explain what is going on but from my perspective, Budweiser is losing its marketing touch.

Oh and the clinking bottles at the end was a little aggressive, or was that me worrying about broken glass?

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Bad Form

There are times when a shot across the bow requires a response and other times you should continue gliding through the water without even acknowledging what has happened.

I so wanted to do the latter but the more that I thought about Budweiser’s commercial during the Super Bowl, the more I needed to add my two cents to the affair that really only craft beer people seem to be up in arms about. (Check out the Best-Worst articles on the internet, hardly a mention of this commerical in a year of mediocre ones.)

First, I think the New Yorker cover that skewered the snobbery of craft beer did more without a script or music then the Bud ad could hope to accomplish, months ago. Kudos though to Bud for choosing a venerable publication to borrow ideas from.
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What failed in the dimly lit Bud spot was telling. Belittling taste then tacking backwards and extolling beechwood chips. All that was your typical ad fluffery just more scattershot than usual.

But it was the words do the “hard work” which raised the most ire and which apparently doesn’t include the work of checking to see if any of their newly purchased craft breweries might be the target of their “pumpkin-peach humor”. If I was the VP of the craft division, I would be more than a little pissed that Belgium was dissing the Elysian purchase. And I certainly hope, that VP didn’t see the spot before it aired. Because he will need plausible deniability when trying to explain this to Seattle, who is already in a pissy mood from the game itself. But where they really shot themselves in the foot was future acquisitions. That target list is now a lot shorter. Good luck creating a craft portfolio when you diss your own people and purchases.
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My second cent is: Who was the ad aimed at? My wife (who doesn’t drink) hit the nail on the head when she noticed that only people with knowledge of craft beer would really get it. In the end, all Bud did was rile an easily riled opponent.  There are few things in life as easy as riling the craft beer community. Maybe making toaster waffles but that’s about it. My wife’s final point was that Bud may have inadvertently confused its customers into thinking that Shock Top would be soon making a pumpkin-peach beer.

But I don’t think their customers were the target. My guess was it was a highly costly bully tactic. More befitting a schoolyard than business. And it proves, once again, that ABInBev is still pretty clueless about the craft movement. They paid a gazillion dollars to ridicule a beer drinking demographic that was already inclined against them when they should be attempting to rally the troops. Compare that to McDonald’s ad grabbing at the heartstrings and gaining goodwill by the ton with their pay with love spot and you see how misguided Budweiser’s marketing was. McDonalds is as maligned as Budweiser by a vocal minority but they found a way to attract people to visit and at the very least grudgingly accept that it was a well played stunt.

Bud can easily claim that fans of craft are wicked condescending to them and that this was comeuppance.  But I have to say that a company that has all the tools to brew better beer with better ingredients with the best QC has been condescending to customers for years by choosing the bottom line over taste every time.

They are also not good at caring for their dogs or building barns that can hold horses if their other commercial is to be believed.

P.S. If you want to vent your Bud frustration, you can head to Beer Belly for their Craft for Crap….

“We want as many people as possible to grab any variant of Budweiser that may be in their fridge, attic, car trunk and bring it to Beer Belly on Saturday from 12-4pm. We will go ahead and trade you for a craft beer for $.01. We can fuss over our beer, drink it, talk about it, whatever the hell you want.

Here are the details:

  • Saturday, 2/7 from 12-4pm
  • Bring in any Budweiser and we will exchange you a craft beer (draft only) for $.01.
  • Bring as many crap (Budweiser) beers as you want, but maximum one $.01 craft beer per person.
  • Bring your non-craft drinking friends. Show them what’s up.”
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…for comparison

Can you say slick and overproduced? Can you say loud annoying Creed style music? Today’s other post was thoughtful and funny and this one just screams buy our latest thing, please. And it will be pushed hard during the Super Bowl.
ANHEUSER-BUSCH BUDWEISER BLACK CROWN
“Budweiser Black Crown retains the key characteristics of Budweiser with its clean taste and high drinkability. Featuring more body, color and hop character than the flagship lager, it also has a slightly higher alcohol content at 6% ABV.

Brewing History: Budweiser Black Crown proved to be the crowd favorite during “Project 12,” a nearly year-long process in which 12 beers from Budweiser brewmasters across the United States were ultimately narrowed to one winner through consumer sampling and feedback.

Budweiser Black Crown’s recipe was developed in Los Angeles with collaboration from brewmasters in Fairfield, Calif., and Houston.”

My guess is that if you can taste a hop then you are a super-taster and are to be congratulated.

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Project 12


Normally I do not use this space to talk about Budweiser unless it is to kick them in the butt to make better beer since they have great brewers and great equipment and wads of cash to spend. But I have to today, because they have taken up one of my suggestions that I have ranted about on this blog. (OK, not because of me, I don’t think). They have actually given their brewers some leeway to make something other than the corn flavored fizzy water. I can’t vouch if it will be good. Their American Ale was a dreadful watered down amber but maybe, keep hoping, they will make something at least drinkable.

“Project 12.” Twelve Anheuser-Busch brewmasters at Budweiser’s 12 geographically dispersed breweries worked together to create their own “tribute” beers to fit the Budweiser brand’s reputation for quality and consistency. The assignment pays homage to Budweiser’s “clean and crisp” taste by using the proprietary yeast directly descended from the original Budweiser yeast culture used by Adolphus Busch in 1876 and still used by Budweiser today.

Through internal tasting and analysis, the 12 small-batch beers – each a lager using all-natural ingredients – were pared to six to take part in a summer-long, nationwide sampling effort. Consumer feedback will help Budweiser narrow the six beers to three for inclusion in a limited-edition sampler pack, available for purchase this fall.

To launch the six sampler beers, private events with brewmasters are scheduled to take place in August in all 12 A-B brewery cities: St. Louis, Mo.; Merrimack, N.H.; Baldwinsville, N.Y.; Newark, N.J.; Williamsburg, Va.; Cartersville, Ga.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Columbus, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Fort Collins, Colo.; Fairfield, Calif.; and Los Angeles, Calif.

Each small batch Budweiser is distinguished by the ZIP code where the beer is brewed. Among the six beers being sampled this summer and the brewmasters behind them:

Budweiser Small Batch 91406 (Los Angeles): A deep-amber lager with 6 percent ABV that uses four different types of hops. The beer is brewed by brewmaster Bryan Sullivan in Los Angeles and was developed in collaboration with Scott Ungermannin Fairfield and Dave Cohen in Houston.

Budweiser Small Batch 63118 (St. Louis): A deep-gold 5 percent ABV American lager that uses the same types of hops (Hallertau and Tettnang) commonly used at the St. Louis brewery during the 19th century. The beer is brewed in St. Louis by brewmaster Jim Bicklein and was developed in collaboration with Katie Rippelfrom Fort Collins.

Budweiser Small Batch 43229 (Ohio): A light-amber lager using eight different types of hops with 6 percent ABV. The beer is brewed in Columbus, Ohio, and was the brainchild of the brewery’s general manager, Kevin Lee and developed with assistant brewmasters Travis Burge and Tyler Hunter.

Budweiser Small Batch 23185 (Virginia): A light-amber all-malt bourbon cask lager aged on bourbon staves and vanilla beans and with an ABV of 5.5 percent. The beer is brewed by Daniel Westmoreland in Williamsburg and was developed in collaboration with Mike Anderson in Jacksonville and Dan Kahn in Cartersville.

Budweiser Small Batch 13027 (New York): A bright-golden lager brewed with six imported and domestic hops and with an ABV of 7 percent. The beer is brewed in Baldwinsville, N.Y., by brewmaster Nick Mills in consult with general managerSteve McCormick.

Budweiser Small Batch 80524 (Colorado): A deep-gold, filtered wheat beer with 5.2 percent ABV using lemon peel, orange peel and coriander. The beer is brewed by Katie Rippel in Fort Collins and was developed by Nick Mills in Baldwinsville,Otto Kuhn in Merrimack and Tiago Darocha in Newark.

“The key to this project was the common yeast – which is a very important and often under-appreciated contributor to the flavor and aroma of beer,” said Jane Killebrew-Galeski, director of brewing, quality and innovation for Anheuser-Busch. “We are proud of all these beers – the variety and the quality – but we want consumer feedback. So, we’re looking forward to what we hear when we sample this summer. Our objective is to allow our brewmasters to show some creativity, but the beers must fit the hallmarks the Budweiser brand is respected for, such as quality and consistency, and have a very crisp and clean taste.”

Though the range is still limited and the term “light” is used so as not to scare or offend those who have yet to discover craft beer at least there is a modest effort involved. I don’t think it will come close to matching the quality of the Sam Adams Longshot beers but this writer is very cautiously optimistic.

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Consumer Reports needs better beer

I have been subscribed to Consumer Reports for years. It comes in handy more than you would expect. I chose my last digital camera based on their recommendation. And I totally agree with their aggressive approach to consumer protection and safeguards.

But where Consumer Reports is weak is quality food and beverages. They occasionally will review good chocolate, but in general, they only talk about mass marketed, available everywhere food. And normally, I just skip over it. I ain’t gonna base my spaghetti sauce purchases on their opinion of Ragu. Be it a best buy or not recommended.

But when this article appeared in the latest issue, all I could do was shake my head. (click on the photos to enlarge)


A) I want to know who drew the short straw and had to drink these crappy beers. And yes, they are crappy. The one that I had most recently was the Name Tag lager from Trader Joe’s. And it was thin, with no taste other than some sugar and cereal notes that you really had to look for to find.
B) Is there no store in New York that they could get a representative sample of actual beer? They could do a tasting of Firestone, Sierra Nevada, Anchor, Widmer and Stone at least.
C) How could they rate these as anything higher than adequate? And who thought they detected citrus in Coors?

Come on Consumer Reports! You can do better.