Budweiser American Ale and the 'New' Michelob

I drink alot of Bud nowaways. Yeah, I know, I find it hard to believe myself. I feel guilty about it and, lord knows, anyone who knows me would be shocked to find out. But, amazingly, Budweiser has earned the consideration.

This isn't your daddys Budweiser anymore. For starters, they are now owned by an international conglomerate (read the full story here:  http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1337955120080714), and secondly, and most importantly, they actually make some worthwhile beers now (refer to my pic above).

Although it appears that the Anheuser-Busch people are still in control of all the A-B brands, it is now practically impossible to know who is calling the shots as far as ideas, products, recipies and marketing strategies. Of course, I'm not saying InBev is responsible for the new beers A-B has come out with, just the R&D on these new brews had to have begun before Inbev's takeover bid was accepted. That's not what I'm getting at.

No, what we have here is the lovely folks at Budweiser trying to stake their claim in the craft beer market. They have made countless billions of dollars selling cheap watery beer to countless billions of people. So much so that most people in this country have grown (been brainwashed and trained over generations) to accept and love cheap, watery, tasteless beer and will not consider switching. For that exact reason, the BMC people (bud/miller/coors) will always focus 98% of their efforts on pumping out piss-water because they know it will sell. But they want a piece of every pie and the 'craft beer' market is lost revenue as far as they are concerned.

So, knowing that the craft beer revolution is going strong and gaining momentum because there are many people like me, like us, who want a better tasting beer, A-B realized they had to jump in this game all the way if they wanted our money. Enter a revamped Michelob line and, what I like to call Bud's craft flagship, Budweiser American Ale.

I love and respect American capitalism, but sometimes companies get so big and powerful that they make us hate them. In all fairness though, I have to give Anheuser-Busch kudos- this time they actually listened. They realized that we wanted a better tasting beer made with better ingredients. They realized some of us were never going to buy flavorless swill like Bud Select. So they went back to the lab and came out with an American Amber that tastes pretty damn good and a Michelob line that does some pretty respectable versions of some popular beer styles. And they did it knowing that these beers will never sell even a quarter of what Bud Light sells.

Is the American Ale a super kick-ass beer or the leading example of the style? No. Is it cheaper than the others, tasty and easy to find? Yes. Same goes for the Michelobs, not the best but affordable and easy to find. I hate so say it but quality beer costs $9.99 or more for a 6 pack, whereas I can get the Bud and the Michelobs for $6.50. I'm a bill paying, working class guy who drinks a lot of beer and sometimes price comes before taste. Before, when I was low on funds I bought Miller Lite, now I can buy a decent amber ale and not have to sacrifice taste at all.

As you may have noticed, I really like the American Ale. It's not a great beer but it holds its own with other amber ales quite well, plus the aforementioned $6.50 price tag. As far as the Michelob line, the Pale Ale is really good and the Dunkelweisse gets rave reviews from the fans of the style. Go to beeradvocate.com and see for yourself. Also, the Irish Red may not be spectacular but I'll take it over Killians anyday.

So, here it is spelled out: Anheuser-Busch makes some decent beers nowadays. Now, I would much rather support the little guy and drink a more well-crafted beer but I got bills to pay. So with that in mind, I suggest anyone who likes, but can't always afford, Samuel Adams, or Dogfish Head, or Anchor, or Rogue, or Stone, or Sierra, or New Belgium try some of the new Bud beers. They might just be better than you expect.  And if you don't like them, you only lost 6 bucks.