AB InBev Bashing Craft?

Interesting question and I'd put that one to @JackHorzempa as well since I know he's done a lot of home brewing and has looked into a lot of similar kinds of questions. My suspicion is that it may also depend on the part of the recipe thats focused on process and how the ingredients get used as well.

 

You may be right, but when we saw the Super Bowl ad for the first time, where there is imagery of splitting rough chunks of beechwood, and they talk about brewing the "hard way" the visual advertising at work there, undoubtedly is showing a process- a process that most people probably don't associate with giant factory brewing methods, and perhaps is one more commonly associated with something local or "craft". We finally see the rough-hewn beechwood in motion, rather than text laid over product-placed print ads.

As AbInBev's market share decreases, I would have to believe they are totally in tune to all current trends in brewing that consumers are into now. I haven't been following Budweiser ad campaigns to closely in my lifetime, but if you asked me about them, the Clydesdales come to mind, and I don't recall any mention of beechwood aging in any commercials featuring the horses and their dogs (I could be wrong...).

They may not care about BCBS and the like in the face of their ad campaigns for their flagship Budweiser brand, but they sure as hell do behind closed doors. Not trying to hijack the thread into a breakdown of advertising affect, but to my original point, I still believe they are using subtle advertising imagery associated with craft beer.

 

Beechwood aging has been a part of Bud's ads for at least 40 years. Probably longer.

 

Yeah, your memory isn't serving you well. Beechwood aging has been in use for years and years, and a Bud advertising slogan for longer than most all the BAs using this site have been alive. Indeed they claim it was first started by Adolpus Busch back in the late 1800s.

 

Both sets are worth going after, and I don't think it's good to dismiss the retirement age guys. Have you been around retired people with disposable money, especially in warm retirement places? There's a lot of drinking. A lot. It starts during the day, every day.

Middle aged demographics are quite valuable too as so many will have established career paths and disposable income for beer, and are likely to be the longterm customer who will them continue drinking that beer for awhile.

I don't disagree that they're also going for the younger customer and I acknowledge that's one set of people they're having trouble with already. So many younger customers are into craft beer, especially the educated/white collar types. Maybe it is stereotypical but perhaps they're making headway with the blue collar crowd who want to drink a sixpack after their "shift", and that is the same crowd that will like the mocking of craft beer tasters depicted in the pumpkin peach ale ad (who probably go drive some Eurotrash car instead of a proper truck or muscle car that is only fast in a straight line).

 

Sooooo, what does this all have to do with their hypocrisy in advertising against craft beer?

 

Not sure what you mean by "it" above - "beechwood aging" in general, or as part of the Budweiser process specifically?

So-called "Fining by chips" in a chip cellar as part of the broader kraeusening process was a common US lager brewery procedure in the 19th century, as noted in this section of 1903's 100 Years of Brewing:​

​

The process continued to be used by numerous US lager brewers after Repeal, as well, and is discussed and explained in the Master Brewers Assoc. of the America's The Practical Brewer (1946), as well as the 1977 ed. which noted that Beechwood Aging, as done by "...one of the world's largest brewers..." :​

Beechwood aging was never unique to Anheuser-Busch or their Budweiser brewing process, they were simply the last US brewer to continue to employ it.

 

Well, I remember being in college, being poor, and drinking just about any beer. Travel a bit later is what opened my mind.

 

Yeah, that "it" was ambiguous. Was referring to info from a Bud web site that describes the brewing process they use. It includes beechwood aging and claims that brewing process goes all the way back to Adolphus Busch.

 

Intended to add the link but the unscheduled maintenance down time prevented that, so here it is:

http://anheuser-busch.com/index.php/our-heritage/commitment-to-quality/brewing-process/

 

Nothing. It was a sub-discussion that had branched off from the main topic.

 

I'm not debating the fact that they've advertised it forever, the print ads that have been posted on here prove that. I just believe with current brewing trends, that the "beechwood aged" slogan may be more relevant these days, as several popular styles these days are aged on wood. I'm not an ABInBev ad exec, but I still think it's all relative in current beer marketing trends. Not wanting to take this thread further off track.

Cheers guys!

 

Yeah, and I specifically said going employee owned to protect against being bought by macros. Full Sail sold to a private equity firm. HUGE difference. The stigma alone would prevent Odell or New Belgium employees from selling. Can you imagine the infighting?

 

Infighting? Sure, but all it takes is a majority (or maybe a super majority, depending on the bylaws); it does not need to be unanimous.

 

Dennis,

Contemporary AAL beers can have up to 40+ percent of the grain bill being adjuncts (e.g., corn, rice, etc.). By having such a high percentage of the grain bill not being barley malt, the brewers achieve a product that is very light in color, flavor and body. Mainstream beer drinkers desire beers that are very light in color, flavor and body.

If an AAL were to be brewed with a smaller proportion of adjuncts (e.g., 20% of the grain bill) the beer would have a more perceptible malt backbone.

We homebrewers refer to AALs that were produced prior to prohibition as Classic American Pilsner (CAP). I homebrew a CAP every year. I use flaked maize (corn) as my adjunct at 20% of the grain bill. I also generously late hop with noble hops (Hallertauer Mittelfruh), which is consistent with how beers were brewed prior to Prohibition. A CAP is significantly different from contemporary AALs since it has a more substantial malt backbone and very noticeable hop aroma/flavor. IMO, a properly made CAP is a very tasty beer.

@drtth made mention of Straub Brewing Company. In their fall variety 12-pack one of the beers is a beer labeled as 1872 Lager. The 1872 Lager is a Pre-Prohibition Lager. If you can obtain this 12-pack you could get a chance to drink an AAL that has a lower percentage of adjunct (corn) and more hop aroma/flavor.

Cheers!

Jack

 

We don't care about the macro drinkers, except the ones that we can share good beer with. And the macro producers aren't snobs, they're assholes who are on the defensive. Someone on here said trolling and that's the perfect description. Bottom line is they're trying to paint drinking craft beer as feminine so that insecure consumers won't even sample real beer. They know that in most cases once someone tries craft for the first time, it's over. It's something that long-time craft drinkers have seen time and again. The power of the beer is just too strong to combat, so they have to preempt with imagery that makes American men think they'll be pussified with just one sip.

 

A lot of people are saying it's "us vs them" and citing examples like Pepsi, Apple, etc. I don't know if anybody mentioned this yet, but in all of those commercials they are making Pepsi, Apple, etc. look better by comparison. Sure they badmouth their competition, but they also explain why you should choose them, because they are better. That's the difference. The Bud commercials aren't making any claims that they are superior, or even good. Everyone knows they are not. They are just, for lack of a better word, mudslinging. It's the basest strategy by a company desperate to maintain.

 

Well, we can only speculate what would happen in the face of a super lucrative offer from a macro. But I believe Charlie Papazian said something recently that the the craft beer entrepreneur holds motives much deeper than financial gain (community, love of the work, control of one's destiny) and I tend to agree with him. I'd put my money on a majority of the stockholders posturing hard against a macro buyout.

 

While I appreciate the thrust of your post, I gotta say that it also has the idea in it that folks who drink AAL would prefer better beer if only they tried it. This I disagree with. Light lagers have been the most popular beer in the history of the world for well over a hundred years because folks enjoy to drink it, and nothing is going to change that. In England, where there is a strong tradition of better beer, AAL is about 80% of beer sales. Add to this that AAL's (as noted by some UK BA's)are often more expensive than fine/cask beers, so folks prefer it even to the degree of being willing to pay more for it.

And for the record the idea of us being painted as sissies/effeminate is snobbery. When the beer is attacked it is just opinion. When the drinker of the beer is attacked it is pure, unadulterated, unvarnished, brash and bold snobbery.

 

I remember college and being strapped for cash as well. However, I don't remember being particularly swayed by Budweiser commercials nor do I remember them attacking a specific kind of beer or group of people. I still
believe they are trying to assure current Bud drinkers that, as beer drinkers, they have made the right choice rather than getting craft drinkers to switch. Your point about getting the new, younger drinker baited and hooked was something that I had not thought of. It makes sense.
Do you want to hang out in this cool bar with music and women or hang out with chubby guys sniffing beer? It almost makes me want a Bud. Ha-ha! Cheers!