The best beer... statistically

Bud Light is pure genius, it’s a marketing home run of epic proportions. How can a beer that bad sell so well? Great commercials that completely trigger their demographic to buy. I like most AALs, I think Bud Light is a shitty beer by any definition. I can drink Miller Lite, but I’d drink water before BL. I find even mediocre beers are ok if you damn near freeze them and drink them quickly, BL is one of those that freezing won’t help it, it’s still BL and tastes weirdly sweet somehow. I’ve said many times most people’s disdain for AALs is over blown, they’re mostly inoffensive Light lagers. I find BL to be offensive in so many ways, as I do with Yuengling and Fat Tire, hate those beers as well.

 

Palate shock. Same guys who always looked at my Guinness Draught and asked me how I could drink that "motor oil."

 

I agree. I think that is why Newcstle brown was a frequent winner at my blind tastings. It was not so dull and boring as to offend more serious beer drinkers but it was just somewhat more interesting than the mass produced pale lagers that the rest of the crowd was used to; Interesting enough without being off-putting to either the newbies or to the more experienced beer fans.

 

There have been beer festivals where beers are poured in a "blind" manner.

Here was one that was brought to my attention by @AlcahueteJ (click on the "view details" link on this page)
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/blind-...1rlcMW59fIZ3Kll47uBTl1O7fOfSBax_qMcr5faJv7BE#

As @beertunes pointed out, there was no brewery marketing allowed at that fest. Attendees didn't even know who the participating breweries were until after the event. Despite all that, it seems like demand was high enough for the event to sell out.

Here's an example of another blind festival. In this case, they only had one "style" of beer at the fest.
https://www.growlermag.com/unlabeled/

On a smaller scale, bars have also organized similar events. Here's an example:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1082878

Personally, I would keep my expectations in check regarding such an exercise. It would be a fun exercise but nothing much more than that in my eyes. I wouldn't put an extraordinary amount of weight in the results of determining a personal favorite beer after having tiny pours of 40 different beers in one afternoon. I would have zero interest in the results from a crowd if I wasn't a participant. At the same time, I would likely have no real interest in going out of my way to attend a beer festival if I couldn't determine what beers I was going to drink while there. Like I said, if I was ever at such a fest, it would be fun though. I'd be more likely to go to such a thing if it was an event at a neighborhood bar (before 2020), or if it focused on beers that I had a real affinity for.

Doing my own blind tastings for myself is another story. That's something where there seems to be a much clearer benefit for myself as a drinker... and the context is totally different than a beer fest.

 

One of the regional beers I’ve never come across, I’ve only been to Chicago once.

 

I think you’d be right, back in the day my first Sam Adams was an awful bitter strong beer that I choked down. Gimme me a Schmidt’s it would easily win, palates are conditioned. Now SA is pretty harmless, and a tad sweeter than I care for.

 

That was actually tried a time or two here in MN. I don't remember the specifics, but it was a fest with all beers of the same style, but only indicated by some numbering scheme, with the attendees voting on the best. I recall they did one for NE/Hazy, and I think one other. They were planning more; perhaps the pandemic ended it.

I'll see if I can find any old reports about it. Anyone else from MN who remembers? I think the first one was held in St. Paul.

EDIT: Here are the specifics. It was put on by Growler Magazine, which is no longer publishing. I think they are still active WRT some of their festivals, but IDK for sure.

Anyhow, they did a hazy one and a Oktoberfest one. Here is a web link:

https://www.growlermag.com/unlabeled/

 

The correct answer is the beers you have rated the best appearance, aroma, taste, mouthfeel and overall qualities are the best. Whether you allow bias or not in your ranking is up to you.

I attempt to score beers as objectively as possible, and use my scores as a guide as to what to purchase. I use other people's scores to assess what new beers I should consider buying beyond releases from breweries I have historically considered my favorite in the past.

There are 100,000s of beers out there, best you can do is narrow the list by previous personal experiences and go from there.

 

Yes, commercials can not motivate someone to purchase a product they are not interested in. But for the case of Light/Lite beers (which the majority of beer drinkers in the US prefer) commercials can 'motivate' a consumer to purchase brand A over brands B,C,...

Cheers!

 

Personally I don’t think most 22 year olds are knowledgeable enough to know to buy better beer. So they buy the beer they’re led to by the market masters with girls in bikinis, or young hunky guys. Drink this beer and join our beach party, come frolic on the beach, and it’s low carb, lower calories too. Bud Light and Corona are both terrific in selling this kind of scenario. Certainly the beer doesn’t sell because it’s a great beer, but in this demographic group that’s not important imo, it’s about image. Imagine that hunky guy with a Budweiser in his hand, he’d get strange looks for maybe drinking his dads beer. When I think of Budweiser I think of snow, horses, guys in red plaid coats, frosty weather. Shrugs. If I thought I could get pretty girls by drinking Bud Light I’d do it.

 

Is this a poll? I'll vote (b).

 

I would add to this discussion that in all likelihood they do not desire "better beer". Like most consumers of beer they are seeking a beverage that is light in color, light in body and very light in flavor. Greg Koch of Stone Brewing would detail this as "fizzy yellow beer". As a 'reminder' these were the beverages you and I drank when we were 22 years old (and younger ).

There is just a large (majority) of the beer consumer market that do not desire "better beer" and they are happy to drink beers like Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light,...

Below is an anecdotal story I related in a past thread:

I was attending a Notre Dame - Syracuse football game at the Meadowlands and we collectively rented a Winnebago to tailgate before the game. I brought some homebrewed beers to share for drinking before the game. As I sat there enjoying my homebrewed beers I noticed that all of the 'neighbors' in the parking lot were drinking Light/Lite beers with Bud Light being the most popular by far, but there was a notable amount of Miller Lite drinker and only a handful of Coors Light consumers.

Maybe at that time (this was several years ago) Bud Light had an effective advertising strategy?

Cheers!

 

Not absolutely necessary to constrain this to the US beer market since worldwide the majority of beer consumers prefer beers that are light in color, light in body, and very light in flavor. Just one example is that Carling Lager (and AAL) is the top selling beer in the UK.

Cheers!

@FBarber @dcotom

 

I think your absolutely right, they want fizzy yellow beers to drink nothing more. Budweiser is the flagship and perhaps one of the most important and influential beers of all time. When’s the last time you saw a Budweiser commercial? Even at the Super Bowl they’re rare, Bud Light runs forever on football Sunday’s. They put all their advertising money into Bud Light because their marketing surveys probably say they kids will drink what you tell them they need to buy and drink. So show them good looking young people cavorting on the beach and a done deal.

Miller Lite had great commercials back in the day, they’ve backed off tremendously. Seems like only Corona is putting it out there as well, it’s like they all backed off because why spend money on an advertising fight that you cant win.

 

Well .... I disagree. Budweiser is a AAL, as are many of the other "best selling" beers around the world, while others are all-malt lagers. Bud Light, on the other hand, is a reduced-calorie "light beer" as are the US's #2 and #3 beer.

To me, "Light Beer" and "American Adjunct Lager" are very different styles (even as Budweiser in the US has been dumbed down over the past decades, at least as far as IBU's is concerned).

 

I disagree with "very".

Cheers!

 

Budweiser sales have been steadily declining over many, many years:



My guess is that you are not seeing many commercials for Budweiser since it is a declining product and not deemed worthy of this level of investment in adverting.

I suppose some person could argue that perhaps sales would decline at a slower rate if AB InBev showed more commercials but the old saying of "fish or cut bait" comes to mind and it sure seems that the AB InBev folks are on the side of "cut bait" here.

Cheers!