Goodbye, Michelob Original Lager.

My understanding is Michelob will cease making these "limited batches" sometime in 2023, so fans who find any new fresh batches should scoop them up while they can.

 

Source?

 

Yeah, it would make sense given the pretty dramatic decrease in barrelage for the beer since it's heyday (circa 1980 - 7th best selling beer w/over 8M bbl. and nearly 5% of the US market*) and not unlike the history of the 3 primary ex-flagship macro beers - Budweiser, Coors, Miller High Life - which are all outsold these days by their "light" off-spring.

Michelob Ultra, OTOH, is a Top Five beer these days, outselling Budweiser according to some sources, making it AB's second best selling US brand.

* (Probably mentioned that already at some point in this 12 page thread but it bears repeating, I guess).

 

Yes, I was just speaking about Michelob. Ultra is the one positive story in their portfolio and isn’t going anywhere.

@steveh - I don’t have a linked source, just someone from the industry.

 

Name names, man.

 

I hope that's not true, that would be very upsetting to me.

 

I don't know why people even care about beer's appearance. I've literally never seen a beer that I didn't want to drink based off appearance alone (besides maybe some wacky experimental beers).

 

Have you contacted (e.g., written a letter) to AB InBev to advocate for this brand being retained?

Sierra Nevada is bringing back some beer brands they previously discontinued (e.g., Summerfest Lager) due to consumers (e.g., BAs) complaining.

Maybe you could keep Michelob from being discontinued?

Cheers!

P.S. It has been a long time since I have seen the 'regular' Michelob at any of my local beer retailers but there is a shit-ton of Michelob Ultra there.

 

Sometimes, a beer can look mighty gross, e.g., protein globules, floaties throughout, swirlies on top, sludge on the bottom. If it looks like someone might have puked a little in the glass…

 

I do too.

 

One thing is true. Good bye to the OPs title. The beer is now called Michelob Lager. (maybe a revisit?) I did see a sixer of Amber Bock the other day and almost picked it up. I will buy it in the near future.

 

Yeah I should try, but it does not seem like there's much interest for this beer. It would take more than just me for them to bring it back.

I still think they should use the massive success of Ultra to promote Michelob Lager, I think it could see a resurgence in sales

 

There you go!

Plant that seed.

Cheers!

 

In other "Michelob" brand news, the newish AB CMO Benoit Garbe is predicting Michelob Ultra is going to the best selling beer in the US within the next 5 years.

I guess it could happen... but such predictions plus $5 will get you a bottle of Michelob Ultra (maybe? I don't know what they charge.)

 

I wondered that, too. As I noted above, it was easy to use the CHAT feature on AB's "Contact Us" page. In fact, I did it just the other day, again, when that BASS ALE thread was posted and it worked fine (IIRC they said the last batch of US Bass was brewed last February with no plans for another. I didn't bother posting that, since I think the Bass than was exported to the US was ruined by the 1990s).

But today I tried asking their AI Assistant (named "Stella" - I guess a male AI rep would have been named "Bud" - if AI existed 40 years ago) and it just ignores my question and keeps giving me a bunch of AB PR.

To quote Samuel Morris - "What has God wrought?"- (again, blaming the wrong guy.)

Maybe the Toll Free number is being manned (by real humans) again? Nope. Still lots of "Please press (number)" options but none for consumer questions. I guess one could try an email via the Contact Us page.

 

Michelob Ultra is big but I don't see it overtaking Bud Light. I see far, far more Bud Light being drank in real life and it's too big of a difference to be overcome in just 5 years.

 

Yeah, well - kinda why I posted it. No doubt he sees in-house sales projections and statistics that we don't, but he's also got a vested interest in hoping he's correct.

Just not as much:
2012 - Bud Light Market Share = 21.9%
2020 - Bud Light Market Share = 12.4%

Of course, while Michelob Ultra's share growth is impressive over the same period, it's still less than half of BL's. But of the 4 largest selling beers in the US, all "lights", MU is the only one that is growing share.

2012 - Michelob Ultra Market Share = 1.9%
2020 - Michelob Ultra Market Share = 5.4%

source - Beer Marketers Insights estimates

 

Cheers?

 

Sadly looks definitive. Three years of thread...