Do you think Miller/Bud will ever brew a proper Pilsner?

Give up on Bud/Miller. It's not worth your effort hoping. Just enjoy good breweries who are brewing proper pilsners now. If Bud/Miller ever brew a decent brew, maybe it will be a nice surprise in the future, but there's no use wasting any energy wondering if that will ever happen.
And even if they did make an awesome pilsner tomorrow, is it really worth buying it? You have to account for their shitty business ethics. I'm not sure I could ever support such companies even if they did decide to brew decent beer.

 

What's in it for them? AB and MC have 75% of the US beer market- what would they gain with a "proper pilsner"? They wouldn't get much crossover market (or respect ) from the craft beer drinkers (where pils in a very minor product), nor would they be able to get much of the current "Euro Lager" drinkers' market share, since much of the latter market have shown that "Imported" on the neck label and, typically, a green bottle means more to them than freshness and taste.

And, other than Heineken, what brand's market would they be after? AB and MC already own and import Stella, Spaten and Pilsner Urquell, etc. - so any stolen market share could come out of their own portfolio.

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* I am not implying that "Euro lager" = "proper Pilsner"​

- just that they sell within the same market segment in the US.​

OTOH, Prof. Dr. Lintner, of a brewing school in Munich, thought AB's "Budweiser Beer" compared well to Pilsner Urquell and Bürgerbräu ------in 1904 :

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No. They're in it for the money, not the art.

 

Why should they? The vast majority of their customers don't want a proper Pilsner. In fact the majority of BAs don't even want a proper Pilsner. So why should industrial brewers make one?

For that matter, why don't the majority of Craft breweries make a proper Pilsner? What's their excuse?

 

As opposed to home brewers who are in it for the art and beer, not the money. and as opposed to out of business craft breweries, who were in it for the art.

 

Most guys still don't get that this site is home to a very few percent of beer drinkers. To most beer drinkers a proper beer is a BUD/Miller/Coors, and it they're feeling adverturous they'll have a Blue Moon of one of them fancy imports (Heineken). They have market share, they're making a lot of money, if they make a "proper" pils by the BA defination, most beer drinkers would switch, that's not what they want to drink. Hell even on this site most Pils are an afterthought, well behind IPA's and BA Stouts that dominate. Could they? Of course, but who wants to be the excec who changed things up and it tanked? See New Coke. Who decides what's proper anyway? People vote with their money and the vast MAJORITY vote on BMC stuff. If it was my business I'd be good with that, while I sip on my IPA.

 

The throughput thing is a valid excuse for most craft brewers not doing lagers.

 

In their minds, they think they are brewing a proper pilsner.

 

Living in SEPA where many local brewers produce lagers (e.g., Troegs, Stoudts, Sly Fox, Victory) I can only partly subscribe to the throughput argument. I'd suggest that where the market will support proper Pilsners the breweries can manage the throughput, but if the market won't sustain sales of a proper Pilsner you won't find one.

 

They won't brew a proper one as long as people continue to drink improper ones.

 

Locally, not too many do Pilsners or lagers as they don't have the tank space to keep up with demand with quick turn around ales. Got to keep the taps flowing. One place is doing mainly lagers, and they admit they could make 3 times more concentrating on ales. They are adding tanks as they can.

Making lagers takes a commitment to the time, and space required for the tanks. There is enough market and competition in SEPA to make it the craft lager leader. I was at the NHC in Philly, and was enjoying drinking all of those lagers.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by this one a few years back. I had no idea it was an A-B product at the time. I wonder if my impression would have been different if I had.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/36425/?ba=GRPunk

 

Glad you enjoyed the visit and the lagers.

 

The question is, who would buy a "proper" Pilsner from Miller/Bud? BMC drinkers are perfectly happy with their fizzy yellow beer, and craft drinkers tend to avoid BMC almost as a matter of principle. So is there a hole in the market that a "proper" Pilsner from Miller/Bud would fill?

 

They do.

SAB Miller make Pilsner Urquell, which is pretty good even if it was better in the Communist days and AB-InBev make Becks. Yeah, yeah, I know, Becks isn't actually that good, but it's definitely a proper Pilsner. It belongs to the German Pilsner family.

 

“So is there a hole in the market that a "proper" Pilsner from Miller/Bud would fill?”

You and I discussed this topic on this thread: http://beeradvocate.com/community/t...p-and-show-respect.106820/page-5#post-1574764

I would not utilize the descriptor of “hole” but I would still argue that craft beer drinkers that drink beers like Victory Prima Pils, Trumer Pils, Firestone Walker Pivo Pilsner, Troegs Sunshine Pils, Sierra Nevada Summerfest, etc. would also be willing to drink a Classic American Pilsner (even if it was brewed by a BMC brewery).

The bigger question (or at least I think it is a bigger question) is would regular BMC drinkers be willing to drink a flavorful pilsner like their great-grandfathers drank?

Back to the OP’s question: “proper Pilsner” that the BMC type breweries should brew is a Classic American Pilsner:

I will take this opportunity to get on my soapbox (again) and discuss the type of beer that the BMC breweries should be making: a Classic American Pilsner (CAP).

A flavorful beer that the BMC breweries could easily make is a Classic American Pilsner. Why not brew this beer for both craft beer drinkers and the mainstream drinkers who are adventurous enough to try a beer that their grandfathers and great-grandfathers drank before prohibition?

Below is something I posted previously:

So, believe it or not, before prohibition American breweries made tasty lagers. At that time they did not call them Classic American Pilsners. They were just American lagers.

A Classic American Pilsner is an easy beer to make: I homebrew them a lot. The BJCP style guidelines provide all the information you need.

In a nutshell:

· Grain: 80% 6 row malts, 20% corn

· Hops:

- For Bittering: Cluster hops 25-40 IBUs (I prefer 40 IBUs)

- For Flavor: Medium to high hop flavor from noble hops

- For Aroma: Medium to high hop aroma from noble hops

· Lager yeast

A well-made genuine CAP beer is a very enjoyable beer to drink. Any of the BMC breweries or Regional Breweries (e.g., Genesee, etc.) could very easily make CAP beers. All they need to do is back off the amount of adjunct (corn) they use in their regular AAL beers and up their hopping rates (bittering, flavor and aroma hop additions).

Cheers!

 

Jack's Abby is doing a pilsner soon, maybe they'll emulate this.

 

Not unless there's a profit in it for them.

 

Lol what brewery isn't in it for the money?