Bud IPA?

Why spend the money. Bud Products are the most consumed beer on the planet. Its a multi billion dollar company.

 

Which can all be summarized as "It's not part of their brand identity."

 

1. They own their own hop farm in Idaho that already grows much of the best Amarillo you can get right now, so this point is moot. They can get whatever hops they want and something like Mosaic is actually a better yielding hop than older stuff so they can likely grow it for less cost, even considering royalties to YCR/HBC.

2. The ABI distribution and bottle-dating system is already superior to almost every distributing craft brewer when if comes to freshness. If they want to push a beer and keep it rotating, they are more than able to do so. Goose island IPA is flying through most of the country at this point.

Bottom line is it's a branding issue within the company. They would rather not use the flagship brand for the craft segment. Trust me, in a few years their subsidiaries will collectively be selling more IPA than most craft brewers combined. They don't need to make a Bud IPA to do that.

And this is going to be a huge problem for many small brewers that are heavily into distribution right now...

 

AB/In-Bev has a flagship IPA. Goose Island.

 

They already do, and you should try it. Look for a beer called Goose Island, it's pretty good!

 

And imagine if the Bud faithful bought it and did like it? They could have created a monster, as those folks could start searching for better IPAs.

 

I never really understood the Bud derivatives they keep coming out with. I'm thinking it's to get people who haven't bought a Bud product to buy a Bud product [translation: young, first time drinkers] but at the same time, they may be taking people from their flagship beer so with those converts, they're just taking a stat from one column to another. So if they were to come out with a Bud IPA there would be some curiosity craft drinkers who will try it but their core customer seems to be afraid of anything that doesn't say Budweiser or Bud Light so as others have pointed out, they already have a few IPAs in their portfolio - Goose Island, 10 Barrel, Blue Point and whoever else they have bought/are buying/will buy.

 

define proper ipa hops.
Are east kent goldings proper? what about Fuggles?

 

I don't know if this falls under the "Bud" category, but some years back Michelob did a series of beers of different styles that weren't half bad. As I recall they did a pale, porter, marten and a dunked, I believe but I don't recall an IPA.

 

I believe that they are battling with the other mass producers for market share rather than worrying, for now, about craft taking their share. As an example I would point out Shocktop as a response to Blue Moon. If craft continues to grow at current rates I think we will see AB/ InBev continue to purchase various craft brands. Unlike some on the site I don't mind purchasing an AB product like GI IPA and if they brought back the Budweiser American Ale I would give it a try. That said, I would estimate that 90+% of my purchases are non BMC products. So I AB moves into "crafty" beer as a good thing for both them and the consumer.

 

They have always been battling with other mass producers for market share. Their problem was NOT worrying about craft taking some of their share. Their marketing was and continues to be, for the most part, based on competing with the other macro lager brewers. For the most part because they have started to try to disparage the craft beer segment in the media, as they have always disparaged the other macro lagers. I stated it in another post, but it's worth repeating, IMO. The macro lager brewers are similar to the American automakers in that they brushed off their competition as something Americans wouldn't enjoy or wouldn't think of buying because the American automaker's products were superior. Well, you don't have to be a genius to see how that has turned out. Craft beer is taking market share, ABInBev is getting more and more nervous about it and apparently doesn't have a clue about what to do about it other than purchase the competition. Problem is, there is alot of competition. Alot.

 

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought "dry hopping with cannabis buds" or something to that effect. I am disappointed. As Emily Litella would say, "Never mind."

 

Perhaps there is still the "bitter beer face" ideas running around corporate HQ at Bud.

 

With a smile intended, it said Bud----not Coors---brewed in the Rockies.

 

Its called Goose Island IPA

 

They don't have the balls to do it!

 

As stated in prior statements, there's tremendous overhead in a big corp and to do anything new (craft or otherwise) it is very difficult. Budweiser did a project called "Project 12" in 2012 and 2013 (http://www.anheuser-busch.com/Project12/default.aspx?redir=/Project12/main.html). They allowed all of the brewmasters to come up with a local batch and test market it. The top 3 beers were brewed and bottled in a box of 12 (3 beers and 4 of each). They were named after the zip code of the particular brew master region. I tried the 2013 version and the 3 beers were not elite like most of us drink and enjoy but they weren't bad.

 

Yes, this is another reason besides the obvious. I mentioned this in another thread of a similar topic. Craft drinkers wouldn't drink a Bud IPA, most Bud drinkers would simply stick to drinking BL, and the Bud drinkers who try it and like it would search out other IPAs. It could turn into a gateway IPA and be of no real benefit to AB when BL already sells so well.

 

If they buy an established brewery who does IPAs well they make the money and really don't leave a fingerprint in the beer world. Most beer drinkers don't know what In Bev is. They did it with Bcbs, increasesed volume and Distro area, they certainly didn't acquire GI for their IPA. For those who hate In Bev I bet you still drink BC.

 

BMC always has enough power to gain more fridge space so that's not an issue.

I also think the code on BMC products is pretty similar to most craft beers if not shorter than some. The big companies are very good about rotating out their inventory if some goes out of code at a retail spot.