Musings on Budweiser

In the Nostalgia thread I mentioned a microbrewed beer I enjoyed in the late 1980's:

"Another would be Stoudts Gold which I just knew as being a flavorful lager back in the day but later learned it was a Munich Helles. The Stoudts brewery closed several years ago..."

Well, you might not care but...the brewery(s) are continually 'lightening' the beers with less hops (lowering IBUs) and ever lighter mouthfell/taste.

I was a fan of Jack’s Abby Kogarashi Rice Lager which I discussed in a past NBW thread:




https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-134.671406/#post-7706075

I entitled that post: A New and Improved Budweiser?

Cheers!

 

I certainly hope we see more crafty Lagers! Esp with warmer months ahead.

 

Spoiler Alert: I will be discussing a 'crafty' lager in a few days: NBW thread.

Cheers!

 

I actually need to make a lil' run myself. If I can find some fresh Venn Helles that'll be perfect plus there are a few other new lighter lagers floatin' around here.

 

I don't remember drinking AB macro products since the 70s. I might have had one or two of the specialty Michelobs, but I think I had given up hope for the brands. In about 1980 (?) I think I did buy a six of the Miller Reserve Velvet Stout and was impressive. When I went back for the Ale (I didn't want to risk good money for two sixes of a Miller product the first time), there was none to be found. Also in the early 80s in Phoenix, I found Herman Josephs in what I think was a test market. That beer was memorably good. I think they might have toned it down later for wider distribution. That's about the sum of my "recent" limited exposure to big beer.

 

Proving once again that time flies when you're having fun (and drinking beer - "Oh, man, look at the time...")you're about a decade off on the short-lived Miller Reserve line:

(Needless to say, the topic's come up before ).

 

While AB in the 1950s claimed the problem with bottling Michelob was pasteurization (as noted in the linked book Making Friends is Our Business and a 1955 TIME magazine cover article on AB:

it is generally accepted that the use of rice was for stability and clarity - crystal clear beer was, at the time, a US benchmark of a quality beer. Although early promotional material said that the brewer's rice gave "...the beer its clean, pleasant finish".

I remember reading in the '70s that some in the industry felt the pasteurized bottled rice-adjunct Michelob was a failure of sorts, compared to the pre-1961 draught. I've previously noted that I once had a fresh Michelob at the brewery in Columbus Ohio in the late 1970s and was surprised at how hoppy it was - easily, the hoppiest US brewed lager I'd ever had up to that point.

M. Jackson's first US Pocket Guide (©1982) put Michelob's rice as ~ 20% added to all 2-row malt (compared to Budweiser's 30% and a blend of 2- and 6-row).

 

Oh I did not know that. To be clear I’m referring to michelob lager. If that’s the one then that sucks.

 

Yup. Apparently Michelob Lager is discontinued but if you find otherwise please report back.

Cheers!

 

I don't care for Anheuser-Busch and Inbev on account of their business practices, but I'm especially not a fan of Budweiser, and never have been, on account of the fact that I have never liked the taste of Bud. It's never agreed with me. I wonder sometimes if it might be their yeast strain, as I can tolerate their competitors in the AAL market (MHL is my favorite of the Big 3).

 

I remember really liking the Miller Velvet Stout, but I had totally forgotten about it, thank you for the reminder. It was a little too sweet for my taste, but seemed to be a “real beer”. The Reserve Lager was also much better than the AALS available at the time. Then again, I was in my early 20s and this was all new to me.

 

I’m the same way with Bud, there’s an apple flavor that really stands out to me. You’re correct, it is from acetaldehyde, which is a byproduct of the Budweiser yeast. I think if there was more flavor from malt and hops, the acetaldehyde would not be so noticeable, but there’s nothing to hide in a beer that light.

 

That is a common misconception but not the case.

An AB Brewing Scientist, Peter Wolfe, used to regularly participate on BA.

More details courtesy of Peter Wolfe:

“Budweiser does not have high levels of acetaldehyde; they're actually very low.”

“The AB Budweiser yeast (still the original strain!) is a very estery, relatively low sulfur lager yeast. I think you're right that it could confuse some tasters who are unfamiliar with what straight acetaldehyde smells like. When we do sensory training, we use purified acetaldehyde and spike it into beer so people can learn to differentiate it.”

The apple flavor that some folks perceive in a beer like Budweiser is an ester. My guess would be ethyl hexanoate,

Cheers!

 

Mitch Steele used to work at the AB brewery in NH before he went to Stone. He stated on his blog that Budweiser's acetaldehyde is below human threshold for it. What people object to in Bud is an apple ester, there are many that smell of apples. We are told acetaldehyde smells like green apples, therefore any apple smell most be acetaldehyde. Right? No. Look at the times Apple appears on this list.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ester

Here is a write up from a Canadian yeast provider. Note that acetaldehyde is the precursor to ethanol, all yeast produce it

https://escarpmentlabs.com/en-us/bl...e-how-to-prevent-that-green-apple-off-flavour

Here is what Mitch Steele said.

"Acetaldehyde is another flavor that results from fermentation issues, and is present in beer either because the beer hasn’t been aged long enough, or if the yeast health is poor, the yeast cells die and burst, releasing this flavor into the beer. In any event, acetaldehyde is hard flavor to discern at lower levels, and is one of the hardest off-flavors to detect and also fix. There is a common misperception that the green apple ester that some people use to describe Budweiser is acetaldehyde. I’ve heard this from very experienced, knowledgeable brewing educators, and it is absolutely wrong. Budweiser has the lowest measured acetaldehyde levels of any major American lager brewer, the green apple ester is something else, and this exemplifies some of the confusion about this off-flavor. Not to name any names, but there is one lager brewer who operates in this country whose beer has definite acetaldehyde-and I think it’s a characteristic of their yeast strain, because it’s very consistent in their beers. So is this an off-flavor? To them perhaps not, but I find it unpalatable."

From

https://thefullpint.com/hoptripper/what-is-quality/

 

Brother Shanex has a nice ring to it.
For me...If you are what you drink, I'm hoppy and I know it.

 

I can't stand the taste-- that's what I care about.

This marketing fiasco means nothing to me. Popularity never dictated my beer choices and never will. I'll drink with anyone regardless of race or sex.

 

Wasn’t Bud Dry’s ad slogan “Why ask why? Drink Bud Dry” …basically saying to the sheep, don’t think about your beer choices, just follow marching orders from your AB overlord.

 

Ha! I don't even remember. No surprise to hear about the AB pile-driving marketing machine. Bud Dry wasn't really my go to beer but I ended up having it a number of times and recall liking its feel. Today, or rather now-time, Saisons and most WC IPAs achieve the dryness I enjoy. I know there are others. All in good time. Cheers!

 

My theory about the popularity of Bud is that when you're at a bar, and several beers into the night, all you have to remember and pronounce is "Bud" as compared some longass craft names like "Drekker Blackberry Bellini Zing BRAAAAAAAAins Double Fruit Smoothie".