This is interesting...craft "taking over"?

Heck yes, I'd so welcome Budweiser doing this! You'd think with the success of say some soda companies trying out cane sugar versions and making them permanent items at stores(i.e. Pepsi making the Throwback version permanent), that AB/Inbev would come to their senses and try releasing such a special version of Bud. I'm sure with some of their past beer attempts being discontinued(i.e. Budweiser American Ale), that they likely won't make such a beer anytime soon.

 

That's the biggest head I have ever seen on a Kellerbier; typically they have a loose, almost soap-bubble-like head.

 

I never thought much about new craft drinkers and old craft drinkers, but this brings up an interesting conversation. How much will the death of the baby boomers (not for many years we hope) impact the sales ABinbev. Obviously they're thinking about this stuff, but I certainly haven't. Even if Bud gets you to drink their product and does big campaigns to keep them the go-to beer of choice on college campuses across the country, the sheet number of baby boomers leaving the market could make a huge impact as they, I'm assuming, probably drink more craft than people 30 and under.

 

As long as people continue to just want to get effed up and have a good time/escape through their beer consumption, I don't see the big boys losing that much ground anytime soon. Even the most snobbish of beer-drinking frat guys (unless he's a trust fund kid) isn't going to consistently pony up the extra cash for that barrel of, say, Sierra Nevada over Bud Light for the purposes of a kegger. Most 20- and 30-somethings out at the bars partying all night are not going to go in for that extra $20 it'll take for them to replace those Coors Lights in their hands with Two Hearteds. (And why would they want to, when they know that they're going to be bloated and/or annihilated after about four or five of the latter?) How many more guys going out to the hunting shack or on the fishing boat are going to start replacing Milwaukee's Best with Zombie Dust? Macro brews have their place in society; as a craft-loving guy, I have no problem with crafts occupying a relatively small and stable corner of that overall beer market. I would say that a good percentage of the brews we love so much run the risk of diminished quality if they were suddenly made available to a much wider customer base. I look to a great brewery like New Glarus as an example of what more companies should do: limit the scope of their business to ensure the best possible product is delivered (and just maybe encourage greater local loyalty and the bolstering of smaller economies).

 

Along a tangent, I do find it hilarious how BMC is going after the millennial crowd. Can anyone else think of a product that has used a marketing campaign like Bud Light's "Up for Whatever"? Doesn't that immediately make you think that people buying this beer are "up for whatever" might be inside the bottle? It doesn't matter what it's made from: you're up for 12 ounces of whatever comes out of this baby! Could you imagine a marketing firm pitching the "Up for Whatever" campaign to Chicken of the Sea? SPAM?

 

That beer is full of yum!

Cheers!