If any of you are 76ers fans you might recall this tag line “Trust the process” as uttered by Joel Embid when the team was ‘rebuilding’ a few years ago. The 76ers made the playoffs this year but are battling a tough team in the Celtics now. But in this instance, I am referring to the process that AB follows to consistently brew Budweiser beer, detailed in the embedded video below. There is a lot of detail provided in this video and I have a few comments/qualifiers to the video. There is mention of “Fermentation runs twenty one days at 45-48 °F, warmer than most lagers.” Budweiser is lagered for 21 days and yes at warmer than typical temperatures (e.g., the 45-48 °F mentioned). The total production time for Budweiser is typically 27 days (6 days of fermentation and 21 days for lagering). At the completion of the nominal duration of 21 days the beer is evaluated (both analytically and via sensory evaluation) and if it is not 100% complete, they will let that lagering tank go for another day or two. There is discussion about how AB uses their Pilot Brewery in St. Louis to evaluate lots of ingredients (e.g., barley malt, rice, etc.) and then provide guidance/direction to the numerous production breweries to best utilize them to produce a consistent beer. There is even some discussion about the apple aspect of Budweiser. This aspect is an ester that is developed during the fermentation process. I personally do not specifically taste apple but this is discussed in the video: it is subtle but it’s absence would be missed. The video is very ‘biased’ towards rice vs. corn as a preferred adjunct for producing AAL beers. It emphasizes that rice is very flavor neutral while in contrast corn will produce some sensory aspects (e.g., flavor) to an AAL beer. I annually homebrew a CAP (Classic American Pilsner) and I typically utilize some corn to brew that beer. One year my Local Homebrew Shop was out of corn so I had to use rice to brew that one batch. That beer turned out very good but for my palate it was lacking; I missed the contribution that corn provides. I enjoyed watching this video and hopefully some to you will as well. Cheers! P.S. I am personally not a fan of Budweiser but I appreciate the process that AB conscientiously follows to produce this product. @Giovannilucano
I am challenging myself to avoid beers with corn and corn byproducts due to how they affect me. This has increased my curiosity about Budweiser, although I’m more curious about Japanese Rice Lager. Once I actually look for Bud, I’ll probably buy a six pack of fresh bottles to try. As an aside, I recently ordered a bottle of Bud at a restaurant bar. They set down in front of me. I looked at the date before drinking. It was six months past its BB date. I showed the bartender. She took it off my bill and said she had never before even sold Budweiser before. AB must not sell much Bud anymore…
A place has Bud on the list and they say they never sold one. That’s crazy. Was it a very craft centric place with Bud on just incase you arrived with a macro friend? Enjoy
Actually, when I lived in southern CA in the early 70s, my old roommate said that wherever he asked the bartender what beers they had, the answer was usually "Bud, Coors, and Oly". Each one used rice as adjunct. We didn't like any of them. Bud and Coors use of rice is well known. I toured Oly in about '80, and they were using rice for Oly; corn and rice for Hamms. . It's fairly well understood that Bud's bitterness has slipped from about 20 to 10 IBU. Is Bud using many whole hops these days? It's possible that the attenuation has been increased (reduced initial gravity for unchanged 5% alcohol). Maybe production changes caused some of the reduced ABInbev sales in the US? But probably mostly the lack of effective advertising and other promotion.
No, it wasn’t craft-centric. It was a new Mexican restaurant my gf wanted to try. And when the gf wants to try a new restaurant, the beer list is not a concern. So I had a Pacifico. And almost had a Budweiser. But when we got home I had something better.
