Anheuser-Busch advertising hypocrisy

[blackbuell]

I'm already tired of the latest A-B TV ad campaign for Budweiser beer. I guess they are trying to convince red-blooded American men that only pussies drink craft beers. Funny thing, though. The parent company has recently been purchasing microbreweries and is trying to purchase many more. Oh well....I've never been a Bud fan anyway....

Jon

[oldbike54]

 What is Budweiser  ??? :D BB , you may be watching too much TV , but yes the whole thing does reek  :BEER:

  Dusty

[Tobit]

I'm already tired of the latest A-B TV ad campaign for Budweiser beer. I guess they are trying to convince red-blooded American men that only pussies drink craft beers. Funny thing, though. The parent company has recently been purchasing microbreweries and is trying to purchase many more. Oh well....I've never been a Bud fan anyway....

Jon

Marketing and capitalism.  Tell people who they are and what they want.  Buy and eliminate the competition, or buy and rebrand the competitions compatible products as your own.  If it works, great.  Bonuses all around.  If not, there's always the old adage:

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.  (And fire the ad agency.)   ~;

Tobit

[the Bailey]

i saw that one too, and was like wtf.  they admit they make bad beer and that others make better beer. but be one of us, the cool guys who drink bud.  its akin to every car company that says be unique be an individual.. buy our SUV that we will sell 200,000 of this year

[Two Checks]

Anheuser-Busch no longr exists. It is InBev no matter what they call it.

[rocker59]

Anheuser-Busch no longr exists. It is InBev no matter what they call it.

Yep.  Just a brand name of a huge international corporation...

[Dilliw]

The Bud drinkers of old are either drinking Bud Light, Coors Light or Macro/Micro Craft.  The Bud brand is is getting squeezed out.

http://www.statista.com/statistics/188723/top-domestic-beer-brands-in-the-united-states/

[Guzzistajohn]

I have yet to understand the big deal about all the overpriced craft beers. Yes some of it is pretty good but is it twice or three times better than a bud or a blue ribbon? I personally don't think so

[Two Checks]

"If you drink a craft ber you are a sissy"....

From the company whose flagship beer is named Stella Artois.

[smartin108]

I have yet to understand the big deal about all the overpriced craft beers. Yes some of it is pretty good but is it twice or three times better than a bud or a blue ribbon? I personally don't think so

Obviously a matter or individual taste, but to me it is.  Bud was bad when there far fewer choices.

[oldbike54]

I have yet to understand the big deal about all the overpriced craft beers. Yes some of it is pretty good but is it twice or three times better than a bud or a blue ribbon? I personally don't think so

 I only drink what , maybe 15 beers a year , but prefer skunky Czech stuff . However , the occasional PBR is
pleasant around a camp fire , especially when imported from Missouri  :BEER:

  Dusty

[molly]

"If you drink a craft ber you are a sissy"....

From the company whose flagship beer is named Stella Artois.

Stella better known this side of the pond as 'wife beater'.

Only see Bud in supermarkets these days in large packs heavily discounted so not very popular anymore.

Craft beer is a marketing ploy to charge extra for keg beer which to us is real ale (cask) pasturised, chilled  and filled with gas, basically ruined.

[Triple Jim]

I only drink what , maybe 15 beers a year , but prefer skunky Czech stuff .

You probably know, but you can take any beer that was brewed with real hops and leave a clear class in sunlight for a few minutes, and you'll have the skunk flavor you like.  It won't work with Miller High Life because they use only the alpha acid found in hops for bitterness.  They know they can't use whole hops because of the clear bottles they put it in.  Beer doesn't leave the brewery skunky, it's the result of bad storage.

[Kev m]

I have yet to understand the big deal about all the overpriced craft beers. Yes some of it is pretty good but is it twice or three times better than a bud or a blue ribbon? I personally don't think so

It depends on what you mean by better.

I mean, take a Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout (still from a large output brewery, not a small local brewery, but you could at least call it a craft product). There is so little in common between a Bud (an Americanized version of the light pilsner) and a the SS Oatmeal Stout that it is hard to compare them. Sorta like comparing white and red wines, but maybe even further removed, maybe comparing a Chardonnay with a Port might be closer.

And is a Port worth a higher price than a Chardonnay? Depends on the examples, but usually YES. Not only by my taste, but by what it takes to make it. The process requires higher volumes of more expensive ingredients and more time/care (aging).

Kinda like a cheap white rum and a oak-aged rum. They both started out as white ethanol distilled from fermented sugar cane, but to make an oak-aged rum (not just an artificially spiced or flavored rum, but an aged one) takes times and care. You need to store it in charred oak barrels (often ones previously used for whiskey) and allow it to age for 5 or 10 years (or more). During that time you lose some of it to evaporation. It then has to be carefully blended checked for consistency of color and flavor before it is bottled and sold.

The taste is different, much more full. If that matters to you, then it is certainly worth a couple of dollars more than the white rum.

You can find examples like this throughout the world of beer, wine, and spirits and just about any other commodities out there.

Craft beers from true local breweries can be WONDERFUL. There really is nothing quite like a pint of FRESH beer. And yeah, to me it's worth way more than the price of Bud.

Some people feel this way about quirky Italian motorcycles too.

[Triple Jim]

Craft beer is a marketing ploy to charge extra for keg beer which to us is real ale (cask) pasturised, chilled  and filled with gas, basically ruined.

Wow, you must not have the same craft beers available to you that we have here.  Brands like Sierra Nevada actually have live yeast in them that you can see at the bottom of the bottle.

[oldbike54]

You probably know, but you can take any beer that was brewed with real hops and leave a clear class in sunlight for a few minutes, and you'll have the skunk flavor you like.  It won't work with Miller High Life because they use only the alpha acid found in hops for bitterness.  They know they can't use whole hops because of the clear bottles they put it in.  Beer doesn't leave the brewery skunky, it's the result of bad storage.

 Jim , I use the term skunky loosely . It is really the hoppy taste that is pleasing to me , Pilsner as opposed to lager or IPA . Or , as a friend puts it  "beer that fights back"  :D

  Dusty

[Triple Jim]

Jim , I use the term skunky loosely . It is really the hoppy taste that is pleasing to me , Pilsner as opposed to lager or IPA . Or , as a friend puts it  "beer that fights back"  :D

  Dusty

OK understood, but skunk flavor is considered to be an off-flavor, and has nothing to do with hop flavor.

[Wayne Orwig]

Was at a beach bar in Florida years back. The waitress came by and said there was someone there from A-B, and he was going to buy everyone a free round of A-B beer. I had a Yuengling.


 :BEER:

[oldbike54]

OK understood, but skunk flavor is considered to be an off-flavor, and has nothing to do with hop flavor.

 True , but to most 'Murican beer drinkers , the term skunky means any beer that actually tastes like beer  :D Remember the commercials for a brand of American beer that implied all imports were skunky because they tasted like beer  :BEER: Dang , now a Pilsner Urquell sounds good , Guzzistajohn , split a six pack at CV ? CJ 750 ?
Anyone ? :BEER:

  Dusty

[molly]

Wow, you must not have the same craft beers available to you that we have here.  Brands like Sierra Nevada actually have live yeast in them that you can see at the bottom of the bottle.

I suppose what you call craft beer is to us real ale. Basically beer that finishes it's fermentaion in the barrel or bottle. It nearly died out in the seventies because breweries wanted to mass produce keg beer (pasturised). But thanks to campaigners such as CAMRA  it is never been so popular.
 
http://www.camra.org.uk/about-real-ale

[charlie b]

Heck, all beer tastes horrible.  :D

[molly]

You sir have obviously never tasted Theakston's old Peculiar hand pumped by a buxom wench straight from the oak barrel barrel.
https://www.theakstons.co.uk/Ales/Old-Peculier/

[Triple Jim]

True , but to most 'Murican beer drinkers , the term skunky means any beer that actually tastes like beer  :D

God, I  hope not, but it may be largely true.  I've read that the folks at Heineken export their beer in green bottles to allow UV to skunk the beer, because the stupid Americans think it should taste that way.  Heineken that I've had that was shipped in cans has no skunk flavor, and is in fact pretty good for a very mild beer.  The bottled Heineken sold in Europe was in brown bottles last I noticed.

I suppose what you call craft beer is to us real ale. Basically beer that finishes it's fermentaion in the barrel or bottle. It nearly died out in the seventies because breweries wanted to mass produce keg beer (pasturised). But thanks to campaigners such as CAMRA  it is never been so popular.
 
http://www.camra.org.uk/about-real-ale

Essentially all the "beer" I drink is ale I made myself, so I don't have to put up with lesser brews.   ;D  As your link points out, whether it's ale or beer is determined by the type of yeast used, not whether it's bottle conditioned or cask conditioned.  It uses the term "real" to mean it was naturally conditioned and not force carbonated.  Wikipedia has a pretty good definition of Craft Beer:

"Craft brewing" is a more encompassing term for developments in the industry succeeding the microbrewing movement of the later 20th century. The definition is not entirely consistent, but it typically applies to relatively small, independently-owned commercial breweries that employ traditional brewing methods and emphasize flavor and quality. The term is usually reserved for breweries established since the 1970s, but may be used for older breweries with a similar focus.

[screamday]

I might be old, but I remember when Budweiser was the cheap beer.....the beer you drank when you didn't have any money for good beer. When did Budweiser become the "Premium Beer"?  ??? :BEER:

[Triple Jim]

I might be old, but I remember when Budweiser was the cheap beer.....the beer you drank when you didn't have any money for good beer. When did Budweiser become the "Premium Beer"?  ??? :BEER:

I'm 57, and when I was 18 in 1976, Bud was around $2.10/6-pack, close to double the price of beers like PBR, National Bo, and Black Label.

[Guzzistajohn]

As far as I'm concerned you just rent the stuff anyway. I'll save my booze dollars for a nice whiskey or burbon.

[screamday]

I'm creeping up on 58 and I grew up in Illinois drinking Old Style and Stroh's. Don't remember what they cost but Bud was probably more the Old Style and cheaper than Stroh's.

[Triple Jim]

I used to "Pose With a Stroh's" once in a while myself.  I remember it was easier to chug than most others, due to a lower level of carbonation.  I could get down a whole 16 oz. can.    :D

[Spuddy]

Got my merit badge in the beer/brew stuff long ago so I don't havta worry about this whole discussion.

But what am I doing now?  Still looking for the ideal imported N.A.  Go figger...

Spuddy

[oldbike54]

 A friend told a story about how his Grandfather would pour beer into a dish to control the slug population in his garden . Apparently slugs like the taste of beer , however the Grandfather decided to stop using his good beer
(Schlitz  ???) and replace it with the stuff sold in Safeway in white cans labeled BEER . The slugs declined to drink that product  :BEER: :D

 Dusty