Budweiser American Ale - wait, what?

Taken April 28th, 2009 by The Beertographer

Here's how their website describes Bud American Ale:

Since 1876, we've been brewing Budweiser, the great American lager. This year, we're brewing something new - Budweiser American Ale. Carefully brewed with caramel malted barley from America's heartland, Bud American Ale has a rich, sweet malt character. Our amber ale is also dry-hopped with Cascade hops from the Pacific Northwest for a noticeably citrus aroma. Budweiser American Ale is more than a new taste... it's a whole new tradition! Cheers!

Clearly, AB-InBev (Anheuser-Busch was purchased by Belgian/Brazilian InBev last July) has recognized the impact that the rise of craft beer has had on their sales. And they're not the only ones. The big beer companies seem to be scrambling to do whatever they can to stop beer drinkers from awakening from their light, fizzy lager-induced comas and instead corral any potential 'awakees' into their macrobrewed matrix of faux craft beer. Whether this plan will succeed or backfire remains to be seen.

These new developments in the beer world have created quite an interesting debate: Do any of the politics matter if it tastes good? For some, like me, it does. As demonstrated in the recent documentary film Beer Wars, these larger companies clearly care much more about the marketing of the product than the product itself. So when they see a rise in popularity of beer that actually has a taste, all they see is dollar signs. End rant.

So how does Budweiser American Ale taste? In short: eh. It's definitely an improvement on "The Great American Lager", but it still leaves a lot to be desired. It has a promising dark amber color, and even a slightly hoppy smell. But in reality, it tastes just like a Budweiser that's had some molasses and a few more hops thrown in.

Conclusion: Spend your money on a beer made by someone who cares about what goes into it.