$3.65 for the pleasure of a 12 oz bottle at Buffalo Wild Wings, Douglasville, GA, USA. Pour is about as expected in terms of a ridiculously pale color and an alarming lack of head, retention and lace. I say "alarming" since this kind of beer is rarely under carbonated but this one seems lifeless - not the usual "fizzy" macro. The nose and tastes are basically zero with a little grainy sweetness. The really depressing thing about this beer is really two-fold. Firstly this is what some people...
Notes on beers brewed by
Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Michelob DunkelWeisse
12 oz single, $1.19 from Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. Glad to finally catch up with this beer. Oddly I have quite high expectations for it! Pour is a murky, unattractive iced-tea like affair with a very poor head and as a resut little retention or lace. Body is an ugly, rust color that does not invite one in. Carbonation is a little on the high side which gives the beer an off, fizzy sensation - again, not good. Initially the tastes seem OK with some yeasty malts up front and some...
Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus
Six pack brought by a guest for dinner. Well, it is what it is. Slightly disconcerting, neon-like, fluorescent yellowish/green appearance. Urine comes to mind with an absolute clarity. I was expecting a bigger nose and taste of lime but really it was quite muted. Flavors are not really offensive and with baking hot sun and circumstances that did not call for flavor, I suppose it would be possible to drink this, however I think a larger lime element might make it more palatable. As it is it's...
Bud Light Golden Wheat
Exciting times as I ran into this, the latest marketing ploy from AB at the Irish Bred Pub in Douglasville, GA, USA! Pour reveals a "dead" looking beer with less than an sixteenth of an inch of white head on top of a cloudy, butterscotch colored body. Partly due to the poor pour, but nevertheless even with agitation this beer fails to produce much life at all. Disappointing. Aroma is essentially of nothing. Again the circumstances don't help much (served FROZEN), but even on warming we get...
O’Doul’s
12 oz single from Arbor Place Beverage, Douglasville, GA, USA. Style 103/103 reviewed on BA. Pour yields a highly carbonated body and some decent head. Unfortunately the head is gone within 90 seconds as the large bubbles disappear and there is virtually no lace. Carbonation seems very high. Body is a typical macro, yellow piss color, no better or worse than scores of other macro's. Nose is a little strong. VERY strong vegetal notes, smells like dirty water. The taste is an artifically,...
Michelob (Original Lager)
12 oz slender contoured bottle (I seem to remember these bottles being fatter over the years, but I doubt I've drunk a Michelob in 10-15 years so I'm a bit out of touch). Pour is vivid, golden yellow with no sustainable head but some wispy lace left on the glass. As far as I can tell there is no aroma. Light metal bitterness that smooths out pretty quickly to give a sweet middle and ending. The sweetness remains evident in the aftertaste. Alcohol tastes breaks over the rear of the tongue to...
Michelob Light
12 oz bottle, Villa Rica Sports Cafe, Villa Rica, GA, USA. Typical bright yellow urine appearance with low carbonation, no head, no lace and (again) as far as I can tell, no aroma. Apart from a very slight dry bitterness in the very back of the beer, there is almost nothing here. Finish and aftertaste are dry and characterless. Seltzer water with a touch of alcohol. Give a Mich Light drinker an Arrogant Bastard and watch the fun!
Michelob Irish Red
12 oz single from somewhere in Atlanta, GA, USA. 08209 VA 94 (or maybe UA 94) on the neck label. Pour is a very red color and produces a pleasing, caramel colored head. However, you just KNOW that the retention is going to be poor and that the lace will be lacking - that's what happens! Some cloudiness to the body. Nose and tastes seem excessively malty for the style. When I pick up a Red Ale of any description, I'm looking for a really dry finish rather than a sweet malty one. Strangely the...
Michelob Pale Ale
12 oz single from Tower, Buford Highway, Atlanta, GA, USA. Pour reveals a pretty decent, orgnge clarity and some head with a little retention. No lace to speak of. The nose seems EXCEPTIONALLY malty for a even a pale ale, and the sweetness is the abiding memory of the smell. Tastes have an upfront soapy nature (good), but fade rather badly. Sweetness cuts across the back end of the beer in a syrupy manner to leave me (and the palate) feeling a touch abused! Finish is not balanced and quickly...
Michelob Hop Hound Amber Wheat
12 oz single from Total Wine, Perimeter, Atlanta, GA, USA. The latest (I guess) AB incarnation/stealth venture into the "craft" market. Strange stuff for AB, all marketing rather than a true invested INTEREST in artisanal products. Pours a dirty orange, murky and fairly unattractive color. Head and lace are both disappointing; this looks pretty drab and uninspirational. Looks a little tired already. Completely FLAT - both literally in terms of lack of carbonation and metaphorically in terms of...
Michelob Marzen
$0.99 from Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA as a 12oz single. Attractive colored label (classy green color) with a ridge on the bottle at the base of the neck that is reminiscent of a Westy bottle!! ;-). WHAT A SHOCK - AB marketing outdoes creative and expressive brewing! DOH! Pour is a slightly darker than macro lager pour, and one that produces a slightly better than average head. Still no lace. Mouthfeel is REALLY thin and rlacks any Marzen richness - disappointing. Nose is frankly...
Wild Blue (Blueberry Lager)
Right out of the box, I think it would be really interesting to do a blind taste comparison between this beer and something like Lindemans Cassis. I think this beer would do better than one would anticipate. 12 oz single from Tower on Buford, Atlanta, GA, USA. What an EXTRAORDINARY experience! ALARMING purple pour with no head and virtually no lace. Considering that this is supposed to be a fruit beer, there is virtually no nose - I mean NOTHING. I suppose at least there is no nasty, skunk but...
Michelob Honey Lager
Review #1700 - not exactly a distinguished brew to mark the milestone, but so what? 12 oz single from Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. "Born On" May 31 2008. Pour yields a decent golden body but not much head. Some minimal lace - not the worst looking beer I've ever seen. Grain based alcohol in the nose. Lots of sweetness upfront from the honey element and it also has the effect of smoothing out the beer. Odd aftertaste that is not that attractive. I don't really dislike this beer, but at...
Budweiser American Ale
Purchased this 12oz single as part of Mac's Midtown $8.99 mixed sixer, Atlanta, GA, USA. Glad to be able to stay non-committed to a brewer that hasn't earned my respect. I like the presentation. There does seem to be a slightly different shape to the bottle (compared to the "normal" American 12oz bottle), and the old school classic red color is nice. Rightly or wrongly, I went ahead and included an element of my appearance score to reflect the good packaging. Apparently AB has just defined a...
Natural Light
$0.75 as a single from the bargain bucket at Arbor Place Beverage, Douglasville, GA, USA. Not sure what to say about this really, but here you go; Possibly the palest "beer" I have ever seen. The head on the pour is not bad, and there is even a touch of lace. Obviously the carbonation fades to absolutely nothing after a couple of minutes, but it was there when the can was cracked. I dunno, this tastes like seltzer water to me. Flavored water with zero hop character and only a touch of sweet...
Beach Bum Blonde Ale
More marketing nonsense from the big guys. I saw this maybe two summers ago on Hilton Head Island on draft at Mellow Mushroom. At the time I avoided it thinking that it was just another nasty, macro product. A little investigation proved this to be the case, and I have avoided trying it until now. This 12oz bottle came from Total Wine, Kennesaw, GA, USA as a single. "Born On" (WHAT BULLSHIT) May 2nd 2008, this is a positively ANCIENT A-B product! Over carbonated and a lager like body that has...
Michelob Hop Hound Amber Wheat
16oz pour at Taco Mac, Douglasville, GA, USA. An "Amber Wheat" (whatever THAT is), so here we go. Pour has an amber colour with a decent head and some lace. Nose to me appears to be non-descript. Taste lacks any depth, description or character. I'd describe it as malt based with a watery consistency. Not offensive, but that's about as far as my praise will go with this. Happy to give A-B credit where it is due, but that's NOT here. Marginal taste, and a bland offering in the extreme. I'm...
Shock Top Belgian White
Review #1500 - a bit sad. Very happy to drink anything once, and this is no exception. It was described to me as "Blue Moon with more orange flavor" - OOOKaaaayyy?? We'll see. 16oz pour, Taco Mac, Douglasville, GA, USA. Head is large over an obviously orange colored, cloudy body. Nose reveals virtually nothing. Head is lively, carbonated and short lived. Taste is NASTY - all I get is dishwasher soap. There is simply nothing else to report. Blue Moon is an infinitely better beer, and that is...
Bud Light Lime
Well, it is what it is - no more, no less. Taco Mac, Douglasville, GA, USA - on the house! Golden macro pour with a large white head. Very little lace and no retention to speak of. Aroma is that of a traditional British, lager-shandy. The lime notes are not pronounced as lime, but more of as a British lemonade. Sweet, carbonated Sprite/R Whites like rather than citrusy. Nose and aroma are not aggressive by any means. Slight citrus/lemon taste, but obviously nothing much else. Refeshing, but...
Bare Knuckle Stout
Oh dear, oh dear, of dear. I like to give AB the benefit of the doubt when I can, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so. Taco Mac, Douglasville. GA, USA - 16oz "pint". Frankly the pour is pretty decent; leaves a fairly standard nitro stout-like pour, with a small, perfectly formed head. Good black body - essentially OK. Smell and taste leave an odd fishy/acidic combo. All very poor. Thin beyond thin. It's almost impossible to imagine a stout with less body and taste. As my Dad...
Bud Light Chelada
Well, well, well, you never know what's going to happen, do you? I pop into Taco Mac in Douglasville, GA, USA for a quick beer on a Saturday afternoon, and they are giving out 16oz cans of this stuff for free - being a true BA, I felt I HAD to a least try it, so I did! (The bar staff told me there was a regular Bud version too but I suggested that it probably wouldn't matter - perhaps I'll never know!) Pour is briefly fizzy and then settles to give a horrible, peach/orange colored liquid....
Skipjack Amber
On-tap, Mellow Mushroom, Hilton Head Island, SC, USA. Better than average AB product, poorer than average Amber Ale (which for me is what it most closely resembles). Standard pour with a decent color but as usual head and lace are basically non-existent. Aroma and tastes are vaguely based in toasted malt and caramel sweetness but remain non-descript. Decent carbonation, good clarity. Drinks OK, but this is a pretty bland beer in the grand scheme of things. I wonder if this is actually EXACTLY...
Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale
Even better on draft than in the bottle. I like this because of the sweetness and the vanilla character. Many will not like this much, probably for one of several reasons not least of all being the fact it is an AB product. I'm over that, and I must say this drinks pretty easily. Less spice than your average Winter Warmer, almost like a sweet, vanilla brown ale. That is not going to be to eveyones taste, but it's right up my alley. Also see my review of the bottle.
Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale
$6.99 for a sixer at Hiram Bottle Shop, GA, USA. Bought a sixer of this PURELY on the strength of my enjoyment of the AB Winter Bourbon Cask (which I thought was decent). Should have known better than to trust AB for a second time, and I should definitely have gone with some more WBCA instead! To be fair this was fairly unoffensive, but that's where the compliments end. Decent orange color with good clarity but the usual lack of life. No head, no lace, looks dead. Aromas and tastes are mildly...
Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale
12 oz bottle purchased as a single from Mac's, Atlanta, GA, USA. "Born on" Oct 13 2006. Blue and White main and neck labels, "Limited Edition, Seasonal Brew", featuring the Snowman character lifting a glass of the beer. Nice looking copper colored clarity, with an initial decent head, but this fades fast. No lacing, but some spotty head left behind. The aroma is an odd combination of indistinguishable spices and some cooked vegetables. Tastes are slight vanilla with a dryish hop finish. Fairly...
Bud Extra
Oh my gosh, what is this? Beer? Having resisted since its "birth" I finally tried this concoction. Wished I had continued to resist, you'd think I would know better by now, but ho-hum. US$ 3.00 in a seedy sports bar in West Georgia, USA. Pour is standard nasty macro, but not too offensive. Then comes the aroma and taste offensive - and I mean "offensive" in all senses of the word. If you like carbonated cough medicine then this is the "beer" for you. Amazing sweetness, medicinal and syrupy...
Busch Beer
This is pretty much as pale as it gets. Hydrated urine look, fizzy head that disappears immediately and a little lacing. Massive corn and alcohol aroma. Mouthfeel? Well, it's carbonated water isn't it? Warming alcohol is the overpowering "taste", burns slightly at the back of the mouth and on the way down. I suppose there is some taste of "macro beer" too. To be honest, this kind of junk is increasingly difficult to swallow (literally and metaphorically). Perhaps that's a sign of age! It's...
Bud Ice
Almost colorless, with a hint of extremely diluted golden color when poured into a pilsner glass. Aroma is difficult to pin down, but it reminds me of the days when I was working in bars and I would go in on a Sunday morning to start the cleaning up process and everything would be covered in that sickly, sweet, sticky alcoholic smell of spilled and stale beer. This is very sweet, with a very short bitter snap of a finish that does not linger at all, but leaves behind the residue sweetness....
Budweiser Select
O.K., I think to an experienced drinker that has tasted the full range of styles over the course of many years, "products" like this don't really qualify as "beer" at all. Having said that, this is no worse an offender than scores of similar others, but what really irks me is the fact that this is clearly a child of marketing strategy rather than the art of brewing. Ho hum, another example of capitalist America pandering to the masses. Budweiser Select is certainly a "clean" beer. That is...
Tomahawk Amber Ale
Brew available "exclusively" at Turner Field for Atlanta Braves home games although I suspect it is the same beer (certainly similar, if not identical) to this one; http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/rate_results/29/17649/ Thanks to BA, AKSmokedPorter for the info. As AKSmokedPorter says; "They've proven they can brew a beer like this, why not do it regularly for the general public????" With reference to the Tomahawk Amber Ale; It pours a decent dark brown color with a nice, compact head...
Michelob Ultra
An appearance, smell and mouthfeel on a par with hundreds of other macro adjuncts, but a taste that almost defies description (mildly acidic water was the closest I came), gives this product the lowest drinkability I can ever recall. Beer? No it ain't. This is one "beer" that I will actually seriously consider turning down in preference for something non-alcoholic. I don't recall that EVER happening before. What concerns me about this "product" is the way that it has been clearly created to...
Bud Light
Another "beer" that most BA's simply don't consider to be a beer at all. I suppose one is allowed to call it beer because of the process that takes place before it reaches the glass, but in relation to quality brews of almost any distinction, this is no more than an alcoholic soda water. The color and aroma are almost 100% missing, and all I remember about drinking this stuff is that the combination of carbonation and coldness give a sandpaper effect to its consumption. If all beer were like...
Michelob Amber Bock
I guess the question is, "What are you expecting?" It's a drinkable macro, that has some saving graces, but they are few and far between. In a pinch, it's beer - and that can't be a bad thing (hardly ever, anyway). Certain caramel character in this brew that certainly has the look of a coke when poured. A decent head initially, is almost all gone the second that the beer settles in the glass. I detect the usual grainy aroma, but no unpleasant skunkiness or strong alcohol aromas (good things)....
Killarney’s Red Lager
Oh dear. This may be the most flat, uninteresting beer I've ever drunk. It looks EXACTLY like iced-tea, with a cloudy, orange hue and absolutely no head or carbonation despite an agreesive pour. Aroma is non-existent and the taste, well, watery would be a compliment. A cloying dryness completes the experience. Awful.
Budweiser
I feel as though it is difficult to be incredibly objective about this beer simply because of its place on the North American macro stage, but here goes.... The standard appearance and aroma from a macro lager, a little skunky, pale yellow fizz with a head that disappears almost immediately with no lacing. The taste is that of a grainy alcohol with little or nothing else to report - what can one say? As one reviewer said earlier, "better than water"!