Anheuser-Busch to Introduce Budweiser American Ale
I’m not a big fan of Bud. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll gladly drink a bottle if I’m at a barbeque and my choices are Bud, Bud Light and Bud. I’d just prefer not to when there are so many more beers out there that I find much more interesting.
Apparently, I’m not alone in my anti-Bud ways as Anheuser-Busch is reportedly planning to go after “experimenters” with it’s latest offering. That’d be people like me who don’t drink a lot of Bud, are easily bored and bounce around among various beers such as Yuengling, Fat Tire and Hoegaarden. Hmm… not only does that sound like people who like variety, but also people who don’t mind spending a little extra on their beer. Interesting.
The Saint Louis Dispatch is reporting that the new ale will be priced somewhat higher than regular Budweiser and is being billed as a beer which will “deliver robust ale taste that’s full-bodied, but not too heavy nor too bitter.”
The big question is, how much of the craft beer market will this allow A-B to grab? Last year, craft pale ales grew 6.8 percent to reach $92 million in sales while Amber ales rose 13 percent to $61 million and India Pale Ale worth over $36 million in sales.
Only time will tell, but know it’ll take a helluva good beer to get me to add it to my normal beer rotation.
