Americans Now Drink More Craft Beer Than Budweiser

[Recursion]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/11/24/budweiser_sales_decline_americans_now_drink_more_craft_beer_than_bud.html

On the one hand, this chart is a reminder that craft brewing is still a niche—albeit a fast-growing one. According to the Brewers Association, craft labels make up about 14 percent of the U.S. beer market. Take Allagash, Lagunitas, Dogfish Head, and all your other favorite little breweries, toss them together, and they barely outsell the third most popular brand in America.

On the other hand, it's also a very specific testament to the decline of Budweiser, which these days is basically a beer without a purpose. Twenty years ago, when Americans were less health-conscious and had more homogeneous tastes, selling a mass-market, midpriced lager designed to appeal to the largest possible demographic made lots of sense. But now, it's a brand without a natural audience except for older Americans who drink it out of habit and maybe a nostalgic sense of brand loyalty. If you walk into a bar, there will almost always be a cheaper beer, a less caloric beer, and plenty of tastier beers on tap. And so it's not totally shocking that, by Anheuser-Busch Inbev's account, 44 percent of Americans between the ages of 21 and 27 have never tried a regular old Budweiser. It's not as if they're missing anything.

This isn't to say Budweiser is in immediate peril. Again, thanks to all those old fans, it's still the third most popular brand in the country. But it's obviously a bad sign for the future, which the WSJ reports is why AB-Inbev is starting a new marketing effort to rehab the beer's image with young drinkers, in part by getting rid of the Clydesdales in its commercials this holiday season and substituting relatable twentysomethings.

[BeyondGeography]

1. Bud sucks

Insipid swill.

At least there's some progress in this country. Blaming it on the Clydesdales is not gonna help.

[longship]

2. Flavorless Bubbly Bud versus beer. No contest. nt

[Prophet 451]

3. Bud is horrible

There's a British joke: "What do American beer and making love in a canoe have in common?" A:"they're both fucking close to water".

This was back when Bud was the beer most associated with Americans. These days, the USA produces much tastier beers, some of which I can get on import here.

[B Calm]

4. Why would anybody drink piss when there are so many great ales?

[boguspotus]

5. And at the same price or less than Budweiser:

When you can get a 12 pack of Sierra Nevada, Summit or Fat Tire for $10.99, why would you ever drink Bud? And if you do want a beer like Budweiser there are way, way cheaper alternatives.

[Threedifferentones]

6. Isn't Bud Light still the best selling beer in the USA?

40% of us young folks have never tried a "regular old Budweiser." Well, if you go into a bar and ask for a Bud, there is a good chance they will just assume you mean Bud Light. What percent of twenty somethings have never tried Bud Light? I suspect it's closer to 4% than 40%.

Now light lagers like this are definitely not my favorite, that would be Yazoo Pale. Still, I have never understood why Budweiser in particular catches so much flack. There are many other brands that taste even more bland. Off the top of my head, I would name the Italian Peroni and the Belgian Stella Artois. These light lagers taste to my tongue even worse than Bud, yet they are fancy European imports that can charge ten dollars for a six pack.

I actually think Heineken has a nice subtle sort of piney freshness to it that tastes better than other light lagers, but when you get down to it it is not head and shoulders above Bud or Pabst, despite being more expensive.

It's funny, I haven't had a Budweiser, regular or light, in a long time, but this article has me thinking I will buy Budweiser for my next twelve pack.