Analyzing Budweiser's Hypocritical, Anti-Craft Beer Super Bowl Ad

[MohRokTah]

The ad actually cracked me up. It basically presented craft beers as something for super snooty hipsters and Budweiser as "folksy real folks beer". They even had the nerve to make fun of pumpkin peach ale, which is a beer crafted by a micro brewery they bought out last week! Basically, Anheuser spent $9 million gambling that their customers would remain oblivious and continue with confirmation bias.

Analyzing Budweiser's Hypocritical, Anti-Craft Beer Super Bowl Ad

I have set foot in the Budweiser Research Pilot Brewery. I have met the talented, kind, passionate people who work there. I’ve written about the place as objectively as I could. But as a craft beer supporter, I can’t stand by when the company airs a commercial like they did during Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast.

Never has the oh-so-popular internet adage of “SHOTS FIRED” been so applicable as it was when Anheuser unveiled a new, third-quarter Budweieser ad titled “Brewed the Hard Way.” Over the course of a minute, we learn that the brand is embracing its “macro” title and doesn’t feel at all threatened by craft brewers and their flavorful, unique products as those craft beers continue a decade-long surge in popularity and relevance. In fact, Anheuser is so non-threatened by craft beer that it saw fit to spend $9 million on a 60-second Super Bowl ad just to make sure you were aware of that fact. Because that’s what a company does when it’s definitely not being threatened. View the ad below before we continue:

...

Budweiser is “proudly a macro beer”

This is like that “reclaiming” of a negative word thing we’ve heard about before, yes? “Macro” being the opposite of “micro,” the term that was once applied to what are now typically referred to as craft brewers. But yeah, they’re proud to be big, because big obviously correlates to “best.” After all, McDonald’s makes the highest quality hamburgers in the world, right?

It’s not “brewed to be fussed over”

You know that the mustachioed hipster in this shot isn’t drinking a Bud, because

a. It’s not yellow, and
b. He wants to smell it, and that would be pointless with a Bud.

I find myself wondering about the casting for this ad. “Wanted: People willing to visually resemble the segment of society we don’t understand and don’t want as customers. For pay!”

...

Pastemagazine Link

[leveymg]

1. Budweiser is the McDonald's of beer.

Both are going down the drain together.

[MohRokTah]

3. Yep.

And we all know folsky real folks lerve them some McDonald's hamburgers. They're biggest which makes them the best!

The insanity.

It burns.

[Bonx]

5. I'd rather eat a Big Mac than drink a Buttwiper©

[leveymg]

9. A steady diet of either industrial product will kill you, slowly.

Look at what happened to the unfortunate volunteer who ate only at Mickey D's for a month.

Super Size Me is a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003 during which he ate only McDonald's food. The film documents this lifestyle's drastic effect on Spurlock's physical and psychological well-being, and explores the fast food industry's corporate influence, including how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit.

Spurlock ate at McDonald's restaurants three times per day, eating every item on the chain's menu at least once. Spurlock consumed an average of 20.92 megajoules or 5,000 kcal (the equivalent of 9.26 Big Macs) per day during the experiment. (An intake of around 2,500kcal is more generally recommended "within a healthy balanced diet,.. [for] a man .. to maintain his weight"[3]) As a result, the then-32-year-old Spurlock gained 24½ lbs. (11.1 kg), a 13% body mass increase, a cholesterol level of 230, and experienced mood swings, sexual dysfunction, and fat accumulation in his liver. It took Spurlock fourteen months to lose the weight gained

[Bonx]

28. Yeah, I don't want even an occasional diet of either

[2naSalit]

56. Good one..

I was going to suggest that it is the most common corporate swill. .. pretty much the same stuff going in as coming out of your body.

Disclaimer: I don't drink beer because I'm allergic to hops so I don't have to worry about which beer is best, to me they all suck because they give me a migraine minutes after a sip, until I puke that is.

[leveymg]

65. Let's just say that both products are relatively unaffected by bodily filtration.

Have some good bread, ham, cheese and fruit with a nice red wine, instead. Real food.

[2naSalit]

84. That's totally more my style. n/t

[AndyTiedye]

66. There are Some Beers that Don't Have any Hops

my wife's favorite:

[2naSalit]

85. That's interesting to know

and news to me. I generally avoid the stuff and don't really do much drinking in the first place, maybe about five times a year or so. Use more wine in cooking in a month than I would drink in a year... and that goes for spirits too. Just not into it.

[taught_me_patience]

2. Hipsters have already moved off PBR and onto Tecate

I predict they will be onto Bud and MGD by the end of the year.

[NightWatcher]

4. It's not for people who "taste" their beer but those who funnel it

in order to get wasted to the point of setting a sofa on fire.

I got a chuckle out of that too

[Historic NY]

6. Big breweries are now making beers with crafty names....

http://business.time.com/2013/08/13/that-craft-beer-youre-drinking-isnt-craft-beer-do-you-care/

http://www.refinedguy.com/2013/03/07/craft-beers-that-arent-really-craft-beers/#13

[MohRokTah]

10. I knew about those.

I keep a good watch o the craft beer industry.

[jollyreaper2112]

7. wow

They're really taking a stand on this one. Budweiser: we know you're only here to get drunk.

The thing is, hipster douchebaggery is usually more reserved for PBR and shit beers to be consumed ironically. Most craft beer people don't fall into the hipster demo.

[MohRokTah]

13. The hipsters may move from PBR to Bud after this ad.

It would be "ironic".

[jollyreaper2112]

25. that's how PBR got them in the first place

PBR has a very old-timey logo and has been around forever. It got a slight rise due to being retro and a new marketing guy parlayed that into bigger sales with clever manipulation of ironic idiots. They're going to try the same thing with applebees.

[FrodosPet]

43. F*** that S***! PABST BLUE RIBBON!

Was "Blue Velvet" the start of the PBR revival?

[Mosby]

8. bud sucks

Someone gave me one on Saturday and I drank it but couldn't believe how shitty it was.

No going back once you start drinking good beer, they know that which is why the distributors are selling so much craft beer and bud, coors etc are buying up small brewers like bud did with Kona, which also sucks btw, longboard is piss beer just like bud.

[MohRokTah]

12. The equipment and ingredients for home brewed beer have gotten so good and cheap...

that a lot of home brewers get their friends off Bud and onto real beer.

Because even the worst brew I brewed at home is better than the best Bud.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

36. Fact. My first brew was an

Abbey Ale. I dropped my airlock into the fermenter, so I sanitized my arm with starsan, reached in and grabbed it. The end result was better than Budweiser, but there was a strange lingering flavor that I called "arm". My buddy saved two bottles for a year and we cracked them open. Really heavy alcohol taste, but still better than bud. Since then I've brewed pumpkin ales, whit beir, IPA, stouts, the White House honey beers, fruit beers, et al all with great results.

I have less than $300 invested over a 5 year period. Such a fun hobby. Which reminds me, I need to brew again.

[Adsos Letter]

105. My new son-in-law's brother makes excellent home brew.

He made all the beer for 200 people at my daughter and sil's wedding last year. An IPA, a Red, and another (can't remember the type).

He just won several first place awards for his Red at a tasting in Southern California.

[jmowreader]

33. I do not consider IPA to be good beer

I just don't like it. And since the vast majority of craft beer sold in my area is either IPA or some other industrial-strength ale, I can't be a craft beer customer.

I prefer a pilsener, a style you won't see in craft brewing for two reasons: the beer snobs won't accept it, and it requires investments in energy and equipment craft brewers can't make. (It has to be fermented and aged at low temperatures. Pilsen is in a region with many caves, but in the US pilsener needs mechanical refrigeration.)

Sam Adams and Henry Weinhardt are very good beers in my preferred style.

[tkmorris]

40. Not sure where you're getting your info

But the sorts of "craft" brewers Budweiser was targeting in their Super Bowl ad do in fact brew pilseners. I would say MOST of them offer a pilsener in fact.

You mention Sam Adams and Henry Weinhard as beers in your preferred style, but to the best of my knowledge HW doesn't offer a pilsener, and while Sam Adams did introduce one a couple of years back IIRC it came directly from their yearly craft brewer submissions contest.

I am guessing that if you like Weinhard you are in the Pacific NW somewhere. If that is the case getting a good craft brewed pilsener should be as finding a good local bar or distributor and asking for one. Look around, you might be surprised.

[jmowreader]

59. I'm referring to "pilsener" in the European sense

In Germany we called lagers "pils." Therefore, any "helles" - light in color - lager would qualify. In North Idaho it's almost impossible to find anything but IPA in the craft beer section.

I'm certain there are good craft pilsners, but the problem I've got with craft beer is my taste: I'm not a big fan of hop tea, and the craft beers I've drank were way too heavy on the hops.

[Mosby]

47. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to beer

I don't care for porters and stouts myself.

You might like blond ales, they are the lightest and least bitter ales.

Lagers are very similar taste wise to pilsners, most craft breweries make at least one lager.

[SheilaT]

53. I love a good IPA. But it's a particular

taste that a lot of people don't like. Nothing wrong with you that you don't like it, but if you think all craft beers are an IPA, well, there's something wrong. Maybe you have the misfortune to live in an area without any decent small (craft) breweries. I happen to live in a place (Santa Fe, NM) with a pretty good concentration of small breweries, and some good brew pubs. And while I think Bud and Coors and their ilk are totally awful, there are plenty of types of craft beers I don't like at all.

I know almost nothing about pilsners, but surely there are craft breweries out there making them. Or making something similar enough that you'd like it.

[Goblinmonger]

60. I think the problem with IPAs is that some use the hops to mask shitty beer.

Some know that they are going to use a shit ton of hops so they don't give a crap about the underlying beer. I don't like a lot of IPAs, but a really really good IPA is great. Legunitas IPA, in my opinion, is a good one. Like all things, the IPA trend will go away.

But most craft breweries I know of make many different styles of beer and not just an IPA. I love stouts and porters and most breweries have offerings in that style.

[Trajan]

64. You do realize the IPA is an abbreviation ?

India Pale Ale, extra hoppy, so that the product can withstand a full ocean voyage from England and still drinkable in India ...

British rule over India was the fad ... IPA continues ..

Go figure ... A fad lasting hundreds of years ...

[Goblinmonger]

69. Yeah. I got that.

My point is that IPAs are a fad right now in the craft beer world. Seems to be what everyone wants and everyone wants to out do the hoppiness of the other guy. That will fade at some point like all fads do. Was I indicating that IPAs will go away? No, I wasn't. Just like stouts haven't disappeared right now when IPAs are all the rage.

Anything to say about some breweries using the hoppiness of the IPA as an excuse to not give a rat's ass about the quality of the underlying beer or do you have some other glaringly obvious thing to tell me. For the record, I know where India is. And I know what an ale is.

[MohRokTah]

67. IPA was pretty good when I first tried it.

Now, there are a handful of IPAs I'll drink, and those sparingly. I prefer nice Trippels and good lagers (not that crap the macro breweries pass off as pilsener lager, either). A good stout is nice in the winter. I love Belgian amber ales and French country styles.

One style I really enjoy are the Black and White IPAs, but again I drink them sparingly.

Most people who have a REAL pilsener style lager will never go back to the macro brewed stuff.

[bluesbassman]

70. See if you can get Lagunitas Czech Pils in your area.

Craft brewed in Peteluma CA, but they've been expanding their market. I favor the IPA and Lil Sumpin', but the Pils is a great beer too and not too hoppy at all.

[Adrahil]

90. Lots of craft breweries make pilsners.

Here's a link to a few:

[link:http://drinkcraftbeer.com/editorial/articles/five-pilsners-we-love-beer-styles.html|

Craft brewers have access to decent equipment, including refigeration. Are you think of home brewers? Even if you are, there are LOTS of home brewers who make lager-style beers using refrigeration equipment.

[Throd]

92. I haven't had any that can match the German, Czech, or Polish offerings.

Making a good pilsner is tough because there is nothing to hide behind.

[Adrahil]

94. We'll have to disagree....

I'm more of an British beer fan, but I do like my German styles too. I love 'em. I have had one Czech Pils and it was awesome.

But IMO, the best American craft brews can stand toe to toe with the best Europeans beers.

Having said that, there are lots of "nice try, don't quit your day job" craft breweries in the U.S.

American brewers are STILL recovering from the devastation of Prohibition.

[jmowreader]

96. Do they have access to ENOUGH refrigeration to hold a whole batch of beer?

[Adrahil]

98. The Breweries? Of course they do!

Run a coolant coil through the fermentation tank and slap insulation on the outside and Robert is your mother's brother!

The homer brewers I know have a dedicated fridge. Used fridges are pretty cheap.

[HappyMe]

11. I can't believe somebody wasted their time

analyzing a beer commercial.

[Bonx]

24. how about posting in a thread about it ?

Even wastier !

[HappyMe]

26. lol!

And you wasted your time replying to me!

[Ykcutnek]

37. First-world problems on full display. nt

[kentauros]

81. Then don't ever take an advertising class!

I had an entire semester on advertising where part of our work and learning was analyzing Miller's advertising campaign from the beginning of the "It's Miller Time" slogan to the present at that time (early 80s.) We learned that they started taking chances in the late 70s and into the 80s that were not good choices. It was like they determined what would go into their ads by way of darts on board of things to try.

[HappyMe]

107. The funny thing is,

I used to work at ad agencies! I worked for 2 biggies and a couple of smaller ones.

I knew that they had focus groups, but I wasn't involved in that. They did most of the nit picking before the commercial or print campaign was finalized. A lot of the clients were reasonable. Of course, it took only 1 person on the client side team to get a bug up their behind, and convince the others that they needed said bug. Boom! Months of already approved work....out the window. It seemed like we were always living on the edge. Strangely, that's probably what I liked about it the most. Late nights, early mornings, disappointment, joy, confidence, great thinking and ideas, despair, and no ideas....rinse, repeat.

[kentauros]

110. Having worked in the past as a graphic designer,

the stuff you loved was what I hated, even though I'm a night owl (I just sleep during the day on those occasions.) What I loved in that work was the creativity involved, such as making up forty different designs for a logo. Every time some company redoes their logo, I want to see what they rejected!

So, yes, I also know about one person being able to change the whole group on ideas. I don't recall our professor ever saying anything about that, but we were also only analyzing with what we saw, and no inside info.

[hlthe2b]

14. Even though their beer sucks, they probably had good will because of the Lab puppy/Clydesdale ad

... but this just destroyed that. How stupid.

[MohRokTah]

16. The dog whistles in the ad affect different people differently.

For Bud drinkers, it becomes confirmation bias and shores up the brand loyalty.

For craft beer drinkers....

Well, let's just say Anheuser is trying to buy its way into that demographic.

[Dreamer Tatum]

15. Hold the phone...someone doesn't like an American mass produced beer?

Wow. Color me STUNNED.

Said it yesterday, will say it again today: beer, pizza, and music. No matter what you like, someone else likes something more obscure, more exclusive, hipper, blahblahblah. It's how you create cred for yourself when there are no schoolyards handy.

[Throd]

22. Obligatory comparison to animal piss.

Why are beer snobs so well versed in the nuances of various animal urines?

"Budweiser totally tastes like donkey piss!"

OK, craft beer guy, I'll just have to take your word on that.

[Dreamer Tatum]

29. Meanwhile they pretend to love overhopped craft beer

Which is overhopped because it's overhopped. And that's why. And if you don't like it, why, you're a philistine.

Nevermind that ales were never as hoppy in Europe, and lager is more difficult to brew by some measure.

Myself, I don't drink beer brewed with pine cones and rosemary. I will put my Weihenstephaner Pilsner against
any beer, anywhere, anytime.

Know what else? I'll PROUDLY put up my MILLER HIGH LIFE, too.

[Throd]

30. I consider over-hopped beers to be akin to 24" spinner rims.

Just 'cuz you can, doesn't mean you should.

Anyone can cram a pound of hops into a can, give it a jivey name, and gouge you eleven bucks for the favor.

Making Weihenstaphaner is a skill best left for the adults.

[Dreamer Tatum]

39. And there is the matter of that German beer being something like 500 years old.

So it must have some merit, I suppose.

[msanthrope]

31. I want to buy this post a goddamn drink....I'm tired of overhopped, bitter bullshit that

some 'craft' brewer spits out. If it tastes like shite, it is shite, cute label and story of how your brewery started aside.

I brew once a year. I can't do more--I don't have the patience. And it is a lager. I have to do it in the garage, it smells so bad. But it ain't overhopped.

And when I'm hungover? Michelob in the am, with eggs and steak. Fuckin' heaven.

[HappyMe]

38. Thank you.

There's nothing more tedious and smug than a beer tasting.

None of it tasted good, and they did have some that had pumpkin/rosemary something or other added to the hell of overhopped.

People should just drink what they want.

[Bonx]

50. I love overhopped craft beer

No pretending required.
Me, I just drink what I like.

[kwassa]

17. Meanwhile , Anheuser-Busch owns a number of craft beer brands ...

Faced with declining beer sales, at least in its latest quarter, Anheuser-Busch InBev is looking to expand its craft beer business, which already includes the Blue Point and Goose Island brands. Last week, the world's largest beer-maker acquired Oregon's 10 Barrel Brewing.

The craft beer movement is great for the beer business overall, Anheuser CEO Carlos Brito told CNBC on Thursday.


"They're bringing new views to the beer business. They're bringing romance to the business," Brito said on "Squawk on the Street." "It's a high-end business. So it's better to have, as a market leader, it's better to have entrance in the category that will get consumers to trade up than otherwise."


The brewer can't count on craft beer alone to drive volume, Brito said. It will continue to focus on its staple brands Bud, Bud Light and Michelob Ultra as well as its "high-end" line of Stella Artois and Shock Top, he said.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102182956#.

[MohRokTah]

19. Want to know what's even more hilarious?

People who are craft brew consumers usually don't have anything approaching single brand loyalty. This means that most craft brew consumers will simply remove a craft brew from their list of go to beers when that craft brew gets bought up by the big guys.

It's not like we don't have literally thousands of choices beyond anything owned by the Macro brewers.

[kwassa]

55. Most of the craft brew choices I never see, as they are consumed locally to their manufacture.

The choices that remain, though, are fabulous.

[Goblinmonger]

61. I love when I'm in a different state

going to a liquor store and getting a recommendation for the best local brew. Makes me happy every time. Sometimes it's crap, yes, but I have found some great really small breweries that I look for again when I'm back in the area.

[MohRokTah]

79. I love it when I find one with the build your own sixxer in another state.

Six shots at a great beer from the new locale? That's an almost guaranteed winner!

[DreamGypsy]

18. Bud sh*t, I say.

Anheuser-Busch InBev is madly trying to dominate the craft beer market, because $$$$$.

Last November they bought 10 Barrel Brewing in Bend, Oregon:

Making Sense of Anheuser-Busch InBev Buying 10 Barrel Brewing

It’s Anheuser-Busch InBev’s second purchase of the year (New York’s Blue Point Brewing Co. was the first, in February), and the two join Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s first major craft-brewery acquisition, in a growing portfolio of craft breweries.

<snip>

Craft beer fans—and 10 Barrel fans in particular—were unsettled by the news, worried that beer quality would decline. But that misses the real point: the global giant isn’t acquiring craft breweries in trouble—they’re trying to find some of the most respected breweries in the country. In recent years, 10 Barrel has managed to lure brewers Jimmy Seifrit from Deschutes Brewery, Tonya Cornett from Bend Brewing Co. and Shawn Kelso From Barley Brown’s, assembling one of the most-lauded teams in the country (Kelso and Cornett have a pile of Great American Beer Festival medals between them).

Anheuser-Busch InBev has no intention of lowering quality—it wants to enter the craft beer segment with the kinds of products people are already scrambling to buy. 10 Barrel is smaller than both Goose Island and Blue Point, but it nearly doubled last year and sales in 2014 are growing nearly as fast—all in the ultra-competitive Pacific Northwest. The brewery makes great beer, and that’s the reason it was a prime target.

If beer fans want to worry about anything, it’s that Anheuser-Busch InBev is busily assembling a very well-financed fleet of mid-sized craft breweries that will compete on quality. Because the global brewer has such deep pockets, it will spare no expense to make the best beer. Shortly after the Goose Island acquisition, I was emailing with incoming head brewer Brett Porter (who was also poached from Deschutes). He wrote, “Imagine what a brewer(y) can do with unlimited technical and raw material resources (I’ve got to pinch myself sometimes).” In the years since, Goose Island has gone on to build the largest barrel-aging program in the United States. Craft breweries acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev can use those resources to make a serious charge at the most admired segments of the industry—something it would be very hard for St. Louis to do in-house.

They know that more money will flow into their coffers in everyone is drinking beer at $9 a six-pack instead of $6 for eighteen cans. And the craft brewers that sell out? I suspect that's mostly $$$$ as well.

I, for one, will continue my patronage, in the pub or in a store, of independent craft brewers. Because, well ... people.

[benz380]

20. Anheuser-Busch is owned by Belgian-Brazilian beer giant InBev. Buy American beer! Yuengling! n/t

[Mosby]

54. yuengling is not available west of the miss. river nt

[benz380]

71. Really? Why not?

Years ago Coors wasn't available here and everyone wanted it. Then when it came available here, people didn't want it.

[Mosby]

77. From their website

If the demand is present, why won’t Yuengling enter more states?

Yuengling is a regional brewery that has manufacturing facilities in Pottsville PA and Tampa FL. It simply is not logistically feasible to transport beer outside of our current footprint.

Yuengling is proud to have had ongoing expansions over the past years. The current focus is on those loyal customers that we currently supply. Continuing to provide quality beer and service to meet the existing demand is what the Yuengling family values above growing territory.

[CANDO]

99. Although Yuengling Lager is my beer of choice...

Be aware Dick Yuengling is a big time conservative Republican. His employees decertified from the Teamsters in some measure due to his threats.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. I wish I were manly enough to respond.

I'd say something like, "didn't Anheuser-Busch InBev take a stake in the Redhook Ale Brewery starting about twenty years ago?"

The Redhook Ale Brewery, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is a brewer of craft beers, with operations in Woodinville, Washington and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was founded in Seattle in 1981, by Paul Shipman and Gordon Bowker and is owned by Craft Brew Alliance.

Beers

Redhook currently produces several styles of beer, marketed under distinct brand names. Redhook's flagship brand is Redhook ESB (5.8% ABV). Redhook also brews Long Hammer IPA (6.2% ABV), Pilsner (5.3% ABV), Copper Hook (5.8% ABV), and its seasonal offerings.

Redhook distributes its products through a network of wholesale distributors, Craft Brew Alliance Inc, and a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev, Incorporated (which owns 32% of the stock in Craft Brew Alliance). Redhook distributed its products in 48 states, as of March 31, 2008.

I edited this sentence from my remarks:

"Doesn't that mean that the Red Hook you see on the East Coast comes from a Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire?"

No, it doesn't. Anheuser-Busch does not have a brewery there. That is a Redhook Ale brewery.

Brewing in New Hampshire

Anheuser-Busch does have a brewery in Merrimack, New Hampshire, but that seems to be a separate operation:

Anheuser-Busch Brewery operations

Anheuser-Busch Companies operates 12 breweries, all located in the United States:
St. Louis, Missouri (opened 1852)
Newark, New Jersey (opened 1951)
Los Angeles, California (opened 1954)
Houston, Texas (opened 1966)
Columbus, Ohio (opened 1968)
Jacksonville, Florida (opened 1969)
Merrimack, New Hampshire (opened 1970)
Williamsburg, Virginia (opened 1972)
Fairfield, California (opened 1976)
Baldwinsville, New York (opened 1983)
Fort Collins, Colorado (opened 1988)
Cartersville, Georgia (opened 1993)

[MohRokTah]

23. Most craft brew consumers I know do not consider Red Hook to be Craft Beer any more.

Since there are thousands of real craft breweries, when one gets bought out by the macrobrewers, it's pretty easy to remove them from your list of craft beers you will buy.

Fortunately, I don't see my absolute favorite being bought out any time soon. Dogfish Head is brilliantly crafted brew.

[Rex]

27. And it tastes like carbonated crap. One of the worst tasting beers ever.

This Buds for you, cause I ain't drinking swill in a can!

[braddy]

32. It is a smart ad, they are going for the guys that drink beer by the case and the 12 pack.

The ad is geared for guys that slam beers, the macro drinkers, guys who drink beer 8 and twenty at a sitting, people who drink high quality beers consume far less.

[MohRokTah]

34. It's designed as confirmation bias for existing customers.

It's further designed to enhance brand loyalty.

Their problem is, they continue buying up craft breweries to try taking a bite out of that market and they directly poked those customers in the eye.

It won't do them any favors as they try to break into a market that's increasingly being denied to them while it increases growth annually.

[MADem]

35. I am not a beer drinker...

But when I lived in Europe, I used to bring a case of that panther piss Budweiser over to my neighbor's house every so often (I ate over there a lot). They LOVED the stuff--loved it, loved it, loved it. Apparently the younger set (my neighbors had a couple of young adult kids living at home) found IT to be "hipster-ish cool" thing to drink; of course, they drank it in that arty farty way that the hipsters drank it--small, short glasses, one can or bottle shared between three people!

Budweiser--it IS, in some circles, anyway ... exactly what they're criticizing!!!!!

Anything that is different is attractive, so long as it doesn't skunk up the room!

[KatyMan]

57. Agreed

When we lived in the UK people loved it. There was even a pub (well, bar) in Victoria Station in London (the Mash Tun) that served Lone Star longnecks...! Unreal that in the land of the best beer in the world (real ale), they drink that stuff, along with awful lagers.

Gotta admit tho, that I drink Bud 55, because of the calories; it doesn't taste too bad if you're wanting a beer or two after work or something; tastes pilsnery. On the weekends I buy myself something nicer, like this past weekend I bought a six of Abita Purple Haze, or I might buy Guinness. My main 'splurge' beer is Houston's own Saint Arnold's, which is a great beer, I love all of their varieties, especially Lawnmower, described as "A true German-style Kölsch". Great in the summer.

[Enrique]

89. Bud is the Jerry Lewis of beers

[Paladin]

41. Sorry to disagree, but the craft beer movement was overdue for a flogging.

Obviously, the Bud ad got under quite a few skins; Don Draper of "Mad Men" would approve of that. I've sampled quite a few craft beers: a few of them were quite good, but most were no better than the macro brands, as far as I'm concerned. My favorite go-to brew these days? Dos Equis, preferably with a lime slice. I don't think the hipsters have gotten to that one yet---and if they have, to hell with them.....

[MohRokTah]

42. I drink nothing but craft or home brewed beer.

The ad made me laugh.

It's even funnier when taken into account with their acquisition model.

[Marr]

45. I've had plenty of microbrews as well, and I still gravitate to

Negra Modelo or Corona with a slice of lime. It's easy to get and tastes good. Budweiser and Coors are just awful, though.

[Paladin]

46. Mexico produces some really first-rate suds, no doubt. (nt)

[KatyMan]

58. There's a Mexican restaurant near us

(ok, Tex Mex) that has Negra Modelo on draft; never had it before, but dios mio that's a great beer on tap. Great in the bottle, but on tap...superior quality beer.

[Vattel]

78. I am not a fan of Corona but Negra Modelo is good. I think Pacifico is good too.

[Adrahil]

91. Hey, drink what you like....

... but this commercial is hilariously ridiculous.

[Marr]

44. They certainly know their audience.

You can't lose money in this country appealing to three things:

1) stupidity
2) gluttony
3) machismo

They hit all three.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

48. First world problems

[MohRokTah]

49. So are about 99.9% of all posts on DU

[NCTraveler]

51. Pretty good add. You do know what they are in the business to do, right?

By the way, hipsters will run out of their last beer option soon. At that point they will find a way to fit Bud into the hipster handbook.

[raven mad]

52. LOL! Budweiser, the piss of beer.

ICK!

Two words: Alaskan Amber.

[hifiguy]

62. Fuck Budweiser.

I drink local beers - Grain Belt Premium (brewed in New Ulm MN) as a "regular" beer - which stomps the balls off of Bud and its ilk in terms of flavor - or real craft beer like Summit or Surly when I want an IPA or other "heritage" style brew, both brewed right here in the Twin Cities. Surly is deee-lish. Find yourself a Helles, Bender, Coffee Bender, Abrasive or Furious and enjoy.

Bud and Miller and their gawdaful "lite" beers will always exist. There are plenty of dumb-ass mooks out there who think that monkey piss is actually beer. Leaves more good beer for the rest of us.

[MohRokTah]

63. IF the Bud mooks came for craft beer...

they'd only drive the prices up for those of us who appreciate the craft brews.

[Goblinmonger]

86. Currently in Wisconsin but have lived in MN (originally ND)

I really like 3rd Street Brewhouse (Cold Spring). My son goes to St Cloud State so found it on a trip there. Was really happy with everything I've had there.

Was also happy with the Grain Belt Nordeast I picked up one time, too.

[Trajan]

68. If it wasn't for Portland's amazing craft brewery culture

I wouldn't drink ANY beer ... I already tried the swill promoted by the majors since I was a kid ... I'm familiar with the hideous flavors and the awful aftertaste of a Coors or Budweiser .. I'll have none of that, thanks ...

The whole hipster hatred thing ... I don't get it ...

It makes me realize - DU is just another hate-filled backwater ... too BAD ....

[mathematic]

72. Oh look at all the beer poseurs.

I only drink craft beers! Budweiser is terrible!

Anybody that says those two things is a poseur.

First, Budweiser is not a terrible beer. It's actually an excellent beer. There are few beers as well made as Bud. If you think it's terrible it's likely because you are failing to distinguish between your subjective tastes and the objective qualities of a beer. Maybe you just don't like the style of beer. I'm not a fan belgian-style saisons. Doesn't mean I don't know a good one when I have one.

Second, if you don't acknowledge that most craft beers are trite, inconsistent, poorly conceived wastes of bottle-space then you're part of the problem. An analogy: the 80s and 90s had an obnoxious marketing style where marketers tried to show how super-extreme their product was to drum up excitement. Contemporary craft beers are cut from the same cloth. It's all about being BIG or IMPERIAL or HOPPY or totally radical and nobody stopped for a second to ask, "Does this shit even make sense for a beer?"

For me, the best beers are always going to be session beers. For example, pilsners, english bitters, and, yes, american lagers. These are styles made to be drunk, so they have to be appealing. Non-session styles can simply be "interesting" because they don't need to be good enough to drink.

[MohRokTah]

73. You've apparently never had a lager in the pilsner style outside of what Macro breweries produce.

I assure you, the differences are night and day between a factory produced "pilsner" and a finely crafted pilsner.

Try a real Pilsner Urquell. I guarantee you will never have the same feeling about Budweiser as you do now.

[mathematic]

74. I specifically mentioned pilsners as distinct from american lagers.

Of course I've had a Pilsner Urquell. I've even had Budvar that was actually labeled Budvar. Precisely what about my post led you to believe that I have never had one? Apart from your own over-inflated sense of beer knowledge.

It's particularly strange that you mention Pilsner Urquell as some sort of counterpoint because it's precisely the kind of anti-craft beer that A-B was promoting in their ad. I mean, heck, it's a macro beer made by SABMiller.

[MohRokTah]

75. My apologies.

Pisner Urquell, though huge, still uses the same levels of crafting, still uses the same water with the unique chemistry, and are still as discerning about the hops and barley. They also still malt in house.

When it comes to craft beers, I must agree with you. You must be discerning.

Most who come to it new should completely pass over all IPAs, for example. A few years back, you'd be able to pick up a nice IPA easily. I even found a few IPAs that were nice session beers. That's not so any more. Somebody somewhere decided that all craft beers should have insane amounts of hops and be insanely big, and now there's a lot of nasty craft beers out there.

I find that I'll go through hundreds of choices before finding something I'll pick up. The recent trend of giving you a generic six pack carrier and letting you choose six beers for one set price has been nice, too. It's much easier to give up a buck 66 over one poor choice than $10.

I don't drink Budweiser because I don't like Budweiser. YMMV.

[mathematic]

80. No prob.

I, too, welcome the increasingly common 6-pack mix & match.

[underpants]

76. Old Milwaukee

When I drank beer I really liked Coors banquet beer. I drink liquor now.

[Throd]

83. A cold pitcher of Budweiser is the perfect paring with hot pizza.

[kentauros]

82. I'll defer to the Bruces' opinion about American beer

(at least the big ones like Bud)

[Dawson Leery]

87. I do not drink any of this garbage(beer).

[MohRokTah]

88. Your choice.

[yuiyoshida]

93. If there are three beers I drink they are

1. Asahi
2. Tsingtao
3. LaBatts Blue.

Don't like the others much, and I can find them in San Francisco.

[Throd]

95. If you can find it, try Yebisu. It is my favorite Japanese beer.

Very crisp. Pairs well with sashimi.

[yuiyoshida]

97. Hard to find. I have heard of this beer...

I would very much like to try it.

[tabbycat31]

100. Maybe if it didn't taste like piss they wouldn't be losing market share

Seriously, if you google 'budwiser tastes like" the first thing that comes up is "budwiser tastes like piss."

You want to brew a cold bud. Piss in a bottle/can then put it in the fridge and smack a bud label on it.

[PumpkinAle]

101. My husband fell in love with me when I introduced him to real ale

........... and Bud is nothing, absolutely nothing like real ale.

[MohRokTah]

102. Bud is a lager, first of all.

So of course it's nothing like ale, any ale.

On the other hand, it hardly resembles any well crafted lager, too.

[PumpkinAle]

103. You are absolutely right, but most people in the US don't know the difference

and yep, Bud is nothing like a lager more like gnat's piss.

[MohRokTah]

104. My fav lager was a decoction mash I did.

Not even the microbreweries can afford to take the time and expend the effort to do a real decoction mash lager.

And NOTHING tastes like a decoction mash lager, either. You can only get that flavor in a homebrew.

[PumpkinAle]

109. Okay you have me -

unfortunatley my last batch of homemade didn't turn out well, so I definitely don't think I would be able to do the decoction mash lager. But I will be on the look out for it

Raising a glass to you and may wishing you happy drinking.

[DonCoquixote]

106. Personally give me Guinness or Shiner Bock

and here are two thigns to note about Bud. Busch Gardens used to offer beer tastings. Really, it was research, but hey, free beer. They would try to copy every one of the more famous local brews. They had a version of Guioness called "bare knuckle stout" and a version of Texas Shiner Bock. neither was as good as what they were copying.

Second, Tampa has a fine local brewing scene, which the folks at busch tried to kill off. They tried to make them pay extra charges to the point where they could not do buisness, until, in a rare moment, Tallhasse actually did nto give the big company what they wanted. Now folks in Tampa could buy 32 oz "growlers" which any number of breweries could fill.

[Major Nikon]

108. I have Shiner in my fridge all of the time

I don't drink a lot of beer, but occassionally I will have a Shiner. It works well for cooking also. I use it in stews and beans quite often. I still have a couple of bottles of Shiner's holiday beer. It was quite good as well.

If I can find a bar that knows how to pour a Guinness, then I go for Guinness. As far as take home goes, I prefer Murphy's Stout to Guinness when I can find it.