Budweiser American Ale

Brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev
Style: Amber Ale
St. Louis, Missouri USA

Well after two bottles of this at a bowling alley I figured it warranted a closer inspection. This pours into my 25cl tulip glass with a frothy, almost four-finger thick, light tan colored head. The head leave lots of lacing patterns on the sides of my glass and has a nicely textured, rocky appearance as it slowly subsides. The beer is quite clear and glitters like a ruby as it sits on my desk, when held up to the light it shows a deeply red stained, copper hue. The aroma that is noticeable as I pour this seems to be a mixture of juicy-fruit gum, butterscotch, and bubble gum. A closer inspection yields some caramelized malt, some toasty crystal malt and a sweet graininess towards the finish. The aroma is a bit weird somehow, I don’t think it is supposed to be served in something like a tulip glass where you can actually smell the beer quite well. From the bottle it seemed to have some muted crystal malt character and perhaps a hint of Cascade character; from the tulip glass though it has a bit too much crystal malt focus and the super-fruitiness seems a bit weird. A touch of grape-fruit like cascade is noticeable up front, but this is quickly muted by the crystal malt aromatics and then just crushed by the super-bubblegum fruit notes of the finish.

The taste is fairly dry at first, but then picks up some lightly caramelized crystal malt sweetness as well as some lightly toasted malt character that reminds me of biscuit notes and crackers. This finishes with a very faint, almost non-existent hop bitterness, perhaps a touch of pine-like hop character and a touch of biting carbonic character (the carbonation seems to provide more of the malt balance than does the hop character). Some of the super-fruit notes intrude upon the flavor, though not as much as in the aroma, and more of a sort of oral-nasal like influence on the flavor anyway. This actually has some body to it, though it remains pretty light and quaffable over all. The finish, especially as it warms has a mix of butterscotch and bubblegum notes to it.

Way more character than I was expecting from a Budweiser, this isn’t always a good thing though. I really think this beer was engineered to be drunk from the bottle, and then maybe from a shaker pint glass as well as being served at sub 40°F / 4.5°C temperatures. Served like it is just a bit too unbalance, I actually enjoyed this more at the bowling alley straight out of the bottle. I am quite surprised at the fruity fermentation notes that are in this beer, I would have figured that AB would have tried to tame the yeast a lot more than this. In all honesty though, for a beer from Budweiser, this is engineered to be visually perfect, I was quite surprised at the fluffy head and the staying power of said head. Definitely not a horrible beer, and it has a surprising amount of character, though I will admit that I thought this was going to be a better beer than it actually ended up being (they really need to clean up the fermentation for this beer).

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ

Typical Bud-like taste, just a little maltier perhaps. No big thrill. There is, truly, nothing more to say about this brew. I swear.

I’ve been meaning to try this for some time, so I finally bit the bullet and picked some up while I was grocery shopping - completely clear amber beer - she kicks up a substantial head, that shrinks down quickly to a rather thick, frothy lace - the aroma and flavor are fairly middle of the road, even for an amber ale, but it is quite clean and refreshing - crisp hop bitterness up front, followed by some mild fruity/estery character, finishing with some bready malts and a return of a tiny bit of hops - a tiny bit nutty - watery finish - inoffensive, but bland, forgettable - they could have done a lot more with this beer, but instead they dumbed it down, even for a style that I don’t expect much from.

Bottle. Pours amber with a little bit of head. Does look nice. Taste is ok. A little bit hoppy. Has some corn flavor in there. I like the idea. Its a mass market beer but a bit higher quality. Not a great beer, but better than many of the mass market. Have to walk the masses to good beer one baby step at a time...

1pint 6 oz Bottle and served in a no-nik pint glass: Yep looks just like the picture, actually mine looks a tad darker amber hue topped by a frothy slightly off-white head which left pretty good lace upon the glass. That should alone scare the crap out of 95% of the A-B beer market. The aroma is yep a complete letdown, I knew A-B did not have it in them to make a complex beer. Hint of walnut, caramel, wet grains, light herbal hops, a sadly some medicinal vapours as well. The flavor profile is equally mundane, moderate forgettable sweet nutty malts with just a touch of bitterness. There is also a metallic and even a bit of a sour note as well. The mouth feel is respectable for the genre, lively but not aggressive. Okay, it is better than almost any other offering from the MEGAbrewer but sadly that is not saying much. I fully expected an American PALE Ale but instead got a worn out Amber Ale that any home brewer with a kit could reproduce. Where is hell is the Cascade hops anyway? Cheap f-ing bottom line, mass marketing bastards! Someone should be hung for using words like robust and distinctive when describing this beer, what happened to TRUTH in advertising?

Oooh look! You need a bottle opener, must be good! Who cares. Especially when a piece of the lip cracks off with the cap like this one. Damnit! Smells typical Bud with an added mollasses and bit of spice maybe. Looks like ice tea, I bet the color is fake. Tastes decent enough, a hint of hops at least but mouthfeel is weak. Similar to a Ziegenbock or Amber Bock. Not even as good as a Shiner. Nothing special at all. For the same price I could have had my Sierra Nevada. I’m left craving hops.

Bottle. Overly sweet caramel nose with plenty of on-rushing carbonation. Amber-brown body, translucent with a large soapy tan head. Taste is bittersweet with a (surprisingly) noticeable hop bite, if only for a short while, and some dry and slightly sour caramel that fades into a long-lasting grainy aftertaste. Light-medium body, a little metallic and not very clean (kinda grimy teet after a few ounces), has me thinking headache before I finish half the bottle. In the same category as Amber Bock, but nothing more than an ugly step-brother, and that’s saying something.

Draft and bottle-no real discernible difference between the two but draft seems to be lighter, watery. No head in the various times I’ve had it. Aromas of dark chocolate, heavy on the roasted malt, somewhat flowery notes. Very crisp with notable hops present, dry finish. Rather bitter for an amber ale. Extremely similar to Amber Bock.