Budweiser Chelada

Brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
St. Louis, Missouri USA

Serve in Lager glass, Tumbler

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24oz can: Pours to a deep pinkish red colored body with bits of clamato clearly visable floating around. It has a small, quickly fading pinkish head. The aroma gives off tomato, salty clam, and some hints of hot sauce and maybe celery puree. Taste is mostly a salty clam & tomato juice, though the budweiser surprisingly comes through giving just a bit of sweet light malt flavor. The barest hint of alcohol comes through in the carbonation, which actually serves as a bit of a counterbalance against the clamato. Medium, forced carbonation, finishes with a bit of spicy tomato in the mouth, and a drying saltyness towards the back of the throat. So how do I rate this one? It would be easy, and almost tempting, to toss out a "this isn’t beer" and assign a 0.5. However that doesn’t make any sense - this beer isn’t trying to be a traditional German hefe or some new-fad American strong ale. So what I’m left with is a beer that really needs to be judged according to the basics of ratebeer, attempting to free myself of any preconceived notions about AB or the shock of my pasty white palate to tomato juice & beer. It’s drinkable and actually not that bad - this would make a great alternative to the bloody marry. It’s very strange to my palate, never having tried a red beer before but I do like the strange interplay of flavors at work here. Ultimately I think that due to the odd combination of clamato juice (already not liked by everyone) and beer, this is going to be liked by some and hated by others.

What an offensive offering to the palate. It smells and tastes like spagettios with skunked beer in it. Yay.

Thanks to Chipalsa for hooking me up with this treat!!! Body was hazy light red color with a white head that fades out. Aroma is tomato/ketchup with some briny lemon aromas and mariscos. Flavor is like a mexican shrimp cocktail....seriously. Tastes just like it but not good. Strange beer.

Original review: 7/14/09. I gotta admit. I have the lowest of expectations for this ’beer.’ I wasn’t even planning on trying it. This beer became the ’stakes’ of a bet between my brother and I. Loser had to consume a 24oz can over the span of an hour. He lost. But feeling sort of bad for him, I told him I’d try a bit to relieve his burden. Here goes... Pours an murky pinkish red with a big 2-finger head on top. This disappears quicker than I can say ’tomato juice.’ It looks like grapefruit juice. Too bad it tastes nothing like that. Smells like celery and vomit. Serious horridness going on here. It’s like a rabbit puked in my glass after an afternoon in my garden. Gross. The mouth is spritzy and bubbly. Thank goodness for that. If this was mellow and flat, I would purge. At least it feels alright. Flavor is of watered-down tomato soup, celery, and the faintest of grains. This is just all-out horrible. I will never, ever again allow this to get into my digestive system...unless I lose the next bet.

24oz can, pours light hazy pink with a thin white head. Aroma is skunk, corn, slight brine. Flavor is very strong tomatoe juice with salt and a salty brine finish. Blah.

UPDATED: APR 1, 2012 24oz can, shotgunned. fizzy and rough carbonation combines with the saltiness and tomato / lime, so it’s actually pretty easy to quaff, or put down your throat in mass quantities some other way. flavor-wise it’s mild sweetened tomato juice, carbonated like soda. it’s not offensive or disgusting as some people make it out to be. certainly better than the chelada-style Rock Ice LIMON from Costa Rica. pinkish color gets a five because it looked like blood in my sink the morning after.

24 oz can. Wow this is one weird beer & I use the term beer very loosely. Vibrant red colour witha pink head and strong tomato aroma. The flavour is also strongly tomato and not very beer like. There is a strong peppery finish.

This doesn’t taste like beer at all, but it’s good. Like someone else noted, if you like bloody marys, you’ll probably like this. I even put a squirt of hot sauce and a dribble of worcestershire in it. In fact, I’m having one right now.

Good stuff. I hate beer but the Bud Light Chelada rocks. Make it more available and how about adding packaging to the big cans for ease of purchase and carry out.

Its not a .5, its a 0, this is without a doubt the most nasty beer Ive ever had! for real, reddish foamy nasty, gose down and comes back up about the same!, just the smell is enough to say stay away!

Completely disgusting. One sip almost made me throw it back up. Tastes like budweiser mixed with fish sauce.