Anheuser-Busch Enters the Craft Beer Market with Taste, Seriously
Posted: 04-26-2006 19:07:27 UTC
--
I left my anti-big-business-mass-produced loathing at home and walked into the following tasting with an open-mind in the name of beer.
--
Anheuser-Busch Specialty Brewing Group Beer Tasting
Last Thursday, Jason, Candice and I, along with fellow BA and beer writer Andy Crouch and Graham Wilson from Boston's Weekly Dig, attended a media only tasting for A-B's originalbeers.com "You Choose It, We'll Brew It." competition at the Bell In Hand in Boston, MA. We seemed to be the only media, and it was a bit creepy.
Some background and thoughts on the idea...
Consumers logon to the website, vote for the beer they'd like to see win, provide some personal info and A-B will brew the winner and alert you when it's being served - if you opted in. What strikes me odd is that though they're conducting very limited on-premise consumer tastings in which voting does take place, why put most of the focus on on-line voting? They're allowing consumers to pick a beer that they've never even tasted! Sure, they do provide a good amount of beer geek info, but taste is more powerful than a check in a checkbox (or it should be) and it's a much bigger opportunity missed. But that's just me.
Additionally, they've given each beer a persona in the form of craft beer-like names that tie into the region and somewhat goofy tap handles, which makes you feel like you're voting for more than just a beer. Interesting and most clever, but not totally original, though I suppose it helps with the on-line voting.
Anyway ... consumers must vote by April 30th, and apparently the winner will be brewed by A-B's Specialty Brewing Group (SBG) in Merrimack, NH early May in 450BBL batches, and then released to the New England market late June - draft only.
The tasting...
Amongst the A-B corporate types at the tasting was Mitch Steele (shown in picture), who is one of four brewers (out of 11 on the team) working on the SBG projects in Merrimack. Mitch is also the current District President for the Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA), and explained that his fellow SBG brewers love craft beers just as much as the next beer geek and that many of them are also avid homebrewers.
We tasted three beers, which were actually brewed in 10BBL batches at the St. Louis test facility. You can get more info from the above mentioned website, but I've include links to my tasting notes (Jason's will follow). All tastings were from draft, and tasted multiple times, in the following initial order.
Stone Face Ale
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/30065/?ba=bros
(New England-style Brown Ale. 6.7%)
Devil's Hop Yard IPA
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/30064/?ba=bros
(American IPA. 6.4%)
Leaf Peeper Pils
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29/30063/?ba=bros
(Imperial Pils. 8.0%)
Finally! This is what I expected from A-B. Fresh, flavorful, real beers brewed with the same passion found in the craft beer world. Whodathunk?
Seriously. People are constantly saying that A-B has the resources to brew better beers, so why they hell won't they?! Well you asked for it, they've been listening, and we've been told that this is merely the beginning.
Given all of this, I must admit that if A-B continues down this path of quality and flavor, these specialty beers will no doubt give craft brewers a serious run for their money. Don't think so? How about when they funnel these beers to consumers via their powerful marketing and distribution pipelines? Not to mention their commitment to providing fresh and dated product (a problem that plagues craft brewers daily), and their ability to price beers most aggressively and play some major on-premise hardball in order to secure handles and shelf space.
All of this could be cause for much concern for craft brewers given the slow, but steady, rise in craft beer prices and lack of quality control after the beer is dropped into market due to lack of resources. Generally speaking, of course, as there are plenty of craft brewers who take good care of their beers when in market, however, the problem is: there's not enough, and it impacts craft beer as a whole. As for pricing, there's not a whole hell of a lot the small guy can do if they want to survive AND thrive.
But time will tell, and this mind will remain open.
In the meantime, any BeerAdvocates in the Boston area interested in attending a tasting / voting should stop by The Kinsale on 2 Center Plaza (across from Government Center) from 5:30-7:30pm on Thursday, April 27, 2006. I'll be there for another round.
Outside of the Boston area? Cast your vote or find out more at: originalbeers.com. In the Columbus, Ohio area? According to a press release, residents of the area can also vote on-line for: Burnin' Helles (Bock-style lager), Racer Snake Red (all-malt American Amber) and Old Eyepopper (Dunkel-style brew) - I'm assuming when you enter your zip the voting switches if you're from the area? No other info was given on what will happen in Columbus, Ohio after the voting, which was odd.
Respect Beer.
Todd