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Budweiser Select: Yet Another Attempt by Anheuser- Busch to Lighten its Product and Increase Sales

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Bacardi Silver Raz is a refreshing alternative to regular beer with a good balance between sweet and tart.

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I love most all styles of beer, but I have a special affection for dark brew. Given an open choice, I will almost always select a dark beer such as porter or stout instead of a lighter beer like a pilsner or wheat ale. I also tend to judge these types of beer more harshly and one beer that meets my strict requirements, but not by much, is Michelob Porter, an American, all- malt porter.

Beer Bio:
Style: American Porter
Alcohol Level: 5.9 Percent by Volume
Calories: 180 per 12 oz. serving
Carbs: 13.2 grams per 12 oz. serving
Michelob Porter is a dark brew, sporting a mostly brown body with ruby accents. The nose on this porter emphasizes caramel, light roasted, malt, and a touch of cocoa. This beer is very fizzy and the small head of foam dissolves into nothing in a very short time, leaving behind a glass of beer that looks like a soft drink. The flavors present include roasted malt, coffee, bittersweet chocolate, and a touch of cherry/raspberry. The body of this beer is medium and crisp, with a finish that is slightly bitter.
Anheuser- Busch is a company with a large product line and it continues to expand into new terrorities. Most of the Anheuser- Busch craft beer attempts have been marketed under the Michelob lineup and Michelob Porter follows this established trend. I can agree that this porter certainly offers some nice qualities, such as its complex array of flavors that includes everything from chocolate to coffee to cherry. But Michelob Porter has other qualities that are less than appealing and the most obvious is the downright ugly appearance. The color is nice, but a pour into your favorite glass produces large bubbles that gather in bunches on the sides of the glass, making the beer look like a fountain soft drink. The barely noticebale head of foam fizzes into nothing in a matter of seconds, making for a most unpleasant first impression.
Aside from the appearance, Michelob Porter does have a few good qualities. There is a decent level of complexity and I appreciate the attempt to blend together so many different flavors into one product. The beer is medium in body and crisp due to the fizziness more than anything else. But the taste is far from the great flavor I expect in a world class porter. It isn’t bad, but my porter- seasoned taste buds expect something a little more memorable.
I like that Anheuser- Busch has given in to market pressures and continues to produce craft- oriented beer products. The company has scored a roughly equal share of hits and misses and Michelob Porter ranks as a middle of the road attempt at producing a quality craft porter. It’s tough to get past such a hideous physical appearance, but Michelob Porter is a respectable effort from Michelob that could be even better with some more attention to detail.
Rating: 6 Cheers out of 10

Anheuser- Busch commands a large market share among American breweries. Products such as Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob, and others rank among the top- selling beers in the nation and have held a steady share of the market for more than twenty years. Still, Anheuser- Busch needs to create new products from time to time and one of their latest creations is Bud Light Golden Wheat, a refreshing wheat beer product.

Beer Bio:
Style: Spiced Wheat Beer
Alcohol Level: 4.1 Percent by Volume
Calories: 118 per 12 oz. serving
Carbs: 8 grams per 12 oz. serving
Bud Light Golden Wheat offers a nice appearance and makes a positive first impression. The beer is golden in color and features a cloudy body. The head of foam is better than that of regular Bud Light and it maintains a thin layer of bubbles as you consume. The nose on Bud Light Golden Wheat combines malted wheat and citrus.
Taste- wise, Bud Light Golden Wheat has a flavor that reflects its aroma and name. The flavor that stands out is citrus, followed by light pale and wheat malts, and a touch of coriander. The beer is light in body and leaves a citrus- like flavor in the mouth that lingers after each sip.
Anheuser- Busch has introduced several new products in the past few years and the company has had its share of hits and misses. Because of its inconsistencies with its new products, I usually don’t set my expectations very high when I sample a new Anheuser- Busch product for the first time. However, when I first heard about Bud Light Golden Wheat, I felt a strong sense of curiosity and my expectations were higher than usual. This might seem surprising, given my disdain for that other Bud Light spinoff, Bud Light with Lime. However, Bud Light Golden Wheat sounded like a beer with some promise and I was anxious to track down a six- pack and give it a try.
Sampling Bud Light Golden Wheat for the first time, I noticed a few important features in this beer’s appearance that distinguish this product from its namesake. Some of these differences are surprising, like thr fact that Bud Light Golden Wheat is unfiltered and a little cloudy. There is even a little bit of sediment that settles on the bottom of each bottle. These are two traits you would normally not associate with something from Anheuser- Busch brew and these atypical qualities are part of the beer’s appeal.
Appearance is a nice start to any drinking experience, but what about the flavor? Well, Bud Light Golden Wheat is actually a decent malt beverage product. As I described above, the flavor of Bud Light Golden Wheat combines citrus, wheat, pale malt, and a dab of coriander. The most dominate of these flavors is the citrus and it is the taste that sticks with you the longest. The flavors of malt and coriander in Bud Light Golden Wheat are less pronounced, and the taste is generally sweet, making the beer very easy to drink.
Bud Light Golden Wheat is a little lighter than I prefer and it lacks the malt backbone that is essential for a great beer. Still, in spite of these shortcomings, Bud Light is- dare I say it- a good beer product. It has some very good refreshment qualities and lower than average calories and carbs. I like it better than Bud Light with Lime and while it isn’t good enough to rank as a world- class product, it is still a decent beer that offers some easy drinking qualities.
Rating: 6 Cheers out of 10