Who owns your beer? Anheuser Bush Edition

Lately the big boys at BMC have been disguising some of their beers. The most common example of this is Blue Moon, which is brewed by Coors. There are many more examples of this in the brewing world. Many of the large breweries are producing beer under different names. What many people do not know is that many import beers are brought into the states and distributed by the American macro breweries. This entry will focus on the largest brewery in the United States and 4th largest in the world:

Anheuser-Busch
Founded: 1852

Headquarters: St. Louis, Missouri
Revenue: 15 billion (2006)

Base Brands:

Hurricane and King Cobra: the "homeless-friendly-priced" malt liquors of AB. High in alcohol and quantity per container (often sold in the nefarious 40 ounce bottle, where legal), low in cost. Fun Fact: as a boy I grew up frequenting Busch Gardens. I used to see the King Cobra logo on the scrolling advertisements in the hospitality house. I desperately wanted Dad to sample it but he informed me "that's a malt liquor son."

Natural (including Light and Ice): the quintessential frat-party beer, often affectionately known as "Natty". This is in A-B's "value" line of beers.

Busch (including: Busch, Ice, and Light): another "value" brand of AB. Like Natty above it but with a more "grown up" image. Also: Majestic Rocky Mountains

Budweiser (including: Budweiser, Light, Dry, Ice, Ice Light, and Select): one of AB's "standard" brands. Bud Light is their best-selling beer in America and Budweiser is the best-selling beer in the world, period.

Michelob (including: Ultra, Ultra Amber, Light, Lager, Honey Lager, AmberBock, Porter, Golden Draft, and Golden Draft Light): AB's "premium" line of beers, these generally contain more malt and less adjuncts. Michelob Ultra is the best-seller in this line. Fun Fact: the first "dark" beer I ever drank was AmberBock, it was my beer of choice for many years in college. I like to call it my "gateway beer". I remember how sophisticated and cultured I thought I was because I drank AmberBock rather than the "crappy swill" everyone else was drinking.

"Alcopops":
Bacardi Malt Beverages: the clear, sweet, beverages designed to appeal to women and underage drinkers. There has been legal debate lately over whether they should have the word "malt" in their title. Only small amounts of the alcohol in these drinks(if any) is malted-barley-derived. Includes: Raz, Watermelon, O3, Mojito, Pomegranate Mojito, Peach, and Strawberry.
Tilt: AB's entry into the energy drink/malt beverage category. Basically a simple beer that has been drenched in corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, and caffeine.

Beers they brew, but do not directly attach their name to:
Sun Dog Amber Wheat: American-style wheat beer, spring seasonal.
Spring Heat Spiced Wheat/Shock Top Belgian White: started as a seasonal Belgian white-style ale, brewed to compete with Blue Moon.
Winters Bourbon Cask Ale: sweet beer with decent alcohol content, a winter seasonal.
Bare Knuckle Stout: nitro-tap dry Irish-style stout brewed to compete with Guinness.
ZiegenBock: version of Amber Bock brewed exclusively for distribution in Texas.
Wild Blue: 8% abv sweet fruit beer. I have never seen this available for purchase here in Oklahoma.
Landshark Lager: pale lager beer initially available only in Florida, it has since reached wider distribution.
Tarpon Spoon: Bohemian-style pilsner available in Florida.
Lone Palm Ale: amber ale brewed for Margaritaville by AB's Jacksonville brewery.
Aruba Red: amber ale brewed for Bahama Breeze Restaurant Chain
Stonemill Pale Ale: an organic pale ale.

Domestic beers distributed by AB, but not brewed by them:
Redhook beers: started as a small microbrewery in Seattle, WA. Redhook's most well-known beer is their ESB.
Widmer Brothers: one of the first members of the craft brewery revolution, based in Portland, OR. Their most well-known beer is Widmer Hefeweizen, an American-style wheat beer.

Beers imported and distributed(but not brewed) by AB
Bass Pale Ale: an ESB from England. Fun Fact: the Bass logo is the oldest trademark in existence.
Beck's (regular, Light, Dark, Oktoberfest): from North Germany, generally not highly regarded among beer critics. It is not brewed in Bavaria and is not one of the official Oktoberfest breweries. Has typical green bottle skunk syndrome.
Boddington's Pub Ale: a bitter brewed in Manchester. Poured from a nitrogen tap or canned with a nitrogen widget, resulting in a creamy mouthfeel lacking in carbonation. Contrary to popular belief, it is inappropriate to call this beer a "cream ale".
Czechvar: a bohemian pilsner brewed in the Czech Republic. Volumes could be written on this beer alone. In the rest of the world this brew is known as "Budweiser Budvar". Curiously, AB now imports and distributes this beer in the states...and is still actively engaged in lawsuits over their using "Budweiser" in their name.
Grolsch (regular, Amber Ale, Blonde Lager, Light Lager): probably best known for their use of expensive, green, flip-top bottles; these beers are brewed in the Netherlands.
Kirin (Ichiban and Light): Japanese pale lager beers are similar to BMC beer in that it is extremely light in color and often brewed with rice. Kirin Light available in the states is contract-brewed by Molson in Canada. Kirin Brewery is the seventh largest brewery in the world.
Leffe (Blonde and Brune): these Belgian abbey ales(the blonde is a Belgian pale ale while the brune is a dubbel) are not brewed by an actual monastery but are affiliated with Notre Dame de Leffe which receives profits from the sales of these brews.
Löwenbräu: One of the six major Munich breweries at Oktoberfest (albeit the least respected). This green-bottled beer with the blue lion emblem is a Munich Helles-style lager.
Stella Artois: pronounced "Stell-uh Are-twah", this is a pale lager brewed in Belgium. Stella was originally brewed as a seasonal Christmas beer but became a year-round beer due to its popularity. Stella is marketed as a premium brand outside of Belgium (where it is just an everyday common lager beer). This beer is known as the "wife beater" in Britain.
Tennent's Lager: one, if not the, most popular beers in Scotland. This beer is another green-bottled pale lager. Not-so-fun Fact: I had a hard time finding traditional Scottish ales while visiting Edinburgh. This beer, however, was everywhere.

Brewery bought out by AB:
Rolling Rock(Extra Pale and Green Light): this brewery was acquired by AB in 2006.

Ignorance to Beer Culture

I recently stumbled upon this blog post regarding beers the author(s) would never drink


I am constantly amazed by the ignorance of mainstream media to all things, including beer. The author(s) seem to have never even tried many of these beer. It reads like it was written on five minute google research.

6) Lambics are fermented with bacteria, and are enjoyed by many people. The sugar-infused lambics at Tapwerks Ale House where I work are very popular, especially with those that normally do not like beer.

5) I have never tried Randall before, but as a hophead and evangelizer of all things Dogfish Head, I'm sure I would enjoy the enormous hop aroma it imparts to finished beer.

4) You can find my review of Utopias here. I agree with them that is more like a cognac than a beer but it is still technically a beer. It's expensive but worth a shot.

3) I have had this pine ale before and it's delicious. Adding pine needles to beer was done before the widespread use of hops. It's not that far off when you think about it. Many hops impart pine-like character to beer.

2) I have never had this beer. I did have a toasted coconut porter at the Great American Beer Festival and it was fantastic!

1) Those who like light beer and enjoy livening it up with fruit slices will probably enjoy this. And this beer is aimed squarely at them.

Hops and Malt sans Alcohol?

I was mindlessly wandering the internet today, researching hops, when I stumbled upon this entry in Wikipedia: Julmust

It is an unfermented malt drink consumed in Sweden around Christmas time. It contains everything beer does with the subtraction of yeast and the addition of citric acid, color, spices, and preservatives. What would something like this taste like? If it's anything like unfermented beer, I'd have to pass. It's far to sweet to be a quaffable beverage.

The entry states that you can sometimes purchase the beverage at IKEA stores in the United States. The closest location from my apartment is down in Dallas. Fortunately my roomate has a borderline unhealthy fetish with the store and makes frequent trips. With a little luck I may be able to procure a bottle or two (and subsequently review it on this site).

Another curious aspect of Julmust: it can be "aged". A part of me wonders what would happen if you dropped some yeast into one of these bottles and attempted to ferment it. I'm going to go ahead and hypothesize that those "preservatives" would probably prohibit you from doing such a thing.

Beer Myths Bested

There is a wealth of misinformation, half-truths, and out-right lies swimming in the sea of beer consciousness. One of my goals in this blog is to continually educate and inform on beer and brewing. I've compiled a list of common misconceptions many folks hold about beer:

1. THERE ARE ONLY TWO TYPES OF BEER:
   That's right. There are only two types: Ale and Lager. Ales are fermented at higher temperatures (generally 60F-80F) with top-fermenting yeasts while Lagers are fermented at colder temperatures (50F-60F) with bottom-fermenting yeasts. All of the other 'types' you may know of are really just styles of ale and lager. A statement such as "Would like an ale or a stout?" is akin to saying "Would you like a dog or a German Shepherd?"
   
   Types of Ales: Pale Ale, India Pale Ale (IPA), Lambic, Tripel, Dubbel, Quadrupel, Porters (occasionally brewed with lager yeast), Stout, Barley Wine, Hefe Weizen(occasionally brewed with lager yeast), Kolsch(occasionally brewed with lager yeast), Altbier, Witbier, Scotch Ale(occasionally brewed with lager yeast), Saison, bitter, Extra Special Bitter(ESB), etc.
   
   Types of Lagers: Light American/Pale Lager(most all macro beers produced in North America), Euro Pale Lager (similar to the American, more skunky, usually comes in green bottles), Oktoberfest/Marzen, Bock, Doppelbock, most Malt Liquors, Pilsner, Munich Helles, Dunkel, Rauchbier, etc.
   
   
   
2. THE COLOR OF BEER DOES NOT NECESSARILY DENOTE ALCOHOL CONTENT:
   The notion that the color of beer necessarily indicates alcohol levels is false. Guinness clocks in at slightly less alcohol (4.1% abv) than Coors Light/Bud Light/Miller Lite (4.2% abv). In fact, the roasted barley that gives most beers their darker colors is not even very fermentable as it is unmalted. Some Belgian styles such as the Tripel similar to American macro lagers in color but pack 9+% abv.
   
   
   
3. HOPS DO NOT AFFECT ALCOHOL CONTENT:
   There is an elephantine misunderstanding as to what exactly hops are and what role they play in the production of beer. Many casual beer drinkers seem to think hops and water are fermented to make beer. Hops only contribute bitterness, flavor, and aroma to beer. They also act as a mild preservative. The alcohol content of beer is determined by the amount of sugars present prior to fermentation. These commonly come from barley malt but can come from other sources as well (wheat, molasses, honey, cane sugar, corn, rice, even potatoes!)
   
   Higher bitterness is often desired in some higher alcohol beers (Barley Wines, IPAs and IIPAs, Imperial Stouts, etc). These types of beers have higher amounts of residual sugars left in them after fermentation. To prevent the beer from becoming sickeningly sweet (this is termed "cloying" by beer geeks), more hops are used to balance out the flavor of the beer. There is even a measurement system for bitterness called International Bittering Units (IBUs), more on that at a later date.
   
   
   
   
4. MALT LIQUOR AND YOU:
   Malt liquor is actually a type of beer. As a style it is usually a high alcohol lager with minimal hop presence and a high amount of "adjuncts" (fermentable sugars other than barley malt, typically corn and even corn syrup!) Malt liquor is able to maintain such low prices because a large amount of its alcohol is derived from these cheaper sugars.
   
   
   
5. WHAT IS "SKUNKED" BEER?
   Ever notice that some beer has a "skunky" quality to it? By skunky I mean a pungent aroma similar to a skunk, gasoline, or burnt rubber. Contrary to popular belief this has nothing to do with temperature. Fluctuating temperatures have little effect on the flavor of most filtered beers (read: refrigerating it, letting it cool, and refrigerating again will not 'skunk' it). It also has little do with shelf-time. Old beer or beer stored at warm temperatures(which decrease the aging of beer) will become stale and lose it's fresh taste, but it will not become "skunked".
   
   This skunky problem is caused 100% by the bottle type. Green and clear bottles allow for UV rays to hit the beer. This causes a chemical reaction with hops and creates a "skunky'"aroma and taste in the brew. Many European lagers are grossest offenders in this department, and these beers often taste better out of kegs. (Stella, Heineken, St. Pauli Girl, Becks, Pilsener Urquel, etc.) Even fluorescent bulbs can skunk the beer. This is not a problem with wine and cider bottles because they do not contain hops.
   
   Some beers can dodge this problem by using hop extracts immune to skunking. MGD by Miller is one such beer (it is bottled in clear glass).
   
   
   
6. AMERICAN BEER IS NOT LOW IN ALCOHOL/WEAK COMPARED TO OTHER COUNTRIES:
   This is mostly untrue. Beer from the UK is often much lower in alcohol content than similar American beers. The average "regular" American beer clocks in at 5% abv while the average UK brew is closer to 4%. 40% of all beer sold in Australia is less than 4% alcohol by volume. In Ireland most stout is less than 4.5% abv. The average German beer (often pilsner and Munich Helles) is only slightly higher in alcohol content than the average American pale lager.
   
   *7 of the top 10 highest alcohol beers in the world are American. With the most alcoholic beer ever produced and the highest alcohol beer in current production both hailing from the states.
   
   
   
7. AMERICAN BEER "SUCKS":
   Most American beer from the 'big three' (soon to be 'big two'?) is incredibly boring, watery and similar tasting. However, there are many microbreweries thoughout the US that offer beers just as flavorful(and often more-so) than their European counterparts. In fact, the US contains more breweries than any other country in the world!
   
   
   
8. EUROPEAN BEER: WARM AND FLAT?
   At least part of the myth that Brits drink their beer warm comes from US soldiers stationed in the UK during world war II and in the years following when rationing was in full swing. Refrigeration was regulated, and so many places served their beer warm. The myth perpetuates to this day largely because it is passed down from parents to their children, many of whom have never been to the British Isles or continental Europe.
   
   Ale in the UK is served at much warmer temperatures than it is in the US, it can properly be described as "cool" not "cold". The statement that ale in the UK is served at "room temperature" is correct. However, the "room" that ale is stored in is a cellar which maintains a temperature in the 55F-65F range. Lagers are often still served at temperatures much closer to freezing, as they are in the US. In touristy destinations Guinness often comes in regular(cellar temperature) and "extra cold" varieties.
   
   British ales (often termed "real ale") are served out of a cask that is not pressurized (as keg beer is). Beer must be pumped out with a hand pump which pushes air into the cask, drawing out the ale. This gives the beer a creamy, velvet mouthfeel and there is almost no stinging carbonation. Nitrogen widgets, specialized keg taps, and nitrogen tanks like those used for Boddington's, Tetleys, and Guinness attempt to replicate this texture using cans and kegs. An advantage to this approach is that the beer will not spoil as fast because air is not being pushed into the keg.
   
   Note, beers in Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, etc are all usually served relatively cold, only slightly warmer than the serving temperatures of beer in the US.