Budweiser American Lager. 5% abv. 7 IBU. Pale yellow in color. Bubbly white head falls alarmingly fast. Within a minute, the head is a thin surface. A minute later, there's nearly zero trace. No retention. No lacing. Nose is very faint canned corn. Front taste of grain, corn, boiled greens. Aftertaste of crackers, canned vegetables, metallic in the sustain. Thin body. Mouthfeel is watery, slightly carbed, clingy on the back of the tongue. Unpleasant.
This is a terrible beer. I went into this remembering that I didn't hate it in my younger days, so perhaps I'd find something to appreciate about it. Sadly, this brew lives up to its reputation. There is no head to speak of, virtually no aroma, a generic taste of grain, and an aftertaste of boiled vegetables and metal. This is bad even amongst modern lawnmower beers.
I believe my experience with this beer was further tainted by the fact that I didn't drink it ice-ice-ice cold, as these macro breweries often encourage. Because the temperature was slightly higher than ice cold, my tastebuds were not numb, which allowed me to fully taste the beer's components, which turned out not to be a good thing. If you are seeking good quality beers - micro or macro - you'll want to avoid this one, even during those backyard barbecues and football games. Nowadays, there's bound to be something more worthy of your attention in the cooler.
From the brewery:
"Known as 'The King of Beers,' Budweiser was first introduced by Adolphus Busch in 1876 and it's still brewed with the same high standards today. Budweiser is a medium-bodied, flavorful, crisp American-style lager. Brewed with the best barley malt and a blend of premium hop varieties, it is an icon of core American values like optimism and celebration. Budweiser is brewed with only the finest two-row and six-row barley malt, hand-selected from over 2,500 American and Canadian crops. We brew our lager using fresh, verdant rice – milled, polished, graded and immediately brewed for a light and crisp taste. It’s an expensive process; one we think is worth every grain. We’re obsessive about hops. Every year, we sort through over 1,600 hop samples, including those grown on company-owned and family-run farms in Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho and Huell Farm in Germany. Only the supplest, most aromatic hops are selected to create the distinctive flavor of Budweiser. Incredibly, the 30 billion or so yeast cells used to produce every bottle of Budweiser beer are directly descended from the original culture used by Adolphus Busch. Consistently pure water is the key to consistently pure Budweiser beer. And that goes for any water that rinses or cleans our containers too. That’s why our filtered water is flown to our headquarters in St. Louis from around the country daily and tested for purity by our Brewmasters. Taste testing water to brew beer… That’s a commitment to quality."
[source: budweiser.com] |
| This was how far the head dropped in less than a minute. |
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| Two minutes in, no head or lacing whatsoever which meant no aroma to speak of. |
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