Bud

[mrt]

I only occasionally drink beer and I had never tried Bud till yesterday. Yesterday, while shopping with my wife, I happened to see Budweisers on the shelf, and having read about Bud on SB, I decided to try. I picked two bottled and drank one at home, at dinner.

Well, "ubiqutious and mundane" was what I read about Bud somewhere on SB, also mentioning that it was the favourite of many. Actually, I do not like beer so much, but really liked Bud. The characteristic bitter after taste of the beers I tasted before, simply didn't exist in this one and was replaced by a very smooth and sweet-like taste.

Many beer fans do not like beers that I like. However, if I'll drink beer, I think it will be Bud in the foreseeble future..

[Gillman]

In respect of beer, a very old drink with deep roots in parts of the Middle East and Africa, the main thing is the balance of flavors deriving from the fermented cereals (barley and often other grains such as rice and corn) and the hops.

Hops is a resinous climbing vine and it imparts floral and bitter qualities.

So you get in beer, to a greater or lesser degree, a bittersweet taste: the sweet cereal malts are saved from blandness or insipidity by the "seasoning" of the hops. (It is like adding salt and pepper to meat, say).

Hops originally were added to beer as a preservative because compounds in its cones tend to retard bacteriological degradation of beer including excessive oxidation (when beer acquires an unpleasant, damp paper-like smell).

Hops needed to be added in relatively large amounts in pre-refrigeration days. With time, many acquired a liking for a bitter, well-hopped beer. It is an acquired taste just as people acquire a taste for caviar, marron glace or other distinctive and unusual foods and drinks (I am paraphrasing here the great beer and whisky writer, Michael Jackson).

This does not mean that people have to like well-hopped, or any, beers but I find some people, when they know what beer is supposed to taste like, find in time they like and in fact prefer such drinks.

Budweiser as brewed by Anheuser-Busch is an excellent product and as a devotee of craft and traditional beers I have incurred my share of indignation from beer fans over this. Budweiser (also Carslberg and many other well-known international beers) was perfected in the post-refrigeration age when hops did not need to be added in huge quantity. Apart from that, it has a good formula, the interplay of tastes from the yeast, malts and hops used is very good.

Ironically perhaps, A/B is said to have made the taste more assertive recently, i.e., by adding more malt or hops. This was in response to a sales decline attributable by some to the increased liking for craft and European imported beers.

I had Budwesier on draft recently in Cincinnati and thought it was excellent. It happens to back a bourbon very well, too.

Gary

[OscarV]

Budweiser used to be a lot better.
Last spring they admitted that they cut back on the hops a few years ago because America's beer drinkers want a sweeter and tasteless beer, (tasteless is my word).

I remember when it had a little bite to it. I use to call it the Bud Bite.

[mrt]

BTW, Budweiser bottle's label here is "Bud" and not "Budweiser" as it is seen on their web. Do you have an idea about whether this is a regional branding strategy?

[Gillman]

I've never heard that, mrt. "Bud" here (North America) is used only in connection with the light version of Budweiser, Bud Light.

It sounds as if in some international markets there is an attempt to brand the beer by its familiar, shorter name.

Does the bottle state where this Bud is brewed?

I once had a draft Budweiser in Leeds (England) that was just superb.

Gary

[barturtle]

There is a long international battle over the name Budweiser between Anheuser-Busch and Brewery Budweiser Budvar in the Czech Republic. This has caused each to adopt slightly different names globally. In the USA the Czech stuff has become labeled Czechvar.

[Gillman]

Good point, that may explain the name Bud for the Turkish market.

By the way A/B has agreed to distribute the Czech Budweiser in some markets despite the long-standing dispute about trade marks and respective territories for their beers.

The parties have not agreed to settle as such that dispute, but have agreed to set it aside for future resolution and to cooperate in this other area, at least for now.

I read this recently in one of the consumer beer press, either All About Beer or Great Lakes Brewing.

Gary

[mrt]

I read on the bottle that it was produced by Stag Brewing Company, England.
Every detail on the bottle (born date, the 110 days statement, rice among ingredients) and the bottle design is the same as I see on "www.budweiser.com", but the brand is "Bud".

By the way, I found the pic. of the very same bottle branded "Bud" on "www.budbeer.gr". What am I drinking?

[Gillman]

I was not able to enter the site you mentioned, but the picture of the beer seems clearly to be (the U.S.-recipe) Budweiser.

I think you have an excellent version. The one I had in England had the trademark Budweiser taste (kind of appley and fresh biscuit-like). In fact, I preferred it to many Buds I've had in America.

The Canadian-brewed Budweiser is pretty good, but not the best.

Gary

[mrt]

Here comes the answer, from wikipedia:
(I'm impatient and rather curious )
"...
The existence of the Czech beer of the same name has caused problems in some markets. A long-standing agreement with the Czech brewer divided the rights to the name "Budweiser", so that the Anheuser-Busch product is marketed as "Bud" (in France and elsewhere) and "Anheuser-Busch B" (Germany), where the Czech beer has the rights to the name. Anheuser-Busch has made offers to buy out the Czech brewing company in order to secure global rights to the name "Budweiser" for both beers, but the Czech government has refused all such offers, considering keeping the Budweiser name Czech to be a matter of national pride.[citation needed]

The rights to use the name in the U.S. were purchased by founders of the company. They chose "Budweiser" because it was German-sounding and would appeal to other German immigrants, and it was easy for Americans to pronounce."

Now it's clear that my Bud is your Budweiser.