new bourbon cask ale...

[polyamnesia]

Has anyone seen the new seasonal ale by Anheuser Busch, Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale?

supposedly aged in bourbon barrel oak...and vanilla bean...

[TNbourbon]

It was discussed in this thread last winter:
http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...ead.php?t=4910

It has appeared locally again, but I'll be passing on it this time.

[polyamnesia]

It was discussed in this thread last winter:
http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...ead.php?t=4910

It has appeared locally again, but I'll be passing on it this time.

thanks tim

its not bad. i like it. but i think, in 2008, i will (also) pass on it...

it really has a nice bourbon LOOK when in the glass. and it almost reaches the Sam Adams level. but not quite.

if i had noticed that Anheuser print earlier, i might have passed intially.

but that's ok. i've been wasting money in the educational spirit these last two weeks on this, Heaven Hill and Old Grand Dad. now that i think about it, there has been no waste.

but i have to admit, next $30 i spend on alchemy, i mean, alcohol, will be on something that Jimmy Russell had a hand in...something worth every lickin' cent i pay for!

[miller542]

Anheuser Busch Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale is garbage. There a so many other great winter ales out there that blow it away.

And, no money spent on experimenting is wasted.........

[Sijan]

Terrible stuff. Avoid. I will not be trying again. If you must, just pour a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract into your next beer and you'll get the idea.

[Gillman]

While I can't rule out the possibility, rare has been the case (in my experience) where a mass market brewer can make a product with an artisanal taste.

I am not sure why this.

Gary

[Rughi]

While I can't rule out the possibility, rare has been the case (in my experience) where a mass market brewer can make a product with an artisanal taste.

I am not sure why this.

Gary

Gary,
I think we all know.

It's not quality control, or skill of the brewers, or access to only the finest and choicest.

It's the decisions on what to make.

For the microbreweries along the I-5 corridor that started this whole revolution, the bottom line was great beer, and hopefully a profit followed (luckily, quality is often recognized).

If the microbrewers had to justify their wacky and aggressive concoctions (and decoctions) to several tiers of uncaring management that couldn't see a big enough market for a product, all the flavors they created would have never been brewed.

Small breweries, locked into friendly competition with other like-minded brewers and small circles of rabidly enthusiastic consumers created a beer culture that no major could have created.

Roger

[Gillman]

Well, this may be Roger.

Although, the microbrewery pioneers did not really create fine beer: that existed before, historically in the 1800's (e.g., Pilsener Urquel, still made, the great English cask ales and numerous German specialties).

The micros simply restored and built on that tradition.

In their annals, surely, A-B and the other big U.S. brewers have the recipes for great beer, they made it at one time. Why don't they just bring back those beers, or similar ones? I wonder if they really don't understand anymore what these taste like, possibly because they have been so wedded to perfecting mass market light-bodied lagers they have "forgotten" what real beer is all about.

Gary

[LarryG]

At the considerable risk of offending someone, as well as sounding insufferably elitist, I think the difference between the craft brewers and the majors is that the former are targeting buyers who genuinely enjoy drinking a fine beer whereas the latter are after those who just want to slug down a 12-pack.

Larry

[smokinjoe]

I think Roger pretty much nailed it. The majors can, but they just choose not to. And, that's not to say that the model the majors follow is necessarily bad. It has proven very successful over the last several decades. I would think that if any of the majors really decides to get into the specialty/craft brewery market, they will buy one.

JOE