Anheuser-Busch
USA, 5.0% ABV
 
Whassup?! WHASSUP?! The self-proclaimed ‘King of Beers’ entertained students and office grunts alike with that hilarious phrase for all of five minutes in the 1990s courtesy of a series of phone prank-based TV commercials. And then there were the ‘Bud-Weis-Er’ frogs. Huge marketing campaigns have made Budweiser the ever-present beer in UK bars and offies. All-American Bud is the Coca-Cola of beers, with an iconic bottle design that has barely changed since the stuff was first brewed in 1876. But what does it taste like? Man alive, it’s fizzy. Drink this fast and you could belch the Star Spangled Banner with ease. But I’m not sure it actually tastes of anything. A cold one is refreshing, sure, but most cold beers can make that claim. Let’s file it under ‘refreshingly bland’. If you want less fizzy, you need to head over to Bud Ice. Another spin-off brand, Bud Silver – a ‘European-style beer with a fuller premium flavour’ specifically marketed at UK drinkers – seems to have been discontinued. Americans can choose from no less than eight Budweiser brands, the latest of which is Bud Chelada, ‘a blend of Budweiser and Clamato juice’. Clamato juice is tomato juice mixed with clam broth. I’m going to stick my neck out and say that particular spin-off is unlikely to reach this side of the Atlantic. Czech beer Budweiser Budvar is most definitely NOT a Budweiser spin-off – see that beer’s entry, and the long-running legal battle between Anheuser-Busch and Budějovický Budvar. PB

17 June 2009 | Reviews, B