Budweiser Dethroned! No longer the "King".

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-01-11/business/ct-biz-0111-light-beer-20120111_1_budweiser-sales-benj-steinman-millercoors
 
Looks like the "Smokey & the Bandit" marketing strategy has finally come to fruition.

So sad..Bud lite is water...In Colorado, serious beer drinkers call Coors "Rocky Mountain p**...what must the lite be??? Likewise Bud lite is watery...Bud itself hasn't been much better for decades and decades.....American taste in beer is mocked in Europe...Hell, Heineken in America, is brewed for American taste. The real Heineken(in a Brown Bottle) is sold in Amsterdam!!! Sit in a British pub, sample any of the beers on tap, and taste REAL taste in beer!!!!

I grew up on pilsners and lagers:  Duquesne, Silver Top, Iron City, etc. and never much "got into" the heavier beers - especially if they are served at room temperature.  So, I am guilty of "American taste".  As most domestic beers are indeed "watery" I rarely have a beer these days. 
 
Accordingly, I now drink bourbon.

Yup, give me sour mash. J.D. !

I drink both beer and bourbon just depending on the time of day and the mood. Good pubs serve a variety of microbrews now and I can usually find something good other than the MillerCoorsBud axis of American lager and lite beers.
 
I drank tap beer and stout from over 20 British pubs including some of the oldest in London, Bray-on-Thames, Windsor, Leeds, Stratford upon Avon, Salisbury, Cheddar and Oxford as well as in numerous tiny villages in Wales. It was in Dolgellau, Wales I was first introduced to Boddington's Pub Ale which I can now get in several pubs around my home in Minnesota. The myth busted. Not once was I served room temperature beer or ale in Great Britain.

Davydd


I drink both beer and bourbon just depending on the time of day and the mood. Good pubs serve a variety of microbrews now and I can usually find something good other than the MillerCoorsBud axis of American lager and lite beers.

 
Not only can you almost always find something better, but technically speaking MillerCoorsBud aren't even American beer companies any more. Boston Beer (Sam Adams) is the largest American-owned brewery, followed by Yuengling, which is 2nd largest as well as oldest!

And Yuengling, for the money, is a good beer.....Sam Adams, also not bad.

Davydd


I drink both beer and bourbon just depending on the time of day and the mood. Good pubs serve a variety of microbrews now and I can usually find something good other than the MillerCoorsBud axis of American lager and lite beers.

I drank tap beer and stout from over 20 British pubs including some of the oldest in London, Bray-on-Thames, Windsor, Leeds, Stratford upon Avon, Salisbury, Cheddar and Oxford as well as in numerous tiny villages in Wales. It was in Dolgellau, Wales I was first introduced to Boddington's Pub Ale which I can now get in several pubs around my home in Minnesota. The myth busted. Not once was I served room temperature beer or ale in Great Britain.

I agree Davydd, no room temperature beer...and British beer and ale,for my money is the BEST I've tasted around the world...loved Samuel Smith and Ben Truman, among others.....Go to four pubs, on one block, and get four different line ups of choices. So much to choose from!!!

The "Prince" of Beers

Tony Bad

Davydd


I drink both beer and bourbon just depending on the time of day and the mood. Good pubs serve a variety of microbrews now and I can usually find something good other than the MillerCoorsBud axis of American lager and lite beers.

Not only can you almost always find something better, but technically speaking MillerCoorsBud aren't even American beer companies any more. Boston Beer (Sam Adams) is the largest American-owned brewery, followed by Yuengling, which is 2nd largest as well as oldest!

Technically speaking when I said American lager I was referring to the type of brew not the ownership.

Some interesting stuff in that article.
The sluggish economy, high unemployment and increasing consumption of wine and liquor have all packed a wallop on the beer industry, which has posted three consecutive years of declines.
The volume declines have been particularly acute for the nation's largest brewers, according to Beer Marketer's Insights. Anheuser-Busch in 2011 shipped less than 100 million barrels for the first time in more than a decade. MillerCoors shipped less than 60 million barrels, which is the lowest rate for Miller and Coors since 1989.

I took a tour of the Budweiser factory years ago and after quaffing a beer in the tasting room at the end all I could think was, "How could a product billed as The King of Beers taste exactly like the court jester?"

Microbrews rule here in P-Town

Tony Bad

Not only can you almost always find something better, but technically speaking MillerCoorsBud aren't even American beer companies any more. Boston Beer (Sam Adams) is the largest American-owned brewery, followed by Yuengling, which is 2nd largest as well as oldest!

Exactly and to be more specific the SAB in SAB Miller stands for 'South African Breweries.  It has grown by acquisition not by "Smokey & Bandit" marketing very much in the same way AIG had become a leading insurance company.  If you check their list of brands you'd be absolutely astounded.  I wish they'd bring my personal favorite here to the states, the Czech beer Kozel.

kozel

I wish they'd bring my personal favorite here to the states, the Czech beer Kozel. 

 
I can't imagine why? 
 
Kozel, have you visited the tasting rooms at http://greatsouthbaybrewery.com/  or http://www.bluepointbrewing.com/ 
 
Both worth a visit!

Davydd

 Technically speaking when I said American lager I was referring to the type of brew not the ownership.

 
I knew that Davydd...just adding some extra info that surprised me when I learned it.

I'm thinking that the title of this thread has so crushed Wanderingjew that he can't bring himself to contribute.

ScreamingChicken


I'm thinking that the title of this thread has so crushed Wanderingjew that he can't bring himself to contribute.

Maybe this will help. I'm drinking a Bell's Java Stout right now. It is a stout brewed with coffee.

wheregreggeats.com


The "Prince" of Beers

One of the favorites of my youth was Duquesne (a local Pittsburgh brand) which billed itself as "The Prince of Pilsners".
 
In my economics 101 class I still use the two slogans ("The King of Beers" vs. "The Prince of Pilsners") in discussing how companies use branding to make the demand for their products more price inelastic.  
 
Ceteris paribus, the availability of substitutes makes demand for a product more price elastic, in which case any attempt to raise prices will result in diminished revenue.  A lack of substitutes tends to make demand price inelastic and thus enables the producer to raise his revenue by the simple experient of raising his prices.
 
In the "case" of Duquesne v. Budweiser...  there can be many Princes, but there is is only one King!

Interesting that 4 of the top 5 domestic beers are "Light" Beers. 
Can that many Americans be suckered in by high powered advertising?? (WAIT---Don't answer that! )
Never did like the tastes of Anheuser-Busch Products, but they have 3 of the top 5 sellers, Bud, Bud Light and Natural Light. Go Figure!

Simple..too many Americans don't really know what REAL beer tastes like.....or simply prefer watery beer...perhaps with a few slices of Pizza hut..hey that'd be a great meal: fake pizza and fake beer to wash it down......where are our taste buds!!!!!

I agree Davydd, gotta love Boddington's!  I like their cream ale.  I think Newcastle Brown Ale is pretty good also.

Tony Bad

Kozel, have you visited the tasting rooms at http://greatsouthbaybrewery.com/  or http://www.bluepointbrewing.com/ 

Both worth a visit!

Thanks for the tip!

I can't remember the last time I voluntarily drank a Budweiser product. In the past 20+ years, I've only had one if there was absolutely nothing else available where I happened to be at any given time. I'd rather have a Yuengling or even a Land Shark if I'm in the mood for a lager.
 
I'm also a huge Boddington's fan. I can only find it on tap in one pub around here, so the widget cans have to do most of the time. Thinking about it, most of my favorite go-to's are English style ales... Bodingtons, Newcastle, Old Speckled Hen.
I recently found a place in Oneonta, NY that serves another favorite of mine on tap, Young's Double Chocolate Stout. I'd only ever had it in a bottle, and on tap (nitrogen) it's 10 times better. Almost like a milkshake for the first few pulls.

In Jersey City, where I live, the bars have a great selection of microbrews. All American companies that make outstanding beers: Lagunitas, flying fish, flying dog, Brooklyn brewery, just to name a few. It is actually hard to find a bar that has bud, coors or miller.

While I love the microbrews, sometimes I just want inexpensive
Beer while I am out with my friends for the night or watching a game. That is where bud, miller and coors come in. If I am in the mood to have a few beers and don't want to kill my wallet or my stomach I reach for those. If I just want to relax with one really good tasting beer I go American microbrew.

I also think the proliferation of beer bars and the availability of these great microbrews has hurt the big 3.

On a side note, when I was in Ireland every pub had coors light on tap and the bartenders told me it is very popular in Ireland.

I am in luck. The Hazellewood Grill & Tap Room in my town of Tonka Bay, MN just a half mile down the road serves Boddington's on tap as does Jake O'Connor's Public House two miles away in Excelsior and McGarry's Irish Pub up the county road north of me in Maple Plain.

fattybomatty


On a side note, when I was in Ireland every pub had coors light on tap and the bartenders told me it is very population in Ireland.

A friend told me that when he visited Ireland a number of years ago Bud was also quite popular.
 
Brad

mr chips


Microbrews rule here in P-Town

So that's why Portland is "P-Town".  Now I know.

My favorites now are Smithwick's and Sam Adams' Boston Ale.

Old Milwaukee... Will Farrell can't be all wrong....