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  And Now for Some Beer: Anheuser Does Something Right for Once.

  http://brendancalling.com/2008/09/18/and-now-for-some-beer-a...
  111 days ago in Brendan Calling · Authority: 59

  One of the maddening things about Pennsylvania is its stupid laws surrounding the sale of beer: the sale unit is the case, not the six-pack. This means that while a case is usually pretty cheap, a six-pack can cost as much as $15.00, since you pay by the bottle. This makes it difficult to experiment with new beers, since no one wants to drop $25-$30 bucks on a case of something they might not like, and no one’s willing to spend almost as much as a case for a six-pack of the same. I faced this exact conundrum last night at my local distributor. I tend to invest my beer drinking money in the Philly Brewing Company’s variety pack, because it’s delicious beer, it’s local, and the price is right: $28.00 after taxes. But last night, something else caught my eye: Anheuser Busch’s Michelob brand, which has been recast as a craft brew that uses only barley malt (no corn or rice, the adjuncts that make Budweiser and its yellow-beer relatives from Coors and Miller the pisswater they are). I really wanted to try it, but what if (like almost everything else Anheuser Busch puts out) it tasted awful? Just a few weeks ago, I’d learned a hard lesson about Ballantine in New Jersey, but since Jersey has rational liquor laws and sells six-packs at a reasonable price, it was only a $7.00 lesson. When the manager told me the price, $23.00 after tax, I decided to take the hit and buy a second case. Upon reflection, I made a good decision, because Michelob’s craft beer line is surprisingly good. Christina and I were both very impressed with their porter, which had just the right balance of bitterness and creaminess. The chocolate malts left a wonderful smokey aftertaste that wasn’t overbearing as I’d expected. Christina found the Marzen to be a bit sweet, but the Irish Red compared very favorably to the PBC’s Rowhouse Red. The pale ale was solid, with a great aroma from the Saaz and Cascade hops. Also impressive was the fact that A-B included a “taste chart” that thoroughly describes the malts and hops used in each brew. A maven like me is always disappointed when the label simply refers to “the finest hops”, since different varieties have different bouquets: cascade isn’t the same as nugget, which isn’t the same as fuggles, which is very different from chinook which is… well, you get the idea. I’m not much of a Budweiser fan, and in fact the only way I would voluntarily order one in a bar is if the only other option was Coors. That said, I believe in rewarding good behavior and giving credit where credit is due: the Michelob Craft Collection is very tasty, and well worth the pittance you pay for it (Sierra Nevada sells for a good $10.00 more). I hope A-B continues to run Michelob like a craft brewery, because when the company actually sets out to make a beer that tastes like beer, they do a damn good job!

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