The huge Molson Coors Brewing Company has a very tasty boutique brand available in North America called Blue Moon. They produce a Belgian stle white beer which has a distinct orange flavour, in fact many pubs serve this beer with a slice of orange, just as they do the lime and lemon with Corona. This wheat beer is a milky orange colour and is not filtered, it is spiced with both orange peel and the traditional coriander and hops. The beer is usually sold with a 5.5% alcohol vol although in some US states it is a little lower. The brewery even makes a few specialty beers during the year including a very tasty Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale which usually hits the shelves just in time for Halloween each year. You might think Yuk! Pumpkin, but trust us it is lovely and much nicer than it sounds.
The last couple of weeks we have featured Budweiser products on our You Tube video of the week, and you guessed it we are doing it again. This one’s a beauty two clever dogs, some beer and one rather sore owner. Enjoy!
If you have seen a funny beer commercial drop us a line in with the link in the comments below!
Michelob’s Dunkel Weisse is the latest product in Anheuser-Busch’s premium Michelob beer brand. This time the beer is a German style dark wheat ale and by all reports it’s pretty damm tasty. The beer has a low 12.0% of carbs for its 12 ounces and contains 2.2 grams of protein. The beer has a distinct banana and clove taste and is based on a recipe which dates back to the 1520′s. Using all malt and being unfiltered the beer uses a unique Bavarian yeast strain and is produced in St Louis Missouri. The beer has already picked up a Gold Medal in the recent North American Beer Awards. We are not yet sure what the distribution of this product outside the USA will be, but with the recent sales success of the Michelob products already on sale in most markets it probably wont be long before this is sitting on the shelves next to them.
Feel like a drink and can’t decide between a nice cold beer or a bourbon, well Winter’s Bourbon Cask ale might just be the thing you are looking for. This special seasonal beer is available over the December – January period in the USA and features a dark roasted rich beer which ahs been seasoned in bourbon soaked oak barrels with a touch of real Madagascar vanilla. The beer is brewed with Hallertau and Alsace hops and two row barley malts, producing a full flavored tasty beer. It goes great with the rich foods of the festive season like roasts, chocolate deserts, cheeses, chowders and puddings. Look out for it in December; it might be the perfect beer to have on your Christmas table.
With Halloween only a month away have we got the perfect beer for you. Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale. This beer was first introduced in 2005 and is a tasty malty ale which has been brewed with golden delicious pumpkins and some fancy herbs and spices like ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. It might sound a bit weird but believe me it taste amazing. Brewed by the A Bush Michelob Brewing Company this beer has just won silver at the North American Beer Awards Herbed Spiced Beer Category. Like many boutique beers to get the best flavor out of it, the glass you are drinking from matters- for a truly special experience drink the Pumpkin Spice Ale in a tall fluted glass, a bit like you would drink champagne, it really brings out a special taste and aroma.
Every here and there you get a new beer that is something a bit special, well it looks as if Budweiser has done it with this magnificent ale. If the press kit is right we are in for a treat. The Budweiser American Ale has a robust taste and full bodied with a malty and hoppy taste but not too strong or bitter. The beer is brewed using caramel malted barley which not only gives the beer a sweet malty character but a lovely almost reddish amber glow. The beer has 5.5% alcohol volume and in some parts a 3.2% version is available. The beer uses Cascade hops from the Pacific Northwest and they are dry hopped not added to the kettle like most beers. The beer hits the US market in September with draught being available on the 15th and in packaged forms from the 29th. We would love to hear from anyone who tries it to see if it lives up to the promises.
Anheuser Busch has been producing King Cobra premium malt liquor since about 1984 and have decided to give it a bit of a facelift with new cans and bottles and a modern new label, without changing the refreshing malty taste which we have all grown to love. The beer available in the USA hasn’t really caught on like other mainstream Busch products but the facelift will surely help attract a bit of attention at the bottle shop. We did a bit of research of this beer for the article and read plenty of reviews, and the ratings were rather mixed. Some people thought it was the best malt beer ever while others thought it smelt like rotting underpants, was too carbonated and was watery and bland. When I recently tried it, I have to say it wasn’t a bad beer and I didn’t stop at just one. Like all beers they are not for everyone, we all have different palettes, and you haven’t tried the best beer until you have tried them all.. Look out for the King Cobra next time you are looking for something a little different and see what you think. Let us know by dropping a line in our comments section.
The Monte Carlo Casino in Las Vegas is home to a great little pub and micro brewery called the Monte Carlo Brew Pub- of course. It features six specialty beers all with gambling inspired names including High Roller Red, Winners Wheat, Jackpot Ale and Silver State Stout. There’s no losers here-all great beers and they do a pretty fine steak too! My favorite was the Steak and Stein special, I am still digesting it- a huge but tasty T Bone steak served with a 16 ounce stein of beer, I needed another three steins just to wash it down. Amazing! The pub features 35 huge screens where you can catch all the latest sporting action and on Friday and Saturday nights the place turns up the heat with top DJs and some great grooves. My suggestion- don’t eat for a week before or after the steak it’s pretty good!
The huge American Anheuser Busch Company has just launched a limited lime spring ale onto the US market which it hopes will make a bit of a hit with people looking for something a bit different to drink this spring. Called Sun Dog Amber Wheat the beer is a wheat beer which uses caramel malt giving it quiet a amber hue and subtle sweetness. The beer contains both Hallertau hops which are imported and Pacific Northwest Hops and is unfiltered. The label is pretty cute with a dog wearing sunnies, t-shirt and shorts holding a Frisbee. The beer is supported in the pubs with some pretty cool marketing with the dog and dog paws, including great beer glasses, banners coasters and the works. Look out for it in your US bar next time you want a interesting beer. Read the rest of this entry »
With the huge success of Miller Chill, the Miller Brewing Company had decided to produce three craft beers, including a Miller Light Amber, a blonde ale and a wheat beer. It was hoped these beers would reach the market around September this year, but the products have been delayed for a while just for a bit of a tweak and to refine the marketing strategy. The beer is going to be tested in a few cities including Baltimore, Minneapololis and Milwaukee just to get to get things right for a full US rollout a little later. The major US breweries, like many breweries around the world have noticed a big increase in boutique and specialty beers in recent years and have also noticed many beer drinkers are happy to pay a little more for something different- so it will be interesting to see how these beers are received by the public when they reach the full market. Tom Long the president of Miller has been quoted as saying ” “A slower, more deliberate test-market approach will give us the greatest opportunity to glean insights into the brand’s full potential and thus increase the likelihood of long-term success.” but we think these boutique beers are best to complement the main stream products and only need to be on market for a short while, people want to try a new product for a while then jump onto the next ‘flavour or brand’ of the moment. We think the larger breweries will do better making seasonal beers, that rotate or be replaced and reinvented over time…what do you think? drop us a comment with your thoughts….
