AB Shock Top (warning?)

The one here says Buffalo Wild Wings West on the sign, that' why it's BW3's and yes it is lame for a restaurant to nickname itself.

furlow008 said:

What is BMC?

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Yuri_Rage said:

Bad Motherf***ing Crap.

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I usually use Bud - Miller - Coors

But I like Yuri's much better!

I saw the shocktop in the store last week and was goinmg to try it but had some left behind millers in the fridge. Glad I didn't waste teh money. I didn't realize it was AB beer.

+1 to the guiness guy up above. I hate when people think guinness is soo thick and bold. I think's it's quite watery and tasteless for a stout!
I guess it's the BMC drinkers way of saying "I know good beer"!

I had a few pints of Shock Top when it was first released in this region about 3 months ago. Didn't think much of it. Not bad, not good.

Picked up a 6 pack today (because it's hucking fumid outside and i want something lawnmowery) and am less impressed than I was to begin with.

4 letters to describe it: YABW. Yet Another Belgian Witbier. Tastes just like Blue Moon or any other gag-me citrus coriander mass-market wit.

Interesting note, though, I had not noticed prior that Shock Top *IS* Spring Heat Spiced Wheat with a new label. I wonder if they're axing their seasonal line, or finding something else for spring? If I re-read this thread, the answer's probably in there, I know, I know. It's still hucking fumid though and I'm too cranky to re-read. This Shock Top isn't doing anything to quench my thirst.

Time to go make some of my Sweet Mint Iced Tea instead. Boo-ya grandma.

Shock Top gets marked around here (East Central Florida/Space Coast) as a Belgian brew ... some ppl at bars even say its an import and I just can't stop laughing! I guess they just don't know it themselves. Quite a few bars carry it as 'premium.'

As far as the taste goes, I guess one of the better ABs but not really what it is supposed to be. Probably done by the end of summer. Oh well ... I have to give AB the credit to be somewhat creative when it comes to defeat marketshare I mean you need to trick the customer somehow. Overall I prefer a shock top over most other bmc that you get during happy hour.

MOD EDIT: Threads merged.

I was at the store the other day, I saw these sitting there, never noticed them before. A wheat beer with lemon juice, lime juice and coriander. Looked interesting. Needless to say, I bought it, brought it home, and cracked one open. I have to say, that this is the nastiest beer I have ever drank. Hands down! And damn screw off lids to top it off. And that's when I noticed the born on date. Anheuser Busch, should of known it.

holy crap that freaked me out

It took me a long time to search for the link to show him...

Next time you woosh me away give me some warning

Well I searched first, guess I just wasn't holding my head right.

So this is my question..

If InBev's bid for Anheuser-Bush goes through, will Budweiser become an import?

DRINK LOCAL!

DRINK HARPOON!

Actually drink any craft beer, even SA!

GloHoppa said:

So this is my question..
If InBev's bid for Anheuser-Bush goes through, will Budweiser become an import?

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Well one thing is sure: They need to remove all the signs at every single one of their parks that say AB is a great American company and American owned.

GloHoppa said:

So this is my question..

If InBev's bid for Anheuser-Bush goes through, will Budweiser become an import?

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Well, then they can ditch all the AB craft stuff. InBev already owns/holds much better.

But damn InBev to hell for selling Rolling Rock to AB, moving it out of Latrobe and ruining it. I've not bought any Rolling Rock since the change happened. Must be the brewing water in the "Oil and Petrochemical Refinery State."

I bought it a few weeks ago, not knowing it was AB. I had just tried soem Blue Moon, so I had expectation. Man, what a letdown. Not very good at all. But, suppose a BMC drinker tries it out? It has less taste than some others, so it might make a good "intermediate" beer for them. I'd never buy it again.

Yeah, A-B is a parody of itself....

http://www.slashfood.com/2007/04/29/michelob-ultra-fruit-infused-beer/

I saw this the other night on a commercial. These big marketing companies use fancy-ass words and trendy names on these products and idiots eat it up...

Seriously, a beer called "Tuscan Orange Grapefruit"? Can I get this at Olive Garden with my Tour of Italy? I mean when I want authentic Italian, I think OG and Michelob....

Love the use of "ethnic" in their descriptions for "Lime Cactus"... Nothing says "ethnic" like Taco Bell's buzzword "carne asada", so let's use it. People need something "ethnic" to wash down their "ethnic" Gordita.

And can we just please stop using Pomegranate in EVERYTHING??? Did scientists just discover pomegranates? Three years ago, I never heard of them. Now, evidently, they go well with raspberries and beer and EVERYTHING.

Damn, I long for the days when I could still buy "B to da E". <----sarcasm

I visited Sea World in Orlando last week and it was my first time tasting Shock Top. I actually though it was pretty good. Of course, this was after drinking an Amber Bock (Sea World's "premium" beer), then two ~8oz samples of the awful Bare Knuckle Stout, a sample of the disgusting Bud Lime. Then we did the brewmaster's club tasting where I tested all my samples, plus my wife's samples and my sister-in-law's samples. So by that time anything probably would have tasted good. I might try it again when I'm sober to see if it really is any good.

I'll be sure to avoid this stuff. I won't touch the Miller Chill - just sounds awful.
The BWW near me has decent food and used to have a decent selection. Last Winter they added Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter and Burning River to their tap list, which already had SNPA. Last time I went, the had discontinued Great Lakes and SNPA on tap. I had to settle for a Sam Adams - and not even their seasonal! It comes down to serving what the masses who gorge on wings, watch NASCAR on the big screen TVs and talk about their dull lives want to drink. And these ilk don't want to drink anything that has any flavor to get in the way of their buzz.

I was duped into this last year when it was called Spring Heat... They'll probably continue to rename it every year in hopes that it will fool others. This year I saw through the BS and didn't make that mistake twice. I've learned to ask who makes the beer now if they say they have *insert crazy name* on tap. Deep down I know that it's probably AB and majority of the time I'm correct.

Luckily the BWW's in the Cities area here carry at least Sam, Leinies, Summit EPA and sometimes Summit's seasonal.

BMC - Basic Mediocre Crap marketed as "beer"...




Just goes to show you...1000 scientists can't brew beer as well as 1 brewer!!! :rockin::rockin:

well i actuallu drink this beer every so often and think that it's not bad no it's not the greatest beer in the world but you know what i can get a six pack for 7 bucks and they are pop top bottles so i can reuse them sometimes i think the people on this site just bash AB to bash them most people in this thread haven't tried the beer but are still bashing it because it's AB i mean seriously you pay for what you get like i said not the worst ive ever had but not the best either and on another note why would you order a random beer without asking what style of beer it was?

Here, have some punctuation.

.,:;.,/.,!.,?

Now that that's settled. Most of us HAVE tried them, that's the POINT of us posting here. In fact, the majority of us admit to drinking cheap swill when the mood strikes us: See https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=67479 for proof. There are a dozen other older threads just like this one. I myself am a dedicated Miller High Life drinker.

And Shock Top is not pop-top, they're twist-off bottles, at least in the markets that people have reported from above. I guess your market could have pop-tops, who knows?

As far as getting what I pay for goes, last time I stopped at the corner store, Shock Top was $7.99. Heineken was also 7.99, and Boulevard (multiple varieties) was 6.99. I could also get Goose Island for 6.39 for a 6-pack. So if I'm paying $7.99 for 6 bottles of AB fruity tasting swill, I expect perfection, otherwise I can spend less and get more, and will do so.

In summary,

jamescb77 said:

why would you order a random beer without asking what style of beer it was?

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I couldn't decipher the rest of your no-punctuation-no-capital-letter-babbling, but this last part caught my eye.

Why wouldn't I order a beer I've never tried without knowing the style? I can find at least one beer from almost any given style that I REALLY enjoy, so style plays little part in my decision to order. However, the last thing the American beer market needs is another piss poor attempt at a Belgian wit. Had the beer been a good (or even decent) example of the style, I'd have been very happy with my "random" choice.

I'll loosely quote a statement from a G.E. CEO? He said "We are not in the business to make cars, we are in the business to make money... but to make money, we need to sell car's"

I guess my point is, I believe AB could care less if their beer is a hit with real beer lovers, but if they can market their new beer to a mass audience, then they did what they intended.

Ok, so it's my opinion that the American market doesn't need another crappy pseudo-witbier. If Shock Top turns enough profit to merit its continued production, then I'm clearly wrong. However, my original point stands: Shock Top is bland and very weakly resembles a true wit. If you want good craft beer, stay far away. If you like it, you're entitled to your opinion, but try sampling it alongside a Hoegaarden.

Yuri_Rage said:

Ok, so it's my opinion that the American market doesn't need another crappy pseudo-witbier. If Shock Top turns enough profit to merit its continued production, then I'm clearly wrong. However, my original point stands: Shock Top is bland and very weakly resembles a true wit. If you want good craft beer, stay far away. If you like it, you're entitled to your opinion, but try sampling it alongside a Hoegaarden.

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Call me a cynic, but I like to think A-B tosses this garbage out at us so that Joe Average Beer Guzzler thinks that's the best it gets and slinks back to Bud, cause it doesn't taste as "good" as Bud does.

Personally, I think the Orange with a Mohawk and Sunglasses on the tap handle looks stupid.

All I was saying is that for a cheap fruity beer i don't think that it's to bad. It's no craft beer you guys are right. Im sorry that you don't have pop tops but all the ones that i have bought were, which sweetens the deal for me. I guess when you compare this to a good craft beer then this is crap. However i don't expect the best when im buying cheap beer. Chriso I am very jealous of some of the beers that you can get cheap. There really is no options down here for cheap pop tops usually i go with paulaner and it's about 9-10 a six pack. All in all my opinion is this beer isn't awful but it's not great.

OK lets take it for what it is. AB is losing ground to the craft beers of the world so they need to get into the segment. At some level this should be taken as a compliment! If you compound this with Budweisers ad campaign talking about why budweiser's so great, you can tell theyre scared ****less of companies like Allagash, DFH, Rogue, Harpoon, Magic Hat, Ommegang, etc!

Plus the witbier market is exploding right now, it seems like almost all companies are throwing their hat into wheat beer ring.

jamescb77 said:

All I was saying is that for a cheap fruity beer i don't think that it's to bad. It's no craft beer you guys are right.

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There ya go, I wasn't contesting that point -- I was just contesting that you implied none of us bothered to try the beer before ripping it a proverbial "new one". I agree, it's not *terrible* - I will gladly choke it down before any of the following: Bud Light, Bud Select, Bud Chelada, Bud to the E, Steel Reserve, Hurricane, Keystone Ice, .... that's about it.

That said, if I'm being forced to buy an A-B product, it'll probably be Busch full flavor or Budweiser full flavor. Otherwise, I just steer clear, and stick to SABMillerMolsonCoors' beers.

And while, yes, many of my beers come cheaply (Leinenkugel's is often on sale for $5.49/6pk or less here!), it comes with a cost - There are LEGIONS of microbreweries that aren't distributed in the state of NE, including among others: Stone, Great Lakes, Dogfish Head, Harpoon, Magic Hat, Oskar Blues, Russian River, Saint Arnold, Avery, Deschutes, Bell's, need I go on?

Most of my pop-top's are Sam Adams - cheap, drinkable, and the labels are easiest to remove.

Revvy said:

The only trouble is, a lot of BMC drinkers may try to "expand their horizons" by trying an AB stout or wit for the first time thinking that (in their naive eyes) that "Bud is a good beer, so if it comes from the makers of Bud, it MUST be good..." (ewwww)

Then not liking it they might then think that ALL wits or Stouts or "craft" beers in general taste bad. So it may actually keep people drinking their Bud and not trying a real example of that particular style....

Then after their line fails AB can go back to their old anti craft beer marketing and say "We told you that Stouts and Wits and Ales taste bad, so here, this Bud's for you!"

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mmb said:

Call me a cynic, but I like to think A-B tosses this garbage out at us so that Joe Average Beer Guzzler thinks that's the best it gets and slinks back to Bud, cause it doesn't taste as "good" as Bud does.

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Hmm... interesting. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I'd say this isn't out of the realm of possibility. Sounds a little like the 1980s New Coke conspiracy theory. Coke was losing out to Pepsi because of the "Pepsi Generation" and blind taste-test commercials, but after the New Coke debacle and the subsequent release of Coca-Cola Classic, they soared passed Pepsi. Probably not intentional, but you never know. It put an end to the cola wars.

Maybe it's a matter of personal taste, but IMHO this stuff is bad; Real bad.

It is the first time I can remember actually throwing beer away. Over 4 days, I struggled through 4 of them and had to throw the last two out. I kept thinking, it's gotta get better...but it never did.

I don't mean to rant, but even I can make a drinkable witbier. Maybe I'm naive, but how could AB screw this up so bad? Have I become a beer snob?

The beer is produced for the mass market. Period. Just because some of us don't like it doesn't mean the broad public doesn't like it either. As far as I can tell when going to bars is that the beer seems to be quite successful.
It's what JMD87 said; AB doesn't care what they sell as long as people like it and at least for now ST seems to do alright.

I hate to bring this up again, but I've never been to our local micro beer festival before, and I am planning on going this year.
http://microfestivus.squaresociety.org/home.asp?page=Home
But was just noticing that "shock top" was one of there beers. Who are they trying to fool? This is AB not a micro beer.

MattMann said:

I hate to bring this up again, but I've never been to our local micro beer festival before, and I am planning on going this year.
http://microfestivus.squaresociety.org/home.asp?page=Home
But was just noticing that "shock top" was one of there beers. Who are they trying to fool? This is AB not a micro beer.

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They want in on the craft beer market, and they got the money to muscle their way in....Now it would be interesting if people took one sip and spat it out and started laughing in the AB rep's face...

To be honest, I was thinking of doing that exactly like the way I did when I opened the first one here at the house.