My chat with a AB insider

So, I was at a wedding this past weekend and one of the guys who was running two taps in those cooler tap things turned out to be somebody in the mix at AB. Not sure his job function but he was involved with Michelob (I didn't think to ask his exact job function). We got to talking about beer and he mentioned that Wheats are the next up and coming thing they are focusing their marketing towards especially during the summer months.

I had heard mention a while back on here about one of the Michelob Wheat products and it wasn't getting honorable mentions. Anyhow, he was mentioning that the hardest thing they have to convince the public of is a cloudy beer. I believe he mentioned they have goals for producing another Wheat soon.

zoebisch01 said:

Anyhow, he was mentioning that the hardest thing they have to convince the public of is a cloudy beer.

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Wouldn't you say Coors has already crossed that bridge with Blue Moon?

brewt00l said:

Wouldn't you say Coors has already crossed that bridge with Blue Moon?

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I guess now that I think about it. Never had a Blue Moon, didn't realize it was cloudy. At any rate if I could of thought of that on my feet I would have hit him with it. I could see the point he was making though. And, tbh, I don't think Blue Moon is as widely recognized as Michelob.

brewt00l said:

Wouldn't you say Coors has already crossed that bridge with Blue Moon?

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Uh, they sold BM to Molson (Canada...) a while back...

I had one the other day and was not impressed. I think the recipe has changed...

homebrewer_99 said:

Uh, they sold BM to Molson (Canada...) a while back...

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All of Coors was sold to Molson a few years back... I don't remember who bought who, but ticker TAP is Molson Coors Brewing Company.

if they are going to have problems selling cloudy wheat beer to the public why dont they make krystalweizin?

zoebisch01 said:

I guess now that I think about it. Never had a Blue Moon, didn't realize it was cloudy. At any rate if I could of thought of that on my feet I would have hit him with it. I could see the point he was making though. And, tbh, I don't think Blue Moon is as widely recognized as Michelob.

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Sure it isn't as widely recog as Michelob but it is a mass market/widely distributed cloudy wit that you can find it in numerous bars and restruants. Hard to deny they have already blazed that trail for Michelob.

homebrewer_99 said:

Uh, they sold BM to Molson (Canada...) a while back...

I had one the other day and was not impressed. I think the recipe has changed...

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Coors or Molson, changed or not changed I was never all that impressed with it in the first place other than it was ok and an alternative in places that only serve BMC products.

Also Miller has Leinenkugel's now... AB is the last one to get on this bandwagon...

Well I guess I should add is that these are specifically products that say "Michelob". They are not under a seperate label from corporate buyouts.

I saw a Michelob wheat!! I was in Hillsdale Mi, visiting a friends property and the local Krogers had a Michelob product that was a wheat bear. Shoot I can remember what exactly it said label wise but it was something along the line of Belgian or Bavarian style Wheat beer, I think. Didn't try it, but I wouldn't mind trying some if a friend bought it.

Don't get too excited, I think Blue Moon says Belgian style too

the_bird said:

All of Coors was sold to Molson a few years back... I don't remember who bought who, but ticker TAP is Molson Coors Brewing Company.

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Actually it was a merger, not one buying the other. And the only reason BM is made by Molson, is because Coors just built a brnd new brewery in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and closed the Memphis brewery that was making BM. The new brewery is just there to produce Silver Bullets.

how do they get the rocky mountain freshness to the shenendoah valley?

uglygoat said:

how do they get the rocky mountain freshness to the shenendoah valley?

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I never have figured out how they do it but Coors starts the beer making process here in Colorado then ships the wort or whatever it is at that point by tanker cars to the facility back east. So it is still brewed with "Rocky Mountain water"
Well this is at least the way they used to do it. It might have changed with new facility

RichBrewer said:

I never have figured out how they do it but Coors starts the beer making process here in Colorado then ships the wort or whatever it is at that point by tanker cars to the facility back east. So it is still brewed with "Rocky Mountain water"
Well this is at least the way they used to do it. It might have changed with new facility

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By the way... we are really getting

zoebisch01 said:

...I don't think Blue Moon is as widely recognized as Michelob.

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True from a commercial (TV) perspective...but I know even here in St. Louis, there is more Blue Moon on taps at the bars than Michelob...and the only Mich bottles I see at tables are the Ultra's.

ryser2k said:

Also Miller has Leinenkugel's now... AB is the last one to get on this bandwagon...

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Check it out AB owns a twenty five % stake in Redhook & Widmer bros. Plus they have a few other little gems out there.

Please reference this Do Not Drink list. By no means is this list all inclusive or any type of difinitive answer on beer that people shouldn't drink, just a good start.

Cheers

zoebisch01 said:

So, I was at a wedding this past weekend and one of the guys who was running two taps in those cooler tap things turned out to be somebody in the mix at AB. Not sure his job function but he was involved with Michelob (I didn't think to ask his exact job function). We got to talking about beer and he mentioned that Wheats are the next up and coming thing they are focusing their marketing towards especially during the summer months.

I had heard mention a while back on here about one of the Michelob Wheat products and it wasn't getting honorable mentions. Anyhow, he was mentioning that the hardest thing they have to convince the public of is a cloudy beer. I believe he mentioned they have goals for producing another Wheat soon.

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I have heard from a source at AB that they are going to sell their "spring heat spiced wheat" beer under a new name in the near future. They are changing the name because of the "spring heat"in the name and will sell it all year round (instead of just the spring..duh). I tasted it at the brewery in March and I liked it a lot. Very spicy/fruity/tasty.

Now I disagree with at least some of that do not drink list; perhaps it is my young tongue but methinks Bass, Labatt, and Stella are at least decent beers. I wouldn't call them good beers, but I'd take them over a BMC any day...

the do not drink list is snobbery at is semi-finest.

wop31 said:

Please reference this Do Not Drink list. By no means is this list all inclusive or any type of difinitive answer on beer that people shouldn't drink, just a good start.

Cheers

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And this list is based on....what? I shouldnt drink them because someone thinks they're bad, or because the breweries kill baby seals and old-growth forests, or is there some other reason?

wop31 said:

Check it out AB owns a twenty five % stake in Redhook & Widmer bros. Plus they have a few other little gems out there.

Please reference this Do Not Drink list. By no means is this list all inclusive or any type of difinitive answer on beer that people shouldn't drink, just a good start.

Cheers

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Bike N Brew said:

And this list is based on....what? I shouldnt drink them because someone thinks they're bad, or because the breweries kill baby seals and old-growth forests, or is there some other reason?

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I'll ask the same question. WTF? I think I'll go ahead and decide what beers I drink or not drink. I will also NOT push my list of don't drink beers onto others.
What is that list from?

King of the Swill said:

I have heard from a source at AB that they are going to sell their "spring heat spiced wheat" beer under a new name in the near future. They are changing the name because of the "spring heat"in the name and will sell it all year round (instead of just the spring..duh). I tasted it at the brewery in March and I liked it a lot. Very spicy/fruity/tasty.

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There was a pub in town that had this on tap last year... they ran out of it constantly.

They had the "spring heat spiced wheat" at a lot of league baseball parks this year. The logo was an orange man with a Mohawk. More zest than a blue moon in my opinion.

Ummm, half of those foreign beers on the do not drink list are fantastic. What's the deal with that list?

Klainmeister said:

Ummm, half of those foreign beers on the do not drink list are fantastic. What's the deal with that list?

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Yeah WTF? There are some really good beers on that list. Franziskaner is one of my favorite beers and the best Dunkel-Weisse IMO. All but a couple probably just were put on there because they are perceived as mass produced American or Mexican swill. Negra Modelo is a pretty good beer, a good example of a Vienna lager with an interesting history.

Oh well, leaves more for me.

Yeah it was an interesting conversation. Especially for me since, I have no clue, nor really care to have one about the brewing giants. As long as I can get my malt, hops and yeast I am a happy man .

At any rate, what do you guys think about this? Do you think it will phase out eventually or interest will grow?

zoebisch01 said:

Yeah it was an interesting conversation. Especially for me since, I have no clue, nor really care to have one about the brewing giants. As long as I can get my malt, hops and yeast I am a happy man .

At any rate, what do you guys think about this? Do you think it will phase out eventually or interest will grow?

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They have prb done the market research already but I would be surprised if there was enough market share in the macro-wheat outside of limited seasonal offerings from them...course there may be regional areas where Blue Moon and Hoegaarden tap handles are slim. Then again maybe they are banking on Blue Moon having broken people into the variety and are looking to offer a price point competitor.

Klainmeister said:

Ummm, half of those foreign beers on the do not drink list are fantastic. What's the deal with that list?

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Their angle seems to be they want people to drink local whenever possible: http://beerdorks.com/about.php

Here's some of their beer reviews:
http://beerdorks.com/reviews.php

zoebisch01 said:

Yeah it was an interesting conversation. Especially for me since, I have no clue, nor really care to have one about the brewing giants. As long as I can get my malt, hops and yeast I am a happy man .

At any rate, what do you guys think about this? Do you think it will phase out eventually or interest will grow?

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I honestly think that it will grow. Wheat beers are really easy to get into. That was actually one of those gateway beers that got me into other micro beers. But at the same time i think it could help the micro brews too since thats how i got started with them.

RadicalEd said:

Now I disagree with at least some of that do not drink list; perhaps it is my young tongue but methinks Bass, Labatt, and Stella are at least decent beers. I wouldn't call them good beers, but I'd take them over a BMC any day...

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yes I agree

King Cobra should not be on that list

Orpheus said:

Their angle seems to be they want people to drink local whenever possible: http://beerdorks.com/about.php

Here's some of their beer reviews:
http://beerdorks.com/reviews.php

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Thank you for pointing out the fact that it wasn't MY Do not drink list (as I am not the one who wrote it I am in no way associated with beerdorks.com, just a little disclaimer) and like I said before it's just a good start, Meaning a good place to start looking into beers that are in fact owned by one of the big three which is how i belive this thread got started or took a turn for in the first place.

Far be it from me to tell anyone what beers to drink, I still buy dirty thirties of PBR. I mearly posted that as a way for people to see that AB is and has been in on the market of buying, producing and distributing psuedo-micro-brews (See all the post above about spiced what ever wheat that they sell).

And yes you should look at a little more than the beers that a brewery produces in order to form an opinion about weather or not you should support that brewery. While I am not sure if AB kills baby seals or clear cuts old growth forest (I will certianly look into it for you though), I do know that with a little research you'll find, Like I have, that they have been proven in the past to be untruthful in their advertising, and have been exposed for their unscrupulous business practices. If you are either too lazy or to inept to search this very forum that you are all posting on for the dozens of threads and links that have been posted here, or google then PM me I will do it for you.

Cheers

Just to play devil's advocate - I think it's a sign of the successes and inroads made by we the homebrewers that the behemoth brewing companies are trying to offer BEER again realizing that there is a huge portion of the population that knows and appreciates beer with FLAVOR. Of course in the long run they just want our MONEY but if our resistance to and disdain for the ultra light sex in a canoe improves the selection and availability of tasty beers that can't be entirely bad.