Anyone have a clone recipe for older dark Budweiser

[grzrk]

I can remember when they started making black and tan and before that lager is the only one on your list they were producing.

The three best beers they make, by a long shot, are their Porter, Lord Chesterfield ale, and the new in the last few years Hershey's chocolate porter. I think that is out of this world. It's the best chocolate porter I have ever had. It's seasonal so it's only available during autumn. The places up here who put it on tap get mobbed. People travel to find it on tap.

I would try their pilsner if I saw it somewhere just to say I've had one, but I wouldn't expect much. They can pretty much keep all the other brews. As I say, I will drink the lager, but it's not my first choice. AB doing the contract Brewing wouldn't exactly inspire me either. But it's interesting to know.

I 'd love to know how they get that chocolate flavor myself. I grab a couple 12's of that every time I'm in Ohio or Indiana (Still no Yuengling in Michigan)

 

[wdavis2003]

I 'd love to know how they get that chocolate flavor myself. I grab a couple 12's of that every time I'm in Ohio or Indiana (Still no Yuengling in Michigan)

I'm pretty sure they put Hershey's chocolate in it. I had one in the fridge for about 8 months and popped it open, poured it in a glass and it had small chunks of chocolate in it. Almost like the yeast build up at the bottom of the bottle after sitting so long. At least I hope that was chocolate..

 

[ba-brewer]

I 'd love to know how they get that chocolate flavor myself. I grab a couple 12's of that every time I'm in Ohio or Indiana (Still no Yuengling in Michigan)

chocolate malt in a few percent of the grain bill will give a subtle chocolate flavor and aroma without being too roasty. I used to think pale chocolate had more chocolate flavor but I have been using Bairds chocolate malt lately and it seems pretty good.

In the 80s I used to drink San Maguel Dark and I thought that had a fairly strong chocolate flavor to it.

 

[mac_1103]

I'm pretty sure they put Hershey's chocolate in it.

Yeah, they don't come right out and say so, but they do call it a collaboration and it does have the Hershey's logo right on the bottle.

 

[bwible]

I'm thinking you're referring to Michelob Classic Dark made by AB. I don't have a recipe, but that lead might help you find it.

When I was younger in the 70s, my parents used to take us to a campground in Virginia for vacation. And on more than one occasion, we visited Busch Gardens down there. I distinctly remember having the Michelob Classic Dark in the Festhaus there listening to the oompah music and watching the German dancers. This had to be between 1978 and 1980. I’d love to find a clone recipe or maybe just solid info on that beer. Seems like there’s not alot out there. Even though it was a long time ago, I remember it not being just like a regular lager they added color to. Seemed like it was more than just that.

 

[BigEd]

Even though it was a long time ago, I remember it not being just like a regular lager they added color to. Seemed like it was more than just that.

It probably wasn't. Back in the Dark Ages of American beer many of the national and larger regional breweries offered a dark version of their beer. Most of them were just the standard beer with Porterene added for color. Porterene was a commercial dark color concentrate used by brewers to darken beer. Usually it was released on special occasions or made for specific clients. In New England where I am the old Narragansett Brewery made a Special Dark that was sold at the Jacob Wirth restaurant in Boston. Michelob Dark is the only AB beer I ever paid money for and that was back in the 1970s. Compared to the ocean of yellow, fizzy stuff that dominated the market it wasn't bad at all.

Trying to find a recipe or duplicate these beers is about as likely as doing so with one of the defunct fizzy yellow brews from decades ago. But I think a very good example could be made by starting with a good recipe for Standard American Lager or CAP. Add 5% dark malt (a blend of Carafa-II and Chocolate) and 5% light crystal 10L to balance the char of the dark malt and bring a little extra body.

 

[Witherby]

Michelob was touted as an all malt beer for much of its history. Jess Kidden has great info about American dark beers on his website and scattered throughout Beer Advocate:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/vienna-lagers.563586/page-6#post-5943015

https://sites.google.com/site/jesskidden/jksmisc-beerpages/all-malt-beers?authuser=0

https://sites.google.com/site/jesskidden/jksmisc-beerpages/bock-beer?authuser=0

Some post war dark beer was made dark with caramel and roast malts.

 

[BigEd]

Michelob was touted as an all malt beer for much of its history. Jess Kidden has great info about American dark beers on his website and scattered throughout Beer Advocate:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/vienna-lagers.563586/page-6#post-5943015

https://sites.google.com/site/jesskidden/jksmisc-beerpages/all-malt-beers?authuser=0

https://sites.google.com/site/jesskidden/jksmisc-beerpages/bock-beer?authuser=0

Some post war dark beer was made dark with caramel and roast malts.

I've often wondered that about Michelob. I always assumed it had a portion of rice like Bud but at a lower percentage. Michelob, light or dark, did seem to have more body than Bud but I never recall AB touting it as an all malt beer. Pabst Brewing made a Michelob competitor called Andeker which was advertised as all malt. Andeker was damned good but Pabst did not have the resources to go head to head with AB in that market.

 

[mashpaddled]

I remember there was a Mr. Gatti's in Hurst where I grew up for most of my childhood (80s). I'd be surprised if it wasn't regular old Michelob.

 

[ba-brewer]

I've often wondered that about Michelob. I always assumed it had a portion of rice like Bud but at a lower percentage. Michelob, light or dark, did seem to have more body than Bud but I never recall AB touting it as an all malt beer. Pabst Brewing made a Michelob competitor called Andeker which was advertised as all malt. Andeker was damned good but Pabst did not have the resources to go head to head with AB in that market.

At one point the regular michelob mentioned using rice, maybe that has changed.