Comments on: Free Beer

By: E.S. Delia

E.S. Delia — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 14:40:16 +0000

Good points you raise, Professor. A-B has indeed shown they are more than capable of making good beer. Plus, their quality control standards are enough to make any technical brewer weep.

I have a feeling that you’re right – this promotion will have a minimal effect. It appears that other brands such as PBR became the de facto brand of hipsterdom by just being a cheap beer with a reputation. Only after the fact did they realize this could be capitalized on. Seems that Bud either wants to go high or low brow; and either way I think the under-30 crowd has them in between, or worse, as a question mark.

By: The Professor

The Professor — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 04:44:31 +0000

AB-InBev can, and has, made some decent brews. Budweiser though is clearly not one of them. They are grasping at straws with this promotion…they’ll get a lot of takers on their freebies, but after the freebies, I expect that once they have to spend a few bucks, most of the samplers will move on to something better. And almost _anything_ is better. Budweiser, I think, has seen it’s best days.

I’d rather see AB-InBev continue to pursue the so called “craft” segment. They certainly have the capability to make some truly excellent beer (they have proven that) , and I would like to see them continue in that direction.
Don’t get me wrong… I love what some of the so called “craft” brewers are doing, and have been a cheerleader since the late 70′s… but their arrogance is starting to get a little bit annoying. After all, it’s not like they’re all making brilliant products themselves. I know that they have sure trained me to purchase single bottles before springing on a sixpack (often a pretty expensive sixpack). There’s some pretty nasty stuff masquerading as “craft”…and it ain’t all coming from the so called “faux craft” of the bigs.

By: E.S. Delia

E.S. Delia — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:23:01 +0000

Al – You may be spot on with your Levi’s analogy. Budweiser seems to be a brand caught in between the past and the present, without a clear way forward. Doesn’t mean that A-BInBev will suffer any more than it already is, but the main point I think is that they’re feeling the effects of the craft beer surge.

Johnny – Pretty harsh, but point taken.

By: Johnny Brooke - Beer Review Dude

Johnny Brooke - Beer Review Dude — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:16:19 +0000

Fuck Budweiser. I hope they crash and burn.

By: Velky Al

Velky Al — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:05:43 +0000

So no-one mentioned making the beer better?

I get the feeling though in all seriousness that Budweiser has been making the same mistake that Levi Strauss made back in the 80s, poor brand fit between the traditional product and new products bearing the Budweiser name.