Black Crown

Everyone saw the Superbowl adds just like I did. I'm positive that everyone had the same thought... "That can't be any good... can it?" 

Budweiser is trying to get on board with more craft beer style beers. They have picked up people like Goose Island (for a whopping $38.8 million), while doing things internally to add more lines that appeal to today's beer drinker like Bud Light Platinum and now Black Crown. The thing Anheuser-Busch needs to realize is that you can't take the craft out of a craft beer and get the same result.

I will preface this with the fact that I'm a Miller guy when it comes to my beerpong, gameday, and raceday drinking in excess. I don't have any major problem with Bud, in fact I loved their tour out in STL (check it out if you haven't).

Black Crown was as expected a whopping disappointment. It is 6% abv with approximately 180 calories. It pours out a honey golden orange that is perfectly see through. The head is hardly noticeable but a light even white lacing sits on top of the beer right after the pour.

The beer smells like honey and caramel, very heavy on the sweetness. The taste mirrors the aroma. It has a strong honey flavor with serious hints of a caramel and toffee. There is a lot of upfront corn sweetness as well. I found it to be almost sticky sweet, and that's saying something because I love a nice Russian imperial stout. It lacks the typical crisp dryness of an American style Lager. There's absolutely no hop flavors in this brew. It has a long lasting sweet flavor with nothing to really cut it off other than a slight hint of alcoholic heat. There's not a lot of complexity, but the good thing is that makes it pretty unoffensive. 

This seems like what you would get if you took everything daring and innovative out of a craft beer. It's like this was brewed by committee to make sure that no one from any demographic was offended by any flavors or ingredients. It's better than most other Bud products, but this is not a craft beer. I am a bit embarrassed that I even got my hopes up.

I will drink a High Life over this any day of the week. I give it a 1.5

the Scene: Anheuser - Busch, Inc

Ok, you got me. This is not something in the Indianapolis area... When one of your best friends is about to get married, you send him off in style. O Dawg is tying the knot and we decided to check out some breweries in St. Louis, MO.

I asked for this one because I am a Miller guy. I am the son of a Miller guy. My cousins and uncles tried to drink me out of Miller Lite when I got married. That being said, I was very impressed. Whether Bud is my favorite mega brewer or not, they put on a hell of a show.

For starters, they had a Mariachi band up front, a friggin Mariachi band!!!

Nothing says party like a Mariachi band.

Once we were in back we got to see all the highlights. Their fermentation takes are unbelievable. To drink one of these you would have to have a case of beer every day for the next 137 years. In here they are mixed with beach wood to add surface area not taste.

    

We did the standard tour (but I really want to do the hard hat tour next time we head out that way). It was over an hour and totally worth while. At the end of the trip you got to sample some of their beers. It was nice doing it fresh. 

All of this and at the end I am still probably going to stick with my Miller High Life, but I have a lot more respect for the history and the sheer force of will that went into every last Bud product.

Look for more posts from the Show Me State all week.

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