So Budweiser, This Is Beer?

The "King of Beers" has a new advertising slogan: This Is Beer. Budweiser is America's best selling beer, taking in 50% of sales in the market. As a brew-connoisseur, I prefer beers with flavor, as opposed to a diluted, homogenized concoction. This pale lager (also known as a pilsner) is a testament to the power of advertising over substance, and here's why...

• For years, ads have proclaimed the "Beechwood Aging" process used to create Bud, but what does that mean? The brew-master puts wood chips into the vat, not for flavoring, but to speed the fermentation process, shortening the production time. Yeast settles in water and so the buoyant chips are used as a countermeasure. According to a brew-master I've spoken with, Anheuser-Busch also uses ceramic chips to help lower costs.


• Beer is made with four ingredients: water, hops, barley, and yeast. Budweiser uses five ingredients, adding rice as a filler because it is cheaper than barley and has a minimal effect on flavor. Think of it like a beef hot dog that's not 100% beef.


• Anheuser-Busch spent $919.4 Million on advertising in 2005. This media blitz drowns out local breweries, keeping Americans from appreciating regional differences offered by smaller brewers. It's equivalent to drinking bland wine because it has a snappy ad campaign.

Twenty-five years ago, most Americans knew of two wine options; red or white. Today, the wine market is awash with variety because the American palette has expanded, appreciating the nuances of different grapes, regional conditions, and manufacturing processes. While microbreweries have become more prevalent in recent years, their market share is still marginal.

So the next time you buy beer, ask the proprietor for something local. If there isn't a brewery in your area, ask for a recommendation and experiment. If there is local brewery, call about a tour. Most small operations give free tasting-tours, relying on word of mouth advertising. Please, please... say no to rice.