I saw this in the grocery store this evening and picked it up to take a closer look as I had never heard of it. It’s an Anheuser Bush product that is ale aged on bourbon barrel oak and vanilla bean. Curiosity overruled common sense and I bought a six pack.
I’m not sure what aged on bourbon barrel oak is, but I suspect it is weasel words for aged in huge stainless steel vats, with an oak barrel somewhere in the room. The nose is nondescript, with just a hint of vanilla. It pours crystal clear with no head, which rules out any fantasy that this stuff is actually cask aged. The taste from beginning to finish is overwhelmed by vanilla. Blindfolded, I’d be unlikely to ID it as beer. I’m not sure how this stuff is really made, but dumping a bunch of vanilla extract into the Bud Light vat would produce the same results.
If it has any redeeming quality at all, and this is a stretch, your non beer drinking SO just might like it. Needless to say, I won’t be buying it again. I will be drinking it again though. I have five left.
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Because of this horrid beer, my wife now knows to check for the brewer. Nothing good comes from Anheuser Busch, and nothing good ever will. The sad part of this is that it’s such an obvious attempt to try to suck a little revenue out of the growing craft brew world by creating something similar seeming without having to bother to make it good
I saw a new beer when I was perusing the cooler for Don the other day. It was a wheat- and gluten-free beer made with sorghum. My “Oooh!” was quickly followed by “Aww” when I saw it was made by A-B and I put it back. I’m still intrigued, but for $8 I know I can get something good.
My guess take the standard recipe, swap beechwood chips with barrel pieces, throw in vanilla beans, and as Emeril would say, BAM!!!