Just about
twenty years ago, the Boston Beer Company exhorted beer lovers across
America to “declare their independence from foreign beer.” This was part of
a very successful advertising campaign that suggested American beer drinkers
finally had an alternative to mass market mega-brewed beers and costly
imports. That alternative was Samuel Adams Boston Lager, and today that beer
has helped propel the Boston Beer Company to its current position as one of
the nation’s largest brewers.
Despite this, Boston Beer’s share of the domestic market still pales
compared to that of industry giant Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest
brewing concern. Still, the success of Samuel Adams beers has been
impressive, and though a bit late to the party Anheuser-Busch has decided to
launch its own foray after the dollars of imported beer drinkers with the
introduction of Anheuser World Select. This pilsner-style lager beer
is an obvious challenge to such imported brews as Corona, Beck’s, and most
likely Heineken.
It was probably inevitable that Anheuser-Busch would launch such a beer.
Having captured the lion’s share of the domestic beer market, AB faces a
point of diminishing returns in the categories it dominates already: the
American light lager, premium lager, and light beer styles. With Anheuser
World Select, AB can increase sales at the expense of its foreign rivals in
a previously untapped category.
Anheuser-Busch has always been an aggressive marketer and competitor. The
recent rollout of Michelob Ultra is a classic example of the
company’s determination to be innovative and insistent in its quest to
continually expand its share of the domestic beer market. Although Michelob
Ultra was simply a light beer with about the same carbohydrate content as
existing light brews, AB promoted the low carbohydrate content of Michelob
Ultra as the beer’s primary selling point. The result: impressive sales to
those consumers attempting to limit their intake of carbohydrates.
AB seems no less aggressive in promoting Anheuser World Select. The company
has taken out full-page ads promoting the beer in major newspapers and
splashed its image on billboards and posters. Radio and TV ads seem sure to
follow, and it is likely the beer will be as successful as Michelob Ultra
has been in capturing the attention of upscale beer consumers.
The beer’s packaging is obviously designed to do just that. Anheuser World
Select is sold in short, painted-label green glass bottles embossed with
elegant gold lettering. The bottle is obviously meant to convey an air of
status and discrimination to the drinker.
Anheuser-Busch has not stopped with just the packaging, however. The company
touts the fact that it tapped the talents of brewers from ten different
nations to come up with Anheuser World Select. Brewmasters from China, The
United States, Britain, Argentina, Korea, Japan, Spain, Canada, Italy, and
Ireland all provided input for the formulation of Anheuser World Select.
Here is what August A. Busch IV has to say about his company’s new beer:
We challenged our top brewmasters representing 10 countries around the
globe to collaborate and create something extraordinary. The result is
Anheuser, a world class beer brewed fresh in America.
Obviously, all of this hype sets some rather grand expectations. So how does
the beer actually stack up? When I decanted a bottle of World Select, it
poured to a pale gold color with a light fizzy head and a faint malt nose.
The palate is rather clean and light bodied, lighter than I would have
expected in fact. There is some biscuity malt flavor and, thankfully, no
unpleasant adjunct character. It is slightly sweet but becomes balanced in
the finish by a slightly grassy, subtly bitter kiss of hops.
Overall, this is a step up from Budweiser or Michelob. I was a little
disappointed, though, that it didn’t have a bit more malt and hop character.
With ten brewmasters involved from around the world, I expected more. At
$6.99 a six-pack, there are much better pilsners on the market, and I would
take a Pilsner Urquell or a Warsteiner over Anheuser World
Select any day. My beloved Barbara however, a Michelob drinker by habit,
found World Select to be very agreeable.
For now, Anheuser World Select is only available in the following areas:
Atlanta, Georgia (where I bought it); Denver, Colorado; Las Vegas, Nevada;
Los Angeles, California; New York City; Hawaii; Jersey Shore, NJ; Newport,
Rhode Island; London and Hong Kong.
My final recommendation? Give World Select a try and form your own opinion.
Mind you, it probably won’t live up to the hype. But it is definitely a step
in the right direction.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft