[alcaponejunior]

What if they made a truly great all malt pilsner and kept the price reasonable?

Michelob?

I'd hesitate to call it "truly great" ..... I'm thinking along the lines on Troeg's Sunshine Pils or, even Victory Prima Pils.

Prima pils is amazing, that's what I was thinking.  However, probably (as mentioned a few posts below) something like Sam Adams Noble Pils would be better.  Prima is pretty darn hoppy.  Noble Pils would appeal to more people, probably.

[brewmanator]

In 2007, my brother and I won the chance to scale up an IPA recipe, and help brew it on A-B’s pilot brewery in St. Louis.  At that time the pilot brewery was under the Michelob brand of A-B.  I learned that they were brewing three, 10 barrel test batches, five days a week working on recipes for beers like Czech Pilseners, Imperial IPAs, German-style Dunkelweizens, Irish Red Ales and American Pale Ales .  These beers were fantastic and would stand up quite well to the finest craft beer examples at that time.

Why were they doing that?  Working on recipes "just in case", developing less expensive versions for their craft partners, something else?

Back then they sold these types of beers under their Michelob brand, we did not see much of these out in the PNW, but in the midwest and other places around the US you were able to buy Michelob Dunkel Weisse, Michelob Pale Ale, Michelob Irish Red Ale...

[Thirsty_Monk]

In 2007, my brother and I won the chance to scale up an IPA recipe, and help brew it on A-B’s pilot brewery in St. Louis.  At that time the pilot brewery was under the Michelob brand of A-B.  I learned that they were brewing three, 10 barrel test batches, five days a week working on recipes for beers like Czech Pilseners, Imperial IPAs, German-style Dunkelweizens, Irish Red Ales and American Pale Ales .  These beers were fantastic and would stand up quite well to the finest craft beer examples at that time.

Why were they doing that?  Working on recipes "just in case", developing less expensive versions for their craft partners, something else?

Let me work on Czech Pils recipe. 100% Pilsner malt ans Saaz hops. Shhhh... to not tell anybody. This is a secret recipe.

[boulderbrewer]

Having an ear to what they are after it is interesting. My ear was near the ground floor but a brewer. I don't have many answers yet, time will tell.

[brewmanator]

In 2007, my brother and I won the chance to scale up an IPA recipe, and help brew it on A-B’s pilot brewery in St. Louis.  At that time the pilot brewery was under the Michelob brand of A-B.  I learned that they were brewing three, 10 barrel test batches, five days a week working on recipes for beers like Czech Pilseners, Imperial IPAs, German-style Dunkelweizens, Irish Red Ales and American Pale Ales .  These beers were fantastic and would stand up quite well to the finest craft beer examples at that time.

Why were they doing that?  Working on recipes "just in case", developing less expensive versions for their craft partners, something else?

Let me work on Czech Pils recipe. 100% Pilsner malt ans Saaz hops. Shhhh... to not tell anybody. This is a secret recipe.

Yep, all you need is a recipe and anyone can make a great Czech Pils...

[gmwren]

If anyone still believes "they" still don't get it, read last weekends rather lengthy article from the Washington Post about AB InBev and their attempt at buying out the last 50% of Grupo Modelo. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/beer-merger-would-worsen-existing-duopoly-by-ab-inbev-sabmiller/2013/02/01/efa78ce8-6b1c-11e2-af53-7b2b2a7510a8_story_4.html Interesting dance between the two bigs (ABI and SABMiller) who really do seem to get it. With craft beer at only 6% of US beersales, the efforts of these giants will place an even stronger hold over the distribution network. Craft beer will have a very difficult time expanding in the future. Yes, they do get it. Unfortunately...

[majorvices]

If anyone still believes "they" still don't get it, read last weekends rather lengthy article from the Washington Post about AB InBev and their attempt at buying out the last 50% of Grupo Modelo. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/beer-merger-would-worsen-existing-duopoly-by-ab-inbev-sabmiller/2013/02/01/efa78ce8-6b1c-11e2-af53-7b2b2a7510a8_story_4.html Interesting dance between the two bigs (ABI and SABMiller) who really do seem to get it. With craft beer at only 6% of US beersales, the efforts of these giants will place an even stronger hold over the distribution network. Craft beer will have a very difficult time expanding in the future. Yes, they do get it. Unfortunately...

Budweiser does not get it. They get marketing, don't get me wrong. But they don't get brewing. Their brewers get brewing, for sure. But the beers they produce are dictated by marketers in suits who don't understand beer.

Smaller breweries like Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada will continue to chip away at the beer scene in America, while even smaller craft brewers will continue to grow and BMC will continue to see their share of the market slip because those in charge are more interested in marketing than they are in brewing.

If anyone thinks that the trend will reverse and people will go back to bud lite and mich ultra, you should think again. The trend is going to continue to slide toward craft beer for the foreseeable future.

[Thirsty_Monk]

That was interesting article.
I do not care how they are fixing their pricing as long as I have access to Liquor / grocery stores and I can sell my beer there.
I even do not care about their distribution channels because I self distribute.
One thing that I am concern about with this consolidation is raw material supply chain.

I think they do get how to maximize the profit.
They do not care what they sell.

[majorvices]

It's a challenge to maximize profit when your sales in the US are slipping every year.

That said, I kinda recant what I said earlier about Bud not getting it. InBev does a good job with their massive portfolio and what is in the Bud Line actually all makes sense. They have Pils style beers in their "Becks Line" and that's where InBev is striking out. They could come out with a truly great German Style Pils made right here in the US made under the "Becks Line" and what they come out with instead is the mediocre-at-best Black Sapphire.

[brewmichigan]

It's a challenge to maximize profit when your sales in the US are slipping every year.

That said, I kinda recant what I said earlier about Bud not getting it. InBev does a good job with their massive portfolio and what is in the Bud Line actually all makes sense. They have Pils style beers in their "Becks Line" and that's where InBev is striking out. They could come out with a truly great German Style Pils made right here in the US made under the "Becks Line" and what they come out with instead is the mediocre-at-best Black Sapphire.

They also have Pilsner Urquell for a softer Czech Pils.

[dbeechum]

They also have Pilsner Urquell for a softer Czech Pils.

That's SABMiller

[brewmichigan]

They also have Pilsner Urquell for a softer Czech Pils.

That's SABMiller

Damn, had a 50/50 chance and still blew it.

[csu007]

At the liquor store I work at their new black crown was flying of the shelves for a couple weeks and is already slowing down drastically. With most of the bud (non craft-like) drinkers they just want a light, clean, easy, & cheap beer to get drunk off.
Many off their craft like beers are good but their is no major hurry for bud to overhual their thinking as they (inbev) have a ~70% share of the beer market in the U.S.