Why does Budweiser just not get it?

[majorvices]

Reading about this "Bud Black Crown" that they are releasing - http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-10/with-black-crown-budweiser-aims-to-refresh-the-brand and I'm thinking "wow, they are really going to launch a flavorful lager type beer".

Then I am reading the most recent issue of "Beer Advocate" and see that the beer they are going to release as "Black Crown" is the beer that scored worse out of the "Project 12" pack (Batch No. 91406) It got a 69 and comments like "near cloying sweetness" and "misplaced carmel note".

I honestly haven't had the beer yet but I'm not expecting much with that score.

We all always say that we don't like Bud products but we respect the prowess of their brewing skills - so why can they not seem to make a truly great beer? I know most of it is marketing but I wonder how much of it is also just lack of understanding on how the beer scene is changing? Newspapers are failing (or have failed) across the country for the same types of reasons.

[brewmichigan]

They do make a flavorful beer. I believe it's called Bourbon County Stout... or something like that. 

On a serious note, I agree with you and them just not understanding how the beer scene is changing. On the other hand, we see it changing and have very strong feelings towards that, maybe too strong that it clouds our judgement a little. Craft beer is still a tiny blip on the radar for them. Until we hit 20-30% market share, I don't think you'll see a huge change.

[firedog23]

As long as 90% of the market (customers) keep drinking it, they really don't need to understand (I believe they do understand it) the craft scene, they only need to market their scene to their regular customers which is why things like shocktop and the project 12 are around.

[Slowbrew]

I agree with everyone that have pointed out that with ~90+% market share the big boys don't need to react just yet. 

Part of the problem is the craft beer buying market is growing slowly while the number of new craft breweries is rising quickly.  Right now it seems to me that craft brewers are mostly cannibalizing each other and not having a huge effect on BMC yet.  When more of the buying public starts looking for flavor/body and stops buying cheap/quantity I think we will see the major brewers make some very good beers.  And at their volumes I think that will make things a bit more complicated for small brewers to compete.  If they can buy a better beer for not much more than Bud or a really good beer for almost twice the cost, cost will still win.

Just my opinions.  I have no reference data to back it up.

Paul

[Joe Sr.]

I found all the Project 12 beers to be nasty.  They all tasted like Budweiser with subtle different nastiness depending on the bottle.  I have most of the 12 pack in the basement awaiting some poor fool who will drink it.

I know they can brew good beer as their Brewmasters Private Reserve was excellent.  They just don't do so regularly.

It seems that the InBev ownership believes that all they need to do is marketing.  The recent articles I've read state that InBev is cutting back on hops and the quality of ingredient to make the "same" beer cheaper.  This probably also leads to their reduction in market share (recall what happened with changes to the Stroh's formula and other beers in the past).

My guess is that we'll see InBev extract as much profit as possible and then sell off damaged brands a few years from now.

[majorvices]

I agree with everyone that have pointed out that with ~90+% market share the big boys don't need to react just yet. 

Yep. That's just what Newspaper's thought about the internet. Then they found out it was it too late.

[majorvices]

I found all the Project 12 beers to be nasty.  They all tasted like Budweiser with subtle different nastiness depending on the bottle.  I have most of the 12 pack in the basement awaiting some poor fool who will drink it.

I know they can brew good beer as their Brewmasters Private Reserve was excellent.  They just don't do so regularly.

Granted, I have not had the project 12 so I should try it. But I did try the Brewmaster's Reserve Doppelbock a few years ago and it was one of the best doppelbocks I had ever tasted. So we know they can do it.

[Joe Sr.]

Granted, I have not had the project 12 so I should try it.

Do it, if you feel you must.  But it was not worth it.  If you travel to Chicago, I can give you an eight pack.

But I did try the Brewmaster's Reserve Doppelbock a few years ago and it was one of the best doppelbocks I had ever tasted. So we know they can do it.

Agreed.  I'm still mad at myself that I didn't buy more of that stuff when Sam's Club had it for $5 for a liter (or whatever that huge bottle was).  But, of course, I doubted it would be any good because it was Budweiser.  This is why I bought the Project 12, as I didn't want to be kicking myself again for missing a good beer out of beer snobbery.  I was wrong on both occassions.

[hopfenundmalz]

I agree with everyone that have pointed out that with ~90+% market share the big boys don't need to react just yet. 

Yep. That's just what Newspaper's thought about the internet. Then they found out it was it too late.

Corp. mindset. They have more like 80-85% of the market when you include regionals not in the B.A. figures and imports. Many of the popular imports are owned by ABInbev and Miller-Coors, so you have to consider that.

[brewmichigan]

I agree with everyone that have pointed out that with ~90+% market share the big boys don't need to react just yet. 

Yep. That's just what Newspaper's thought about the internet. Then they found out it was it too late.

I think this is an unfair comparison. There's one huge advantage that BMC has that the newspapers didn't. Distribution. BMC has a huge advantage over craft beer in the amount of distribution that they "own".

Another one is barrier of entry. Any joe blo can start a blog and reach millions of people with less than $100. It takes 10's of thousands if not 100's of thousands of dollars to just start a craft brewery let alone one the size of Sierra Nevada or Boston Beer that could compete with BMC.

[tschmidlin]

Another one is barrier of entry. Any joe blo can start a blog and reach millions of people with less than $100. It takes 10's of thousands if not 100's of thousands of dollars to just start a craft brewery let alone one the size of Sierra Nevada or Boston Beer that could compete with BMC.

You make a fair point about the barrier for entry, but any brewer that sells their beer is competing with BMC, whether they make 1,000,000 bbls per year or 1 bbl.  Any company that makes alcohol for consumption is competing with them.

[bluesman]

I agree with everyone that have pointed out that with ~90+% market share the big boys don't need to react just yet. 

Yep. That's just what Newspaper's thought about the internet. Then they found out it was it too late.

Corp. mindset. They have more like 80-85% of the market when you include regionals not in the B.A. figures and imports. Many of the popular imports are owned by ABInbev and Miller-Coors, so you have to consider that.

I'll try Black Crown, but I'm not expecting much.

For clarity's sake.
This is taken from an article written by CNN Money.

"By comparison, the big breweries are, in fact, very big: In 2011, Anheuser-Busch shipped 98.8 million barrels, a market share of 47.7%. Meanwhile, MillerCoors (a joint venture between Molson Coors (TAP) and SABMiller PLC) had a share of 28.4%. Meanwhile, in 2011 the average craft brewery shipped 5,911 barrels while the median barrel count was just 550 barrels."

So between ABInBev and SABMiller, they produce 76.1% of the market share. Which is still the overwhelming majority share.

This is an interesting read.

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/15/big-beer-craft-brewers/

[brewmichigan]

Another one is barrier of entry. Any joe blo can start a blog and reach millions of people with less than $100. It takes 10's of thousands if not 100's of thousands of dollars to just start a craft brewery let alone one the size of Sierra Nevada or Boston Beer that could compete with BMC.

You make a fair point about the barrier for entry, but any brewer that sells their beer is competing with BMC, whether they make 1,000,000 bbls per year or 1 bbl.  Any company that makes alcohol for consumption is competing with them.

That is also true but I'm saying it takes much more money and manpower to overtake the giants in the beer industry than it did for the internet to revolutionize the way we receive our news. If nothing else, it would just take longer giving the big boys more time. Maybe they have awesome ideas that they haven't used yet hoping one of these lesser ones will do the trick.


Just out of curiosity, what do we expect from these guys anyway. They continue to release fringe craft beers and marketing driven beers but what would be a good move for them? Should we expect Bud IPA with Simcoe hops? I don't think so. They have their market and have done their research. They seem to feel comfortable that producing beers like Black Crown is still within their segment. I mean if they just flat out started making IPA's and Russian Imperial Stouts and Belgian style beers would any of us actually buy enough to sustain them? I would bet that they have the ability to do this beyond what craft beer can do but they're not because most people would still buy Founders and Stone because of who they are or aren't.

[deepsouth]

despite having a horrible craft beer selection, i still see no reason to purposely drink their products.

i've always thought that their 'brewing skills' referred more to them being able to consistantly brew beer that tastes the same every time you drink it.

[majorvices]

I think the point is, they are losing market share to craft breweries and they put out psuedo-craft beer to compete with it but what they end up doing is just diluting their brand with more of the same.