I've always said how easy it would be to make a mass 'merican lager with a little bit of flavor that would appeal across the market.
I agree.
I agree as well. Michelob has all along been a very good American lager for the price, and it got even better when they went back to 'all malt' 7 or 8 years ago. To bad it's not more widely available on draft; in my Dad's day, it was actually a draft only product and I remember him talking about he and his co-workers from Lockheed going to the Newark NJ AB brewery for lunch, with came with glasses of really fresh Michelob.
Interestingly, industry reports indicate that the production of Michelob in general is something like only 1/3 of it was just 20 years ago!
I still pick up a sixer of it every now and again, and still marvel at how well made it is considering it's BMC status. If it had just a touch more hop character (as I'm suspecting it may have had at one time), it would be pretty near perfect.