Women confuse me. Beer, I understand – part 2

 

When I was a kid, beer was pretty simple. My dad usually drank Hamm’s beer, and my uncle Norbie favored a shot and beer, a favorite drink of people who had German roots. If you wanted to drink a really good beer, you bought Schlitz.

After Schlitz tampered with the recipe to increase profits, while simultaneously producing a series of really dumb commercials, their sales plummeted, and they never recovered.

At a few select places in Tucson, you can still buy an original recipe Schlitz, and it REALLY IS a good beer.

If you wanted to buy an AUTHENTIC American beer, you bought Yuengling, which is the oldest brewing company in America. However, sales have always been limited to 14 northeastern states and the District of Columbia.

http://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-good-old-american-beer.html

About a dozen years ago, I wrote an article explaining why beer had become more confusing.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2011/06/women-confuse-me_23.html

Since that time, beer has become even MORE confusing.

Up until very recently, Bud Light was the most popular beer sold in America. In order to appeal to an even larger audience, Budweiser recently produced cans of Bud Light with an image of Dylan Mulvany on the label. (If you don’t follow the culture wards very closely, Dylan Mulvaney is known for detailing her gender transition in daily videos on TikTok since early 2022. In October 2022, Mulvaney spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House about transgender rights.

As of April 2023, Mulvaney has more than 10 million followers on TikTok, while her video series, Days of Girlhood, has received over one billion views.)

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Mulvaney

 

If you’re looking for a really good beer, Bud Light isn’t it. According to the Wall Street Journal, it is one of the worst tasting beers in America. It ranks #6 of the worst 25 beers. The majority of the beers on the list have some connection to Anheuser-Busch.

 https://247wallst.com/special-report/2017/03/11/25-worst-tasting-beers-in-america/5/

Bud Light became popular because it’s cheap. You can buy a 12 pack for as little as $12.99, about $6 less than a 12 pack of better-quality beers, like Samuel Adams of Four Peaks.

The people who bought it tend to be conservative, and a fair number of them might be characterized as “the MAGA” crowd, which is not a group that welcome diversity.

Almost immediately, Bud Light sales started to slip, and the Dylann Mulvaney cans were quickly pulled off the shelves. A few of the A-B executives were either demoted or fired. Ironically, Bud Light also saw a decline in sales to the gay community, who felt that Anheuser-Busch was not doing ENOUGH to support them

Almost overnight, the most popular beer in America became Modelo.

Until this morning, I had never purchased any Modelo, but I bought a 12 pack this morning in order to try it. Taste wise, it reminds me a lot of Budweiser. It’s not horrible, but it’s a not a brand that a true beer lover would buy on a regular basis. A 12-pack cost me $15.99, slightly less than what I would call “the good stuff”.

What distinguishes a great beer from the also-rans is “the head”.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2016/04/it-takes-good-head-to-make-great-beer.html

I saw a post this morning on Facebook stating that the less educated among us were shunning an AMERICAN beer in favor of a MEXICAN beer.  Although that illustrates the silliness of the MAGA crowd, it fails to mention a couple of critical facts:

1)    Bud Light is not an American beer

2)   Modelo is not a Mexican beer. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupo_Modelo)

 Bud Light, of course, IS brewed in America, and Modelo IS brewed in Mexico. Both brands, however, are owned by In-Bev, which is a BELGIAN company.

https://www.ab-inbev.com/our-brands/

In-Bev makes 500 different beers. Among them is Budweiser, Beck’s, and Modelo. Although Anheuser-Busch may be disappointed by the slump in Bud Light sales, and Modelo executives might feel happy about the rise in sales for Modelo, the parent company of both brands (In-Bev) could care less which one is popular, and which one is not, since the bottom line is all that matters.

After I finish the Modelo that I bought this morning, I probably will not buy it again, and will (once again) buy beers that actually have a satisfying flavor. I may even buy some non-alcoholic beer on occasion, since most of the ones that I have tried are actually very good beers.