The Budweiser menace

BUDWEISER RESPONDS

by Fred Eckhardt

Quite impressive, that NBC-Anheuser-Busch "infomercial" attack on Boston Brewingâs Jim Koch. Stone Phillips, NBCâs stellar reporter, and cohost Chris Hansen performed a near-perfect hatchet job on Koch and other contract brewers. Strange in view of the fact that Anheuser-Busch itself is one of the worldâs largest contract brewers.

In the October 13, 1996, edition of NBCâs "Dateline," Hansen dwelled at length on the depredations of Koch as an unscrupulous contract brewer. Wow! I knew Jim Kochâs commercials were bad but I didnât realize that he was such a terrible person. Heâs brewing his beer at Stroh and itâs only slightly better than Old Milwaukee.

I was amazed to learn that Budweiser is still brewed by the "same [recipe] as itâs always been; it just uses modern brewing technology now." Thatâs what reporter Hansen told his viewers in a pompous afterthought at the end of the show. If itâs on national television from the prestigious NBC "Dateline Sunday," it must be so. Thatâs TV journalism.

I was amused by that information. I had always assumed that A-B was a progressive corporation, and that they regularly updated their recipes as well as their methods. Sadly, this isnât the case, I guess. Theyâve made no attempt in over 100 years to save money by using less expensive ingredients. Theyâve always used exactly the same amount of that mangled rice adjunct of which they are so fond. Theyâve always used the same grain bill and the same amount of the same hops.

Oops, the same hops? The same amount of them? The same bitterness level? Goodness, gracious, I had the crazy idea that A-B had been steadily reducing the hop and bitterness level in Budweiser for quite some time. But I guess thatâs just my jaded taste buds, and the various analyses Iâve seen over the years were all prevarications.

Anheuser-Buschâs pious vice president of consumer affairs, Francine Katz, told "Dateline" that A-B makes only the finest products in their brewing factories. Other large brewers, such as Coors, Miller, Stroh, well, they are not capable of such craftsmanship, and when they brew someone elseâs beer, it isnât as good; it just doesnât have class. Itâs just another example of Old Milwaukee-type manufacturing.

NBC recorded this biased hogwash while reporter Chris Hansen kept a perfectly straight face. His sympathetic interview of Katz showed her worrying about "honesty and truth in labeling" and urging other brewers, "Letâs be truthful on our labels."

Okay, letâs look at that truthful label on the "King of Beers." Take the line, "We know of no brand produced by any other brewer which costs so much to brew and age." High quality rice particles? Letâs really be honest here: the high production cost of Budweiser centers on its $60 million advertising budget. The Swedish bikini team doesnât come cheap.

But my favorite part of that truthful label is the claim that Budweiser is "Beechwood Aged." The next time you visit our A-B friends at their nearest brewery (which wonât be identified on any of their labels), ask to see those beechwood aging barrels where Budweiser sits, like a good wine, quietly soaking up that wonderful beechwood character and aroma. Now, if you believe that, I have a nice bridge here in Portland, OR, that you might wish to buy; Iâll give you a good price on it, too.

The Budweiser "beechwood aging" is not aging at all. Itâs not done in barrels either, as the word "aging" implies from its association with wine in oak casks. Not at all. It is a process in which small beech wood pieces are thrown into the finished beer after it has been kraeusened.

Kraeusening is wonderful and very natural process, and A-B should take pride in its use, but it is by no means "aging." The procedure is similar to the mŽthode Champenoise used in producing sparkling wines. The brewer adds a dose of freshly brewing beer at the height of its initial ferment to the fully fermented and aged beer, at which point the stainless steel, glass-lined cask is then closed. This young beer is at the active, so-called high-kraeusen stage, which in beer forms a thick, rocky, craggy head, hence the name of the process.

The procedure generates a renewed ferment in the aged beer, creating enough carbon dioxide gas to condition (carbonate) the beverage naturally. The yeast, now active in the beer, is then "fined," or removed by settling with a fining agent. Our British friends use isinglass (dried swimming bladders of some fish), some wine makers employ egg whites, but German and American brewers have a tradition (dating from the 19th century) of using small, thin hardwood slats (beech or maple) for the fining.

These small, thin chips must first be treated by boiling with soda ash to make the wood more porous and to remove color, resin and woody taste. The brewerâs prime concern here is to remove any effects the wood might possibly have on the beer, and the whole process takes only three or four days, probably less in the case of Budweiser.

In the past, some brewers have used aluminum "chips" instead of wood for fining, but theyâve always had the good sense not to label such beer "aluminum aged."

Thereâs no denying that Jim Kochâs marketing methods and commercials make him his own worst enemy. The ad shown on "Dateline" had him standing in front of a small copper brew house, when in fact his beer is brewed in much larger establishments. That copper brew house does exist but precious little beer is brewed there. Koch looked silly trying to explain things.

Both Anheuser-Busch and Boston Brewing should tell us exactly where their beer is brewed. I, too, take offense at the Oregon Ale non-brewery, which claims its beers to be "Microbrewed in Oregon." As Iâve said before on these pages (AABM, November 1996), Blitz-Weinhard (where Oregon Ales are brewed) is not a microbrewery, and wishing wonât make it so.

Oregon Ales are good beers, and they are brewed in Oregon but they are not microbrewed. The label should tell us that they are a subsidiary of Boston Beer Co., rather than hiding that fact. These beers are saving the old Blitz-Weinhard plant from the scrap heap and nearly 200 Portland workers from the unemployment lines. I, for one, remember the great effort Kochâs brewmaster, Oregonian Walter Scheurle, made to get the folks at Blitz to meet Sam Adamsâ high brewing standards. I think of it as foreign aid for Oregon from Massachusetts.

We need contract brewers. Without them, the craft brewing industry would still be small time. Jim Koch and Peter Schlosberg (Wicked Pete) have been true pioneers who have made great contributions to the industry and to the revival of many old-line breweries and beer styles. These guys are not the enemy. They make good beer and are a credit to the industry.

Just these two men and their companies have done more for craft beer and craft brewing than almost anyone else. Samuel Adams ads, bad as they are, are at least educational about beer. Sam Adams and Peteâs Wicked have become gateway beers, introducing many beer drinkers to the delights of taste in beer, and leading many to sample other micro and craft brewed products. Their brews give beer a good name, with far more taste than most beer produced by A-Bâs factories.

Letâs recognize that Anheuser-Busch is the enemy of all other brewers. The small Oregon brewers who have allied themselves with this brewing giant are riding the tiger. A-B didnât get to be No. 1 without destroying numerous competitors.

We only need to note A-Bâs recent actions against small brewers vis ˆ vis their distributors. If your local microbrewer is having trouble finding shelf space, or even finding distributors, donât say we didnât warn you. And a specialty grain crunch could be shaping up sooner than you think. Budweiser is not a good partner for small brewers, and that probably includes even Redhook; they will do anything (except put flavor in their beer) to increase their market share.

What really counts, for us consumers, is whatâs inside the bottle and our choices of that. Choice is the issue. All brewers lose when some lie about their product. (Coors and Miller, pay attention: Plank Road and Blue Moon exist only on Fantasy Island.) Our small brewing industry needs to tolerate-even encourage-its wondrous diversity.

Afterword
As this goes to press, I checked my local beer supplier. True to his word, Jim Koch has added to the Samuel Adams label (this for supplies in Portland, OR): "...brewed by Boston Beer Company, Boston, MA and under special agreement Ptl, OR." followed by a telephone number-hey, itâs better than nothing. Peteâs Brewing Co. is still in St. Paul; Blue Moon of Denver brews "under special license in Cincinnati, OH"; Plank Road exists in Fantasyland, Milwaukee, and lives in a phone booth at 1-800-423- 4687. But, best of all, Oregon Ales is now "Craft Brewed in Oregon" and I can live with that: the folks at Blitz are craftsmen, and they brew darn good beer, with precious little credit. As for the 12 Budweiser beer factories, they all live in St. Louis, MO. I remember when that was really so, and when Bud was an honorable name among brewers. I shall no longer partake of any of their brands, nor of those produced by Redhook. I wonât miss Bud, Michelob, or Red Wolf, but I will miss Redhook. I hope they can get off the tiger someday, because this is a bad tiger to ride.

BUDWEISER RESPONDS