Budweiser World Select

[Ray A.]

I just joined the Realbeer.com group and was somewhat concerned about the negative feedback that I read about the reviews of this beer. Let me start out by saying I do not work for or have any relatives that work for Anheuser Busch.
The World Select is to me, and I KNOW MY BEER, the best that America has offered in a long time.

My favorites are Strohs Beer and now Budweiser World Select!
Laugh if you may, but Strohs was listed as the top 50 tasting beer
in the U.S.A. in consumers report magazine about 6 months ago!

Yes there are alot of micro-brews out there, but these two top my class as a BEST BEER period.

[Beaver]

I don't think you'll find too many that agree with you here.

Almost any micro that I've had is better than Stroh's or Budweiser. I have yet to try the World Select, but have no desire to b/c from what I hear it's a Heineken clone, which is another sub-standard beer IMO.

[wortchillergoal]

I am glad you have found beer that you enjoy.

When it comes to ratings by publications, you have to wonder who rated the product. It could be the pool was biased. Also, if you remember AB bought off Nightline one night to make it sound as if they were brewing to better standards as they did not contract brew. Anything can be had for a price.

[newportstorm]

Welcome! And drink what you like. I don't enjoy the A-B products I've tried and I haven't ponied up for the World Select even though Newport, RI was an initial test market last summer. If a Bud rep wanted to buy me one, I'd gladly taste it. Nothing wrong with Stroh's on a hot day. I enjoyed a sixer recently during/after an "intense" game of whiffleball (can whiffleball be intense?). Anyway, it's far from my personal top 50 and I put little stock in what mainstream mags say is good, but who cares? It's a serviceable light lager when the occasion calls for it.

Don't be afraid to try new brews, but never cave to any pressure from someone telling you what you should be drinking.

Cheers!

[steveh]

Ray, what beer DO YOU KNOW? There are many wide and diverse beers available out there. Yes, even from America. If you mean the best that American macro breweries has to offer, you could be right. But if you mean that as an overall statement on American brewing, I'd beg to differ strongly.

And not to play against Newport, but if you want to really know your beer, you should broaden your horizons beyond A/B World Select and Strohs. Rich and flavorful beer is wondrous to behold.

That said, there's a Spaten Helles with my name on it waiting right outside my office door!

S.

[hopjack13]

Originally posted by Ray A.
The World Select is to me, and I KNOW MY BEER, the best that America has offered in a long time.

dude , you're on the wrong board....im pretty sure no one here will agree with you.
why don't you start with telling us what you do know about beer? and why this world select stands out from all other american beers, micros and all....?


i gotta hear(read) this one :rolleyes:

[Herb Ninja]

The World Select is to me, and I KNOW MY BEER, the best that America has offered in a long time.

World Select is just another reason for other countries to go "Look, america created another crappy beer, and their people actually like it. What a stupid country." Lets be serious now, they may say 12 or however many brewers from around the world combined to make this "great" brew, but it was probably made by some white trash drunkard(not unlike myself) in America who changed 1 ingredient from that of Budweiser and thought it was special. Its not special, it sucks and the only reason people drink it is because they were sold by the advertising or whatever misleading hype. I could go around the world and not find a worse tasting beer. They should call it 'Third World Select' because that shits funked. I hope you enjoy it, leave the micros on the shelf for us. Peace, HN-

[studentofbeer]

at the NRA (national restaurant show) in chicago budweiser had a really huge booth and they had the world select there, so i figured i would give it a try since the only way i would ever try this beer would be for free.

i did, and had a few sips and threw out the rest of the cup. and i believe wasting beer is a sin.

in my opinion, regular budweiser is better than the world select. the WS had all the skunkiness of a heini coupled with a gross metalic aftertaste. id rather drink standard bland stuff with rice and corn. well, id rather not drink either of those, but you get my point. I thought this beer was awful.

i also find it amusing that A-B is attacking miller for being south african owned, but decided it had to put out a "euro-lager" to compete against the import crowd. how american.

to me the worst thing is the fact that i see 6 packs of this going for $8! that blows my mind.

[hops99]

If nothing else, these "one-and-done" macro cheerleader posts, and the responses they generate, always make for good entertainment. :)

[skahtboi]

Originally posted by hops99
If nothing else, these "one-and-done" macro cheerleader posts, and the responses they generate, always make for good entertainment. :)

I kinda figgered that's what this one was, as well.

[Beaver]

Originally posted by hops99
If nothing else, these "one-and-done" macro cheerleader posts, and the responses they generate, always make for good entertainment.

Yeah I guess so....sorry I started with the feeding of the troll. :)

[corysdad]

The way I see it (if anyone cares) is, There are so many wonderful beers out there, brewed by guys that care that I can't see wasting a cent on any A-B product or any other mass produced, almost tastless swill. Oh yea, welcome to the boards Ray.

[chazwicke]

I hope Ray sticks around. He may learn more from our perspective and we may learn more about those who share his. We may never agree but the discourse could get interesting.

[Salpta]

....but the discourse could get interesting.

Thats like calling a Mack truck a Tonka toy...

[steveh]

Originally posted by hops99
If nothing else, these "one-and-done" macro cheerleader posts, and the responses they generate, always make for good entertainment. :)

Kind of makes you wonder when someone protests too quickly about "not working for" XXX macro brewery, eh?

S.

[dirtybeer]

:confused: Last week a few people started talking about this "brand new" budweiser. I consider myself fairly open minded so I took a shot and tried it out. Wow, I thought at first I got a bad sixer, I even contemplated sending the beer back to AB Quality Control, but after reading several review I have to say it's the Beer. I was weened on Micro Brews in the Northwest, but I don't think that's my issue. I guess I agree with the Heini taste comparison, but only if it was in an aluminuim can and left outside for about a week, bleaque! Two thumbs down (but I'm still going to drink what's left of the sixer)!

[sallad]

ok, so i've seen two ppl actually fess up to having actually tried this (besides our new friend Ray)..... but all of us are ready to bash it.... maybe we should all try it first??




ok, that was a bad idea! :)

[fretlessman71]

I appreciate your spirit of fairness, sallad, but really... it's an AB product... :rolleyes:

[steveh]

Originally posted by sallad
ok, so i've seen two ppl actually fess up to having actually tried this (besides our new friend Ray)..... but all of us are ready to bash it.... maybe we should all try it first??

New friend? He only posted once, and that was 9 months ago. Either Ray is a fast learner or he really was a "plant."

My local has this on "special" this month (despite my fervent admonishment for not having a Guinness special for the month of St. Pat's) - anyone know if they're using malted rice in the recipe? I can't take one for the team if there's rice involved - though I think Dirtybeer is telling us what we already suspect.

S.

[ray m]

I happened to try this last fall, when one of my wife's cousins gave me a couple bottles in exchange for some bottles of homebrews I gave him over the previous few months.

I can hear the snickers now (boy did I get jipped!!).

Anyway, I did finish them after a couple different lawn mowing sessions. As I suspected the beer, did not impress me at all, and tasted like Heineken, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

And I make a motion for Ray A.'s (aka "I KNOW MY BEER" boy) 1 post membership be revoked!

[fretlessman71]

Don't worry about Ray - I don't think he'll be back. I do think that he's a shill for AB in some form, though. Let him look like a fool on his own. If he's really into Bud World Select, let him have his fun. I haven't heard from anyone who likes it save for him.

[ADR]

Since the topic is open, this is what I got out of World Select (I got less from Budweiser Select)...

Well, it looks like this has finally made it to the upper midwest...crystal clear light gold appearance. One quarter inch very white head, soupy with about 30 seconds duration. Laces in widely-spaced commas. Aroma is pale honey, with no detectable sulfurous qualities. Not well carbonated to begin with, thickened water. Maltiness is reserved, hop is apparent and lends an apple core (even with seed-like alkaloids) impression mid mouth. Lingering astringency, could be dryer at the close. Sense of carbonation seems to come on in the throat and stomach. Not a horrendous beer, but not a particularly good value for a European Lager clone....

[chazwicke]

Which Euro Lager would you liken it to? Ray M. suggested Heineken.

[ADR]

Yeah, in that vein...:cool:

Beck's, St. Pauli, etc...

Bud seems to be making no effort to price a little below, so for what it is, I can't see buying it again...

[Seymour]

I'll go ahead and confess, I tried it. Paid $7.99 for a sixer. And yes, Heineken is what comes to mind. I wasn't impressed with it at all, but was able to dupe unsuspecting friends to finish the rest of the sixer;) !

[fretlessman71]

Bet they weren't friends for long after that! Yeeech! :D

[chazwicke]

Well is it better than regular bud? Is it at least a step in the right direction? Craft beer segments of the industry actually grew in 2004. Maybe AB is looking at those stats and moving ever so slightly towards beer with flavor. They are capable of making excellent beers and from what I understand, they do, as test batches distributed among themselves. If they marketed a decent beer I may buy it. I'm not hating AB because they are a giant brewer. It is because they make awful beers. And also have some questionable business practices.

[Seymour]

Ten years ago, they were supposedly moving in the direction of craft brewing with their horrid hefeweizen and appalling pale ale. Eewww...

[chazwicke]

I know. They need to bite the bullett and produce a REAL beer.

[BrewDog]

I always wondered what it might be like if they (AB) actually tried to make a really GOOD beer. Stod once said he never saw as fine a sample of hops as he saw at an AB brewery. I guess I mean that SOME of those brewers there must home brew. (How many brew masters DON'T? Stod/BM -- any idea on this?) Aren't any of them itching to produce something better?

[davesarman]

Originally posted by chazwicke
Craft beer segments of the industry actually grew in 2004. Maybe AB is looking at those stats and moving ever so slightly towards beer with flavor.

My hunch would be that if they are noticing the growth in craft beer and want to take advantage of it, they would most likely go the route of producing a beer that's rather bland and flavorless, yet market it as a craft brew, so all the A-B sheep out there could buy it and impress thier friends with it. Just a hunch. Didn't A-B recently make a stout that had a name that was some spin on the Irish stereotype of getting drunk and fighting? Bare Knuckle Stout or something like that? Did that go away or am I imagining things again? Must have been that hemp beer I had four years ago....

[steveh]

Originally posted by davesarman
Bare Knuckle Stout or something like that? Did that go away or am I imagining things again?

Check their web-site - it's still around...haven't tried that either.

S.

[davesarman]

I've never seen A-B's stout in any stores up here in MN, must be limited distribution. You would think that A-B would be all over marketing that for the upcoming St. Patties day....

[chazwicke]

I have heard that AB does brew some very good beers. Usually as small sample batches and only the other AB workers get to sample it. In house consumption only. They certainly have the knowhow, technology and ingredients to do it.

[ADR]

Bare Knuckle Stout is draft only...and I THINK I heard someone say that one place in Minnesota had it on tap, but MN was not an early test market...

[chazwicke]

Has anyone had it?

[danno]

I had it at SeaWorld in Orlando last summer, at the A-B tasting area. it wasn't too bad, but it was served a bit too cold, and I remember it not having much body. even compared to Guinness, it was thin...

[Seymour]

Don't they still make that dreadful black and tan also (under the Michelob label, of course, giving it some air of "higher end")?

[unkle bik]

Originally posted by chazwicke
I have heard that AB does brew some very good beers. Usually as small sample batches and only the other AB workers get to sample it. In house consumption only. They certainly have the knowhow, technology and ingredients to do it.

I agree that they have the capability, especially with the resources they have. It would be a matter of image.

People expect A/B to put out a product like Bud or Mich, not a barleywine or IPA. Even if they did put out a great stout, people here would still say it is made by A/B and slag it off as junk. Look at how many times we knock a microbrewer for producing some "yellow, corn beer".

BMC has their place in the brewing world, and we have our our's. It's all matter of personal preferences.

[ADR]

Originally posted by danno
I had it at SeaWorld in Orlando last summer, at the A-B tasting area. it wasn't too bad, but it was served a bit too cold, and I remember it not having much body. even compared to Guinness, it was thin...

Of the people I know who've had it, mouthfeel seemed to be their biggest problem...

But, I'd like to give it a shot, people get pasionate about A/B products, when generally they are usually inoffensively tasteless...

[unkle bik]

Originally posted by Ray A.

My favorites are Strohs Beer and now Budweiser World Select!
Laugh if you may, but Strohs was listed as the top 50 tasting beer
in the U.S.A. in consumers report magazine about 6 months ago!


We always considered Stroh's an "old man's beer."
Dad used to drink that stuff along rotgut Duke and P.O.C.
Egad!

[Beaver]

Originally posted by chazwicke
Has anyone had it?

I had the Bare Knuckle at a bar in Michigan. Definitely the best AB beer I've had. It was pretty bland for a stout. But it was very approachable and would probably make a decent gateway beer.

[chazwicke]

I think Duke and POC were lastly made by Pittsburgh Brewing makers of Iron City and the infamous Hop n Gator. YUCK!!

[unkle bik]

We had a Schmidt's brewery in Cleveland that brewed those 2 products until the mid 80's.

[fretlessman71]

Originally posted by unkle bik
I agree that they have the capability, especially with the resources they have. It would be a matter of image.

People expect A/B to put out a product like Bud or Mich, not a barleywine or IPA. Even if they did put out a great stout, people here would still say it is made by A/B and slag it off as junk. Look at how many times we knock a microbrewer for producing some "yellow, corn beer".

BMC has their place in the brewing world, and we have our our's. It's all matter of personal preferences. Allow me to be the first to say that if AB produces a beer I like the taste of, I'll say so here, and I'll even buy the product. If we ALL did that it might show AB that there's a viable market out there for beer that people actually like the taste of, rather than a beer that is so clean you can't taste the alcohol going down your throat.

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by unkle bik
We had a Schmidt's brewery in Cleveland that brewed those 2 products until the mid 80's.

Yep you are right! I forgot it was Schmidt's. My bad!

[chazwicke]

I would drink it as well. Think if they had a product that could compete with Sierra Nevada PA. One that was available everywhere. Then when you went somewhere there would always be at least one decent beer available.

[fretlessman71]

And think what Miller and Coors would do once they realized that AB was making money that they couldn't. It'd be a macro-revolution! :)

[dirtybeer]

Originally posted by BrewDog
I always wondered what it might be like if they (AB) actually tried to make a really GOOD beer. Stod once said he never saw as fine a sample of hops as he saw at an AB brewery. I guess I mean that SOME of those brewers there must home brew. (How many brew masters DON'T? Stod/BM -- any idea on this?) Aren't any of them itching to produce something better?
I'm sure that if they are true craftsman the yearn for the day when the american palet and pocket book lend themselfs to a higher quality product. For now I'm sure their collective conscience is amply compensated.

[BluesHarp]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
Allow me to be the first to say that if AB produces a beer I like the taste of, I'll say so here, and I'll even buy the product. If we ALL did that it might show AB that there's a viable market out there for beer that people actually like the taste of, rather than a beer that is so clean you can't taste the alcohol going down your throat.

...remember the "ice" beers, you could taste the alcohol...and little else.
I want a beer that I can taste the flavors going down my throat...and taste it long after I swallow; but I'm sure that's what you meant...:D

[unkle bik]

Originally posted by chazwicke
Yep you are right! I forgot it was Schmidt's. My bad!

Don't discount yourself.
IIRC, Pittsburg Brewing brewed both of these after Scmidt's closed down.

So we are both right.

[chazwicke]

I know at one time, Pittsburgh Brewing and Duquasne (sp) Brewing were part of a huge brewing syndicate in Western Pa. This was way earlier in their histories.

[PFDarkside]

Originally posted by dirtybeer
I'm sure that if they are true craftsman the yearn for the day when the american palet and pocket book lend themselfs to a higher quality product. For now I'm sure their collective conscience is amply compensated.
Either that or it's just like any other job. I'm sure day to day operations are so process oriented it leaves little time to the craft that started the business. I work in the auto electronics industry, there are few days that I think about what I could really be doing if I had my way.