In case you missed it, this past ‘Saturday Night Live’ television show was sponsored exclusively by Bud Light Golden Wheat. The new beer for the Bud Light family. While the beer name indicates wheat, it is actually more in the Belgian Wit style as opposed to German or American wheat style. I must admit I did not see any of the show. When I originally read the story my first thought was its too bad some of those advertising dollars couldn’t be funneled into marketing for some good beers from smaller, more craftier brewers.
Field Research Notes:
So yesterday, The Beer Goddess and myself were at a small social gathering with our son and daughter-in-law. Four or five mid twenty year olds were present and they had purchased Bud Light Golden Wheat in addition to some other big brewer offerings. I brought up the SNL tidbit and found that no one had seen the show. I then asked how they all liked the new beer. For the most part everyone liked it. Several mentioned that it reminded them of Blue Moon. I did notice that when they reached for another beer, the Bud Light Golden Wheat was the one reached for most. Not sure if the reason was due to it tasting better, or just being the new bottle in the cooler.
In my tasting of the beer, I thought it was ‘OK’. I could tell that it was in a wit beer style but it tasted a bit ’thin’ to me ( I have very technical beer tasting terms!) but still pleasant.
Might be fun to have a ‘Wits End’ contest with Blue Moon, Bud Light Golden Wheat, and Hoegaarden to see how they stack up. If I was in a position where I could only order Bud Light derivatives, I would pick the Bud Light Golden Wheat. But, stacked up against almost any beer from a craft brewery, it would be well down the list.