When InBev tries to brew a blueberry beer

So, last weekend my wife bought some beer. Someone had finished up the keg of T.RA.SH. Mexican Lager, there was not really any other beer to take it's place yet, and she figured she would want beer with Sunday dinner.

Usually, I will handle beer purchases, but she was going to be out buying groceries anyway, and we figured she could handle the responsibility.

When she returned, the beer she had picked for herself was an 8% abv Blueberry Lager, "Wild Blue". It was a beer I didn't recognize and I was intrigued. I was little surprised that she had picked out a beer that said 8%, but whatever. In case you didn't know, my wife likes most every blueberry beer she has ever tried.


Well, I was looking at the package and could not find anywhere on the bottle or the 6 pack box who makes the beer.

"Who makes this?" I asked.

"I don't know."

Odd answer. I would never buy a beer without knowing who made it. So, I checked on untappd.

Anheuser Busch.

Now, I actually don't mind that the big boys are attempting to enter the "craft beer" arena. I am fine with AC Golden and Blue Moon and the various Michelob beers that have popped up in this sector of the beer market. But in the whole "Craft vs. Crafty" debate, I absolutely agree with the BA that if a beer is brewed by one of the big boys, you should be able to clearly see that information SOMEWHERE on the packaging.

I understand that AB-InBev doesn't want that information easy to find, because lots of the kind of people who like 8% Blueberry Ales will discriminate against the beer if they know it is made by Miller or Coors or (God forbid) InBev. Some people won't even give the beer a chance.

My wife says she wouldn't have purchased it had she known. Yes, she's a snob, but she's a cute snob, so it is OK.

But that is part of what the largest brewery in the world has to deal with. Sometimes people cheer for the little guy and therefore not the power house. If they are making good beers, they should be proud of that fact and let the consumer decide what is important information to guide their own purchase. If it is good, eventually people will get over their stereotype. To me, it only seems fair that I am able to see who makes a beer.

And not only does this beer hide that piece of information, they went out of their way to make the label look like it is made by a well known craft brewery. Seriously sneaky, if not downright dishonest. Flying Dog doesn't have deep enough pockets to fight this in the courts for very long, so for the moment, there isn't much that will happen about this label rip-off. It is sad that money wins in this sorry of violation.

And to me, the kicker is.... this beer sucks. My wife loves every blueberry beer she has ever tried, except this one. It tastes like blueberry juice with just enough beer to make it unpleasant. It is bad enough that I seriously think that maybe Ab-InBev only makes this beer so that people will try this as their first exposure to "craft" beer and be turned off forever because of it.

Seriously a yucky beer. Don't buy it. Don't drink it.

Whatever their motivations, shame on the biggest brewing company in the world. Shame on them for not putting their name on the beer. Shame on them for ripping off Flying Dog's look. Shame on them for making such a horrible tasting beer.

SHAME!

On a good note, no dogs were harmed in the making of this beer or its label. Even so, don't buy this; it sucks.