Platinum, Calories & Seasonal Offerings

I was amused to read that Anheuser Busch was releasing a new stronger version of Bud Light. According to AB, the stuff will hit shelves nation wide on January 30, 2012--which, not so coincidentally is the week prior to the super bowl. Any guesses on how many Bud Light Platinum commercials AB shoves down our throats during the game? I am setting the over/under at 5. Here are some specifics from AB's website:

With a slightly sweeter taste, higher alcohol by volume (6%) and signature cobalt blue glass bottle, Bud Light Platinum provides beer drinkers an upscale light beer option as a companion to their social agenda...There are opportunities for light beer to expand into new occasions, and we think Bud Light Platinum is the beer to take us there...Bud Light’s ability to innovate and its social personality makes it the ideal brand to introduce Bud Light Platinum to a growing number of image-conscious beer drinkers.

Wow! Not sure where to start. Well, I am a sucker for interesting bottles, so I am happy to hear they are using the cobalt blue and maybe they will not be twist-off's, so I can fill them with delicious homebrew after my brother-in-law undoubtedly drains a case of them during his next visit. You know it's good stuff when one of the three selling points is the "signature cobalt blue bottle." The other two highlights of the beer are sweet taste and high alcohol. Eerily similar to AB's description of its malt liquors. Here is how AB describes their "high end" malt liquor.

Hurricane High Gravity, a high end malt liquor, offers a very full-bodied flavor with a smooth, sweet finish.

Is Bud Light Platinum a high end light malt liquor? Much like the light beer designation, malt liquor labels are at the brewers discretion. Is it really a light beer? By American standards, light beers are low calorie beers and Bud Light already has the highest caloric value at 110/12oz, compared to Coors Light (102) and Miller Lite (96). Platinum will have 137 calories, just under Budweiser at 145.

It's all marketing isn't it? I suppose all beers have a "social personality" and while there are likely "a growing number of image-conscious beer drinkers," it is strange to have that kind of advertising speak presented so directly to me. I am used to being tricked into buying something, not having it presented to me as if I were having a bourbon lunch with Don Draper. Will you make Bud Light Platinum, "...a companion to your social agenda"?

The real question here is how do they do it? How do they take that many carbohydrates out of the equation but keep the ABV that high? Platinum is not being brewed at the AB brewery 30 miles south of me in Fort Collins, so I won't have the opportunity to take a tour and ask a tour guide. Who knows how much they would tell me, I think methods for achieving low carb beer are tightly held trade secrets. I have never met a homebrewer who was concerned about caloric values in his/her beer, so it is likely a moot point for most of us, but I still want to know. I suppose AB uses a highly attenuating yeast strain and lets the fermentation process go longer than the norm, both of which would likely lower the carbohydrate levels. I know that in Bud Select (99 calories) and Select 55, AB doubles the time the beer spends in the brewhouse.  Truth is, all of the above beers leave a lot to be desired in a beer as far as I am concerned, which makes New Belgium's Skinny Dip all the more amazing. Skinny Dip, brewed to have an identical to Bud Light, 110 calories, was an enjoyable beer.

Platinum appears to be replacing Bud Light Golden Wheat in the AB family and I doubt it will be missed by too many. There are however, folks who become extremely upset when breweries discontinue or change their seasonal specialties. Case in point, this year New Belgium began offering new seasonal beers and like anything else people can't get anymore, the consensus is that the old offerings were better. This past summer, Skinny Dip was replaced by Somersault a much easier drinking beer with soft notes of fruit. My buddy George was pissed because he was a fan of the 110 calorie Skinny Dip, but Somersault comes in at a respectable 130 calories. This winter, 2-below, which was a dry-hopped and malty winter warmer, was replaced by Snow Day. The new winter brew utilizes Midnight Wheat, a new malt that I have been wanting to try. Snow Day is noticeably hoppier than it's predecessor but is quite drinkable. Now, the word on the street is that Mighty Arrow, the pale ale offered in spring will be replaced by another pale ale called Dig. On the heals of that news it has been confirmed by the brewery that Hoptober, a golden ale with 40 IBU's will be replaced next year as well.

There is a wave of backlash when a familiar seasonal is replaced but I personally like the variety and the opportunity to try something new outweighs the ability to sit down with an old friend. To New Belgium's credit, they maintain that the looked over seasonal's are likely on vacation and may reappear in a few years.

As much as I embrace new seasonal beers, it can be frustrating when a long loved product is discontinued as evidenced by my decade long letter campaign to Kraft pleading with them to bring back the Jello Pudding Pop.