Budweiser - The Great American ... Ale?

An article in the Business section of today's St. Louis Post Dispatch reveals that Anheuser-Busch plans to roll out a new product under the famed Budweiser name ... no, not another light lager beer infused with Clamato or Lime this time ... A-B is launching a Budweiser ale! This is a rather bold, and in some ways odd, move for the nation's top brewer, I think.

A-B already produces and markets several ales under various labels and brands - Shock Top Belgian White for instance, along with handling imported brands like Grolsch Amber Ale and Leffe Blonde as mentioned in the article (EDITORIAL NOTE - I reworded this sentence slightly at the prompting of an anonymous reader - See the comments below. Although I contend my original wording was technically accurate, I agree it was a little unclear. My apologies!) According to Dave Peacock, VP of Marketing for A-B domestic beer division, the new Budweiser American Ale will be an experiment in strengthening the Budweiser brand and driving adventurous beer-drinkers, which they're calling "experimenters" back to the flagship Budweiser beer as well.

It seems that, of late, every move A-B is making involves some inroad into the craft beer market; either by attempting to mimic the success of craft beer - up 16% in sales last year - or bashing craft beer, as in the recent Budweiser "Great American Lager" commercials. One thing is clear from all of this, craft beer is on A-B's radar for sure - the giant has definitely noticed this little pest called craft beer and it is intent on crushing it or eating it up. Once this new beer is realeased, it will be interesting to see whether or not the experiment will be sustainable long-term. Obviously, A-B is counting on some cross-over drinkers, who normally like to try some of the more widely-distributed craft brands, to pick up this new ale and give it a shot.

The article mentions that the marketing push for this new beer will intentionally be "low-key" compared to the launch of some of A-B's other labels, namely Bud Light. Given that A-B isn't going to do the typical major media blitz for this beer, I'm real curious how they'll go about spreading the word. What do you want to bet they'll rely pretty heavily on trying to leverage the "online beer community" (i.e., beer bloggers) to generate some buzz for this beer at a grassroots level. Heck, the fact that I'm writing this is proof that this is inevitable to some extent, I suppose. In the interest of getting the information out there, are we assisting A-B in stealing what relative little market share that craft beer has managed to secure?

Perhaps. But I still believe knowledge is power ... and inferior beer is inferior beer. I believe that the educated beer-drinker - the ones who read beer blogs for example - are going to be savvy enough to tell the difference for themselves. A-B's "low-key" marketing strategy will only work if the people they want to try this beer - the "experimenters" - actually like it. That's a bit more challenging.