Michelob Celebrate Vanilla Oak

Brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
St. Louis, Missouri USA

Bottle, 2005 "vintage." Poured a really impressive ruby/amber with a very nice solif, thick and frothy head, that diminished somewhat quickly. At first scent it had an "off" character to it, I can’t put my finger on it. But once I tasted it it wasn’t too bad. There’s a slight bourbon note at the beginning, then follows carmalized apple and finally ozidized apple core. There’s a small amount of vanilla but at the same time some wet cardboard. This isn’t a horrible beer or anything, but it would be a great beer if they took some influence from imperial stouts, giving it a thicker texture or something. The other half of the bottle is up for grabs.

Not as bad as it could have been, that’s what I say. The pour was dark with a good head. The aroma was definitely of vanilla and coffee. The taste was very watery and thin which was the one major letdown for this beer. The flavor wasn’t that bad, but the mouthfeel detracted from it so much that it made it less enjoyable. I’m actually glad companies like Michelob are trying to broaden their horizons--maybe a few more people come over to the "good" side because of a beer like this...

Bottle sampled with Stegosaurus. Pours deep copper with an off-white head. Aroma of vanilla, alcohol, and bourbon. The flavor ia sweet, alcohol, and vanilla, but taste a little weird like all these new and improved flravor were just added to a bottle of regular michelob.

2005 Bottle....Wow AB has gone outside their narrow box with ths one. Good color and texture. Not sure of the style they were trying for but thing go down smooth. Alchohol is not noticeable for 10%. worth a try if you can find it.

2005 Drank 8/2/06 Aroma: Nice scent of sugary molasses, alcohol, with a hint a vanilla and dark woods. Appearance: Hazy amber brown with a decent head of off white bubbles, but not as nice a head as I usally prefer. Screw off cap and shrunk wrap bottle were a little less than top notch and had me worried about the contents. Flavor: Poweful alchohol (at 10% I would expect no less really) with some malty sweetness, caramel, and vanilla. There was an unpleasant metallic taste that effected the other flavors. Palate: Dry as I would expect but not as dry as it could be. Finished fairly quickly. Left a sweet taste over time. Overall: I had a hard time placing what this beer reminded me of but I think it somewhat resembles Anchor Steam. Although in saying that I will also say I much prefer Anchor Steam to this brew. There was the metallic flavor that damaged my enjoyment of this brew but after I rated it and saw a 3 I realized it was right where it needed to be.

Bottle sampled with beerded_one. Pours deep orange\copper with a decent off-white head. Aroma of vanilla extract, alcohol, molasses, bourbon. Flavor is sweet, alcohol very present not masked well at all, vanilla extract, good body, drinkable.

I had a feeling it was a bad idea to buy anything with a macro label on it but I thought I would give this one a try..... horrible mistake. Not a bad looking brew - deep ruby with a tight khaki head; however, it went downhill from there - and fast. Syrupy sweet aroma of vanilla extract and malt. Cloyingly sweet flavor of artificial vanilla and smoke-in-a-bottle atop a roasted malt backbone that was all too well masked by the vanilla syrup. Entirely too much alcohol in the finish which is otherwise much too sweet and stubbornly aggressive. I don’t know how this beer is getting so many "positive" reviews because it is simply awful. A-B should stick to doing what it does so well - flavorless industrial lagers.

Wow. I usually like vanilla stuff like this and I went into this thinking this was going to be a unique and enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, I was only 1/2 right. It was certainly unique, but far from enjoyable. The masivley sweet flavor reminded my of creme soda, which I detest, and only seemed to get worse as the temperature rose. Nauseating. On the other hand, it smelled good. The aroma was straighforward vanilla and fairly pleasing. The appearnace in my glass was very nice as well. A thick white head with a ruby reddish brown color made for an aesthetically pleasing brew, but that was all the pleasure that could be extracted.