Michelob Celebrate Vanilla Oak

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

I have to be prejudiced against Michelob don’t I? I mean I am, and that is the correct posture, right? This beer has a replaceable screw cap. That just can’t be good, can it? This beer is SO SPECIAL that you just need to put the cap back on and save it for another day, right? PULEASE! It even comes in a BOX! How precious is that? Nevertheless, althogh I am sure it has fake beer-type flavors in it, it tastes not half bad. Strong vanilla, and . . . .ummmm, and. . . . ummm, well, that’s all really. Not bad, but I feel like an ass for paying $10 for something with Michelob name on the label. I knew better, but did it anyhow. I am a bad, bad, bad, bad boy.

Again, rampant anti-macro bias on this one. A 2.77 avg. rating? Puhlease. If I were to lower each category’s score to the worst case scenario I could, It would end up with a 3.0. A 2.77 is a travesty. The screw off cap is a bad idea. Not because it reminds people of how Canada Dry sodas are capped, but because it doesn’t provide as tight a seal as either a traditional cap or cork. AB has the resources to spend the extra on a cork, and they should have done it. And sure enough, when I opened the brew, there was minimal pressure and as I look at the brew it barely has a head and very little visible carbonation. Fresh, strong, butterscotch caramel aroma. Inviting. I wouldn’t necessarily have guessed vanilla, but I see it. Beautiful slightly hazy body with the aforementioned very small, off-white ring and very little visible carbonation. Initial mouthfeel is strong alcohol. And as I suspected, the mouthfeel is undercarbonated. I hope AB fired the guy who came up with the screwtop idea. Sweet, strong and butterscotchy. Actually quite good. I just wish it had some more carbonation. Now that I think about it, this is not unlike AB’s Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale, but with more alcohol. Like the Winter’s Bourbon, I don’t taste any Oak aging. Again, I don’t really taste vanilla and wish I did. I read all these folks paying in the teens for a gift set that included a couple of glasses; I "only" paid "$5.99 for my 24 oz bottle, but it clearly has been sitting for awhile. Not sure if there are different vintages of this, but the box said 2005. Not a bad beer, and clearly the best brew in their newfound effort at going craft. A little one dimensional; doesn’t have much complexity. If they are going after the Michelob crowd, this recipe probably works, but among the beer aficionado set, they still have some improvement to make.

This bourbon barrel oak aged bottle came in a two glass gift set. I recently purchase a bottle by itself from a local store where the owner pulled the bottle out of the gift set and sold me the bottle separately in the hopes of selling the glasses to someone else. The set cost $16.99 and the bottle was $8.99. Hot stuff and I drank this a while ago on Valentines Day as we celebrated our Love for each other over a Fondue and this brew. I thoroughly enjoyed a brew from AB that actually had some flavor to it. The bottles brew poured a small sized head of foamy off-white colored mostly diminishing finely sized bubbles that left behind a beautifully colored softly carbonated caramel brown colored body and a poor oily lacing. The aroma was mild in its vanilla content and otherwise malty. The mouth feel was tingly from start to finish and increased as time went on. It had a strong vanilla caramel malt flavor that was vinous and malty overall. The vinousness was well hidden. Truly a very interesting brew from AB and I was glad to see them coming out with something that actually had some flavor to it.

Bottle. Poured hazy brown color with an average off-white frothy head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate vanilla and nuts aroma. Medium body with a creamy texture. Heavy sweet vanilla flavor with a sweet short finish. Not my style.

Drinking this one to celebrate my graduation from Duke Grad School. Pours clear amber with a very thin white head and no lacing. Has an aroma very similar to an Oktoberfest or Marzen. There is a very distinct vanilla aroma along with malts of caramel and brown sugar. The yeast isn’t as prevalent as in Oktoberfest beers, but there is still a bread aroma. The taste pretty good, but it’s definitely lacking in some areas. There is a sweet malty flavor with a burst of fake tasting vanilla and the added bourbon and oak complexity from the aging process. The problem is that there is hardly any hops bitterness to balance out this very sweet malty taste. Also, with 10 percent alchohol, I want my beer to be full-bodied, but this is far from it. It’s very weak and watery - soft on the palate with low carbonation and a poor mouthfeel. Michelob needs to grow some balls and brew a real beer, not these wimpy imitations.

Clear amber with a red hue. No head. Very fruity aroma with apple, pear, caramel, some spicy hops, alcohol. Very sweet with vanilla and bourbon, oak and a bit of astringency. Actually pretty smooth but overall weak in the flavor dept.

I’m a big fan of vanilla in beer, and when you have a beer brewed with vanilla beans, and aged in bourbon barrels, I’m all over it. Here was a chance for AB to hit one out of the ball park, but with all the speciality beers they do, this one was just a pop fly. This beer pours to a brilliant, deep amber color, with a small, tan head that fades, and a soft to moderate amount of carbonation. The nose on this beer is very inviting, with aromas of sweet vanilla bean, caramel, and hints of oak. The palate is thin, with lean caramel, and sweet malt flavor, paired with hints of oak and vanilla. This beer finishes with more sweet malt and oak up front, then ends with a sweet vanilla, and warming heat that lingers. A nice effort, but this beer could have been so much better if AB just had the balls to brew a beer, that was all about flavor and character, and forget about offending their core Budweiser/Michelob drinkers.

Bottle - 750ml. Nice amber body with moderate carbonation and a thin off-white bubbly head. Fair malty aroma with vanilla, maple (!!) and oaky notes. Alcohol is not very well hidden. Taste is unbalanced and dominated by vanilla flavors. It leaves a short and oversweetened aftertaste. Not much to celebrate...