Michelob Celebrate Vanilla Oak

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

Sampled at the 3rd Annual Festival of Wood & Barrel-aged Beers held at Goose Island (Wrigleyville branch), Chicago, IL. Served from brown bottle. Strong amber lager aged with vanilla beans in bourbon barrels. Clear reddish amber hued with no discernable head. Intense aroma of sweet malt and toffee. No discernable carbonation. Medium bodied that starts with light sweet malt, toffee and bubble gum (Juicy Fruit) flavors and finishes with slight sweetness and light bitterness. An drinkable beer but the pronounced synthetic tasting bubble gum flavor could be overpowering to some folks.

7 oz Bottle (2005?). Strong vanilla aroma, sweet like frosting. Cloudy, murky brown with no head. Tastes like vanilla-flavored water, intensely vanilla with no sense of balance. Sugary, sort of disgusting. Nearly uncarbonated, thin and offensive.

10/5/07 From the bottle. Aroma is complex and clashes a little with notes of alcohol, candilike sweetness, vanilla and dark dried fruit. Appearance is clear reddish tan with no head. Flavor is sweet vanilla malt forward with some raisiny character and light alcohol. Mouthfeel is full bodied, slightly creamy with a medium carb feel. Overall, this is a bit strange, but could probably get pretty good with some aging.

Had the ?privelage? to try this brew at the ’05fobab, and thought it was pretty terrible. Over-vanillaated, spiced, and manufactured. Nothing quite like a fancy bmc. Come on already, I mean efforts effort but how about some results from a big beer corp.

Nice amber, red pour with virtually no head. Vanilla aroma once you get past the intense alcohol, which does have hints of bourbon or cognac. Sweet taste, not really a lot of vanilla, more dried fruit and an overpowering booziness. I think they cut some corners with quality ingredients if they even used the real ingredients they list. Heck, I like vanilla. As advertised, it’s a good after dinner drink and I hate to say it, pretty good.

Served from the most phallic bottle ever made, possibly even moreso than then Bud Light bowling pin. Seriously, this thing either looked like a penis, vibrator, dildo, bottle of shampoo, or a missle. Underneath the cream-colored cone shaped cap, is the REAL cap, which is a freakin screwtop! Not even a twistoff. Lowly. I can only assume they meant the cone-cap to be used as glassware, so that’s what I did. The aroma was straight-up Adams Extract Vanilla and perfume. Taste also extremely cheap vanilla, and dough. Like cookies that weren’t mixed. Quite sweet, which I usually like, but this is cheap sweetness. Too carbonated for an oak aged ale, and too thin mouthfeel. Left some nice lacing in that cheesy cone-cap though! I can’t believe I typed this much for a bad review. Oh wait, I can, cause it’s fun sometimes. This beer’s asking for it.

Weak head, but a touch of lacing. Nice deep color. A hint of earthiness in the aroma with some vanilla coming through. Smooth flavor but a touch of bitterness in the aftertaste. Pricy that takes away some of the enjoyment of it. I don’t expect to buy it again, but certainly will not turn it down if offered.

As the other raters have said..." a twist off 40 cap"???? A bourbon redish-copper pour with minimal head. Oak, whiskey notes, canalization hits you in the face, vanilla is strong in the scent yet not overpowering. Taste is big vanilla notes, nicely caramelized maltiness, yellow cake, and faint hints of espresso. Palate is somewhat sticky medium bodied with an alcohol burn. Heck the best I’ve seen for A-B in quite a while. Next year nix the 40 oz cap and either cap it or cork it.. Cheers all!