Michelob Celebrate Vanilla Oak

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

Pours nice ruby-amber , bright snowy head on top . aroma-vanilla icecream like , mild sweetness behind . Vanilla is not my favourite falvour when it comes to beer and there is plenty of it . Alcohol is well hidden thanks to it . decent malt base , many craft brewers cant hide alcohol as well as this beer does .

This beer pours a reddish amber color from a 750ml screw top(!!) bottle. Small sized quickly diminishing white foamy head. Aroma is caramel malts, vanilla, oak, brown sugar and molasses. A medium to lighter bodied ale. Malts are fruity and sweet, with touches of caramel and biscuit. Hops are sort of non-existent. A touch sweet, hints of oak and the vanilla flavor while prevalent is not annoying. Touch of alcohol bite at 10%. OK the screw cap top is tacky with a capital T. The beer is a huge step up from the usual AB product. I bought and tasted this beer with quite a bit of trepidation. Knowing what AB usually turns out I was hesitant to shell out US $9 for a 750ml bottle of this beer. I was surprised with a good (not great) solid beer. OK AB, please make a beer of this quality all the time. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is sweet.

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.

24 oz bottle 2006 edition of Vanilla Oak: My bottle was accidentally opened and leaking for about 4 hours ... I don’t know the impact. What a shitty bottle design. They put this plastic bullet thing over the top of a screw top like comes on a ’40’ ... literally scotch-taped on. I guess I accidentally twisted the bullet and loosened the screw top. Silly me. Anyway, it still has a robust brandy-like aroma. Very strong sugar-based flavors, almost like kids’ medicine. Interesting combination of the vanilla in the bourbon barrels. Comes out with a definite sweet flourish, but with the ruddy, caramel undercurrent that must come from the bourbon aspect? Unfortunately it doesn’t have near the consistency of a quality "big" beer ... it’s a bit thin, even thinner than the cream soda it’s starting to remind me of. I’d say, "just OK."

Poured a reddish golden color with a thin, off white head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of butter, caramel malt, citrus fruits, rum, vanilla, honey and nuts. Taste of light vanilla, more honey, caramel malt, and light alcohol as well. Seemed overly sweet, and rather alcoholic, but a fair attempt.

Copper color which borders on red with no head. Nice aroma of vanilla and dark cherries. The oak shines through in the taste and vanilla is certainly present. Sweet finish. There are some subtle notes of the typical Michelob corn and graininess, but the oak covers it nicely. A fairly decent offering, however... "similar to fine cognac"?! Bwahahaha!

2005 bottle. Ruby-garnet to chestnut-auburn, clear, rather viscous looking in the glass, with a bit of fairly dense grey-beige head (look at the picture to the left) that is poorly to moderately retained, no lacing. Aroma of thick, syrupy, artificial candy (twizzlers, jolly ranchers provide the light fruit notes, while a heavier, darker and equally artificial candy note is present as well). Bits of light wood notes, dry, short lived but no where near the strength needed to balance this sweetness (which is predominantly thick, syrupy, cloying caramel and buttercream). Notes of light cinnamon and toffee and then of course, we have the vanilla. What can I say? This is actually done well, be it a bit too heavy. The notable thing is that it is a whole bean vanilla addition, providing a true vanilla note, in place of the expected vanilla extract. Some crunchy dark malts, bit of graininess, but it’s fleeting and inadequate. The flavor is a syrupy, cloying mess of a beer, very artificial, sluggish and with no elegance whatsoever. Thick vanilla cream flavors combine with syrupy sugar and candy coated cherries to pulverize the senses, while the wood character adds a sharpness on the end that is neither welcome nor balancing. Syrupy, extremely undercarbonated and underattenuated mouthfeel. But at least they got the vanilla right (sort of). . . .

750 ml bottle poured a clear copper with a small, diminishing amber head. Aromas of vanilla, carmel, brown sugar and light bourbon. Palate was light bodied and crisp. Flavors of brown sugar, vanilla and a hint of wood with a warming, lingering sweet finish.