Michelob Celebrate Vanilla Oak

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

Bottle, pours hazy amber with a medium tan head. Aroma is strong vanilla and oak. Flavor is overly sweet with lots of heat. Strong vanilla extract flavor with some spicing and a strong burn in the finish.

Certainly purchased more the glasses than the twist off bottle. Copper color with a yellowish taupe head that diminishes to a small, but stable lid. An odd dusty vanilla aroma. A pink jelly bean sweetness also seems to be in the mix. Sweet artificial fruit flavors mix with caramel and vanilla. Mild bourbon flavors, does not seem to be the "good stuff", more like Old Guckenheimer. More burn than flavor in the middle. The finish and linger are better with some malt and mild floral flavors. I still get a malt liquor flavors, that have a white grape flavor somewhere in the middle. Not enough malt complexity to make this anything but a mediocre souped up vanilla laced amber lager.

Bottle. Nice ruby-amber beer with no head. Sweet aroma with some vanilla over a bit of DMS. Sweet vanilla flavor with some cola that overpowers any grain/malt underneath. Sweetness lingers. Vanilla is way overdone.

Though this brew has a fully vanilla wafer cookie nose and flavor, it seems contrived. The vanilla does not mix with the rest of the beer. It kind of sits on top feeeling sickly sweet. It definitely hides its 10% character well. Over all, this brew would have benefited from some hop character and less vanilla. Overly agressive and not refined. A weak thin tan head only makes it worse.

From a bottle purchased in Kansas. Medium copper colored body with a very thin light khaki colored head. The aroma is definitely vanilla, but cheap extract type vanilla. There is also some light grainy character with a hint of wood. A light, but enjoyable nose. The taste is sweaty perfume and vanilla extract. The vanilla is in no way subtle. The dry oak and some some caramel are behind the in your face vanilla flavors. Wow, never got this much vanilla extract taste in a beer before. This needs a little aging or some toning down of the extract taste. Slick and thin mouthfeel for the abv. It gets a little smoother as you drink a little more.

Name: Michelob Celebrate Vanilla
Date: 11/04/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Bend Brewing

muddy amber, whispy beige head, bits of drippy lace, huge sweet vanilla aroma along with some sweet fruity malt, sweet malt flavor, lots of vanilla character, oak shows up in the finish and adds a bitter edge, gets tiresome quickly

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.7/5.0
Drinkability: 5/10
Score: *4

The bottle, attractive thought it is, reads rather oddly. "Celebrate Michelob?"...not something I often do, but I’ll give it a whirl. Clear caramelly crimson color, slim, soon gone head. Big vanilla nose, ripe and rich, highly aromatic, accompanied by notes of cherries and raw bourbon. Alcoholic content is also very evident, just from the smell. Smooth on the palate, with massive vanilla flavor. Tasty, but we have a problem. There’s not enough malt, hardly any hops, and a real thinness that does not match up with this 10% abv. Who thought that was a good idea? You rarely find doppelbocks that strong, heck, we’re almost talking Samischlaus here, and there’s just a paucity of body and character. You get the vanilla and the bourbon and the booze, but it’s too much for a beer so light. Feels very raw, one get ripped so easily....vanilla malt liquor, anyone? I had an open mind going in, and applaud A-B for trying, but they goofed up on this one. Glad it was a gift.

(bottle - 24 oz: 2005 vintage) Cloudy copper color with not much of a head. Aroma is very sweet and sticky with lots of oak, vanilla, bubblegum, and some cookie dough. Lots of sweet malts. Overly sweet flavor with tons of vanilla, malts, plums, alcohol, bubble gum, and a ton of smoke flavor at the end. Very complex but way too sweet. Alcohol very present.