If you spend enough time in liquor stores, you're bound to come across plenty of misguided attempts at capturing a market. Budweiser is notorious for taking a trend and selling their own version of it. Are you a Red Bull/Vodka drinker? Try Bud Extra (formerly B to the E). Do you like to combine tomato juice and light beer? (Who the hell does this?) Try Bud Light Chelada!While it's easy for any beer geek to write off these products, sometimes you've just got try it yourself. Beer review sites can get things wrong. And when you're dealing with A/B products, reviews tend to be downright deceitful. (I've had the Mule Kick and it's really quite tasty.)
With that in mind, as part of our anti-superbowl party yesterday (we watched Fulham beat Aston Villa), we sampled the full-flavored Budweiser version of Chelada.
Gina -
The color of this was like nothing I've ever seen. It could have come out of the can as bright green ooze and it would have been less disturbing. The beer taste that came through on the back end made the tomato juice taste rotten. The last thing I said before I poured the rest in the sink was "This ain't right". Beer and tomato juice go together like the Bill Belichick and sportsmanship. 0 mugs
Mike -
I wish I had a better explanation for why we did this. It goes like this: We had leftover sampling cups for Big Car. We had some cans of Chelada. We each tried to finish a shot. Some of us didn't get that far. A fizzy pink body, nose of celery, a peppery taste that's sort of like if you stuck a bouillon cube in your mouth. But that makes it sound almost appealing. It isn't. At least it was sort of interesting. 0.15 mugs.
Matt -
I may have to rethink my grocery store shopping strategy after this one. I love trying new products; omelet-in-a-box, novelty breakfast cereals, meals that cook themselves when you add water, etc. In short, I love a gimmick. This product jumped out at me while perusing a local chain grocery store, and I fell for it. I figured, "Hey, it's a Budweiser product. The worst case scenario is that it doesn't taste like anything." I was wrong. It tasted like a hangover. It was a sour tomato soupy mess that made me want to reseal the can and bury it at the center of the earth to put it beyond the reach of likewise curious folks. This abomination receives a John Blutarsky rating from me. Zero point zero. If you're a glutton for punishment, or your curiosity must be satisfied at all cost, I still have two cans taking up space in my fridge.
Jason -
Chili.
Tacos.
Burritos.
Tequila.
Enchiladas.
Jalapenos.
Nachos.
Chile Rellenos.
Margaritas.
Tortillas.
Salsa.
Fajitas.
Just a short list of the thousands of wonderful Mexican and Latino contributions to our American culinary culture. In fact, they had been batting pretty well so far.
Then comes Beer and Clamato. Swing and a miss.
I can't imagine someone purposely mixing this drink. It had to have been created by accident. And it's not just tomato juice you are putting in there; Clamato is tomato juice AND dried clam broth.
I give it 0.25 mugs, simply because beer and tomato juice are two components of my chili recipe and if for some strange reason a store is out of regular beer and tomato juice, but has Chelada, it would probably work in a pinch.
Now let us never speak of this again.
I'm actually *thankful* that I missed trying this wonderful Anheuser-Busch product.
ReplyDeleteyeah, I'm pretty glad I opted out due to my cold. Blargh.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds more like a job for Andrew Zimern from Bizarre Foods than something normal people should be drinking.
ReplyDeleteyou guys missed out on the best superbowl in years. you shold have opted out of that horrific-sounding chelada and watched the game.
ReplyDeleteDo you guys realize that Chelada also has clam juice and salt added? Ick!
ReplyDeleteI tried it a few months ago and also felt that it was nothing less than offensive to the palate.
I'm so glad someone else tried this so I don't even have to think to try it.
ReplyDeleteThat's the thing though, isn't it? We all knew it was going to be bad, but we couldn't resist anyway.
ReplyDeleteEven now if I came across some at a party or something, I might re-sample it just to see if it was as bad as I remembered.
Being one of the judges, I can only hope that this liquid contraption will not be entered into the world beer cup judging. jjjlch.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that might give second thoughts to anyone who thought being a World Beer Cup judge was glamorous and rewarding.
ReplyDeletenope, I still think it would be pretty cool to be a beer judge.
ReplyDeleteYou can rest assured that sometimes the smell only is enough to do no further judging. And all WBC judges can state their preferences in beer styles they prefer to judge (unlike some other competitions like European Beer Star).
ReplyDeleteFor those of you that have not tried this BEER, I would just say that you are missing one better pleasures in life. After trying the first one I must admit that I was not impressed, probably because of the thought of the mixture, but every since than I thoroughly enjoy drinking this beer. As a matter of fact after 35 years of drinking Bud, I find that I no longer enjoy plain beer, give me a Chelada. I buy 1 case of 15-24oz. Cheladas each week at Sam’s for $30, I drink them while working on my 4 classic mustangs nothing like it.
ReplyDeleteThe pre mixed crap from Bud doesn't do this drink justice. Make your own and you will be suprised at how good it is. I've been mixing tomato juice and beer for years as a hang over remedy. If you don't like tomato juice, or bloody mary's, you probably won't like this either. The best part is the Tomato juice flattens the beer so you can chug it. Try a shot or two of V8 or Clamato to 1- 12 oz beer (pedestrian beer, bud, bud light, miller, coors, PBR) and slice of lime, a dash of salt or TWANG for those that know what it is. Sip and Enjoy. My wife used to look at me with a wrinkled nose in disgust until she tried it, now she craves it.
ReplyDelete