Beer drinkers sue Anheuser-Busch for watering-down beer

[busydude]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21597076

Beer drinkers in the US have filed a $5m (£3.3m) lawsuit accusing Anheuser-Busch of watering down its beer.

The lawsuits, filed in Pennsylvania, California and other states, claim consumers have been cheated out of the alcohol content stated on beer labels.

The suit involves 10 Anheuser-Busch beers including Budweiser and Michelob.

Anheuser-Busch InBev have called the claims "completely false", and said in a statement "our beers are in full compliance with labelling laws".

The lawsuits are based on information from former employees at breweries owned by the multinational.

"Our information comes from former employees at Anheuser-Busch, who have informed us that, as a matter of corporate practice, all of their products mentioned [in the lawsuit] are watered down," lead lawyer Josh Boxer said.

The complaint claimed that "Anheuser-Busch employs some of most sophisticated process control technology in the world to precisely monitor the alcohol content at the final stages of production, and then adds additional water to produce beers with significantly lower alcohol contents than is represented on the the labels".

I'd be much more happier if these drinkers stopped drinking that piss water altogether.

 

[Rinaun]

Aren't they already in trouble because they're trying to monopolize beer? As in, buying all the big brands out and leaving the small fishes?

edit: Yup. Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/magazine/beer-mergers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

[lxskllr]

No surprise if true. If I ever had an inclination to buy an AB product, it disappeared when they were bought out. I'd rather have nothing.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

If they actually care about the quality they shouldn't be drinking any beer from Anheuser-Busch in the first place.

 

[vi edit]

Saw this on the news this morning. Do they list the alcohol % in some states? Because I don't recall ever seeing it on any of their products except the new Bud Platinum here in IL. And I would really like to know their premise for this. Have they actually done gravity testing on it?

 

[waggy]

interesting. i wonder what about the proof or such.

 

[OlafSicky]

This is news to anyone? Their beer tastes like piss water.

 

[HumblePie]

I always knew they were watering down the beers. Anyone real beer drinker already knew this as well. I can drink a 12 pack of buds in an hour and barely feel a buzz. Compare that to drinking a 12 pack of something else like Shiner in an hour and be puking your guts out. You know something is fishy with the alcohol content with that comparison.

Which is why I laugh my ass off when I see anyone actual get "drunk" off regular budweiser or bud light.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Saw this on the news this morning. Do they list the alcohol % in some states? Because I don't recall ever seeing it on any of their products except the new Bud Platinum here in IL. And I would really like to know their premise for this. Have they actually done gravity testing on it?

According to the article: ""Our information comes from former employees at Anheuser-Busch, who have informed us that, as a matter of corporate practice, all of their products mentioned [in the lawsuit] are watered down," lead lawyer Josh Boxer said.

You'd think they'd do gravity testing just as a matter of due diligence rather than just taking some (potentially disgruntled) former employees' word for it. But it wouldn't be all that surprising. When Carlos Brito took over InBev (and later Anheuser Busch), he changed the recipes on the beers they brewed to use lower quality ingredients across the board as a cost-cutting measure. Bloomberg did an interesting story on him a few months back, which would seem to corroborate allegations that he would water down beer as a cost-cutting measure. The guy is a brilliant businessman, in that he wants to sell people the absolute cheapest thing they will still ridiculously overpay for.

 

[Drako]

Ever since InBev bought AB, they have been changing recipes, watering shit down, etc. Just look at what happened with Becks.

 

[Crusty]

If they actually care about the quality they shouldn't be drinking any beer from Anheuser-Busch in the first place.

Actually, they have some best quality control in the world. It is incredibly difficult to make a tasteless lager, and make it drink the same worldwide. The beer they make is still shit(for other reasons), but it's extremely high quality shit.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Actually, they have some best quality control in the world. It is incredibly difficult to make a tasteless lager, and make it drink the same worldwide. The beer they make is still shit(for other reasons), but it's extremely high quality shit.

I think extremely consistent shit is a better descriptor. It's low quality, terrible, consistent shit.

 

[soulcougher73]

I stick to anything that isnt Miller, Bud, Coors or any other very large business. Boulevard and New Belgium probably get my most business as a whole.

 

[Pheran]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPFClJGqjBQ&t=1m (NSFW language)

 

[GagHalfrunt]

According to the article: ""Our information comes from former employees at Anheuser-Busch, who have informed us that...

Yep, there's no more accurate source of information than disgruntled former employees. Anyone that gets shit-canned has no personal axe to grind and will always tell the truth.

 

[edro]

Ever since InBev bought AB, they have been changing recipes, watering shit down, etc. Just look at what happened with Becks.

And Stella, and Bass, and...

 

[Crusty]

I think extremely consistent shit is a better descriptor. It's low quality, terrible, consistent shit.

Perhaps, but from a brewing science standpoint the beer is high quality. When you make such a tasteless beer any and all small flaws in your process or ingredients will show up and ruin the final product.

If you're going to hate on the macros, do it for the right reasons.
1) Brewing with adjuncts(rice/corn)
2) Brewing bad recipes in an effort to take over limited shelf/truck space by taking advantage of the flaws in the 3-tier system.
3) Using brands such as Blue Moon and Shock Top to price out smaller craft breweries who don't have the advantage of scale

 

[Red Storm]

I always knew they were watering down the beers. Anyone real beer drinker already knew this as well. I can drink a 12 pack of buds in an hour and barely feel a buzz. Compare that to drinking a 12 pack of something else like Shiner in an hour and be puking your guts out. You know something is fishy with the alcohol content with that comparison.

Which is why I laugh my ass off when I see anyone actual get "drunk" off regular budweiser or bud light.

As someone who doesn't care for alcohol, I'd like to thank them for watering down one of the most popular beer brands thereby decreasing the number of potential drunk drivers.

 

[Crusty]

As someone who doesn't care for alcohol, I'd like to thank them for watering down one of the most popular beer brands thereby decreasing the number of potential drunk drivers.

People will still drive drunk regardless of how much alcohol is in a Bud Light.

 

[foghorn67]

As someone who doesn't care for alcohol, I'd like to thank them for watering down one of the most popular beer brands thereby decreasing the number of potential drunk drivers.

So what vaporized your brain cells?

 

[renz20003]

I did a patio room for a guy that worked at AB of Columbus years ago. He told me the brew for natural light was always low in alcohol so they would mix michelob in with it. Thats how they regulated alcohol content on a consistent basis.

Coors light ftw!

 

[JM Aggie08]

No thanks, I can drink chilled urine for free.

 

[mmntech]

Ever since InBev bought AB, they have been changing recipes, watering shit down, etc. Just look at what happened with Becks.

They own Alexander Keith's now too. Their famous India Pale Ale apparently doesn't even qualify as an IPA any more because it's watered down. Wish I could find the original article where I read that.

One thing I've noticed about all InBev's beers is how heavily carbonated they are. They're more like pop than beer. Don't know if I'm the only one that's noticed this. Real beer shouldn't be that fizzy.

 

[vi edit]

One thing I've noticed about all InBev's beers is how heavily carbonated they are. They're more like pop than beer. Don't know if I'm the only one that's noticed this. Real beer shouldn't be that fizzy.

Eh? So if I pop the cork on a tasty belgian beer and it bubbles on out like a bottle of champagne you are telling me that it's not a real beer?

 

[Crusty]

They own Alexander Keith's now too. Their famous India Pale Ale apparently doesn't even qualify as an IPA any more because it's watered down. Wish I could find the original article where I read that.

One thing I've noticed about all InBev's beers is how heavily carbonated they are. They're more like pop than beer. Don't know if I'm the only one that's noticed this. Real beer shouldn't be that fizzy.

Well, by tradition lagers have more CO2 than ales...

Ales(except for Belgians) generally have around 1.8-2.2 volumes of CO2 while lagers generally have 3+ volumes of CO2 dissolved in them. Sodas usually are higher than both, at least 4-5 volumes of CO2.