Budweiser: King of Beer

I recall in my early beer-drinking days when I was still developing the acquired taste for good beer, I found myself in Europe and reading about a controversy over the right to the name "Budweiser." The Czechs were annoyed at the Americans for stealing the name for a piss-poor American beer.

Now, I knew that American beers weren't piss-poor. In my personal experience, they were piss-rich. Why the American Bud even resembled piss. And I could even quite enjoy an ice-cold Bud on a hot, humid day. It especially refreshed because of its abundant carbonation.

Naturally, I wondered how a mere Czech brew could compete with that! Here's a photo of the world-famous American Budweiser, a bottle that I personally bought for the purpose of posting on today's blog entry:

Budweiser: Kind of Beer!

Beautiful brown bottle of a classical beer-bottle style, don't you think? And a memorable red, white, and blue label -- just like the American flag!

And what about the Czech Bud? Similar. A red, white, and . . . gold label. On a green bottle, though. Here it is below, also personally purchased specifically for today's post:

Budweiser: King of Beer?

So . . . the two beers are sort of similar. I can kind of see why the American Budweiser folks wouldn't want to share the name with the original 'owners' of it. Fear of getting the two mixed up, that kind of thing. But the bottles ought not really be confused for one another, not if we look closely and carefully at the two for comparison:

Subtle Differences in Appearance . . .

But I guess the American Bud got its way, for the Czech Bud bears the name "Budweiser" only in small print at the bottom of the label and then only as "Budweiser Budvar."

Still, I don't know why the American Budweiser brewers wouldn't let the original Budweiser display its own name boldly. The two beers will never be mistaken in taste. The Czech one has a strong hoppy flavor and some other complexities of taste that really interfere with the enjoyment of the carbonation.

I consider the American Bud far superior in its extraordinary carbonation, and I assign it high marks for its truly bubbly carbon dioxide flavor, a flavor free of any complexities of taste other than carbonic acid.

If you do find any hint of complexity in an American Bud, that sort of thing can be easily obscured by chilling the beer down to slightly below 32 degrees fahrenheit. You won't taste a thing but the bubbles, and that's as it should be!

How do I know all this, you ask? I've compared, so I know from experience. You see, they were right when they said that beer makes you smart. It made me, a bud of Bud, wiser!