Budweiser Select 55: Can I Have Some Beer with my Beer?

Budweiser Select 55 is a Useless, Tasteless Glass of Nothing

Light beer products enjoy widespread popularity. The majority do not taste very good, but they sell regardless due to their promise of fewer calories and carbs. Most every major brewer offers at least one light beer and the larger breweries offer several, with even more light beer products in the test- market stage at any given time. The latest offering is from Anheuser- Busch and it ranks as the lightest beer on the planet. It is Budweiser Select 55, a product with less than half the calories of most light beer.

Beer Bio:
Style: American Light Lager
Alcohol Level: 2.4 Percent by Volume
Calories: 55 per 12 oz. serving
Carbs: 1.9 per 12 oz. serving
Budweiser Select 55 pours to a golden color that is a little darker than most other Anheuser- Busch products. Its aroma is adjunct- laden, with scents of corn and basic grain. There is almost no head of foam and what little you get, even from an agressive pour, dissipates in seconds, leaving an ugly, headless glass of brew behind.
The flavor of Budweiser Select 55 can be described as a sweet- tasting combination of seltzer water, lightly skunked grain, and barely perceptable hops. To add to the displeasure, there is a certain sulphur character and the beer finishes with the familiar taste of Budweiser, for a brief second, before making way to a watery finish.
Producing light beer is nothing new, but Budweiser Select 55 has set a new standard in lightness. Many light beers are only fractionally lighter than their full- bodied versions and don’t really save the consumer many potential inches from the waistline. However, with Budweiser Select 55, those who desire a light beer finally have their ultimate wish fulfilled: A beer with calories and carbs so low, they might as well be zero. This ultra- light product cuts the calories, carbs, and alcohol to the extreme, resulting in a beer that currently reigns as the lightest beer product in the world in terms of calories.
I suppose making a light beer is a positive market aspiration because they tedn to sell quite nicely but Budweiser Select 55 is a useless product when judged by the factor that matters most: TASTE! This “beer” offers virtually no hop character at all- only the light taste of bland grains combined with a little bit of plastic and sulphur. More than anything, watery character dominates and while many light beers are guilty of the same final result, few can match the watery nothingness of Budweiser Select 55. In many ways, it tastes no better than some of the alcohol free “near” beers on the market and, in fact, I can think of some that actually taste better than Budweiser Select 55.
Anheuser- Busch tried its best to make an ultra- light beer with flavor and with Budweiser Select 55, they certainly succeeded on the ultra- light quality. But to call Budweiser Select 55 flavorful is like referring to a piece of white bread as complex and exotic. Yes, there is a market for anything that can claim to be ultra- low in calories and that offers an inoffensive character, but those who want to cut their calories to this level would be best off either avoiding beer completely or consuming half as much of something that actually tastes like beer.
If you want to taste beer without the guilt of calories and carbs, then Budweiser Select 55 could have a workable place in your daily beverage rotation. Otherwise, Budweiser Select 55 is a forgettable brew useful only as a thirst- quenching alternative to the real thing. Watery, ugly, and tasteless, it ranks among the worst beers commerically available today.
Rating: 1 Cheer out of 10