Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 49.2%.^[1] The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in other countries. Brands include Budweiser, Busch, Michelob, Bud Light, and Natural Light.

Budweiser[link]

Bud bottle next to Czech Budweiser in Turkey

Budweiser is a 5% abv pale lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and has become one of the best selling beers in the United States.^[2] It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt.^[3] Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the United States and the rest of the world. It is a filtered beer available in draught and packaged forms. Lower strength versions are distributed in regions with restrictive alcohol laws.

Bud Light[link]

Introduced in 1982 as Budweiser Light, Budweiser's flagship light beer with 4.2% ABV and 110 calories per 12 US fl oz (355 mL) serving (1,300 kJ/L).

Bud Light Platinum[link]

A slightly sweeter, higher alcohol version of Bud Light launched in early 2012, with 6% ABV. This product is noted for being packaged in a new translucent blue glass bottle. Bud Light Platinum has 137 calories per 12 ounce serving, 8 less than a regular Budweiser.

Bud[link]

A version of Budweiser available in Europe. See Budweiser trademark dispute. In other parts of the world, the term 'Bud' may be used as an abbreviation for 'Budweiser'.

Budweiser Select[link]

Budweiser Select, or Bud Select is a light pale lager that contains 4.3% ABV and 99 calories per 12 US fl oz serving (1,170 kJ/L).^[4] Anheuser-Busch has aggressively promoted Budweiser Select. Its slogan was "The Real Deal". The company hired Jay-Z as a spokesman for the brand.

Budweiser Select 55[link]

A version of Budweiser Select that contains 55 calories per 12 US fl oz serving (650 kJ/L) is "a direct counterstrike to Miller's MGD 64" according to Anheuser-Busch officials. Budweiser currently claims that it is the lightest beer in the world. The food energy in both Miller's MGD 64 and Budweiser's Select 55 have been reduced simply by lowering the fermentables content. MGD 64 has only 2.8% alcohol content and some Select 55 states "alcohol content not more than 3.2% by weight/ 4% by volume", possibly to allow its sale in areas where that is the limit. The actual alcohol content of "55" is reported to be 2.4% abv; by comparison, most beers have around 5%.

Bud Ice[link]

Introduced in 1994 as "Ice by Budweiser", it has more alcohol (5.5% ABV) than Budweiser. It is best known for an advertising campaign that involved a malevolent penguin that stalked Bud Ice drinkers and stole their beer.

Bud Ice is cheaper than most Budweiser products.

Bud Ice Light[link]

Bud Ice Light contains 5.0% ABV and 115 calories per 12 US fl oz serving (1,360 kJ/L). It undergoes fractional freezing, which Bud Light does not undergo. As of 2010 it is discontinued.

Budweiser Brew Masters' Private Reserve[link]

Budweiser Brew Masters' Private Reserve is an all-malt lager with a honey color and robust taste. It is based on a Budweiser brewmaster holiday tradition of collecting the richest part of the brew as it is tapped to the brew kettles to toast the holiday season."^[5]

Bud Dry[link]

Bud Dry was introduced nationally in the U.S. in April 1989^[6] with the slogan of "Why ask why? Try Bud Dry." It was originally successful in test markets and was expected to be a popular beer with the rise in light lager popularity. However, after the introduction of Bud Ice in 1994, Bud Dry wasn't heavily marketed. Production was discontinued in December 2010.

Bud Silver[link]

An attempt to appeal to the tastes of beer drinkers in the United Kingdom, this specially brewed beer contains 4.1% alcohol by volume.

Bud Extra[link]

A beer with caffeine, ginseng, guarana and alcohol. It contains 6.6% ABV as indicated on the label. It was marketed as a caffeinated malt beverage, similar to Sparks. On June 26, 2008, Anheuser-Busch announced that it would remove caffeine and guarana from the beverage in response to concerns that the product was being marketed to consumers under the age of 21.

Budweiser/Bud Light Chelada[link]

A blend of Budweiser or Bud Light and Clamato. This beverage became available nationally in late 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Budweiser American Ale[link]

Budweiser American Ale debuted in September 2008. The beer claims to offer complex taste without much bitterness. American Ale has a distinctive hoppier flavor than other Anheuser-Busch beers, in an attempt to capture some of the American craft beer market, although most American craft beers are hoppier still. American Ale is the first beer under the Budweiser name that is brewed with a top-fermenting yeast. The beer's darker color is a departure from the other Budweiser brands.

Budweiser NA[link]

Non-alcoholic version of Budweiser developed for the Middle Eastern market. Also available in Green Apple and Tropical Fruits versions.

Bud Light Lime[link]

Bud Light with lime flavor added. It has 116 calories per 12 US fl oz serving (1,370 kJ/L). Released in May 2008.

Bud Light Golden Wheat[link]

On October 5, 2009 Budweiser officially released Bud Light Golden Wheat, a response to the increase in the amount of wheat beers produced from craft brewers around the country. This beer has 118 calories per 12 US fl oz serving (1,390 kJ/L), 8.3 grams of carbohydrates and 4.1% alcohol by volume. It is an American Hefeweizen which is based on the classic German Hefeweizen style.

Budweiser 66[link]

Budweiser Brew No. 66 is a 4% alcohol by volume lager that is brewed and distributed in the United Kingdom by InBev UK Limited. Launched in July 2010, Budweiser 66 is no longer the newest member of the Budweiser family of beers with 84 calories in a 300 ml serving (just over 10 oz).^[7]

Michelob[link]

Michelob ULTRA on a supermarket shelf

Michelob is a 5% abv pale lager developed by Adolphus Busch in 1896 as a "draught beer for connoisseurs".^[8] It was named after Michelob Michelob, a Bohemian brewmaster from Saaz, in the region famous for its Saaz hops. In 1961, Anheuser-Busch produced a pasteurized version of Michelob which allowed legal shipment of the beer across state lines. Bottled beer began to be shipped soon after, and the brand was introduced in cans in 1966. Bottled Michelob was originally sold in a uniquely-shaped bottle named the teardrop bottle because it resembled a water droplet. The teardrop bottle was awarded a medal from the Institute of Design in 1962. Five years later the bottle was redesigned for efficiency in the production line, and later it was abandoned for a standard bottle. The teardrop bottle was used again from January 2007 to October 2008.

Brand variation[link]

The company introduced Michelob Light in 1978. Michelob Classic Dark was made available in 1981 in kegs, with a bottled version following three years later. In 1991, Michelob Golden Draft was introduced to compete against Miller Genuine Draft in the Midwest.

1997 saw the introduction of several specialty beers under the Michelob marquee. These include:

• Michelob Honey Lager
• Michelob Pale Ale
• Michelob Marzen
• Michelob Pumpkin Spice Ale
• Michelob Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale

AmberBock is a 5.2% abv amber lager which uses roasted black barley malt in the ingredients, and which received a World Beer Cup Bronze Medal in 1998.

From the beginning, the specialty beers have had a very limited distribution. The chief outlet has been through a "holiday sampler pack" produced during the Christmas holiday season. Other specialty beers that are no longer in production include Michelob Hefeweizen and Michelob Black & Tan. Some (notably Michelob AmberBock) have subsequently gone into larger production, while others have not. The brewery continues to experiment with specialty beers—in 2005 an oak-aged vanilla beer was sold under the Michelob logo, available in single pints. In 2006 Michelob added a chocolate beer to the oak-aged vanilla Celebrate holiday season beer released a year earlier. Michelob also brewed Michelob Bavarian Style Wheat and Michelob Porter for its "holiday sampler pack". In 2007, Michelob launched its Seasonal Specialty Line. These include:

• Michelob Bavarian Wheat (summer)
• Michelob Marzen (fall)
• Michelob Porter (winter)
• Michelob Pale Ale (spring)

The early 21st century saw in the U.S. a demand for diet beer similar to that of the early 1970s, and in 2002 the Michelob line responded with the introduction of Michelob Ultra, advertised as being low in carbohydrates. Later Michelob Ultra Amber, a darker, more flavorful beer, was added to this sub-line.

Michelob 5 % alcohol; Michelob Golden Draft 4.7 % alcohol; Michelob Golden Draft Light 4.3 % alcohol; Michelob Ultra 4.2 % alcohol; Michelob Ultra Amber 4.0 % alcohol; Michelob: ULTRA Lime Cactus A fruit-infused light pilsner with natural lime flavor and a floral essence derived from the cactus; Michelob: ULTRA Pomegranate Raspberry A pilsner with a berry aroma, raspberry flavor, and a hint of pomegranate; Michelob: ULTRA Tuscan Orange Grapefruit A pilsner with fresh juicy orange notes and a slight pink-grapefruit finish.

All fruit flavors have the following nutrition content: 107 calories, 6.0g carbs, 0.5g protein and 0.0g fat, per 12 oz bottle.

Marketing[link]

Advertisements for Michelob Ultra feature people engaged in sporting activities. The Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill and Michelob Ultra Futures Players Championship, are sponsored by Michelob Ultra. Michelob Ultra serves as a presenting sponsor of the Tour of Missouri bicycle race and sponsors the King of the Mountains jersey. Michelob also sponsors the Rugby Super League, and many of its teams have shirt sponsorships with its AmberBock brand. PGA Tour player Sergio García is sponsored by Michelob. Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong signed on October 6, 2009 a three-year agreement to become Michelob Ultra's new spokesperson and ambassador.

Michelob sponsored several episodes of the Diggnation podcast. The hosts, Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, sampled the beer during the show and several episodes included interviews with the company's head brew-master to discuss the different products that can be found in the sampler packs. Also, an episode of the show was filmed inside the Michelob brewery.

Shock Top[link]

Shock Top is a 5.2% abv Belgian-style wheat ale introduced under the name Spring Heat Spiced Wheat brewed in Fort Collins, CO. as a seasonal beer in 2006, then all year from 2007.^[9][10] The beer is brewed with wheat malt, two-row barley, orange, lemon, lime peel, coriander and Cascade and Willamette hops. Entering as the Spring Heat Spiced Wheat, Shock Top Belgian White won gold and bronze medals in the Belgian Wit (White) category at the 2006 and 2007 North American Beer Awards, respectively. The brand now includes some seasonals and specialties that have replaced the Michelob Seasonals. Such varieties include Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat, Shock Top Raspberry Wheat, Shock Top Wheat IPA, and Shock Top Lemon Shandy.^[11] It competes directly with the MillerCoors brand Blue Moon.

Busch[link]

Busch Beer, a 4.7% abv economy brand pale lager was introduced in 1955 as Busch Bavarian Beer;^[12] the brand name was changed in 1979 to Busch Beer.^[13] Other beers marketed under the Busch brand name are Busch Light, a 4.1% pale lager introduced in 1989, Busch Ice, a 5.9% ice beer introduced in 1995,^[14] and Busch NA. Ingredients are a mix of American-grown and imported hops and a combination of malt and corn.^[15]

Rolling Rock[link]

Rolling Rock is a 4.5% abv pale lager launched in 1939 by the Latrobe Brewing Company. In May, 2006, Anheuser-Busch purchased the Rolling Rock brand from InBev for $82 million and began brewing Rolling Rock at its Newark facility in mid July, 2006.^[16] Other pale lagers marketed under the Rolling Rock brand name are Rock Green Light, 3.7% abv, and Rock Light, 3.5%; the company also produces a 5% abv amber lager, Rolling Rock Red. Ingredients are pale barley malt, rice, corn and hops.^[17]

Natural[link]

Natural Light is an economy brand 4.2% abv reduced-calorie pale lager introduced in 1977.^[18] In 2008 the Wall Street Journal listed it as the fifth largest selling beer in the U.S.^[19] Natural Ice is an economy brand 5.9% abv ice beer, introduced in 1995.

Land Shark Lager[link]

Land Shark Lager, brewed in Jacksonville, Florida, is a 4.7% abv pale lager launched in 2006 as the house lager for "Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville" restaurant chain. Under a sponsorship deal, Dolphin Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins, Florida Marlins, and the Miami Hurricanes was renamed "Land Shark Stadium" for the 2009 football season. The contract ended in early 2010, and the stadium has since been renamed "Sun Life Stadium" as of January 18, 2010 in time for both the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl and Super Bowl XLIV.^[20][21][22]

Land Shark also has restaurants in Pensacola, Florida and in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.^[23]

Jimmy Buffett's song "Fins" is about "sharks that can swim on the land", (in reference to men in a beach town trying to woo a vacationing woman) while the landshark is a recurring character portrayed by Chevy Chase in the TV show Saturday Night Live.

Malt liquors[link]

King Cobra[link]

King Cobra is a 6% alcohol by volume malt liquor introduced in 1984. It is brewed with a warmer fermentation than used for the company's pale lagers, and the ingredients include barley malt and corn.^[24]

Hurricane[link]

Hurricane

Hurricane High Gravity Lager is an 8.1% alcohol malt liquor beverage available primarily in the United States. It is available in 40 ounce bottles, as well as 12, 16 & 24 ounce cans. Recently, Hurricane High Gravity 8.1% has gone from a Black Label to a Silver Label in all of its serving sizes.

Others[link]

• Green Valley Brewing Company AKA Crooked Creek 'craft beer' appearance, Anheuser-Busch does not appear on label.
• Tilt
• Ziegenbock "Brewed exclusively for Texas"

Tequiza[link]

Tequiza was a 4,5% abv fruit flavoured pale lager introduced in 1998 in limited markets in the USA, then withdrawn in January 2009.^[25] Tequiza Extra, with more Tequila flavour and less lime, was tried out in 2000.

Minority ownership brands[link]

• Red Hook Brewing
• Widmer Brothers Brewery
• Grupo Modelo

Craft Distribution Alliances[link]

• Goose Island Brewery
• Kona Brewing Company
• Fordham Brewing Company
• Old Dominion Brewing Company

^[26]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Anheuser-Busch website

Carlos Mencia
Mencia prior to a live concert at a U.S. Army camp in the Persian Gulf Region
Born	Ned Arnel Mencía (1967-10-22) October 22, 1967 (age 44) San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Other names	Ned Holness[1]
Occupation	Actor, comedian, writer
Years active	1990–present

Carlos Mencia (born October 22, 1967), born Ned Arnel Mencia, is a Honduran-born American comedian, writer, and actor. His style of comedy is often political and involves issues of race, culture, criminal justice, and social class. He was formerly the host of his own show on Comedy Central, Mind of Mencia.

Early life[link]

Mencía was born in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the seventeenth of eighteen children. His mother, Magdelena Mencía, was Mexican, and his father, Roberto Holness, was a Honduran whose distant ancestors included immigrants from Germany, England, and the Cayman Islands.^[2] At the time of his birth, Mencía's mother engaged in a domestic dispute with his father, and declined to give her son his biological father's last name.^[1][3] The name appearing on his birth certificate is "Ned Arnel Mencía", although Mencia has said that out of respect for his biological father he went by the Holness name anyway, and was known as "Ned Holness" until he was eighteen years old.^[1]

Mencia was raised Roman Catholic^[4] in East Los Angeles, California by his aunt Consuelo and uncle Pablo Mencia. By his own admission, staying out of trouble was difficult while growing up, but with the help of his family he excelled in school and stayed out of gangs. He majored in electrical engineering at California State University, Los Angeles, but left early to pursue a career in comedy after a successful performance at an open mic night at The Laugh Factory. He has an older brother named Joseph Mencia who often appeared on Mind of Mencia.

Career[link]

Mencia was a quick success at such venerated LA stand-up venues as The Comedy Store and The L.A. Cabaret. This led to appearances on The Arsenio Hall Show and Buscando Estrellas, where he attained the title "International Comedy Grand Champion." Then, in 1994, Mencia was chosen to host HBO's latino comedy showcase Loco Slam.

Mencia followed up Loco Slam by hosting Funny is Funny! on Galavision in 1998. He would continue to do stand-up, including a very successful tour in 2001 with Freddy Soto and Pablo Francisco, "The Three Amigos." Mencia also did two half-hour specials on HBO, the second of which won him a CableACE Award for Best Stand-Up Comedy Special. After the release of his first comedy album by Warner Records, Take A Joke America, Mencia performed his break-out performance on Comedy Central Presents in 2002.

By the time his career began to take off in the early 2000s, Mencia was also working as an actor doing guest appearances in the television shows Moesha and The Shield, and starring in the film Outta Time and the animated show The Proud Family.

[edit] Mind of Mencia

In March 2005, Comedy Central announced Mencia's own half-hour comedy show, Mind of Mencia. The show mixed Mencia's stand up comedy with sketch comedy, much like Dave Chappelle's Chappelle's Show. The show achieved moderate success in its first season and was brought back for a second season in the spring of 2006, becoming Comedy Central’s second highest rated program behind South Park.^[5] It was brought back for a third season that summer before being cancelled in 2008. Mind of Mencia was produced by Nedlos, a portmanteau of Mencia's birth name and the name he took prior to naturalizing in the US.

Other work[link]

Mencia is sometimes a guest on the Opie and Anthony radio show on XM Satellite Radio and CBS Radio. He took part in the first Opie and Anthony's Traveling Virus Comedy Tour in 2006. In 2002 he performed on "Comedy Central Presents."

Mencia starred in a Super Bowl XLI commercial for Bud Light. In November 2009, Mencia began appearing commercials for a weight-loss product called Belly Burner, which he has claimed to have used personally.^[6]

Carlos Mencia is currently on a 2011 stand up comedy tour, including dates at the Improv in Schaumburg, IL on June 24th and 25th, and ending in Las Vegas at Treasure Island on Friday, September 16, 2011. ^[7]

Personal life[link]

Mencia lives with his wife, Amy, in the Los Angeles area of California. They have one child, Lucas Pablo Mencia.^[8]

Criticism[link]

Mencia has been criticized for both his stand-up act and his television show, perhaps most notably from other comedians.^[9] In 2006, Maxim named Mencia as the 12th worst comic of all time.^[10][11] A 2010 Wall Street Journal article noted that Mencia, along with Dane Cook and Jay Leno, were three of the most hated popular stand-ups by fellow comedians.^[9] In May 2009, Cracked listed 25 of the comic's actual Twitter posts that they considered to be unintentionally funny.^[12]

Accusations of plagiarism[link]

In 2005, comedian Joe Rogan wrote a post on his website publicly accusing Mencia of being a plagiarist, alleging that Mencia stole jokes from a number of comedians.^[13] On February 10, 2007, Rogan confronted Mencia on stage at the Comedy Store on Sunset and continued his allegations of plagiarism. Rogan posted a video of the altercation with audio and video clips from other comedians including George Lopez, Reverend Bob Levy, Bobby Lee and Ari Shaffir, among others.^[14] Rogan has also posted audio and video clips of Mencia's interviews and joke routines being compared to those of other comedians on his blog.^[15][16]

George Lopez has accused Mencia of plagiarizing his material. In an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Lopez accused Mencia of plagiarizing 13 minutes of his material in Mencia's HBO special. He also claimed he had a physical altercation with Mencia over the alleged plagiarism.^[17] The only joke that Lopez has publicly specified was stolen and used on Mencia's HBO special was a Taco Bell joke. Comedian Ted Sarnowski countered this claim, stating that the joke he performed on radio in 1988 was later taken and used without permission by Lopez, the radio station's resident comic. Sarnowski claims to have given Mencia permission to use the joke, yet Lopez later began referring to Mencia as a "thief" over the joke Lopez allegedly plagiarized.^[18][19][20]

Mencia has also been accused of stealing a routine from Bill Cosby. In his special, No Strings Attached, Mencia performs a bit about a father who spends years training his son for a career as a football player, only to see the son say "I love you, Mom!" at his moment of televised victory. Cosby performed a very similar bit in his concert film Bill Cosby: Himself and wrote briefly on the subject in his book Fatherhood. Mencia told the Los Angeles Times that he had never seen the film but regretted the similarities between his and Cosby's jokes.^[21]

Mencia's alleged plagiarism was satirized in an April 2009 episode of South Park entitled "Fishsticks" in which Mencia takes credit for a joke that somebody else had written. When faced with the prospect of being assaulted he admits "I took credit for it because I'm not actually funny!.... I just take jokes and repackage them with a Mexican accent!" The character is then killed by Kanye West.^[22] Joe Rogan and friend Ari Shaffir were delighted with the treatment of Mencia on the show and even commented on Rogan's blog about it.

Mencia also addressed the issue of plagiarism in two hour-long interviews with fellow comic Marc Maron on his podcast WTF with Marc Maron in May 2010.^[23][24]

Hurricane Katrina remarks[link]

In February 2009, Mencia was dropped from the Krewe of Orpheus' celebrity lineup for New Orleans Mardi Gras, citing inappropriate comments he made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Mencia remarked during his stand up: “I’m glad Hurricane Katrina happened. It taught us an important lesson: Black people can’t swim.�^[25]

Filmography[link]

• In Living Color (TV), playing a Valet in episode six of season two, (1990)
• Moesha (TV), playing Carlos in the episode "Life Imitating Art," (1999)
• The Proud Family (TV), starring as Felix (voice) (2001–2005)
• The Shield (TV) playing Gabo in the episode "Two Days of Blood," (2002)
• Outta Time (2002), playing "Juancho"
• 29 Palms (2002), playing "The Comedian"
• Mind of Mencia (TV) Host (2005–2008)
• Drawn Together (TV) playing the King of Mexico (voice) in the episode "Mexican't Buy Me Love", (2006)
• Farce of the Penguins (2007)
• The Heartbreak Kid (2007), playing Uncle Tito
• MADtv (2007), playing himself
• Our Family Wedding (2010)
• New Territory ^[26]

Not including his comedy specials for HBO and Comedy Central, Mencia has also appeared on Comic Relief, and hosted Loco Slam in 1994, Latino Laugh Festival in 1997, Funny is Funny! in 1998, and Uncensored Comedy: That's Not Funny in 2003.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Take a Joke America (2001)
• America Rules (2002)
• Unmerciful (2003)

Albums and DVDs[link]

• Not for the Easily Offended (2003)
• Down to the Nitty Gritty (2004)
• This is Carlos Mencia (2006)
• No Strings Attached (2006)
• The Best of Funny is Funny (2007)
• Performance Enhanced (2008)
• Mind of Mencia Season 1 (2006)
• Mind of Mencia Season 2 (2007)
• Mind of Mencia Season 3 (2007)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Carlos Mencia at the Internet Movie Database
• Mind Of Mencia at ComedyCentral.com
• Carlos Mencia on Myspace