Budweiser Black Crown Review

Name: Budweiser Black Crown
Style: Amber Lager
ABV: 6%

Early this year Budweiser released Budweiser Black Crown onto the market. According to the company, In 2012 they asked 12 of their brewmasters to come up with their own beer and of those twelve, six were sampled nationally. This was part of their "Project 12" campaign and I remember it because I recall seeing Budweiser Project 12 Sampler Packs on store shelves, though I never really bothered checking them out.

After doing the sampling, it was the Los Angeles Budweiser Brewmaster's creation, Black Crown, which won the hearts and minds of beer drinkers everywhere and thus a new addition was added to Budweiser's line-up.............at least that's what they told the public. In my eyes, it's just another attempt to try and market to the craft beer drinking market.


This also isn't their first attempt at targeting the craft beer drinkers. Just a few years ago they released Budweiser American Ale which is, coincidently, also an Amber beer.

But let's approach this with an open mind, shall we?

Black Crown pours a clear golden color with a soapy & fizzy head. The amount of carbonation visible is quite high and the lacing is....not there.

In the nose, I'm getting some caramel, barley, pale/munich malts, toffee and a slight hoppiness.

Wait a minute....

A Budweiser with a hoppy smell? Did hell just freeze over or something?! It had to have because hops in a Budweiser is just unheard of!!!!

Sadly the hoppiness that peaked it's head through in the aroma is not present in the flavor, which is mainly your macro cereal grains, light caramel, barley, and malt sweetness. Not really much in terms of aftertaste, in fact it's quite dry.

The body is very light and on the watery side, though the carbonation is actually quite moderate and the end result is a smoother body than regular Budweiser.

Black Crown is a beer that shows some promise in the aroma. However once you drink it, you are reminded very quickly that you're drinking a Budweiser product. To Black Crown's credit, it's a lot more tolerable in terms of flavor and mouthfeel. Though as a beer I wouldn't recommend buying this unless you are absolutely curious to try it out.

Budweiser Black Crown - 5/10