Anheuser-Busch Announces Bud Light Platinum, Targets Craft Beer Market

Anheuser-Busch on Wednesday announced Bud Light Platinum a new light beer option with a robust amount of alcohol.

According to the company the new beer features 6% alcohol by volume while providing 137 calories.

In comparison Bud Light offers an alcohol content of just 4.2% ABV with 110 calories while Budweiser features 5% ABV with 145 calories.

The LA Times calls the company’s new beer a “long-germinating beer concept” while the company hopes to compete more openly with the craft beer market while sticking with their own “Bud” name.

Anheuser-Busch says Platinum is meant to “appeal to a key group of beer drinkers and expands consumer occasions.”

The move into a more “craft friendly” position is important for the company who watched their North American beer share drop by 3.2% over the last quarter of sales while their prices rose by 3% on average.

Bud Light Platinum isn’t the first beer created by the company in recent years to attract a new market, Bud Light Lime and Bud Light Golden Wheat have both been marketed to a more “craft” based market.

BeerAdvocate’s CEO Todd Alström says of the new offering:

“More than likely the platinum tagging will simply be used as it is with countless other products … To market something that would otherwise be average (at best) to the masses in order to make it appear higher in quality, special or limited.”

In the meantime we’ll wait for official reviews to determine if the Bud Light Platinum moniker is worthy of it’s name.

Are you planning to try Budweiser’s newest beer offering?