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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Beer buzz generated
by rollout of new brewHawaii is one of 10 markets where Anheuser-Busch Inc. is introducing its newest product, Anheuser World Select.
The company hosted a roll-out for retailers Tuesday night at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel's Monarch Room.
Craig Yasaka, executive chef and food and beverage director at the Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel, was among the invitees and thinks the new brew will sell well.
The globe-embossed green glass bottles' debut at the hotel will be in the Hibiscus Cafe, "and then we'll see how it does in our showroom," Yasaka said.
KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
John Nugent, left, Jana Satterfield, Don Murphy, Nathaniel Davis and John Cruz tested Anheuser-Busch's new World Select beer Tuesday at a tasting at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Anheuser-Busch is test marketing the brew in Hawaii.
The product has been on store shelves since Monday, according to Anheuser-Busch New Products Director Marlene Coulis.
Not a fan of a competing green-bottled-beer with a red star on its label, Yasaka said Anheuser's new beer has different flavor characteristics than Heineken, but still has "a European imported taste and a nice aroma but the thing I liked about it was the finish.
"It didn't linger on your tongue, it didn't have that bitterness in the aftertaste, so it makes you want to drink more," Yasaka said.
At Magoo's Pizza on University Avenue, a World Select draft sold for $1.25, a bottle for $1.75 and a pitcher for $6.
Anheuser-Busch will collect feedback from Hawaii and the other nine introductory markets and apply it to subsequent malt marketing across the nation, Coulis said.
Hawaii was chosen for several reasons. "We wanted to go into markets where there's a high development of high-end brands, higher-priced brands that carry a higher sophistication," she said. Hawaii's been included in the roll-out with the likes of New York City, Los Angeles, London and Hong Kong, among others. Yasaka was told that Hawaii is also in the top five markets for Anheuser-Busch, based on sales.
"We worked hard to make sure it has a higher level of sophistication," Coulis said. The company will aim its marketing and promotional activities at 21-to-27 year-olds.
Several promotional events are planned for consumers at "the top, contemporary adult kinds of bars, restaurants and clubs, that's really what we're targeting," she said.
Touted with the slogan "Ten brewmasters, four continents, one beer," the pilsner is the result of collaborative research and development by brewmasters from Argentina, Canada, China, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is brewed in the United States.
Nathaniel Davis, Anheuser's staff brewmaster for specialty products, oversaw the formulation, brewing prototypes and sending them around the world, gathering feedback from the other brewmasters. The rigorous hops and malt combination ended with "voting on the recipe that was head and shoulders above the rest," he said.
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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com
