Hop Hound

I’m not one for reviewing beers and prefer to find the positive in something rather than honing in on the aspects I could do without, but thought I might wade in those waters only slightly with this post.

Tommy came back from Jewel with a six-pack of Hop Hound American Wheat today. This is a Michelob product, which means our friends at Anheuser-Busch brought this to life.

I don’t find myself suffering from the small beer co / gargantuan beer co complex too often (they’ve been here far longer than our little brewing co, and have the science of brewing dialed in like no other). We can all find an example of how our situations are impacted by another more powerful entity, but after spending a little time looking over this beer, I felt bad for them, and maybe us, too.

Everyone knows that craft beer has been taking bites out of the big brewers and that they’ve been making plays to recapture some of those consumers by marketing beers that are more “crafty.”

This beer is obviously the result of some bad focus group. The label focuses on a dog wearing sunglasses and a bandana while holding a Frisbee. No doubt they went out to the local park and grabbed some kids kicking around a hackey-sack, dragged them back to their lair and drained them of all their good vibes. I picture some sort of intense interrogation where they demand to know if they like dogs, and if so what kind. “How would you feel about this dog if we put sunglasses on him? If he were a dog that played Frisbee, would that appeal to you? If so, why? Does the name Hop Hound make you feel as though you want to know this dog” I can pick up a bottle of Bud and I get it, I respect it for what it is. This is embarrassing for them and minimizes the people who go out and buy beer that’s genuinely different.

As for the beer itself, well I think I’ve waded in those waters long enough.

Gabriel
Half Acre Beer Co