Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager

I received Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager, 6.2% ABV for a Christmas gift. Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager is aged with Jim Beam oak staves, and Budweiser uses them in the brew kettle rather than transferring the beer to a Jim Beam Barrel, and uses Two-row barely before the addition of the oak. Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager pours a deep copper almost red color with a little one finger bubbly beige head, giving off big sweet sticky vanilla aromas with a very faint smokey note that leads in to a very sweet sticky taste of some vanilla with light caramel and very faint smoke flavors with a very faint light smokey sweet sticky finish and a sweet aftertaste with a lighter mouthfeel. I see what Budweiser’s going for with Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager, the other bourbon barrel aging of a beer is popular and they are trying to cash in on that wave of popularity but I think that the base beer gets a little bit lost and the outcome is an overly sweet beer that after two pints the flavor of Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager would become too much on your taste buds. I give this a D+. The flavors it did have were okay at best but overall it really didn’t taste like a bourbon barrel aged beer, more like an amber lager with a sweetness to it. I mean if you are an average beer drinker that wants to try a bourbon barrel beer but are a little intimidated by the bourbon barrel aged craft beers out there then Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager might be a good beer for you to start out with. I don’t see myself having this soon but I might have this in the future. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!