At Old Line we sell all beer. Macro beer like Budweiser and craft beer like Elysian and Goose Island (two craft breweries bought by Anheuser-Busch).

The Super Bowl commercial put out by Budweiser (no, not the puppy one) has the beer world in a tizzy. If you didn’t see the ad, it basically called out craft beer snobs and touted itself as a macro beer “brewed the hard way.”

It might seem odd to attack and showcase “snobby” craft beer-swilling hipsters (do we look like that? No), a potential target market, but that crowd isn’t their target. The ad is an attempt to try and let Bud drinkers know it’s OK to enjoy drinking Bud and other beers like Bud because it’s fine to do so. There’s no need to ‘fuss’ over beer.

We respectfully disagree. Craft beer is brewed specifically for enjoying different and complex flavors. Budweiser’s ad is blatantly stating it’s not brewed for that and you can just pour it down your throat. Also, if Bud is brewed the “hard” way then most craft beer is actually brewed the “harder” way (by hand).

It’s funny to see Bud make what seems like a desperate attempt to prove it’s relevant. The commercial is additionally humorous because the fictitious beer they mention in the ad (pumpkin peach ale) is a real-life beer brewed by a company they own (Elysian).

If they weren’t hitting a seemingly huge target market, did the ad work? Yes and no. No, it didn’t gain the respect of craft beer enthusiasts or make them rush to the store to buy Budweiser. However, yes, it did work because if nothing else didn’t they do something amazing and get everyone in the beer industry and the ‘beer scene’ talking about nothing but Budweiser and this ad? The video has already gone viral with over 3 million views on YouTube.

Someone has even already created a wonderful Budweiser Super Bowl parody commercial touting the craft beer industry in response to the ballyhooed ad. A homebrewing store already took advantage of it and put out an extract kit poking fun at the Budweiser ad.

If you want some additional reading about this commercial after checking all of the above link, scope out this article from Paste Magazine and this article from Slate on why the commercial is an perfect representation of why younger beer drinkers stay away from Budweiser.