Is Bud Light a rice beer? If not, what's the deal with the rumor?

Question

I've heard this spouted as to why it tastes and smells a little different than Miller. This question was unanswered on another site and it piqued my curiosity. Thanks in advance for your answers.

Answer 1

ohh thats weird

Answer 2

It is a beer that uses rice in its recipe to lighten the body, but rice is not its base ingredient so I don't think it would be considered a 'rice beer,' but that's just semantics. There is rice in there, if that's your question.

EDIT: AleSmith seems to be right -- rice actually appears to be more expensive than malted barley at the moment. Rice is roughly 48 cents per pound (although I'm sure they get a discount for buying in bulk), and barley is about 13 cents per pound. I never would have guessed. That still doesn't change the fact that rice is in Bud Light, which was the question.

Answer 3

Yes there is a small portion of rice in Budweiser, read the front of the can.

1) Rice is not cheaper, it's actually more expensive.  Rice like any other ingredient has a flavor profile that can be used to meet a desired end.

2) The German purity law (Reinheitsgebot) is a 500 year old tax law that specified ingredients that could legally be in beer so that there was still grain left over for the bakers.  This law didn't include yeast or wheat, doesn't indicate that other ingredients are inferior, isn't currently a "law", and is scarcely practiced anymore for any reason other than having recipes that old.

3) Sake is not beer or wine, it's sake.

I've encountered two legitimate rice beers in my life, Hitachino Red Rice and Barley's Japanese Pale Ale.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/697...

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/103...

Answer 4

You classic American lager beer is made with 'adjuncts', that is, it is primarily a barley malt beer, but corn and rice are added,  Perhaps to make it lighter (Americans seem to like really light beer) and perhaps because they are cheaper.

REAL beer, lager beer, is made only from barley malt.  In Germany, and some other countries, it's actually illegal to put anything in it but barley malt.  In fact before Anchor Steam Beer came out in the 70s, there wasn't a single all-malt beer made in the US.  Today there's a revolution in beer and every kind of beer is made here.

Now I don't mean that you can't make beer from rice.  The Japanese do, it's called sake, but that's not a German-style lager beer.

I always used to think it was funny that Budweiser says right on the label 'This beer is made from the finest malt, corn and rice.'  That's like a wine label saying 'This wine is made from the finest grapes, potato-peelings and antifreeze'.  8^P

Answer 5

It is true that Anheuser Busch uses rice in the brewing of Bud Light.

The definition of REAL beer is an "fermented alcoholic beverage processed from grain." That grain used to produce a beer may be barley, wheat, rice, corn, millet, triticale, oats, and others. To denounce one is to denounce all. With no grain we have no beer. Some people just do not think about this when they talk ill of rice used in beer.

Also consider any beer flavor is a matter of preference. Beer sure would be boring if we had  beers brewed from only barley grain and no other.

It is true that Anheuser Busch uses rice in its beers. Rice is used for many reasons in their beers.



*Rice gives fermentable sugars while producing a light flavor profile.

*Rice was used and increased in the grist bill (brewer’s term for grain bill or ingredients) during times of war. Barley availability was decreased and rice was easily obtainable.

*Women during WW II were a large part of the beer drinking community and demanded   a lighter beer flavor.

*People have demanded lighter beers over the years and the brewers have responded.

*Rice is a cheaper grain than many others and so is beneficial to the profit line of business.

Rice beers including Sake, yes sake is actually a beer as it is made from grain, are not inherently bad or evil.

Some people have a limited understanding of both the art and science of brewing and so they denounce the use of rice. Some think that the German laws included a control on the ingredients used in brewing to those of Barley, Hops, and Water. This is just an urban legend. Germany lead by the Bavarians used a decree during the time of great disease in Europe to set laws for food purity. When the end of the disease plague came the laws were used only as guidelines and thus became a tradition. This also forced other German brewers to follow or be ridiculed for risking public health. This gave the Bavarian brewers a marketing and business advantage. Later the “guidelines” were amended to include yeast and wheat. Today, many German brewers are fighting those guidelines both with and against public opinion and industry traditionalists.

In an ironic twist and a sign that those that denounce rice in beers, do not fully understand beer and brewing, drink beers brewed with many added adjuncts. Most people do not know that the beers the consume contain adjunct grains and ingredients for example, corn (Miller, Rodenbach in Belgium), sugars (both fermentable and unfermentable) in many craft brewers, fruit and other exotic ingredients are used as well.

Another consideration is the fact that many who consider beer in the course of history dating from Mesopotamia do not know or choose to ignore the fact that these beers contained ingredients other than the often stated standard 4 of barley, hops, yeast and water. And so beers’ ingredients have evolved over time from fruit and spices to grain and herbs.

Most if not all-large brewers do use adjunct grains in their beers. These beers are known for a light satiating flavor profile. They are perfectly good beers and should be enjoyed. Do not take too serious amateur beer drinkers with over inflated egos about their seriously lacking beer knowledge that denounce them.

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In brewing a beer such a Bud Light rice is included in the grist bill in determing the final desired parameters of the beer. The rice is cooked until it gelatinizes and enzymes are added. The enzymes, same ones in the barley, break down starches in to fermentable and non-fermentable sugars. Traditionally, this was done by mixing a portion of the barley-mash to the rice. But today many brewers can add purified commercially produced enzymes to the rice.

After the starches of the rice have been converted it is added to the main barley mash and the brewing is continued.

Answer 6

Yes it contains rice as well as some barley malt. It's kind of ironic since Augustus Busch was a German brewer and using anything but malt, water, yeast, and hops is strictly forbidden in German brewing.