Small brewer strikes back at controversial Super Bowl Bud ad with video of its own

A Louisiana based brewery has a response for Budweiser's Super Bowl spot. (YouTube/AbitaBrewingCo.)

Beer giant Budweiser has gotten a lot of flack for its “Brewed The Hard Way" Super Bowl ad, which some brewers charge takes a dig at craft beer drinkers --even as Budweiser’s parent company continues to buy smaller breweries.

“It’s brewed for drinking not dissecting,” the spot proclaims of its "macro" brew while hipsters sip brews from tiny glasses.  The tag line on the ad is: "Let them sip their pumpkin peach ale. We'll be brewing us some golden suds.''

But Abita Brewing Co., a Louisiana based microbrewery, is firing back with a spot of its own.

"We're not a dog and pony show,'' reads the Abita video ad copy, over a backdrop of pint beer glasses. "We're Louisiana. Proudly American-owned. Yeah, we made a pumpkin peach beer. And it was good. Damn good.''

The Times-Picayune went to Abita to talk to patrons about what they really think of Budweiser versus craft beer. But instead of talking trash, Abita fans pretty much just confirmed what most of America already know: People who like craft beer are just regular people who like beer. And Bud is basically for people who want to get drunk without really tasting what they’re consuming.

“I was shocked they [Budweiser] took that approach, but I wasn’t offended by it any stretch of the imagination,” David Blossman, Abita’s president says. Though Blossman says he saw some humor in the spot, he acknowledges that a lot of craft beer drinkers were offended by the ad. He goes on to set the record straight about who craft beer drinkers and brewers really are.

Yes, the brewer uses “fancy” ingredients like pumpkin and grapefruit in some of their ales—but that’s because people like to try new things.

“I guess I don’t have any experience brewing with rice and corn, it must be hard," the brewery president chuckles. "But I tell ya we brew with lots of barley and make great craft beers and it’s a lot of fun.”

Check out Abita's artful response to Budweiser.