rant whine 'splain espouse: The E stands for Extra. Get it?

Sunday, December 26, 2004

The E stands for Extra. Get it?

Perhaps it's the final example of my addiction. For the past few weeks I've been seeing outdoor ads around town for something called BE, whose tagline is "Beer with Caffeine, Ginseng, and Guarana Extract and Natural Flavor." Apparently this concoction is prounounced "B to the E." Ah, clever marketers.

I popped into a local liquor store (of which there is no dearth in my neighborhood) to see if they had it, and sure enough, the little shiny black and red singles (it's a 10-ounce can, slightly smaller than a normal beer) were there in the cooler.

That's when I noticed that this brilliant new scheme was brought to us by Anheuser-Busch, the makers of Budweiser. "Oh my," I thought, "do I really want to buy a Bud?"

"But wait," I said to myself, the marketing message obviously beginning to work it's magic, "it's not just a Bud! It's B to the E..."

I bought two cans and brought them home to try one. It's not too bad. It's faintly Budweiserish (did I just invent that word?), but with a lot of guarana taste in each gulp. No significant aftertaste. Thankfully.

Apparently each can contains 22.5 carbs and 203 calories (yikes), and it's 6.6% alcohol by volume. Each contains 54 milligrams of caffeine (only about half a normal cup of coffee), which ain't that much. At least, not compared to my normal daily intake.