I'll Still Take a Natural Light

Here's a Miller High Life commercial waiting to happen...

Going against the grain in courting the young cocktail crowd, beermaker Anheuser-Busch Cos. (BUD) is launching a new "brew" to go head-to-head with classic mixed drinks — traditional suds spiked with caffeine, fruit flavoring, herbal guarana and ginseng.

The world's largest brewer's nationwide rollout this week of B-to-the-E — the "B" standing for beer, the "E" for something "extra" and shown as an exponent of B — came as beermakers look to piggyback strides liquor companies have made in luring young consumers to flavored and mixed drinks.

Anheuser-Busch test marketed B-to-the-E from in the fall, eventually assessing in 55 U.S. cities whether the new "beer" appealed to 20-something consumers craving something zippy in their highly social, fast-paced lifestyles.

I'm personally opposed to calling this stuff beer. Then again, I feel the same way about Busch.