What’s in Bud Light Lime?

What’s in Bud Light Lime? Hint: Not Bud Light.

Bud Light Lime is named after the best-selling beer in the country. But the resemblance is only label deep. The base beer in Anheuser-Busch’s new product is not Bud Light, reports Monday’s installment of Beer Business Daily.

From the issue:

Regarding Bud Light Lime, he [a brewmaster cited by BBD] said that “it’s not possible to tell precisely what the base it is although we have a guess or two. Not an exact match to any other beer via what we know from routine market sampling,” but that it ain’t Bud Light as they have different “hopping schemes.”

Doug Muhleman, A-B’s group VP of brewing operations & technology, AKA chief brewer, told BBD: “We formulated for max refreshment and interaction with lime. It has Bud Light bones. Other than that, Harry, brewmasters don’t share their secrets.”The article notes that Miller Chill is not based on Miller Lite or any other preexisting beer from Miller Brewing Company — which is true. (And why it’s not called Miller Lite Chill.)

The creation of Miller Chill was discussed in the April 2007 issue of Brew. From the issue: Perhaps the most challenging – and the most time-consuming – part of the project was developing the recipe. That required the brewery creating an entirely new beer that was low in calories and carbs. Then, it had to strike the right balance of flavors.

“Miller Chill utilizes a unique low-calorie, low-carbohydrate recipe specifically to complement the Chelada-style concept,” says Dr. David Ryder, vice president of brewing, research & quality at Miller. “The recipe lends itself to thelight/refreshing concept complemented by the lime top note.”

It took at least six iterations before they hit the right combination, he says.Today’s installment of BBD also notes that Bud Light Lime — as well as Landshark Lager and Shock Top — use code dating instead of “born on” dating.