Is Coors Banquet Or Budweiser The Better Beer? (Ultimate Test)

Coors and Budweiser are household names in the American beer market, and they have over 160 years of experience under their belts. Coors Banquet and Budweiser were the first beers under these brands, rivaling each other for market share in the beer industry. Their age-long rivalry remains today, and people still ask which of the two is better. This article will address that, starting with this short answer.

Budweiser and Coors Banquet are both standard American lagers with the same alcohol content of 5%. However, they don’t use the same ingredients. Budweiser uses rice, while Coors Banquet uses corn, impacting their respective tastes. Coors Banquet has slightly more calories and carbs than Budweiser. Both beers are crisp and dry.

There’s more to Budweiser vs. Coors Banquet than this answer shows. This article will walk you through the history, beer classification, and brewing process of these beers. Also, to be best educated in deciding which beer is better, we will consider the beer characteristics, including the flavor, mouthfeel, smell, calories, alcohol content, and appearance. Read on for more!

History

Budweiser and Coors Banquet are among the two oldest beers in the United States, although Coors is slightly older. Let’s overview their origins.

In 1868, Adolph Coors came into the United States. Five years later, in 1873, he established the Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado. Interestingly, that brewery is still the world’s largest single brewing facility. The first Coors beer was named Coors Golden Lager.

However, the beer would undergo a name change into Coors Banquet. The inspiration for this was the nickname “banquet beer,” popular among miners who often enjoyed the beer in banquet halls. Recently, Coors has marketed the beer as Coors Original in a bid to revive the declining franchise by appealing to drinkers’ nostalgia.

Budweiser debuted in 1876, three years after Coors Banquet, a Bohemian-style lager. The beer was developed by Adolphus Busch and his friend Carl Conrad, drawing inspiration from a trip to Bohemia. Busch adopted the name Budweiser, which led to protracted legal disputes as another Czech beer had that name. Today, Budweiser is marketed in many European countries as Bud because they don’t hold the copyright to the name Budweiser.

Not long after its launch, Budweiser took over the sales charts. The “King of beers” was the clear top-selling beer in the United States for years, eventually relinquishing the title to its own light beer. Currently, Busch is the 5th best-selling beer in the country, while Coors is the 24th.

Beer Classification

Budweiser and Coors Banquet are lagers. This is because they are brewed using bottom fermentation at cold temperatures. The other broad class of beers is ales, which are beers that use top fermentation at warm temperatures. After this initial classification, beers can then be sub-classified into the different types of ales and lagers.

Following the Beer Judge Certification Program guidelines, Budweiser and Coors Banquet are standard American lagers. This is because they both have an International Bitterness Units (IBU) value between 8 and 15, Standard Reference Method (SRM) between 2 and 4, and alcohol by volume (ABV) between 4.2% and 5.3%. More on this you can find in this article, where we go into more detail on what type of beer Budweiser is.

Flavor

Budweiser and Coors Banquet are two different beers under different manufacturers, and they have different flavor profiles too.

Bud has a crisp and delicate flavor with a wonderful finish. There are subtle malty notes in the beer. Budweiser is a balanced beer and has a slight sweetness when you drink that persists even after drinking. In other words, the beer has a slightly sweet aftertaste.

On the other hand, Coors Banquet has citrusy flavors. It has hints of banana bread and barley when you drink. As with Budweiser, the beer is particularly bitter, and you may even notice an upfront sweetness while drinking. Also, Coors Banquet has a slightly sweet aftertaste, although some perceive the aftertaste as slightly bitter.

The beers are different in their adjuncts, which contributes to their eventual flavors and texture. Budweiser uses rice as an adjunct, while Coors Banquet uses corn. While novice drinkers may not be able to tell the influence of these adjuncts on the flavor, the more experienced drinkers can. The rice used in Budweiser gives the beer a smoother and crispier taste.

Regarding flavor, both beers are solid, and which is better depends on preference. Budweiser seems to have a more intense flavor than Coors Banquet, which is something to note if you favor traditional, flavorful beers. Personally, Budweiser is the better-tasting beer, but, again, it depends on what you like more.

Mouthfeel

Budweiser and Coors Banquet are both medium carbonated beers, leading to both beers having significant beer character. They are both crisp and dry with a slightly sweet aftertaste. Of the two, Coors Banquet seems to be the more watery beer, making it more refreshing.

Smell

Both beers don’t have an overwhelming aroma; you may miss it entirely while drinking. Notwithstanding, they have distinct, subtle aroma notes. Coors Banquet has fruity and subtle aroma notes of banana, pear, and corn, while Budweiser smells like malt, corn, and noble hops. Generally, both of these beers have a pleasant aroma.

Calories

Their official websites show Budweiser has 145 calories per 12 fl oz (one can), while Coors Banquet has 147 calories. There’s a small difference between the two, but a difference nonetheless. It’s not as close in terms of carbs, though. Coors Banquet has 11.7g of carbs in a beer bottle, while Budweiser has 10.6g.

From the calorie and carb count, Budweiser is the healthier beer. However, both are still quite high if you are on a strict calorie-regulation diet. You should consider going for their light beer variants in that case.

Alcohol Content

The alcohol content of a beer is a measure of the amount of actual alcohol in the beer. Measured in alcohol by volume (ABV), this value helps determine the subcategory of the beer and also impacts its drinkability.

The Beer Judge Certification program states that standard American lagers have between 4.2 and 5.3% ABV. Both of these beers have 5% ABV, meeting this requirement. As they have the same alcohol content, the beers also have similar effects on the body in any amount.

Considering they have the same alcohol content, does that mean they have the same drinkability? Well, not exactly. The amount of alcohol beer contains is not the only metric for assessing its drinkability. The beer’s carbonation, crispiness, and refreshing nature are also vital factors in determining drinkability. Overall, Coors Banquet seems to be the more drinkable of the two beers.

Appearance

Budweiser and Coors Banquet both have a golden yellow color, which is characteristic of standard American lagers. However, Budweiser is the paler of the two beers. Regardless, you may not be able to tell, except they are poured in clear glasses and placed alongside each other.

Their containers are different, with Budweiser going with the regular amber bottle, while Coors Banquet comes in stubbed bottles. They are also available in cans.

Brewing Process And Ingredients

These beers may be the same style and have the same alcohol content, but they don’t use the same ingredients all through. They both use water, barley, yeast, hops, and an adjunct grain in their manufacture.

However, Budweiser uses rice as an adjunct, while Coors Banquet uses corn syrup. The presence of rice in Budweiser gives it a smoother finish, while the corn in Coors Banquet helps lighten the beer’s body. Aside from adjunct grains, the beers use different blends of hop varieties and also in different proportions.

What Do People Think About Both Beers?

Budweiser and Coors Banquet are popular beers in the United States, and people have different opinions about them. These opinions dictate the ratings of the respective beers on popular beer review platforms. The average rating can then be a pointer to the actual better beer. Below, we will consider five of the best of these platforms.

Platform	Budweiser	Coors Banquet
BeerAdvocate	5.7	6.2
Untappd	5.2	5.6
RateBeer	3.0	2.5
Drizly	9.4	9.4
Influenster	8.8	8.4
Average Score	6.4	6.4

Well, just look at that! If you were hoping there was a definitive answer for which is the better beers, there’s none, at least according to these public platforms. Let’s break down these results.

The first four platforms on the table are the more experienced of the bunch, and they reflect what older drinkers think of the beers. Coors Banquet holds the lead in two of these platforms, with Budweiser taking one, and there’s a tie on the last platform. I can infer from this that older drinkers don’t think there’s a clear winner between the two, although many are more inclined towards Coors.

The last platform is not as experienced as the others and represents the opinions of less experienced drinkers. Budweiser wins on this platform, possibly because it has a better nutrition profile. While Coors appears as the more refreshing of the two beers, it is not light enough to sway the opinions of younger drinkers who certainly love light beers.

Final Thoughts

There’s no winner between these two beers on the rating table, which is consistent with how many of the beer fans I have interacted with rate the two beers. They have similar styles and the same alcohol content, not to mention that they have close nutritional details. There’s really not much between them.

Overall, I think Budweiser is the better beer because I prefer its taste and also like that it has fewer carbs and calories.