ABV: 5.10%

Two weeks ago, I took my car in to have slow leaks in two of the tires looked at.

When I went to pick it up, I was told that only one of the tires was leaking air. This sounded odd, considering I'd been filling up both tires with air at least once a week for a month. But, it was Friday afternoon, Mrs. Bootleg and the boy were out of the house and happy hour awaited.

Last Thursday, I found my car in the parking structure of the unnamed defense contractor with a flat front tire. As is usually the case with me, even when I'm right it's only because something went wrong.

Anyways, that evening's dinner plans with the family went out the window in the five minutes it took to change my flat…and the 55 minutes it took AAA to send someone out to change it. Instead, I pulled into a new local take-out place. While waiting on my pizza and ribs (together at last!) I bought a $3.00 bottle of Budweiser's new American Ale.

Over the last 15 years, I've swallowed most of the ridiculous Bud derivatives. In college, Bud Ice and Bud Dry were huge with the Solo cup set and today, if I have to choose one cheap beer-flavored beverage to enjoy at all the random kids' birthdays/barbecues, it'll be Bud Light.

Stately Bootleg Manor exclusively stocks Fat Tire – which most beer snobs just barely tolerate – so I was stunned at my first sip of American Ale. There's a lot of Fat Tire in there. American Ale has a prickly little hoppy taste that goes down smooth with a bit of a bitter finish. It's maltier than I thought it would be – but, not the least bit heavy – and could casually be described as eminently poundable.

In a casual search of "American Ale review" listings, I found several aficionados who broke down the beverage as if they were reverse engineering the atom. Here's all you need to know, dear reader: American Ale is a good little beer.

Grade: 3 (out of 5)