ok. caffeinated bud, known as "b to the e" (e = extra). speedballs for football fans. this piece would have been funnier if carlson had completely played it straight, perhaps pointing to the etymology of the x to the y form: hip hop lingo circa 1994. meanwhile you have to love the way advertising execs talk: "It's beer with something extra," says Dawn Roepke, Anheuser-Busch's brand manager for new products. "It's new, it's innovative, it's different." 

"It has an aroma of blackberry and a little bit of cherry, which is unexpected," says Nathaniel Davis, the brew master who created B{+E}. "It has typical beer flavors, like hops and malt, and it finishes with what we're calling the wow factor."

 

What's the wow factor?

 

    

"That bright, slightly sweet tart finish," he says. "People who drink it, their eyes light up and they say 'Wow!,' among other things.