Anheuser Busch InBev is planning a new Bud Light line extension – flavored beers called ‘Mixx Tail.’”

A-B InBev is continuing their quest to make flavored beers socially acceptable. Not satisfied with just one Bud Light-branded line of wine coolers, the company is rolling out Mixx Tail. The new line will feature nondescript flavors like Hurricane and Firewalker, along with a traditional Long Island Ice Tea flavor. Because the world needs yet another “hard iced tea.”

The goal here must be to join forces with the existing Bud Light Ritas line, thus cornering the market on not-beers. Clearly, A-B InBev is hoping to lure those darned indecisive millennials, who can never choose whether they want a beer or a cocktail.

Enter Mixx Tail, a product that allows them to have both a beer and a cocktail simultaneously, eliminating the need for decisiveness. (Which, when you think about it, is the exact same marketing strategy behind Bud Light Ritas.)

I’ve always referred to these types of beverages as wine coolers. The rebranding to “flavored beer” is definitely a smart move, because there is absolutely nothing cool about drinking a wine cooler. Therein lies the rub with all these products – at heart, these are still wine coolers we’re talking about.

The bottom line, in my opinion, still comes down to the same problem as Bud Light Ritas. A-B InBev is going to have to do a whole lot of convincing to get any millennial to view a Mixx Tail Hurricane as anything different from the bottle of Bartles & Jaymes their great-aunt drank at the family reunion.

Howard Davidson Arlington Massachusetts