LandShark Lager, rather than Corona, is the new top brew of Jimmy Buffett. It's not hard to see why. The bottle is emblazoned with shark fins and bears a casual-looking font that it is easy to associate with the beach and Buffett's "laid-back vibe." The self-described "original island lager" looks to be a microbrew, and because the bottles declare that the beer was made by the Margaritaville Brewing Co., consumers have little reason to doubt their microbrew assumption. The beer, however, is made by Anheuser-Busch.
Increasingly, Anheuser-Busch and other large companies are trying to hide their involvement with some of their products, hoping that consumers who ordinarily might be put off by a big brewing company's involvement will be tempted into buying the brews. Anheuser-Busch sells organic Wild Hop Lager and Stone Mill Pale Ale labeled as the "product of Green Valley Brewing Co." Coors has a craft beer called Blue Moon in its lineup, though you wouldn't know it to look at its packaging, either.
"I see it as smart marketing for them," said one restaurant owner, whose grill does a brisk trader of LandShark. "There's kind of a reverse snobbism that says if a big company makes it, it can't be good. If it was called Budweiser LandShark Lager, it probably wouldn't be selling as well."
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