From long habit, Executives at Anheuser-Busch Cos. are accustomed to casually referencing the “Bud family” — basically, Budweiser and Bud Light. But the St. Louis brewer is subtly changing its approach to its two flagship brews, splitting the two beers in order to create tribes of brews based on the nameplates.

This nugget is brought to you courtesy of Dave Peacock, vice president of marketing at A-B’s domestic beer subsidiary. He chatted with the Post-Dispatch on Thursday about this year’s rollout of the new Budweiser American Ale. 

In years past, A-B considered its “core” brands to consist of four groups: the Bud family, Michelob beers, Busch and Natural, Peacock said. But now, those groups have been expanded and split apart to include a Budweiser “mega brand” and a Bud Light “mega brand.”    

That partly explains A-B’s willingness to create new beers associated with the image of either Budweiser or Bud Light. Budweiser gets its American Ale cousin, which will try to trade on the image of quality and craftsmanship cultivated by craft beers. Bud Light, meanwhile, gets Bud Light Lime, geared towards the image of refreshment, sociability and summer fun enjoyed by Bud Light and imports such as Corona.  

“We’re kind of trying to reset the portfolio,” said Peacock. A-B needs to have “the ability to leverage off the core brand nameplate and also…be willing to trim what you need to trim.”

He noted that A-B had eliminated some products last year as their sales disappointed. “This is all kind of a balancing act,” he said.

The country’s biggest brewer is trying to beat several challenges. One is roll out new beers so its wholesalers have a large and varied portfolio to compete with imports and craft brews as well as Miller and Coors. At the same time, A-B is trying to demonstrate to Wall Street that it is focused on building its core brands, which contribute the vast majority of its sales.