Along with the entire A-B hierarchy, August [Busch III] thought Miller Lite tasted thin and watery, so [Andrew] Steinhubls recipe for Budweiser Light increased the amount of hops in the mix to give it more flavor... At the time, most European beers had an IBU between 20 and 45. Budweiser had an IBU of 15. For Budweiser Light, Steinhubl bumped the IBU to 17, which was potentially problematic because August didnt like bitter. In fact, he claimed that whenever he tasted Budweiser that contained a slightly elevated level of hops, he experienced a throbbing sensation in his forehead that he called head feel.*
Veterans of tasting sessions with August had seen head feel. It registered on his face as he squinted his eyes, furrowed his brow, and began rubbing his forehead with his forefinger and thumb. But only one other person, Denny Long, ever felt the sensation. Maybe it was because he trained me to taste, said Long, who described the feeling as the onset of a sinus headache right above the eyebrows. Still, Long said he only experienced head feel once or twice. And most of Augusts fellow tasters thought head feel was a figment of his imagination. Theyd roll their eyes and exchange looks whenever he brought it up, and joke behind his back: Yeah, Ive had head feel, boss. Its called a hangover.
* August would eventually decide it wasnt hops that caused his head feel. Rather it was a certain grade of rice that included broken kernels.