Apparently Peyton Manning was not paid by Budweiser

Shortly after winning Super Bowl 50, Denver Bronco’s quarterback Peyton Manning was mic’d up for tv.

Everything he was saying was normal winning the Super Bowl talk. Until he said- “I’m going to drink a lot of Budweiser tonight.” If you are beer fan in America these days (read: small/craft lover) that stopped you dead in your tracks.

This year’s commercial wasn’t as direct a shot at America’s small brewers like the 2015 “Brewed the Hard Way” campaign. Honestly, despite the new advert still putting down small/craft brewing, the spot didn’t air until after halftime, and was honestly a little underwhelming by then.

When Manning said (actually twice) that he would be drinking a lot of Budweiser that night, we at Beer Street Journal thought – well, that’s where Budweiser spent the money. The winning quarterback would get a nice fat check for mentioning their celebratory drink of choice. BOOM. Figured it out.

“I’m going to drink a lot of Budweiser tonight, Tracy, I promise you that.”

Nope. As you see in Lisa Weser’s tweet below, Bud paid nothing for that estimated multimillion dollar endorsement. Weser is the head of Budweiser’s marketing and communication.

Hi Internet. For the record, Budweiser did not pay Peyton Manning to mention Budweiser tonight. We were surprised and delighted that he did.

— Lisa Weser (@LisaWeser) February 8, 2016

In the past, Manning has owned, at least in part, Budweiser distributors in Louisiana. That might explain his love of the lager.

Budweiser did send over 1,000 bottles of their namesake brand to the afterparty however