Some are mourning the sale of iconic American brewery Anheuser-Busch to a foreign buyer, InBev of Belgium.
It’s a shame that the company is no longer American-owned. But with so many U.S. corporate giants gobbling up foreign companies and being gobbled up by them, is this latest example of corporate rebranding really anything new or shocking?
Take InBev itself— the Belgian company’s top management team is Brazilian. And Miller Brewing of Milwaukee was sold in 2002 to South African Breweries and is now SABMiller.
The Clydesdales, the Super Bowl commercials, the Busch family’s ties to St. Louis — Anheuser-Busch has long traded on its all-American image.
But this latest megasale only reinforces the point that the corporate world operates strictly on what is best for shareholders, not a particular community or nation.
Anyway, in my view, most of the American beer worth drinking is made by smaller craft breweries like Avery and Rogue and Boulevard.
45 Comments
. . . and Anchor Steam!
America is dying. Just wait until GM closes their doors. Why won’t We The People wake the eff up? No we’d rather fight between left and right for no good reason. It’s true, a house divided surely cannot stand.
Moreover, not all the materials used for the sale itself can be described as being environmentally sound. But before you start accessing their website to start the sale, you are required to accept this latest megasale first.
Thanks to Busheconomics the dollar dropped over 40% in value since Bush took office. With such a weak dollar InBev had no problem buying up this American icon. Miller and Coors are also owned by foreign companies. It’s ironic that the “domestic” beers are actually foreign now.
With this deal I wonder how richer McCain got. The bigamist was already worth over $100 million thanks to his wife. Now the man who pretends to be a common guy (unlike that elitist Obama who recently paid off his student loans) will again be a millionaire many times over.
Bud
Weis
Errrr….
“But this latest megasale only reinforces the point that the corporate world operates strictly on what is best for shareholders” — Randy.
Why don’t you ask the shareholders of Bear-Stearns, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac? You live in a dream world.
Maybe the sale to InBev of Belgium will improve the taste and quality of Budweiser beer, they certainly couldn’t make it any worse. I’ll stick to drinking Guinness and Sam Adams.
Lou Dobbs will probably have a stroke
“Maybe the sale to InBev of Belgium will improve the taste and quality of Budweiser beer, they certainly couldn’t make it any worse. I’ll stick to drinking Guinness and Sam Adams. — corporasthilaire
Did you ever see the fart sniffing episode of South Park?
Pleefer
Posted July 15, 2008 at 6:11 am | Permalink
America is dying. Just wait until GM closes their doors. Why won’t We The People wake the eff up? No we’d rather fight between left and right for no good reason. It’s true, a house divided surely cannot stand.
And exactly how can I convince the morons running GM that they need to produce a product that I will buy? GM’s problems – just like Gulf’s when Pickens made his run at them – lies in their own board room.
“Anyway, in my view, most of the American beer worth drinking is made by smaller craft breweries like Avery and Rogue and Boulevard.”
We would expect nothing else from scholfield.
PBR!
Bush apparently also has been for sale to the highest foreign bidder, if they just donate to his library, any foreign dictator can have his ear!
When a countries current accounts is out of whack like the U.S., and we’ve outsourced so much production and technology, the only thing remaining to sell are its assets.
“When a countries current accounts is out of whack like the U.S., and we’ve outsourced so much production and technology, the only thing remaining to sell are its assets.”
Gramm was right.
What’s for sale next, Yellowstone Park? Maybe on the block as a housing division?
Unfettered capitalism. How it does suck.
“Anyway, in my view, most of the American beer worth drinking is made by smaller craft breweries like Avery and Rogue and Boulevard.” – Scholfield
Of course; you are so right my dear Randall. If one can’t find a decent German beer, craft brewers are simply the way to go. Mass produced domestic beer like Budweiser are so pedestrian, so “Joe Lunchbucket”. Certainly not fit for consumption by a word smith of your caliber.
Hi Bluejay. Wishing more death and suffering on conservative folks today?
Yellowstone is already sold. Read the fine print on those big wooden signs that are put up on every national park…sorry “National” park. They all have UNESCO written on them. Google “World Heritage Treaty, 1972″. Check it out.
Elites go into 3rd World Countries, loan them gobs of cash (at high usury), those countries can’t pay it back…so the IMF, the UN and the like take REAL wealth (the land) as payment. Kind of like what’s going on now with the government “bail-outs” of the mortgage companies. The (privately owned) Federal Reserve is land grabbing like crazy here and will continue to do so. Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh I know about that Pleef. I’m not crazy about it. But actually, that is sort of a good thing.
The essence of it is that such places as Yellowstone belong to all of humanity.
I’ll take that as opposed to seeing them zoned as housing tracts for rich people.
No, I understand your point. But we trade our resources (be it beautiful scenery which we can go see whenever we want or any other resource, ie; products of sorts) for fiat, fake and backed by nothing Federal Reserve notes. They get REAL wealth and we’re left holding the bag.
“fiat”
Fix It Again Tony
Its going to impossible to buy anything made in America. I wasn’t much of a beer drinker, but when I did I wanted a budweiser.
Not that I have anything against Belgium, but its not the same.
American companies need to stay in America. We need to buy American.
Walmart needs to go out of business until they get their act together, used to be Sam only wanted American made products.
It’s all about the money. It needs to be about quality.
What it shows is that we aren’t the only top-notch, competitive businesspeople in the world. Those brown and yellow-skinned folks were doing business before Columbus even thought about going to sea.
We may have been in the lead before, but we’re going to have to scramble just to keep up. Everybody and every country gets lazy and arrogant; it is just a question of time before it bites them in the a**.
Dennis
Actually, Randy has a point. I’ve probably put away truckloads of Bud (and its cousin, Bud Light) in my lifetime, but as a beer it’s only so-so. That’s unfortunately the case with most mass-produced in the US (most of which are far worse than Budweiser, thank you).
And that’s why we got the craft/micro-breweries in the first place: A lot of people tasted expensive imported beers and said “Waitaminute! I can do this!”
Outie’s implication notwithstanding, it’s not some elitist affectation: I’ve drank the most expensive favored lambic beer (it wasn’t worth the price!), and Carling’s Black Label, a sorta-”licorice”-tasting lager (I think) that sold for $1.65 a six-pack in 1981.
While this particular acquisition may actually create more jobs in the short run (no doubt they’ll start brewing locally), the multinationalism of business has been a overall disaster, and everything comes to down to corporate profits at the expense of the workers. And that overall economic power, to say nothing of the prestige, goes elsewhere.
While you’re drinking awseome Belgian ale brewed in St. Louis, you’re probably wearing a t-shirt made in a crap-infested sweatshop in India.
Hey YellowDogLiberal,
Are you “gittin’ madder by the minute”? :-)
“Black Label, a sorta-”licorice”-tasting lager (I think) that sold for $1.65 a six-pack in 1981.”
I recall my introduction to this fine product was noticing that several such bottles were stacked around Joe Cocker during his performance at Woodstock.
“What would you do if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me…?”
I was convinced that if any substance could make one sound as good and as motorically graceful, it must be good stuff. I was wrong.
I’m sorry, but microbrews and Bud just aren’t comparable. Bud is for people who like to drink BEER, and who don’t intend to have just one. It’s for people who like to get DRUNK. If you drink more than one or two microbrews you just get SICK.
“It needs to be about quality.” — p.m.
How would you know?
“StevenEDavis” –
I suspect Mister Cocker was under the influence of something other than Carling’s Black Label that night.
:^)
But who woulda figured that he’d live another forty years?
Cocker’s Woodstock set is one of the transcendental performances in the history of rock and roll.
He took a little Ringo Starr ditty and turned it into an anthem. You know John and Paul whipped out little ditties for Ringo; sort of comic relief on their albums. But here comes Cocker and transforms the song. Makes it his own.
And under the influence of something Carling’s Black Label never delivered for me. I mean, the guy invented the air guitar!
If you drink more than one or two microbrews you just get SICK.
Well, I guess everyone’s internal chemistry is different.
Joe Cocker and Black Label?
In a odd, earthy, working-class way, that’s totally appropriate! :)
Stout Ale, London, 1976, 2 glasses, unable to climb on tour bus, headache next day.
End of my testing English beverages with alcoholic content.
:cool:
Oh, I dunno, “Rage” –
Some beers are sippin’ beers and some beers are beer-bong beers.
Most popular domestic beers in the US are beer-bong beers.
After the second one, all beer tastes the same. So do a Sam Adams or a Beck’s or two and move on to the Old Milwaukee. Or just hit yourself over the head with one of the empty bottles. Same diff.
Heh, MH: I used to buy 24-packs of Shaefer’s. I’m not sure I was trying to get drunk, but I occasionally succeeded! :)
But I drink more for health these days (seriously). There’s something about a fine ale that’s therapeutic in a way Old Milkaukee is not. I can put away a fair amount of booze over time, but I rarely get “drunk.” Additional side benefit: it’s been quite some time since I’ve experieced the “joys” of a room improbably in motion, praying to Ralph and Earl, or a pounding head the next day.
By the way, I still remember Old Milwaukee’s slogan from the 80s: “It doesn’t get any better than this.” Unfortunately, they were right.
Don’t drink much beer anymore. After three years in Germany, U.S. brews just don’t quite cut it. Coming home from 14% to 3.2 took a lot of the fun out of it.
Plus the krauts really, really know how to brew beer.
Dennis
Belgium was doing just fine exporting Chimay to us…
Mass produced Beer aka (Bud, Miller, Coors) are as good as mass produced food. ( Mickey D’s,taco bell) me personally Ill take a Sam Adams and a burger at TJ’s or a Burrito at Connie’s everytime over mass produced flavorless swill. and Until the the US makes a good stout ill have to settle with Irish Guinness. the rivercity brewery makes a good stout but its hard to drink it at home.
The rest of the world is gradually figuring out how to suck money out of the USA. That’s the only thing that bothers me about the sale of Anheuser-Busch to the Belgians. The USA has an open and free market while Europe is closing it’s doors to foreign investors. They are keeping the American money in Europe. No wonder the Euro is 1.6 times the value of the dollar…
Until the the US makes a good stout ill have to settle with Irish Guinness.
TP: Try Anchor Porter (it’s close).
Oh my God! This country will soon be dependent of foreign beer. Other countries will have us by the throat and will be able to dictate American policy by cutting off beer! When beer goes, football will soon follow and the country will be in it’s worst crisis since the baseball strike! This means war!
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TomPaine
Posted July 15, 2008 at 4:07 pm | Permalink
Mass produced Beer aka (Bud, Miller, Coors) are as good as mass produced food. ( Mickey D’s,taco bell) me personally Ill take a Sam Adams and a burger at TJ’s or a Burrito at Connie’s everytime over mass produced flavorless swill. and Until the the US makes a good stout ill have to settle with Irish Guinness. the rivercity brewery makes a good stout but its hard to drink it at home.
—
You have access to a GREAT American stout, Tom, Shakespeare Stout (Rogue Brewing). Awesome stout, that. You can pick it up at Rob’s World of Beers on Wes at Douglas (approx) t or way out north on Woodlawn @ 37th in 22oz bombers.
And here’s one of the best kept secrets of great beers available in Wichita, KS, two other great Rogue beers, one stout and one close.
–Rogue Chocolate Ale, another great American stout. It may sound crazy, but if like many women your girlfriend/s.o. thinks she prefers freakin wine to good old sturdy beer — and if she insists she wouldn’t go near a black beer for love or money — pour her out about 12oz of this stuff. Great chocolate flavor (really, it works really really well, guaranteed).
–Rogue Hazelnet Brown Nectar, a brown ale. It’s a little too hazelnutty for me, but chicks tend to get a little goofy for it. It really ain’t too bad, just can’t drink too many of ‘em.
I think Rob also carries Rogue’s Imperial Stout, which is a bit pricey. It’s a Russian Imperial Stout and runs about 11% alcohol by volume. There are other Russian Imperial Stouts brewed by American brewers which, like Rogue’s, are to die for (imo) that you can pick up in Wichita, too.
I like the Russians in the winter, when it’s cold out.
Bud or any of the other American rice beers ain’t too bad in a frosty mug with tomato juice. Red beer really hits the spot in the middle of a Kansas summer, and the rice seems to help not hurt that style.
Randy, I’m shocked! You left out Wichita’s own River City Brewery, right in the heart of Old Town. They’ve got an IPA that’s absolutely perfect for hot Kansas nights. Served ice-cold in a frosted mug, yum. And you also forgot about the other Kansas domestic, Free State Brewery out of Lawrence. Their Ad Astra ale is one of my favorites. You don’t have to drive to Lawrence for a pint, either – they have it on tap at the Anchor, just down the street from your office.
And to you jackarses who think locally brewed beer is somehow “elitist:” Get real, and get a life. I’d rather buy product from local people who have a stake in the daily life of our community than from giant corporations located two states, or half a planet, away. But you’d rather politicize EVERYTHING, wouldn’t you?