Anheuser Busch ...

[Cugel]

I posted it last week, only in my version with the Arthur Guiness, not the president of Pauliner.

+1 on that. It's been around for at least a decade and has always been Guinness!

 

[menschmaschine]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the amount of Americans who don't like beer at all because they think that BMC IS beer. I know many people like this. I'm not saying whether or not it was intentional, but to the average American, BMC has reduced the definition of beer to their beers... and if someone who doesn't know beer drinks a BMC product and doesn't like it, they think they don't like beer at all. That, my friends, is a crying shame!

 

[rcb]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the amount of Americans who don't like beer at all because they think that BMC IS beer. I know many people like this. I'm not saying whether or not it was intentional, but to the average American, BMC has reduced the definition of beer to their beers... and if someone who doesn't know beer drinks a BMC product and doesn't like it, they think they don't like beer at all. That, my friends, is a crying shame!

+1 on that. I know a bunch of people who don't drink beer because the only beer they know is BMC or one of the many other sub-par beers. I usually try to get theses people to try my brews and the response is overwhelmingly in favor of my stuff. It's a shame that so many have made their drinking choices based on the actions of a few misguided brewers.

 

[BigKahuna]

I'm just happy that ButWiper is starting to bottle in 7 oz bottles. I hate that I have to drink them, but the bottles are absolutely the perfect fit for SWMBO. I try and do a 6 pack of 7 oz bottles from every batch for her.

 

[jgln]

Funny, I know some people who have only had Heiniken all their lives. Every time I go to the store I look for something I haven't tried yet. For example every so often I pick up a six pack of Hoeegarden, but I also like Natural Lite because it is lite. But to me it all depends on your mood, the conditions, etc. and your capacity for alcohol before getting drunk. I don't like to get too drunk (like when I was in my 20's) so if I want to stay up all night listening to music I'd go with the NL. If after a long day at work I just want to relax and go to bed I may pick the Hoeegarden. Two totally differnet tastes but I enjoy both. There is also the $$ perspective for some people.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Good chance inBev is going to buy out Bud. I guess Anheuser's market share is starting to shrink as more people are drinking micro, imports and wine. InBev (formerly known as interbrew) makes a good portion of the imports and wth it's 20% market share makes more money than Anheuser with it's 50% market share.

It will probably be a good thing. While inBev mainstreamed slightly some of the imports over the years, they will likely release a number of Euorpean style beers thorugh the Anheuser breweries if this take over goes through.

I just hope their combined marleting power doesn't start to hit the micros in the pocket. Inbev's contract to brew/market Bud in Canada in 98 turned bud from last to first place in number of beers sold in Canada.

 

[TexLaw]

I do not have a problem with A-B and the other majors' products. They make those beers, and if folks want to drink them, more power to everyone involved.

My problem with the majors, and especially with A-B, is the way they run their businesses. First of all, their marketing is despicable. It's two-faced. They tell you about how difficult it is to brew something like a Budweiser and strongly imply that darker beer is flawed. Then, they turn around and market dark beers under a different label. That's just one example. Yes, of course they want to make money and sell beer, but now that is little more than rationalization for selling their collective soul. It's not much better than some shyster on a street corner or informercial.

More than that, though, I detest their eliminate competition. They (and I mean all the majors) have tried to work like some sort of cabal to eliminate any other players. They lobby like hell to keep certain laws in place and to change others to that purpose. A-B successfully did everything they could to keep brewpubs out of Texas until they wanted to open one at Sea World in San Antonio. Even then, they monkeyed the law so that A-B could be the only fairly large brewery who could own a brewpub. Again, that is just one example.

I know they have a right to do it (in most cases - see the link regarding the antitrust case, above). Yes, they have muscle, and they use it to their advantage. I'm not talking about what is legal, though. I am talking about what is right. A-B and the other majors are not just trying to beat the competition, they are trying to eliminate competition, and they try to do so in a number of underhanded, despicable ways. They lack integrity.


TL

 

[Aubie Stout]

I do not have a problem with A-B and the other majors' products. They make those beers, and if folks want to drink them, more power to everyone involved.

My problem with the majors, and especially with A-B, is the way they run their businesses. First of all, their marketing is despicable. It's two-faced. They tell you about how difficult it is to brew something like a Budweiser and strongly imply that darker beer is flawed. Then, they turn around and market dark beers under a different label. That's just one example. Yes, of course they want to make money and sell beer, but now that is little more than rationalization for selling their collective soul. It's not much better than some shyster on a street corner or informercial.

More than that, though, I detest their eliminate competition. They (and I mean all the majors) have tried to work like some sort of cabal to eliminate any other players. They lobby like hell to keep certain laws in place and to change others to that purpose. A-B successfully did everything they could to keep brewpubs out of Texas until they wanted to open one at Sea World in San Antonio. Even then, they monkeyed the law so that A-B could be the only fairly large brewery who could own a brewpub. Again, that is just one example.

I know they have a right to do it (in most cases - see the link regarding the antitrust case, above). Yes, they have muscle, and they use it to their advantage. I'm not talking about what is legal, though. I am talking about what is right. A-B and the other majors are not just trying to beat the competition, they are trying to eliminate competition, and they try to do so in a number of underhanded, despicable ways. They lack integrity.


TL

That about sums it up. The Youtube video on the Alabama situation is correct. The A-B guys are doing everything they can to keep the state laws from changing.

 

[devaspawn]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the amount of Americans who don't like beer at all because they think that BMC IS beer. I know many people like this. I'm not saying whether or not it was intentional, but to the average American, BMC has reduced the definition of beer to their beers... and if someone who doesn't know beer drinks a BMC product and doesn't like it, they think they don't like beer at all. That, my friends, is a crying shame!

This was me to a T! I hated beer cause I assumed all beer tasted like BMC. Then someone introduced me to Killian's (I know it's made by Coors) and I thought, "well, if beer is the only thing being served than this will have to do. " Then it progressed to Sam Adams and then I found out that there is a store that sells all types of beer that I had never heard of.

Now I brew my own and like beer more than I like mixed drinks. There are many people that know me who can't believe this change has come over me. I have probably had 3 liquor drinks since Xmas.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the amount of Americans who don't like beer at all because they think that BMC IS beer. I know many people like this. I'm not saying whether or not it was intentional, but to the average American, BMC has reduced the definition of beer to their beers... and if someone who doesn't know beer drinks a BMC product and doesn't like it, they think they don't like beer at all. That, my friends, is a crying shame!

Nail, head, hit.....An excellent post!

 

[TheFlatline]

Good chance inBev is going to buy out Bud. I guess Anheuser's market share is starting to shrink as more people are drinking micro, imports and wine. InBev (formerly known as interbrew) makes a good portion of the imports and wth it's 20% market share makes more money than Anheuser with it's 50% market share.

It will probably be a good thing. While inBev mainstreamed slightly some of the imports over the years, they will likely release a number of Euorpean style beers thorugh the Anheuser breweries if this take over goes through.

I just hope their combined marleting power doesn't start to hit the micros in the pocket. Inbev's contract to brew/market Bud in Canada in 98 turned bud from last to first place in number of beers sold in Canada.

It's no longer a good chance. It was just announced today.

http://www.globalbeerleader.com/press_july_13_2008.html

You may not like BMC, but this is a HUGE development in the beer world regardless.

 

[pen25]

ya know i read this thread and i just have to comment. didnt some of those countries create laws that created a definition to prevent importation of outside beers? also the analogy of the 500 buck expresso machine? well alton brown shows you how to brew and expresso machine and which one to buy for well under 500 bucks. check out [ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=nbqE3Npk13k[/ame]. and [ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=RS6rveFmgTo&feature=related[/ame]
anyway some people think they need to spend money for something to be great and if you dont spend high dollars its crap. i love my bud light. specially after workout outside in the heat. i mean who wants a warm thick oatmeal stout after working in 90+ heat with 80* humidity? and yes id rather drink the bud light because i can drink it and not get completely tore up and not get anything done.

sorry wrong about the importing but it was ment for something other then defining what a beer was initally

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot

 

[AFAJ Brew Guy]

It's no longer a good chance. It was just announced today.

http://www.globalbeerleader.com/press_july_13_2008.html

You may not like BMC, but this is a HUGE development in the beer world regardless.

And in other news, I saw this poll on CNN, it is good to know that at least a majority of CNN readers don't drink Bud.

 

[kbrewer1]

It wouldn't surprise me though that in the short-term once the average drinker finds out about this we might be saying MC for a while.

I don't know, I don't necessarily advocate drinking these beers...but for whatever reason it's slightly disappointing to me just because I don't want to see an American icon fall into foreign hands...I'm just wondering how it could change the price of the BMC beers as a whole.

 

[Bigpete9000]

Here is the one thing i found really interesting about Inbev....


Despite more than 600 years of brewing beer in Belgium, InBev is more rootless. Although based in Leuven, Belgium, it is run by a Brazilian management team and sells most of its beer outside Europe.
It owns a massive portfolio of local brands from Siberia to Argentina that rarely travel. InBev has only recently started to push its two best-known brands — Stella Artois and Beck's — more widely.

 

[hopboy]

The market seems worried about the "Budification" of the beer world. Since its Inbev buying AB AND NOT AB buying InBev...maybe we will get a better, more German like Bud from the AB...Here's to "Spatenization" of Bud!

Hopboy

 

[Tenchiro]

I read that this leaves Sam Adams, Yeungling & Sierra Nevada as the 3 largest American owned breweries...

 

[Homercidal]

Things wont' change much at all for Bud (the beer). Perhaps the most important thing to realize is that there is now a better chance for you to find REAL beer at that store/rest. who now only sells thin, pale, pee water. Think about it.

InBev can more easily distribute their other, maybe foreign, beer to places serving Bud in America. If they screw with Bud's recipe they risk people here dropping Bud and switching to some other nearly tasteless American Style Light. There is no shortage of that crap out there.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Things wont' change much at all for Bud (the beer). Perhaps the most important thing to realize is that there is now a better chance for you to find REAL beer at that store/rest. who now only sells thin, pale, pee water. Think about it.

InBev can more easily distribute their other, maybe foreign, beer to places serving Bud in America. If they screw with Bud's recipe they risk people here dropping Bud and switching to some other nearly tasteless American Style Light. There is no shortage of that crap out there.

Yep. I don't imagine anything will change in the slightest degree that is at all noticeable. AB was bought out because they CAN sell beer, not because the can't

 

[aekdbbop]

I read that this leaves Sam Adams, Yeungling & Sierra Nevada as the 3 largest American owned breweries...

who owns coors and miller?

 

[Desert_Sky]

who owns coors and miller?

they merged and are now owned by some south african company i believe

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Coors are owned by Molson's I believe. Miller by South African Breweries

 

[hopboy]

AB was bought because the dollar is cheap.
Coors and Molsen merged last year and it looks like Coors is on top. Coors and Miller are merging and the headquarters will be in Chicago and not in beer town or Golden , CO.
Coors will brew Miller in Golden BUT Coors "Banquet Brand" can only be brewed in Golden, Co because of the water...that good water from the Rockies.

Hopefully, the Belgians show those in St. Louis how to brew a good beer.
Hopboy

 

[CBBaron]

Coors are owned by Molson's I believe. Miller by South African Breweries

Yes and No, I admit I'm confused by it all.
Miller Brewing (owned by the London based holding company SAB Miller) and Coors Brewing (Owned by the Canadian firm Molson Coors) have merged their operations to become Miller Coors with each of the parent companies holding a 50% stake in the new venture.

Craig

 

[Revvy]

who owns coors and miller?

SAB a South African Company.

 

[FireBrewer]

Guess they can't air this anymore...