Inbev - AnheuserBusch buyout
 

I live in st louis so i was curious as to how much media attention this whole situation was getting out side of the greater st louis area. What to people think from all over. Budweiser is a damn good beer they better not change the brew...

umm.. well I think it's a pretty lame buyout..

but what do I care? Budweiser sucks.

It's getting national media attention. I mean think about it. It's (I think) America's largest brewery and it's an international company. They have a stadium named for them. Of course it's going to generate buzz.

If I heard correctly, they're going to move their headquarters here.

Either way..no offense to Budweiser fans, but that's about the worst tasting beer in the world, aside from Anchor Steam.

"Here" being Chicago and because they already own Coors. They want a North American headquarters that is not related to either Denver/Golden or Milwaukee. Chicago was a logical choice (not the only one, but a logical one).

JJ, it's obvious you've never had Dubuque Star. Now that is a shitty beer. And Baltika #8 sucks some serious ass, too.
-----Added 23/7/2008 at 04 : 57 : 11-----
So to actually answer the question, yes, it's being talked about in Chicago too.

I thought that general consensus out of the US, and even for US connoisseurs, is that Budweiser tastes like piss, I know I do. From the US's beers I've tasted, I think Coors original is the one I liked the most, or disliked the less for that matter.

As I understand it isn't going to affect their attempts to sell more silly brews like the Bud Light Lime. I don't understand why someone would ever buy that.

I saw something actually worse than that near my house. I live in a predominantly hispanic area so maybe they are test marketing it but they have a blend of Bud Light and Clamato for sale.

Coors, Bud, Miller... the less said the better. All sports & jiggly ads, no taste.

Here in Wisconsin people are hopping mad that Miller is moving to Chicago. Aside from the loss of jobs, i don't understand the fuss.

I read about this in the local paper... I believe InBev bought out some of the Canadian national breweries as well. In fact, it think that our two biggest national brands, Labbat's and Molson's are now foreign owned.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. On one hand the knee jerk reaction is to get all upset that it can't stay in Canadian hands. The more reasoned response is that internationalism will win out and is better for all.

OTC, I doubt you'll have to worry - Bud will probably still taste like piss.

I just hope this widens the market and lowers the price of Stella.

replace Anchor Steam with Heineken and i agree.

i love beer, but i can care less what happens to Anheuser-Busch

There's more to consider than A/B's brewery. My niece has had a great job at Busch Gardens in Florida, tending the Rhinos and Hippos. Word is that InBev is planning cut backs and will be slashing jobs. She's worried that she will soon be unemployed.

Say what you sill about the taste, but Budweiser was the brew to drink when I was younger. My tastes evolved over the years and now only take it as a last resort. In many bowling centers, it's the only thing drinkable in the bar.

And, yes, this is getting plenty of press in Michigan.

I'm no fan of Budweiser, but you can trust me, there are a LOT of beers MUCH WORSE than Bud...


Personally, I kind of look at it (the buyout) as a case of turn-about is fair play...Bud has bought out and shut down or changed so many small breweries in this country that it's kind of amusing to me to see them be the target.

this is true. i guess even after reading all the posts i didnt take peoples careers into mind, and even then i forgot about all of the employees at the breweries and the Tampa and Virgina theme parks.

now that i think about it, this will have more of an impact than i suspected.

I really need to learn to think things through.

Aside from the other issues--what will we read while we pee?

At Busch Gardens (in Williamsburg, at least) there are signs up at nose-level in front of the men's room urinals that basically say, in a variety of different ways, "Would you rather buy from American company Anheuser Bush, or South African Brewing Miller?" Those things are going to have to go now.

What I've heard of InBev is that they are extremely "frugal" and intend to keep a tight bugetary eye on their American holdings.

And I agree with Sion, there are many beers worse than Bud. It's just that there are SO many more that are better!

I guess I'm not putting any kind of nationalistic twist on this...so who cares who owns it as long as the company is well managed. In the global economic sense, this appears to me to be a good move for most, though sadly it's stress and anxiety for anyone who looses a job because of consolidation and reorganization.

Funny about how the guy from out of town is often considered the expert...regardless of his capabilities.

When I was in Belgium, they talk about Stella like it was the low end street beer and why would you drink it if you have a choice. Based on my many tastings, I do not think any better of Stella than I do of Bud...which I pretty much hate.

I suspect it's still this way, but years ago my ex worked at a summer camp where many of the councelors were young Brits...and all they wanted to drink was Budweiser, and they even said that back at home it was highly regarded...hard to believe the English taste for beer could come to that conclusion but that's what they reported.

I love Belgian beer styles. Were Inbev to change Budweiser, there is nohing IMHO they could do but make it interesting.

I've seen on other boards where people say they are going to boycott AB no because American jobs are going to be lost. WTF? Inbev has no interest other than keep these AB workers employed making a product to sell. Were everyone to boycott AB, wouldn't that cause the loss of these jobs?

I've always felt that AB is to breweries what Wal-Mart is to retailers. Most people just don't realize that AB built what everyone is calling an American icon after the repeal of prohibition in a way that ran "Mom and Pop" breweries out of business.