Ale Street News Online

Halfway through our tasting of Budweiser American Ale, one of the Anheuser-Busch team made the point, "We’re the last major American brewery..."

Of course I jumped on it, "How long’s that going to last?" I posited.

"You’ve opened up a can of worms there..." said one colleague to the other.

Indeed, part of my reason for showing up at the tasting was to maybe shine a little light on those worms. (At my suggestion we had convened at The Ginger Man, so at least I was assured of a full-flavored beer when the tasting was over. To be honest though, the amber Budweiser American Ale was not too bad — far better than expected! More on that next issue, since it will not be released until October.) But this was still June and the worms were still in the dark. Now, with the takeover of A-B by the Belgian-based, but globally active InBev, they’re out and crawling everywhere.

My thoughts at The Ginger Man centered around what a huge change it was for A-B to put its Budweiser brand name on an ale, for a company that had pinned its reputation on lager for 130 years. A fantastic concession to changing consumer tastes — the giant really can change its stripes. The marketers admitted, "this is consumer driven."

But unlike A-B’s other "craft" beers that have been designed to reach into the craft beer market, this one seems to be aimed at the faithful — the ones who flock to Budweiser as they do to the flag. "Craft brewers may applaud this. At least people will know who’s making it," I said taking a stab at brands which stealthily hide A-B’s name.

As big of a change as American Ale represents, it is, of course, completely overshadowed by the mega-takeover news. To see such an American icon swallowed up is completely shocking to some people. And it makes the new positioning and packaging of Budweiser, the Great American Lager, and release of Budweiser American Ale completely ironic.

As Lew Bryson asks in his analysis of "InBud" (page 7-A), where do Americans turn now to drink patriotic beer. Miller’s gone to South Africa, Coors to Canada.

The obvious answer is Craft Beer. It’s fresh, it’s local, it’s American. We can see Samuel Adams rising like cream to the top. In the non-craft world, there is still Yuengling, and Pabst, which recently assured us, "This combination will have no impact on our mission to create and brew the best beers in the industry... Pabst Brewing Company will be the last of the famous iconic U.S. brewers to be fully independent and American-owned. Most of our brands (Pabst, Schlitz, Stroh, Schaefer, Rainier, Olympia, and others) have been around since the 1800s."

I know you’re reassured that Blue Ribbon isn’t going anywhere, but lest we be too snide , let’s remember that Pabst just brought highly-regarded Southampton beers into its fold.

Do Americans really care who owns the breweries that make the beer they drink? Maybe not. Did the Irish stop drinking Guinness when it was sold to foreign concerns (Diageo)? Maybe a bit.

It’s just another facet of global conglomeration and the nation that is indebted something like $30,000 for each person in the country is not pulling the strings.

This year I celebrated my first Fourth of July as an American (after living here as a permanent resident for 28 years). When I tell people of my newly-acquired citizen status I’m invariably greeted with,"Congratulations...I think??"

Since I took the plunge I have had the decided feeling that I am swimming upstream. Still, at the end of the day, I know I can relax with a good American craft beer! It’s pretty much why I’m here.

— Cheers, Tony Forder