Reader's Forum: With American homebrews flourishing, don’t worry about Bud sale
July 14, 2008
Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser and that staple of OU student life, Natural Light, is fighting off a takeover bid from a foreign company. No, it’s not some sovereign wealth fund from the Middle East. It’s Belgium. Yeah, THAT Belgium.
Our political establishment reacted with horror. Even Barack Obama, who said it would be a “shame if Bud is foreign owned,” and that an American company should buy them if “Anheuser-Busch feels that it is necessary to sell.” Never mind that Anheuser-Busch decided it was necessary to “sell” itself when they became publicly traded. Foreigners should not own Bud!
And that is the defense, since otherwise the deal makes a lot of sense. InBev is the largest brewer in the world. They own Beck’s, Labatt’s, Bass, and about a bazillion other brands. They sell lots of beer everywhere. Everywhere but here.
Budweiser is the largest U.S. brewer. About 50 percent of all beer sold in the United States is made by Anheuser-Busch. But they have a problem: They aren’t really growing anymore. American tastes are moving away from the standard American lager like Budweiser and toward craft beers, spirits and wine.
Hence, the marriage is a smart one (although for Bud, it is more of a shotgun wedding). But for the powers at Bud, this merger isn’t about business. It’s about patriotism. It’s about the flag! In fact, the most recent salvo in the save-Budweiser battle was the revelation that InBev is an investor in the Cuban-owned brewing company Bucanero. A full 0.0035 percent of their revenues come from Fidel Castro. In other words, InBev is a Commie front! Pardon, comrade, cerveza por favor?
Now, whether this deal goes down or not matters little to me. Here’s my point: Whereas the merger might be about a lot of things, like money and jobs, it is not about American beer. That’s not to say that Anheuser-Busch isn’t an important part of the American beer story, because it is. It’s just not the whole story.
Consider: In the ‘70s, a handful of breweries controlled almost all of the American beer market. There were still regional breweries, like Weidemann, Burger and Hudepohl in my hometown of Cincinnati. By the end of the ’80s, most would be gone.
What arose in their place was a craft brewing revolution that literally changed the brewing world. That handful of brewers 30 years ago has grown to more than 1,400 today. And it’s not the number that is important; it’s what they do. There has never been more creativity, diversity of product, better quality and more talented brewers than there are today. This is the best time ever for American brewing. This has happened largely without Anheuser-Bush..
Believe me, American beer is alive and well. It’s in the capable hands of Brad Clark, the very talented brewer at Jackie’Os, or Kelly Saurber at Marietta Brewing, whose PawPaw Wheat has become an Athens institution. It’s the world-class beers at Great Lakes in Cleveland or Thirsty Dog in Akron.
And as luck would have it, all are at Ohio Brew Week this week in Athens. So go out and see for yourself what your fellow Ohioans, your fellow Americans, are brewing. I think you will find that both the republic and beer will be just fine, thank you, if Bud and Natty fall into Belgian hands.
Editor’s note: Tom Strodtbeck is beer manager at BellaVino. It may be the best job he’s ever had.
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