Say Hello to Anheuser-Busch InBev
July 13, 2008 8:41 pm Brewery News
You may have heard by now, but Anheuser-Busch’s board of directors have approved the purchase of the company by InBev. I’ve given my thoughts on this merger in the past, but I can’t say it’s still not a bit of a sad day. As someone who’s been through a few mergers and lay-offs in my short life, my best wishes go out to all of those people currently working at AB. Feel free to leave your comments about the merger and the impact. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next.
As someone always looking for an upside, maybe we see more beer in St. Louis because of it?
Tags: anheuser-busch, inbev, merger, st. louis
Rod :
Date: July 14, 2008 @ 5:15 am
Im personally thrilled about the merger, as lover of real beer. I feel sorry for anyone who loses their job over it though. AB has always been a bit heavy handed in the beer industry and didn’t have any problem throwing their weight around. You can already see the beer situation improving in the St. Louis area.
Rod II :
Date: July 14, 2008 @ 5:47 am
What comes around goes around.They bought and closed breweries in thier past and have been the bully on the block. Well a bigger kid moved into the neighborhood and bullied them around. It’s a bummer for the community of St Louis. AB was great for the local economy and lead the way with charitable donations. Cheers to all they have done for the city of St Louis!! Now I might actually drink a Bud every now and then.
Jim Zavist :
Date: July 14, 2008 @ 5:51 am
scotty p :
Date: July 14, 2008 @ 6:09 am
It’s a huge blow to St Louis, hopefully some good shall come from this like free beer at grants farm (and grants farm for free!). maybe the distribution restrictions may ease up in MO as well.
scotty p :
Date: July 14, 2008 @ 6:31 am
UGH, its too early.
I meant to say I hope they still keep Grants Farm free and continue to carry free beer still. Maybe they will add stella on tap there? IDK.
TomR :
Date: July 14, 2008 @ 7:48 am
Feh! Bad news for the workers, St. Louis and beer. InBevs beers tasted like the LCD versions of whatever style the were trying to be. Bass, Leffe, and Hoegaarden were left in the dust by much more flavorful examples long ago. AB wasnt any better. The Mantra, “AB could brew any kind of beer they wanted to.” was repeated to me a million times. But they CHOSE to brew the bland stuff they did. Well, I choose to pass on any of the new Corps. offerings. If there’s nothing else, then give me water. Or a Martini. A real one. With Gin. Very dry. Two olives, thank you.
Sam H :
Date: July 14, 2008 @ 8:30 am
One thing that was brought up last night on Fox 2 was that AB donated $13 million last year to various organizations, InBev has donated $0 since its creation. I think there are a lot of charities wondering what will happen this morning.
I wonder if we will still see the Heritage Festival this year now that InBev is running the show?
cubby_swans :
Date: July 14, 2008 @ 8:44 am
it was gonna happen. I hear so many people making statements that they’ll never drink an AB product again. I tell them they can still support the St. Louis area by drinking beers such as Schlafly and O’Fallon.
I also wonder what’s going to happen to Ray Hill’s Beer.
Dan Kopman :
Date: July 14, 2008 @ 7:26 pm
There is not doubt we will look back on this day as “the day the beer business changed”. During my years working at Scottish and Newcastle, then Young’s in London and now 17 years of Schlafly Beer I always imagined the acquisition the other way around - AB the buyer.
Nevertheless, the pursuit of making and selling great beer has not changed. Amidst the few emails today asking for Schlafly Light in 30 pack cans we spent the day setting up a trial of Imperial Stout aged in Knob Creek barrels, working on new hop trials for Pale, talking about Hefewiezen and Kolsch…it was all about the beer; as it should be.
Therefore, as the beer business moves on I welcome any and all comments about the quality of our beers and what you, as beer drinkers, want from Schlafly.
Thanks for your continued support and look out for some Oak Aged Grand Cru, along with Witbier, Tripel and don’t forget Pils (still the premier Belgian style beer) at this weekend’s Mussel and Belgian-style beer festival at the Schlafly Tap Room.
fyi, there may be some kegs of these available for the trade. For retailers out there, ask you Schlafly sales rep for availability.
Dan
vyvvy :
Date: July 14, 2008 @ 9:34 pm
The oak aged grand cru has just changed my opinion on heading down there this weekend.
Hopefully when discussing Kolsch today there was the possibility of year round production. This year especially has been a great year for Schlafly Kolsch. It has become an equal to the dry hopped APA when I’m deciding on which Schlafly product to purchase.
I’m very glad for the great St. Louis breweries and brewpub we have and my drinking habits will not change at all due to the acquisition, but I have to think this will have a negative effect on STL. At least with different acquisition in the area recently the company wants to be more involved with the community than the previous version. Hopefully it will be a trade-off, but it would be hard to pick up that much slack since InBev probably won’t contribute much at all.
scottyp :
Date: July 15, 2008 @ 5:44 am
that kolsch is one helluva beer. its light and easy but has great flavor unlike most light beers. i look forward to it every summer. id like to see an america imperial ipa from schlafly. maybe similar to the imp stout and barlywine.
Magical Yard Gnome :
Date: July 15, 2008 @ 9:40 am
Don’t know what to say about the buyout other than that I’m not happy about it.
As for Schlafly, I’d like to see the India Brown Ale as a regular seasonal. That was a phenomenal beer IMO, possibly my favorite from Schlafly.
Melanie :
Date: July 16, 2008 @ 11:46 am
I’m not a fan of AB beers. They know how to brew a good beer (I had a few at the 2007 and 2008 heritage festival) but they choose to brew that fizzy yellow stuff instead. The sale of AB makes me sad, however. It’s the end of a tradition. Sure they were the “bully on the block” but they were our bully, kind of like when two siblings fight and then an outsider comes in, the siblings suddenly stand together.
My favorite breweries are Schlafly (too many favorites to list), Kona Brewing (love Firerock), Maui Brewing (love the coconut Porter) and New Belgium (love Skinny Dip, 1554, Fat Tire and 2 Below). There’s always a selection of these fine beers in my fridge. As for Schlafly, I love the Porter and would love to see that added to the seasonal selection. I’ve had it at the Tap Room and Bottle Works and as far as I remember, it’s only available on tap.
Mike :
Date: July 16, 2008 @ 11:53 am
It’s funny you mention Kona, because I believe they’re owned by Widmer who in turn is partially owned by AB.
Chuck S. :
Date: July 17, 2008 @ 9:00 pm
Melanie, the reason they choose to brew the yellow stuff is because that is what sells. period..not everyone has our taste in beer.