Boozin’ Blog

Well, we can finally put this one to bed. The Inbev take-over of Anheuser-Busch was settled yesterday. Now it’s up to the lawyers to work out the details. Anheuser-Busch Inbev will be the new company making Budweiser when it’s said and done. (If you want to get an in-depth look at the brewery that was Anheuser-Busch check out American Originals: Budweiser this Thursday on CNBC.)

The sun came up this morning. There were no earthquakes in St. Louis – I know because I live near enough to have felt them. Babies are being born and yeast still makes beer. The world moves on and I’ll wager that most beer drinkers won’t even really notice the transition.

Oh, there might be a bit of wailing and people swearing that they’re never going to drink “that crap” again. There are even going to be some that declare Budweiser is now undrinkable even though Inbev will have done nothing to alter the recipe. But these folks are going to be in the minority. Americans will continue buying Bud at its market leading pace and most will forget that this even happened.

But if you drink beer in the US and are determined to never drink beer brewed by a company beholden to foreign masters your choices have suddenly changed dramatically. By my estimation the biggest American owned beer maker is now Boston Beer Company. Yep, the makers of Samuel Adams!

Better yet if you really want to keep your money at home how about buying from the local brewpub? You can pop in and buy about half a gallon of beer for a reasonable price, especially when you factor in the returnable growler. And the chances that an overseas company will come in and buy your new favorite brewer out from under you are remarkably thin.

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