The big news up in St. Louis is that a Belgian-Brazilian company, InBev, is proposing a takeover of Anheuser Busch. If you have never spent time in St. Louis, it would be hard for me to explain to you the connection Anheuser Busch has with the city. A-B is beyond being a mere institution in St. Louis. The idea of outsiders taking over the brewery has people up in arms.
Take a look at what Governor Matt Blunt said yesterday.
“With your help we can fight the foreign invasion of A-B. We will fight to protect this American treasure. We will take to the Internet, to the streets, to the marble halls of our capitals, whatever it takes to stop the invasion,”
Invasion. Foreign invasion.
You just don’t hear a Governor talking like that. But, this is a company that has been, locally owned and employed people for over 150 years. And, even though profits are down somewhat, this is the company that survived prohibition by manufacturing ice cream, malt syrup and baker’s yeast. This is the brewery that was still in business and ready to roll when prohibition was repealed.
On the night of April 6, 1933, more than 25,000 St. Louisans, representing the hopes and dreams of American workers, long since home from the war and demoralized by the Great Depression, gathered with eager hearts and tin cups in hand to once again sip the bittersweet nectar of Budweiser, a sensation unknown to them for 14 years.
As the clock atop the brewhouse showed one minute past midnight on April 7, 1933, sirens and steam whistles sounded, the large wooden doors of the brewery’s Bevo bottling plant opened to the cheers of the thirsty, and 55 trucks laden with America’s favorite brew rolled out into the night, delivering the first cases of post-Prohibition Budweiser to the masses.
Delivered by Clydesdale to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue too, by the way.
Is the notion of InBev waltzing in and and taking the company out of St. Louis a genuine threat? Who knows? InBev says no, and they say they wouldn’t close any American breweries. But, even if they held their word on that, things would be different; it would never be the same.
Maybe, it’s progress or evolution.
The fact is that there are a lot of people that don’t want it to come to pass. If you feel that way, take a look at SaveBudweiser.com and, you might want to sign the petition they have started and let the A-B Board of Directors know how you feel.
Since 1852, Anheuser-Busch has been an American-owned and operated business. In addition to great tasting beer, this company has provided thousands of domestic jobs as well as millions of dollars in charitable donations to nonprofit organizations and disaster relief, and has a long history of environmental awareness. Anheuser-Busch is a huge supporter of our military and their families both here and abroad and is ranked in the ‘Top 50 Military-Friendly Employers’.
Recently in the news, talks of a hostile take over of the company by a European concern have been prevalent. Let’s band together as one voice and try to save more than just our beer. We don’t want another American icon turned over to a foreign company; we want the motto to remain…The Great American Lager.
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Tags: american treasure, anheuser busch, beer, business, Governor Matt Blunt, inbev, St. Louis
patdarnell and men of pause wrote,
I conjecture that the invader is after either a patent, or an immediate commanding share of the beer market of the USA.
Beer loyalty on this scale, like the scale of the universe, is too large for my little brain to wrap around. There is one clue I think of this morning. Missourians, in my experience , have a peculiar sense of justice. In most cases, as a bellwether state, the population will do the right thing, even if it isn’t the legal thing.
It’s tied up with the St Louis Card’s having been the western-most team and therefore representing the entire “between states,” great western US in its day, as a moral compass. Pribek you explained it like this:
Anheuser-Busch is gone… to the Euro this time, and for a cheap price. But the pattern of take over is not unprecedented.
Here is possibly the model for this latest take over… of another famous beer that started in St. Louis — Falstaff
Link | June 13th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Sans Direction wrote,
When I lived there, my Dad worked across the street from the brewery. You could smell the hops from a mile away. There’s big memories there.
On the other hand, I haven’t been a beer drinker for about 15 years, but when I did drink, I’d drink water rather than Bud.
Sans Direction’s last blog post..Huh?
Link | June 13th, 2008 at 6:52 am
Pribek wrote,
Interesting-take your pants off to get in to the stadium.
Link | June 13th, 2008 at 7:03 am
Sans Direction wrote,
I would’ve thought the italics another place &mdash “Interesting- take your pants off to get into the stadium.”
Maybe I’m just way too square.
Sans Direction’s last blog post..Huh?
Link | June 13th, 2008 at 7:38 am
patdarnell and men of pause wrote,
I submit that in context of Sans, “I haven’t been a beer drinker for about 15 years,”
That, also, I haven’t seen a beer drinker in about 15 years.
That would confirm the death of beer is about June 13, 1993, plus or minus… no?
That is an astute observation by Sans that demonstrates the lag time before the hostile takeover… +/- 15 years
Note: Reminder to Pribek’s Curmudgeons that First Quarter 2008 Evaluations are Due in two days. If I don’t already have it in my in-box, I will be expecting the doc’s or a good explanation. We could be victims of a hostile take-over this year, and eval’s have to be up to date!!!
patdarnell and men of pause’s last blog post..June 13 — Another Red letter Day for Darnell’s
Link | June 13th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Pribek wrote,
I see what you’re saying Sans. Every time I take my pants off, they throw me out.
Link | June 13th, 2008 at 8:16 am
patdarnell and men of pause wrote,
would that be pubic places?
patdarnell and men of pause’s last blog post..June 13 — Another Red letter Day for Darnell’s
Link | June 13th, 2008 at 8:43 am
patdarnell and men of pause wrote,
okay!! no takers?
Is that so; an-heuser busch?
geeeeeez, Don’t ya’ love the smell of hops in the morning. And, Don’t forget those evaluations.
I’m on days this week, so suffer it, me, you.
patdarnell and men of pause’s last blog post..UPDATED: June 13 — Another Red letter Day for Darnell’s
Link | June 13th, 2008 at 9:29 am
patdarnell and men of pause wrote,
and besides A-B is on InBev’s bucket list because it’s only a rental business:
“We don’t buy beer, we rent it.” So, I suppose one man’s piss is another’s buzz… it all flows downhill anyway, the way the Missisppiss does? Besides boarded at St Charles ‘been on the train they call New Orleans, I’ll be ..gone five hundred miles when the day is done.’ Prophetic, “Ole’ men ..playin’ cards ..ain’t nobody keepin’score.”
then I Barney Google’d home-brew and owned: “Dag-blasted Rev’noors!!!”
and remember we behave like we do because there ain’t no beer in heaven.
Did I cover most of it? Don’t worry guys while you’re working, I’ve got your sixes.
patdarnell and men of pause’s last blog post..UPDATED: June 13 — Another Red letter Day for Darnell’s
Link | June 13th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Pat Darnell And Friends wrote,
Free Anheuser-Busch Theme Park Admission
Throughout 2008 Register online and show a DOD Photo at Gates –
The “Here’s to the Heroes” program offers servicemembers and their families free admission to SeaWorld (Orlando, San Diego, or San Antonio), Busch Gardens (Tampa Bay or Williamsburg), Sesame Place, Water Country USA, and Adventure Island. To be eligible active-duty, selected reserve and National Guard servicemembers must either register online at http://www.herosalute.com or at the entrance plaza of participating parks, and present a Department of Defense photo ID. As many as three direct dependents of military personnel are also entitled to free admission. Dependents may take advantage of the offer without their service member, though an adult must accompany minor dependents, and dependent ages 10 and over must present a valid dependent ID. Busch Gardens Williamsburg and SeaWorld San Antonio are seasonal operations that will remain closed until spring 2008. Military personnel interested in visiting those parks should check operating schedules. The remaining parks, SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and SeaWorld San Diego are open year round. The program is valid for one complimentary single-day admission per person, per year, to one of the previously listed Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks. Visit http://www.herosalute.com to learn more.
Find military-only travel deals, Space-Available travel info, discount travel offers, and more at Military.com’s Travel Center.
Pat Darnell And Friends’s last blog post..Tired of Nostradamus’s old Quatrains: look at your peers’s fresh new Urban Lexicons
Link | July 2nd, 2008 at 9:58 pm