selling off budweiser to a real brewer would only improve that crappy beer....mmm becks

As someone who frequents Busch Gardens Europe quite a bit, I'm concerned how this will affect their theme park division. I'm guessing InBev would spin it off.

Yes...a monopoly on bad-tasting colored water. By all means, be my guest. I'll continue to drink locally made microbrews.

Let's see....I predict a thread full of beer snobs telling everyone how they prefer not to drink Budweiser for the 1000th time.

Although I feel bad for some US employees that will inevitably lose their jobs, this is no different than the countless other mergers that have happened. Doesn't a South African company own Miller (or is that Guiness)?

Monopoly? That's pushing it. By that definition, AB has a monopoly now. Becks and Stella don't exactly corner the entire beer market.

Besides, if they can make Bud taste more like Stella, Hoegaarden, or Leffe, I'm all for it.

States, towns, cities, etc. need to realize that they're going to get screwed over if they offer any special incentives to businesses to come to their town or stay. Often, there's a huge net loss (and not gain) to the area because of such incentives. Look at Wal-mart. The town builds all this infrastructure, charges the almost no taxes, allows other businesses to wither, and then acts surprised when the HQ, plant, etc. gets sold or shut down. So towns either need to say no, you pay just like anyone else or put in a penalty that says, "you're going to pay us $X if you leave or employ fewer than X people."

Considering Cindy McCain owns it, hubby John would be the only candidate you COULD have a beer with.

So this new company will have a monopoly? I'm sure Coors and Miller and every microbrew in the country will have something to say about that.

Is there anything wrong with the merger? No. Will there be anything wrong with the product after the merger? Who knows?

I wish they had done this a few years ago so I wouldn't have had to drink their god damned beer at the World Cup.

@speedwell: It's not clear to me how you could purposefully make Budweiser a worse beer. At least if you put poison in it, you'd die and people could say "Well he had a Bud, he definitely deserved it", which would be a vast improvement over Bud in its current state.

@Dead Wrestlers Society: As long as the beer they make is better then most of the stuff busch puts out.

i don't think they will sell, beer is a recession proof market.

I live in St. Louis, the home of Budweiser's original brewery and it's current headquarters. I must say that you guys have no idea what you're talking about.

@choinski: The irony is that the people the paid "men on the street" claim they "could have a beer with" don't touch the stuff.

@arras: Amen! Budwiser isn't any better then bottled urine. Not that I've tried bottled urine or urine in general.

@choinski: John is too old for beers. They interfere with his medications, and he can't sleep if he drinks alcohol after 3 pm. Would you like a nice Sanka instead? And there's Postum too.

That's hilarious that Gov. Matt is arguing that InBev will create a monopoly, as opposed to the current AB monopoly. Stella Artois is sorta like the Budweiser of France-Belgium, so it works for me.

St. Louis: America's next East St. Louis?

I think the bigger story is that AB is trying to buy Grupo Modelo, you know, they guys that make Negra Modelo. Man, please don't screw up that beer!

if you ever go to sea world (which is owned by AB) they have signs all over about how other breweries are owned by south african companies and are not U.S owned and that they take great pride in being an American company, guess they will have to take down those signs.

This might make more of those minikegs for the beertender available, which would justify the purchase of a beertender.

I'm all for the acquisition! Go InBev!

@usmcmoran: and they'll owe Bob Odenkirk an apology.

@satoru: Since I've never had a beer I liked, I'm forced to conclude that I really just don't like beer. (Yes, you can have mine. Heh)

There's a tear in his beer, because Belgians are queer. No queer beer! Ahh!

I don't drink, but I hate the smell of beer. All kinds, more or less. Sometimes I'll watch NASCAR, and I bet the reporters dread Kasey Kahne winning because everyone sprays Budweiser everywhere in victory.

I like Iron City and Yuengling so I'm no beer snob but Budweiser is terrible.

@choinski: You'd think that because of the possible political fallout over this that the sale would either be delayed or stopped. Especially with the beer swilling legions in the red states.

What is funny is that a few years back Canada went through the same thing when Molson got swallowed up by Coors. I don't remember any people here in the states calling for the kibosh to be put on that.

If you really want to support Americans buy some of the great domestic homebrews out there.

While I'm concerned about the local St. Louis economy, I'm more concerned about Natural Light production being halted.

Flavor isn't the issue here. It's market control, which opens up the opportunity for unfair price manipulation and pressure on competition. Think Microsoft or Ma Bell.

Yes, Belgians have a reputation for great beer, but I doubt that's little more than a selling point to investors when spoken about in InBev's board room.

I say let's keep what remains of corporate diversity.

Belgians actually know how to make a beer...maybe i'll actually drink it then after this goes through...

Sweet, if InBev jacks up the price of domestic swill, more people will start drinking local microbrews.

I live in St. Louis. If AB left, there would be a sudden and huge spike in unemployment and no jobs open to take in those who are leaving the plant. Besides, what would happen to our beloved Clydesdales?

@dtmoulton: There is nowhere near a monopoly in brewing and there never will be. As it is companies like Bud are loosing market share to microbrews, premium beers, and wine. The only difference you would see by this merger is more Stella and Becks on tap when they use Bud's massive distribution network.

Don't drink beer. Don't care.

Oops, actually do care. I like the commercials.

My Beer Snob Comment:
Beer should never be made with rice as an ingredient. They should not be able to call that beer.

If it goes through, maybe the Belgians will make Bud actually taste good.

Am I the only one who doesn't mind Budweiser? I guess when your choices are Bud or Pabst in college, you kind of grow an affinity to Bud.

Budweiser is good stuff for the price. Don't get me wrong I love microbrews, but when it comes to drinking around a case per weekend, I'm not going to head up the party packing a case of sixers of some $8/six beer.

And keep AB American, its a great company we have and makes a huge impact on the nation.

@darksunfox: Budweiser? Fuck that shit. Pabst. Blue. Ribbon.

The beer will not change. It will just open up markets that were previously unavailable to both AB and InBev

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Let's clear a few things up here! AB wants to buy Modelo to FEND OFF InBev. The whole reason they are working with them is to make themselves too expensive for InBev, who sent AB a letter Sunday telling them you better NOT! Seriously, that is what they did.

Also, I've only been around the STL for six years now, and it is a POS town compared to great brew cities like Milwaukee, but you have to understand that the people here went through the whole TWA/Carl Ichan debacle. Oh sure! Lambert will remain an important airport! Oh sure! We will be hands off and allow you to keep running things the way they are being run now!

By the time I moved here, Lambert was a shadow of its former self, and TWA was swallowed whole by American Airlines. Sure, it's crappy beer, but it's a way of life, a great company to work for, and it is the only thing keeping dowtown STL from becoming another Kabul.

Besides, Michelob Ultra in Tuscan Orange Grapefruit is kinda yummy.

budweiser is drinkable and a fairly consistent *american* lager. nothing terribly special about it, but the price is decent. however, the best taste/price ratio i've found is PBR - its better than BUD and about is about $6.49-$6.99 for a 12 pack (NE Indiana).

that being said, being the broke-ass that i am, i usually succumb to drinking the mass-brewed american beers because its the only way to rack up frequentl flier miles on cirrhosis airlines. but, when i'm in the mood for a splurge, stella artois (an InBev brew) is tops in taste and availability. but nothing beats a downhome microbrew like hops juice from two brothers (warrenville, il), warbird t-6 (fort wayne, in) or fat tire (colorado). or even a good import DAB, kirin ichiban special premium reserve, or a nice frothy glass of hacker pschorr.

honestly i'm not that worried about this whole mess. hopefully this new behemoth of the alcohol world will be great enough to have someone come to their senses and get miller genuine piss off of the market. miller tastes like corn and NOTHING like a beer should. blech. no wonder all my friends call it "swiller".. that would be sweet justice.

I'm with the non-snobs. I love me Guiness, and the microbrews too but some occasions just call for a Budweiser, and nothing else will really work.

The free market side of me says let the sale go through as AB would stand to make a tidy profit on the sale of stock. However, the pessimist in me sees the potential of plant closings and mass unemployment which the city of St. Louis could most certainly do without at this time.

Tough call for the board on this one.

@e-gadgetjunkie:

Besides, what would happen to our beloved Clydesdales?

If this goes through, the theme parks might end beer school! ... dont get me wrong, I hate Budweiser, but Bare Knuckle, porter, skipjack, shock top and even the new Budlight Lime are good beers.

"I guess when your choices are Bud or Pabst in college, you kind of grow an affinity to Bud."

@darksunfox: you're kidding, right?

No man, I hate PBR. Maybe from drinking too much of it at Winona State, but I hate can't stand that stuff anymore... I'm not going to go nuts and say it tastes like a litter box, but it's close. I'm not a huge bud drinker, usually go for something pricier, but if you gave me two bottles (well... cans, in PBR's case) to choose from PBR or Bud I'd choose Bud every time. Good lighter beer for the summer if you can't find a Honey Weiss.

This is meaningless to most consumers; the real monopolies are in the distribution level, not the breweries.

Even if sold, the plant won't shut down. Do you know how many Bud plants there are around the country? That's to satisfy market demand. With that much demand, the plant will keep right on brewing away...

Oh, and Bud sucks. Bass Pale Ale for this limey-wanna-be!

(Hi Tammi!)

From an economics perspective outside investment is a good thing. Continued investment from the outside will help the dollar rebound.

I had no idea beer snobs = idiots.

if the belgians buy Bud i doubt it will taste any different. you think they're going to import some Benedictine monks and start making abbey ale in St. Louis? um, no. To tell the truth, they don't even make their own beer that well: While stella has a reputation as a high-end yet widely-available brew, it's actually not that good. Becks is decent, but again, that probably has more to do with the brewery that started becks and developed its recipe before being bought out by InBev.

Bud is too much of an American institution for some snooty Belgians to come in here and fancy it up and risk alienating the millions of Americans who buy it every day. If there were any changes, i'd guess it would be to introduce more bud-variations like budweiser select.

Bottom line is that bud, like coors light, miller, and others, if cold enough, are suitably palatable to make it possible to drink enough of them to get you buzzed or drunk without retching at the flavor. Other brews, malt liquors like colt 45, old english, etc., are outrageously disgusting no matter how cold they are. higher end mass brews like sierra nevada, sam adams, and brooklyn brewery, are quite tasty, and not prohibitively expensive. but for real beer quality, try something like Dogfish Head, Ommegang, Southern Tier, the Rogue brewery, or Anchor Steam. There are so many great american microbrews out there. i'd rather drink one good pint of microbrew than six bottles of bud (if this makes me a snob, so be it. I also brew my own beer- BELGIAN STYLE- so i guess i'm really far over that line.)