Since 1876 the Beer Budweiser has been brewing beer in St. Louis, Missouri, under the company Carl Conrad and Co. The manufacturer of the company is not that of Carl Conrad and Co. anymore but, that of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The beers are available in over 80 markets worldwide and can be found in most major places in the world.
Its marketing strategies have included sponsoring Nascar, having very anticipated super bowl commercials every year and of course the Budweiser Clydesdales; however, the craft beer industry and Budweiser have had a history of problems throughout the years. During one of Budweiser's super bowl ads they even decided to make fun of the craft beer industry.
Though the company has made fun of the craft beer industry, Anheuser-Busch InBev has gone and bought out craft beers that might have been great beers and brought them into their company. They did this is 2011 when they bought out Goose Island for 38 million dollars. In February of 2014 the company bought Blue Point for a undisclosed amount of money and in November of the same year bought out 10 Barrel.
10 Barrel fans were so upset with the buyout that they started to boycott the beer. They stopped going to the brewpub and quickly went on to other craft beer berwers. When asked about the problem Anheuser-Busch InBev, said that "We just put in five more fermentation tanks and a couple of brewing tanks" and went on to say that they hope fans will change their minds. Just showing that Anheuser-Busch InBev is about the all mighty dollar and does not recognize the true spirit of craft brewing.
Anheuser-Busch InBev has stated that they want the company to look more like Goose Island beer and have publicly tried to show that they have not changed the look or heart of Goose Island beer. Though Goose Island now sells some of the beers upwards to 55 dollars a glass and it is clear that the agenda among Anheuser- Bush InBev is to rip apart the craft beer industry and keep small breweries small and not help craft beer really grow.
The company even brags that it wanted to hire 100 craft beer sales representatives and received over 5000 resumes for the job. Showing again the company wants to look like a craft beer, but not follow the craft beer ways.
There has been some good things that have come out of the attempted mutilation of the craft beer industry by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
When Goose Island was bought out, one of the brewers of the company John Laffler left the company to start his own craft brewery Off Color Brewing. John Laffler teamed up with some other craft brewers and have come up with must try beers such as Berliner Weisse and Dark Honey Ale.
Anheuser-Busch has gone on to market other beers that they make to look like craft beers as well such as Shock top and Stella Artois among many others. The craft beer community needs to support real craft beers and not support this attempted mutilation of craft beer by Anheuser-Busch InBev. Enjoy your beer, just don't make it a Budweiser project and please drink safe.
