InBev of Belgium, the world's biggest brewer, is said to be preparing a takeover of Anheuser-Busch. Anheuser-Busch is headquartered in my home, St. Louis, Missouri, and has been operating here independently for 156 years. Most of us here in St. Louis have some connection to Anheuser-Busch that goes beyond their beer and the thought of losing them has us a bit worried.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently listed just some of the Anheuser-Busch related institutions in our town:
- Baseball games at Busch stadium
- Free brewery tours
- Grant's farm, a wildlife preserve owned by Anheuser-Busch where visitors can also sample free beer
- Bevo Mill - a restaurant built by Anheuser-Busch on the eve of Prohibition to make saloon-going seem more respectable
- August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area - a 7,000-acre park
My favorite Anheuser-Busch related St. Louis tradition is the free Christmas lights display at the brewery itself. It's beautiful. My second favorite (though if I liked the beer better it would be my first) is that its approximately 6000 St. Louis employees all get a free case of beer every month.
Of course, with a takeover we are worried about losing local jobs, but we are also worried about losing an important member of our community.
New York Times Magazine's food issue
Chicken McNuggets frolic at New York City pet store
Eat your broccoli orbs! 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-02-2008 @ 2:45PM
Iscariote said...
I doubt they'll close the brewery, but I have a hard time worrying too much about disgusting beer.
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6-02-2008 @ 2:45PM
Evan said...
Every Christmas since I've been of the legal drinking age my cousins and I have gone for a brewery tour on the 27th... don't really care about the brewery anymore, but hey, 2 free beers. Hope they don't take that away.
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6-02-2008 @ 5:04PM
Red Icculus said...
Budweiser is the beer for non-discerning drinkers and rednecks.
Anyways . . .
Even though August Busch only owns about 3% of the stock, which would make them an easy takeover target, InBev doesn't have the cash on hand for a hostile takeover. It's not going to happen.
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6-02-2008 @ 6:25PM
mike said...
Americans - can dish out the capitalism, but can't take it.
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6-02-2008 @ 8:17PM
srebra said...
well, any beer made for the American market is so disgusting that even if that happen, the chances are that the beer will only get better. I don't understand why any American dumb ass think that people buy companies just so they can close them...what's the point? Don't worry, people there will still work in that "nasty beer" company. Just they might start making real beer finally.
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6-04-2008 @ 4:13PM
Colleen said...
St. Louis is my hometown too. I could see most of the big red BUDWEISER sign on the side of the brewery from the window in my last apartment before I moved away for college. It's not about the beer for us, folks. It's about a company that has been a major part of St. Louis for more than 100 years. It's about the company built by German immigrants in our town, where almost everyone has some German in their background. It's the dorky brewery tour, and the Clydesdales, and Grant's Farm, where your elementary school class would run wild every spring for a field trip. I hope the takeover doesn't happen. AB defines St. Louis as much as the Arch, and riverboats (not casinos), the Cardinals, and Ted Drewes. *sniff* /nostalgia
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