After holding firm back in June and turning down a buyout offer, Anheuser-Busch surrendered over the weekend and allowed European brewer InBev to buy them for approximately $52 billion. America's largest beer maker is no longer in American hands, a move that leaves some beer drinkers a bit concerned for their favorite brew (maybe this will convince more people to switch to locally produced small batch brewers. What?! A girl can dream).

The new company will be called Anheuser-Busch InBev, one of the terms brokered in the buyout deal. August A. Busch IV, the company's CEO (and descent of one of the brewery's founders) will be given a seat on the board. According to a press release issued by both companies, no US breweries will be closing because of the merger.

[via NYT]

Apparently, the European mega beer company, InBev, really, really, really wants to buy Anheuser-Busch. After being firmly rejected last Thursday, InBev is preparing to make a hostile takeover bid.

The European beer giant is maneuvering either to remove the AB Board of Directors, or to be able to take its proposal straight to the shareholders. Though Ab came up with some cost cutting plans that would save the company more than $1 billion over the next four years and eventually raise share prices, many analysts believe that shareholders would go with cold hard cash now rather than the possible share price increase in the future.

One commenter on the St. Louis Business Journal article raised the concern that InBev isn't likely to spend the money on being environmentally responsible that AB does. That commenter goes on to ask where the environmentalists are. Does anyone have any more information on that aspect of this that they'd like to share?

You knew it had to happen. Late last week, the Anheuser-Busch board of directors politely yet firmly told InBev that they were fine, thanks.

As reported in Beer Advocate, the response to InBev's offer to buy AB at $65 a share was a polite thanks but no thanks. The board if directors for the beer giant said that even though the $65 per share was over current share price, the offer really undervalued the earnings potential of the brand, as well as other assets the company has and plans they've made to make more money . So basically, InBev's offer wasn't enough.

Not that I can blame them. I don't think any company that's doing as well as Anheuser-Busch wants to be taken over. I personally like the decision. I don't like the thought of mega global companies all buying each other up to form one massive corporation, but that's just me. What do you think?

Well, it's official. I've been hearing rumors about this for a week or so, but now I know it's real. Belgian beer giant InBev has made an offer to buy American beer giant Anheuser-Busch.

InBev is offering $65 per share in their unsolicited bid. RealBeer.com reports that the Anheuser-Busch board of directors is carefully weighing all the options.

It's no secret that I'm a beer snob. While I would drink Budweiser if it were the only beverage being served, it's not my first, second, third, or fourth choice. However, it is an American institution. I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, being taken over by a Belgian company could do wonders for the quality of the beer. On the other hand, Anheuser-Busch has played historically significant roles in American beer culture. Then again, InBev may decide to take a hands-off approach and simply own the company from a distance. How do you feel about InBev's offer to buy Anheuser-Busch?

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.

Beer is one of my favorite beverages. However, I have never really gotten into beer cocktails. Apparently that isn't true for all drinkers of beer, especially in the Latino community. They've been mixing beer and Clamato for generations, or so I have recently found out. Well, word must have gotten out to the beverage companies because Anheuser-Busch and Cadbury Schwepps have recently announced the introduction of Budweiser & Clamato Chelada and Bud Light & Clamato Chelada.

Test introductions in initial markets were tremendously successful. So, as of Monday, January 14, 2008, the Chelada cocktail was rolled out nationwide. The drink is to be sold as a 24 ounce single serve can or as 16 ounce -4 pack cans.

This team up from the major beverage makers is aimed at making it easier to get a perfect beer/clamato cocktail. They may also be hoping to bridge cultures, as this combination is mostly a favorite in the Latino community. Chelada is actually a shortening of a phrase that means "my cold beer". If Chelada becomes popular in most demographics, it could be a real unifier for our divided nation. Maybe someone could mention that to our presidential candidates. You never know.

[Via BeerAdvocate.com]

Move over Jinro. Doosan, your main competitor in the soju game, just teamed up with one of the big boys, Anheuser-Busch.

Who knows, if all goes well A-B might just make soju a household word. As you might have guessed, the Korean spirit brewed from sweet potatoes and rice, among other things, has long been a household word for me. The crisp spirit is a lower-octane, tastier version of vodka that's the libation of choice for Korean food, barbecue or otherwise.

A-B, will be taking over the distribution of Ku Soju, which is distilled by Doosan. I've tried more than a handful of sojus in my day, but I've never heard of Ku. The article I read makes much of comparing it to such premium vodkas as Belvedere and Chopin. Forget that noise, I want to know how this stuff stands up to a blazing bowl of soon doo-boo jji-gae.

LandShark Lager, rather than Corona, is the new top brew of Jimmy Buffett. It's not hard to see why. The bottle is emblazoned with shark fins and bears a casual-looking font that it is easy to associate with the beach and Buffett's "laid-back vibe." The self-described "original island lager" looks to be a microbrew, and because the bottles declare that the beer was made by the Margaritaville Brewing Co., consumers have little reason to doubt their microbrew assumption. The beer, however, is made by Anheuser-Busch.

Increasingly, Anheuser-Busch and other large companies are trying to hide their involvement with some of their products, hoping that consumers who ordinarily might be put off by a big brewing company's involvement will be tempted into buying the brews. Anheuser-Busch sells organic Wild Hop Lager and Stone Mill Pale Ale labeled as the "product of Green Valley Brewing Co." Coors has a craft beer called Blue Moon in its lineup, though you wouldn't know it to look at its packaging, either.

"I see it as smart marketing for them," said one restaurant owner, whose grill does a brisk trader of LandShark. "There's kind of a reverse snobbism that says if a big company makes it, it can't be good. If it was called Budweiser LandShark Lager, it probably wouldn't be selling as well."

Anheuser-Busch is thinking outside the keg. It's tapping a test run of Wild Blue Blueberry Lager in four markets, including Bloomington, Minn.

As a self-professed beer geek and sometime home brewer, the grandaddy of fruit beers, lambic, has been on my brewdar for years. Lambic, with a flavor that intermingles sweet, musty and tart, scarcely deserves to be lumped under the term beer. In case you're wondering, I like it, but like a good stinky cheese, some varieties require a second tasting for true appreciation. As for American craft brews that have fruit flavorings – I've been underwhelmed.

Don't get me wrong, I'd like nothing more than for Wild Blue to be the first world-class US fruit beer. With an alcohol level of eight percent, it might make a better dessert beer. But I'm not hopeful given the word on Beer Advocate. The kindest thing its tasters have to say is, "Not actually horrible, but... Where did they get this blueberry flavoring?"