I believe in free markets, free trade, creative destruction,
fierce business competition, and shareholder value.
I also believe in my hometown company, Anheuser-Busch. I believe
in family business, local institutions, free beer on brewery tours,
Clydesdale draft horses, and Grant’s Farm, the Busch family estate with an
authentic (or close enough) Bavarian Bauernhof stable and courtyard
with little motorized trams to cart you around.
But most of all I believe in Cardinal baseball. The brew house
and the team are no longer joined at the hip, but they still call
it Busch Stadium, the third such field of dreams to carry
the name.
Afternoon Tea at Dallas’s (yes, Texas) Adolphus Hotel, established in 1912, is a most
delightful experience, one I recommend if you want to enjoy
old-world elegance thanks to Adolphus Busch who also founded the
brewery that bears his name.
I have not been to Tampa’s Busch Gardens, but I am sure I would
love it.
My high degree of angst is caused by the $46 billion
(that’s with a “b”) tender offer by the Belgian brewer, InBev, to
buy out St. Louis’s trademark business which, for the moment, has
been rejected by the brewery’s board of directors. In countless
churches throughout the city, worshipers pray, devoutly, that this
is just not a negotiating tactic in quest of a more generous offer.
Just say no!
This proposed transaction puts my economic principles at odds
with my sense of rootedness in time and place. I grew up with guys
in South St. Louis who, if they were able to land a job at the
brewery, thought they had died and gone to heaven. Good pay, great
benefits and free beer-within limits. Landing an A-B beer
distributorship was the stuff of myth and legend. Cindy McCain
chairs Hensley & Co., one of the largest such operations in the
country.
Evidently, I am not alone on this. There is even a website up
and running, SaveAB.com, which boldly proclaims, “It’s Not Just A
St. Louis Brand. It’s An American Brand.” I’ll drink to that.
This is cultural trauma of the first order. My wife, loyal
daughter of Milwaukee, knows what this is all about. Pabst and
Schlitz disappeared from the scene, and Miller fell prey to the
South Africans.
Just imagine how a Michigander might feel if Toyota bought out
Ford or GM.
I distinctly recall high school boys in the pre-MADD 1960s and
early 1970s consuming several cans of Budweiser, at one sitting,
and repeating from memory, in a kind of tribute, the immortal words
inscribed on the cans just inhaled:
This is the famous Budweiser beer. We know of no
brand produced by any other brewer which costs so much to brew and
age. Our exclusive Beechwood Aging produces a taste, a smoothness
and a drinkability you will find in no other beer at any
price.
Note to my children: I never did this and neither will you!
OK, so Anheuser-Busch is not simon pure on this local ownership
thing, as Rolling Rock fans will tell you. But A-B bought it from
InBev, bringing it into U.S. ownership again, right?
Yes, globalization is coming home to roost. Holy bats in the
Bauernhof! Do I have to abandon my free-market, free-trade
principles? Probably. Can I reconcile myself to a Belgian takeover
of my town’s premier business and cultural icon? Of course not.
No sir, you Flems and Walloons, this Bud’s not for you.
