This Bud Might Not Be for Them
ST. LOUIS -- Jordan Moore took the news that his beloved Budweiser could soon fall into foreign hands very personally: He decided he would scrap his plan to get the logo of the King of Beers tattooed on his right rib cage.
"I'll tell you one thing," said the 21-year-old concrete worker during his lunch break at The Brick of St. Louis bar, in the shadow of this city's storied Anheuser-Busch Cos. brewery, "if Budweiser is made by a different country, I don't drink Budweiser anymore. I'll go back to Wild Turkey." (Wild Turkey, a Kentucky bourbon, is owned by French drinks giant Pernod Ricard SA.)
As news spread that Anheuser has entered friendly talks to possibly be acquired by InBev NV, of Belgium, a dark mood spread from the bars around the brewery to Missouri's congressional delegation to the St. Louis mayor's office and out to the rice farms in Missouri's boot-heel region.
At Johnny's Restaurant & Bar, where Anheuser-Busch products are the only ones sold and the patio is decorated with red AB umbrellas, painting contractor Randy Freese looked into his Bud glass and explained why this was a desolate day. "I don't like it at all," he said. "Anheuser-Busch does so much for this city. With InBev, that's going to go by the wayside."
InBev has said it is mindful of Anheuser's heritage and its major role in the St. Louis community. It has pledged to make Budweiser the flagship brand of the combined company, make St. Louis the company's North American headquarters and retain key executives from Anheuser. InBev Chief Executive Carlos Brito has met with government officials from Missouri in an effort to allay their concerns.
"Four-dollar gasoline is only slightly less popular than InBev in Missouri," said U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R., Mo.) in an interview. He suggests a merger could mean too much beer-industry consolidation and that the Department of Justice antitrust division might challenge a deal on such grounds. But the antitrust division hasn't been particularly aggressive about mergers in the Bush administration, and InBev has a tiny U.S. presence, so this seems unlikely.
At the St. Louis mayor's office, mayoral chief of staff Jeff Rainford estimates there are 6,000 St. Louis-area workers at Anheuser. "We're not anticipating they will all lose their job," he said, "but clearly they will cut back." Still, he said, St. Louis's economy has become diversified and would take only a short-term hit.
Rice farmers who supply crops for Anheuser beer are worried, too. "We're concerned that decisions that were being made in St. Louis now will be made in Brussels," says Blake Hurst, vice president of Missouri's State Farm Bureau.
"I'm stunned. I'm in a state of shock," said historian Maureen Ogle, author of "Ambitious Brew," a history of the beer industry. In her view, family ownership is crucial to the hard-edged competitive spirit that will ensure the success of a brewing business. "This will effectively destroy Anheuser-Busch," she said. "When you remove the family, it just becomes another corporate brewer."'
She expects that if a deal emerges, budget slashers at InBev will cut corners and that "the beautiful prestigious headquarters in St. Louis will bear no resemblance to itself in a few years." She even expects the Bud recipe to get watered down for cost-cutting purposes, though some craft-brew drinkers insist it already was watered down a long time ago.
Back at Johnny's, the 56-year-old Mr. Freese has been a loyal Bud drinker since he was 21. So will he switch from Bud if the Belgian company buys the American brewer? Fat chance.
"I'm a Bud man, plain and simple," he said. "I don't like any other beer."
Johnny's manager Rudy Piskulick wistfully recalled Anheuser's charitable and neighborly deeds, such as helping fund the symphony, the fireworks celebration, Mardi Gras events and neighborhood movie nights. "Most everybody is bummed out," he said. "Unless they have a lot of stock."
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