Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)

The history of the American Budweiser began in 1876 , when one of the co-owners of the Anheuser-Busch family brewery located in St. Louis , Missouri, Adolfus Bush visited Bohemia and, returning to America, decided to start production of the Bohemian type beer. Since the recipes of the masters from the town of Ceske Budejovice were taken as the basis for a new beer, it was named in accordance with the Budweiser tradition adopted there (literal translation from German is “Budejovice”). In the future, this choice of name caused more than a century of conflict over the right to use the Budweiser brand between Anheuser-Busch and the Czech Budweiser Budvar brewery.

Despite the Czech beer brewing traditions declared even in the name of the new beer, the composition and taste of the American Budweiser significantly differed from the European counterpart, which allowed us to talk about the appearance in the USA of its own type of beer, which was called the American lager , and which was considered to be the ancestor of beer manufactured by Anheuser-Busch. By 1901, Budweiser already had the status of nationwide beer in the United States, and its annual production exceeded 1 million barrels (almost 12 million decalitres). Budweiser beer was one of the first products to produce refrigeration and pasteurization on an industrial scale. The use of pasteurization since 1877 made it possible to significantly increase the shelf life of beer and, accordingly, made it possible to transport it over long distances, which contributed to the conquest of the entire American market by this beer.

The traditional Budweiser was not actually produced during the Prohibition in the United States in 1920-1933, when the manufacturer existed through the production of beer with a minimum alcohol content, including under the name Budweiser, as well as through the production of food products. At the end of the Prohibition, Budweiser regained its popularity in the United States, not least due to an unprecedented action during which for 5 days everyone could try this beer for free.

Subsequently, Budweiser’s position in the US market was further strengthened thanks to large-scale advertising campaigns, sponsorship of popular sports events, etc. In the 2000s, more than half of beer sales in the US market accounted for Anheuser-Busch products ^[1] , whose most the mass and popular product is precisely Budweiser. In addition, beer of this brand was actively promoted to foreign markets, both through export and through licensing agreements with foreign brewing companies. Since 1957, Budweiser was considered the beer with the highest sales in the world.

In 2008, a controlling stake in Anheuser-Busch was acquired by the international Belgian-Brazilian corporation InBev . Formed by this takeover, Anheuser-Busch InBev became the largest beer producer in the world, and Budweiser became one of the three global brands of this brewing giant, along with Beck's and Stella Artois . Now beer of this brand is produced in several countries of the world and is represented in more than 70 national beer markets. Due to a dispute over the Budweiser name, it is sold under the Bud brand name in some markets, in particular in most countries of the European Union .

The leading brand of the Budweiser brand is the so-called American lager with an alcohol content of 5%, in the production of which, in addition to the ingredients standard for traditional lagers , rice grits are used. In addition to him, at different times, under the Budweiser and Bud trademarks, several more types of beer were produced or continue to be produced, in particular:

• Budweiser Select is a lightweight, low-calorie lager with a 4.3% alcohol content.
• Budweiser American Ale is a semi-dark ale with a 5.3% alcohol content.
• Budweiser 4 is a lightweight lager with a 4.0% alcohol content.
• Bud Light is a lightweight lager with a 4.0% alcohol content.
• Bud Ice - ice light beer with an alcohol content of 5.5%.
• Bud Dry - light beer with an alcohol content of 5.5%.
• Bud TRADE MARK - light beer with an alcohol content of 5.0%.
• Bud Non Alcoholic - light beer with an alcohol content of less than 0.5%

• Official Budweiser Website
• Budweiser on the official Anheuser-Busch InBev website
• Budweiser at RateBeer.com