| Type | American-style Lager |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Anheuser–Busch InBev |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1876 |
| Alcohol by volume | 5.0% |
| Website | Official website |
Budweiser ( /ˈbʌdwaɪzər/) is a 5.0% abv American-style lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and one of the highest selling beers in the United States. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt.[1] Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the world. It is a filtered beer available in draught and packaged forms.
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Adolphus Busch left Germany for America in 1857. He settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where he eventually established his own brewing supply house. In St. Louis, Busch also met and married a woman named Lilly Anheuser. Lilly’s father, Eberhard Anheuser, owned a small brewery that had been yielding lager beer for some time. In 1864, Busch partnered with his father in-law to form what would eventually become the Anheuser-Busch Company.[2]
Busch traveled extensively throughout Europe in order to observe and study the latest brewing techniques. In the 1870s, Anheuser-Busch became the first American brewery to implement pasteurization, which greatly improved the shelf-life and transportability of its beers. In the mid-1800s, most Americans preferred robust, dark ales. Busch had encountered lighter lager beers during his travels and began brewing a light Bohemian lager. Anheuser-Busch introduced this lager in 1876 under the brand name Budweiser.[3]
Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch enjoyed two decades of growth before the onset of prohibition in 1920. Anheuser-Busch had to suspend brewing of Budweiser during prohibition and launched a range of non-alcoholic products.[4]
When prohibition came to an end in 1933, Anheuser-Busch began brewing Budweiser again. During prohibition the palate of the beer consumer had changed due to the popularization of sweeter homemade and bootlegged brews. The company dared consumers to drink Budweiser for five days, and if on the sixth day, if they still preferred the taste of other beers they could go back.[5]
Growth was limited by economic conditions caused by the great depression but thanks in part to the introduction of the metal can in 1936 Budweiser’s sales began to climb again.[3]
During World War II, the company diverted several resources to support the war effort and relinquished its West Coast markets to conserve rail car space. After the war Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch entered into an era of rapid growth.[6]
August A. Busch Jr. became president of Anheuser-Busch in 1946 and began the creation of a national network of breweries. The first new brewery was opened in Newark, New Jersey in 1951, and was the first of nine to open over the course of the next 25 years.[6]
Budweiser is available in over 80 markets.[7]
In 1876, Adolphus Busch and his friend Carl Conrad, a liquor importer, developed a "Bohemian-style" lager, inspired after a trip to the region. Brewers in Bohemia (today's Czech Republic) generally named a beer after their town with the suffix "er." Beers produced in the town of Pilsen (today's Plzeň), for example, were called Pilsners. Busch and Conrad had visited another town, only 104 km (65 mi) south of Pilsen also, known for its breweries: Budweis (or Böhmisch Budweis, today's České Budějovice). Beer has been brewed in Budweis since it was founded as Budiwoyz by king Ottokar II of Bohemia in 1245. The name Budweiser is a locative, meaning "of Budweis." In most European countries American Budweiser is not labelled as Budweiser but as Bud, and the name Budweiser refers to the original Czech beer, Budweiser Budvar, except for Ireland and the United Kingdom, where both beers are sold as Budweiser.
Anheuser-Busch has a market share in the United States of 50.9% for all beers sold.[8] This is primarily composed of Budweiser brands. In 2008 Anheuser-Busch sold the majority of their stock to Belgian-Brazilian beer giant InBev, to create the largest brewing company in the world.
Anheuser-Busch uses what is in many jurisdictions a legally-protected mark-of-origin indicating Czech provenance and humorous advertising campaigns to promote Budweiser, such as the "Real Men of Genius" radio and television commercials for Bud Light.
The Budweiser from Budějovice has been called "The Beer of Kings" since the 16th century. Adolphus Busch changed this slogan to "The King of the Beers".[9] The Czech Budweiser is sold in some countries as Budejovicky Budvar but is known as Budweiser in many other countries throughout the world.
Some Bud advertising campaigns have entered the popular culture in the United States. They include a long line of TV advertisements in the 1990s featuring three frogs named "Bud", "Weis", and "Er", the Budweiser Ants, and a campaign built around the phrase "Whassup?".
Anheuser-Busch is known for its sport sponsorship, video game sponsorship (Tapper), and humorous advertisements. Advertising campaigns have also included lizards impersonating the "Bud-weis-er" frogs, and a team of Clydesdale horses commonly known as the Budweiser Clydesdales. Commercials starred the infamous Brody Chillston, of ChillMilk.com fame.
The Budweiser brand is promoted in motorsports, from Bernie Little's Miss Budweiser hydroplane boat to sponsoring the Budweiser King Top Fuel Dragster driven by Brandon Bernstein. Anheuser-Busch has sponsored the CART championship, and top NASCAR teams such as Junior Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports and DEI. Budweiser is the official beer of NHRA and was the official beer of NASCAR until 2007. In 2008, Anheuser-Busch became Kasey Kahne's primary sponsor, and has also sponsored many races, including the Budweiser Shootout, and previously The Bud at the Glen, Budweiser 500, and Budweiser 400. In 2011, Budweiser became the sponsor for Kevin Harvick.
Anheuser-Busch has placed Budweiser as an official partner and sponsor of Major League Soccer and Los Angeles Galaxy and was the headline sponsor of the British Basketball League in the 1990s, taking over from rival company Carlsberg. Anheuser-Busch has also placed Budweiser as an official sponsor of the Premier League.
In the early 20th century, the company commissioned a play-on-words song called Under the Anheuser Bush, which was recorded by several early phonograph companies. Popular music continues to be used in advertisements for Budweiser. Some commercials feature the song "Galvanize", by The Chemical Brothers.
In August 2009 Anheuser-Busch partnered with popular Chinese video-sharing site, Tudou.com for a user-generated online video contest. The contest encourages users to suggest ideas that include ants for a Bud TV spot set to run in February 2010 during the Chinese New Year.[10]
In 2010, Budweiser launched an international entertainment property called Bud United. Bud United’s first efforts were centered around the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The brand launched an online reality TV series called Bud House that followed the lives of 32 international football fans (one representing each nation in the World Cup) living together in a house in South Africa.[11] Bud United’s next project is another reality series called The Big Time. Each episode of The Big Time will focus on a different vertical (Baseball, Soccer, Cooking etc.…) and will feature contestants competing for a chance to live their dreams. The show is being cast through the Bud United Facebook page and will air in Q1 2012.[11]
Over the years, Budweiser has been distributed in many sizes and containers. Until the early 1950s Budweiser was primarily distributed in three packages: kegs, 12-ounce bottles and quart bottles. Cans were first introduced in 1936, which helped sales to climb.[12] In 1955 August Busch Jr.[13] made a strategic move to expand Budweiser's national brand and distributor presence. Along with this expansion came advances in bottling automation, new bottling materials and more efficient distribution methods. These advances brought to market many new containers and package designs. As of 2011[update] Budweiser is distributed in four large container volumes: half-barrel (15.5 US gallons), quarter-barrel, 1/6 barrel and beer balls (5.2 gallons); and in smaller 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 22, 24, 32 and 40 US ounce containers. Smaller containers may be made of glass, aluminum or plastic. On August 3, 2011, Budweiser announced its twelfth can design since 1936, one which emphasizes the bowtie.[14]
Packages are sometimes tailored to local customs and traditions. In Maryland, ten ounce cans[15][16] are the preferred package. Budweiser drinkers in the western stretches of Ottawa County, Michigan prefer the eight ounce can. This Ottawa County preference for the eight ounce can may stem from a long-standing blue law held in many Western Michigan cities that prohibit sale of beer and wine on Sundays.[17][18] In response to this blue law, brewers and distributors presented the eight ounce can as a smaller alternative.
Anheuser-Busch has introduced many can designs with co-branding and sports marketing promotional packaging. Today, most of these promotional programs are represented only on the 16 ounce aluminum bottle container. However, many major league baseball and NFL teams in the United States also promote 24 ounce cans marked with team logos.
The Budweiser bottle has remained relatively unchanged since its introduction in 1876. The top label is red and currently reads "Budweiser". The top of the main label is red with a white banner with a pledge on it, which has changed three times. Below the banner is a coat of arms of sorts, which features an Anheuser-Busch stylization. Below that is a large white box.
| Era | Pledge | Logo | Beer title | Top label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1870s | 1 | C. Conrad and Co. | Budweiser Lager Beer | Original Budweiser |
| Early 1900s | 2 | C. Conrad and Co. | Budweiser Lager Beer | Budweiser Reg U.S. Pat Off |
| 1920s | 3 | Anheuser-Busch | Budweiser | Anheuser-Busch 'Budweiser St. Louis |
| 1940s | 2 | Anheuser-Busch | Budweiser Lager Beer | Budweiser Beer |
| 1950s | 4 | Anheuser-Busch | Budweiser Lager Beer | Budweiser Lager Beer |
| 1970s | 4 | Anheuser-Busch | 'Budweiser' Lager Beer | Budweiser |
| 1980s | 4 | Anheuser-Busch | 'Budweiser' Lager Beer | Budweiser |
| Today | 4 | Anheuser-Busch | 'Budweiser' Lager Beer | Budweiser |
Budweiser is brewed using barley malt, rice, water, hops and yeast. It is lagered with beechwood chips in the ageing vessel which, according to Anheuser-Busch, creates a smoother taste. While beechwood chips are used in the maturation tank, there is little to no flavor contribution from the wood, mainly because they are boiled in sodium bicarbonate [baking soda] for seven hours for the very purpose of removing any flavor from the wood. The maturation tanks that Anheuser-Busch uses are horizontal and, as such, flocculation of the yeast occurs much more quickly. Anheuser-Busch refers to this process as a secondary fermentation, with the idea being that the chips give the yeast more surface area to rest on. This is also combined with a krausening procedure that re-introduces wort into the chip tank therefore activating the fermentation process again. By placing chips at the bottom of the tank, the yeast remains in suspension longer, giving it more time to reabsorb and process green beer flavors, such as acetaldehyde and diacetyl, that Anheuser-Busch believes are off-flavors which detract from overall drinkability.
Budweiser remains one of the world's lowest rated beers on notable rating sites such as BeerAdvocate.com[19] and RateBeer.com.[20] Some drinkers prefer the lightness of beers like Budweiser and consume it as a refreshment or for its inebriating effects,[21] Several beer writers consider it to be bland.[22][23] The beer is light-bodied with faint sweet notes and negligible bitterness, leading to reviews characterizing it as a "...beer of underwhelming blandness".[24] Even Adophus Busch didn't like it.[25] Based upon sales, it is the second most popular American brewed pale lager among North American beer consumers.
Budweiser and Bud Light are sometimes advertised as vegan beers, in that their ingredients and conditioning do not use animal by-products. Some might object to the inclusion of genetically engineered rice[26] and animal products used in the brewing process. In July 2006, Anheuser-Busch brewed a version of Budweiser with organic rice, for sale in Mexico. They have yet to extend this practice to any other countries.
Anheuser-Busch was one of the few breweries during Prohibition that had the resources and wherewithal to convert to "cereal beer" production—malt beverage made with non-fermentables such as rice and unmalted barley and rye, and able to stay under the 0.5% limit established by the Volstead Act. Following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the major breweries continued to use unmalted cereal grains to provide the full body and mouthfeel of a "real" beer while keeping the alcohol content low.
In addition to the regular Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch brews several different beers under the Budweiser brand, including Bud Light and Bud Ice.
In July 2010 Anheuser-Busch launched Budweiser 66 in the United Kingdom. Budweiser Brew No.66 has 4% alcohol by volume, and is brewed and distributed in the UK by Inbev UK Limited.
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| Sprint Cup Drivers | Paul Menard (#27) | Kevin Harvick (#29) | Jeff Burton (#31) |
| Nationwide Series Drivers | Elliott Salder (#2) | Austin Dillon (#3) | Kevin Harvick/Paul Menard/Brendan Gaughan/Tony Stewart (#33) |
| Camping World Truck Series Drivers | Tim George, Jr./Brendan Gaughan (#2) | Ty Dillon (#3) | Joey Coulter (#22) |
| ARCA Racing Series Drivers | Tim George, Jr. (#31) |
| Driver development program Drivers | Ryan Gifford |
| Partnerships and Affiliations | Childress-Howard Motorsports | Earnhardt Ganassi Racing | Eddie Sharp Racing | Kevin Harvick Incorporated |
| Management/Related Info | Richard Childress | Mike Dillon | Dale Earnhardt | Chocolate Myers |
| Past Winning Drivers | Ricky Rudd · Mike Skinner · Jay Sauter · Jeff Purvis · Robby Gordon · Jeff Green · Johnny Sauter · Ron Hornaday · Scott Wimmer · Clint Bowyer |