There's a difference between being the largest American brewer of beer and the largest American brewer of urine.
Posted on 07/17/2008 7:39:44 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
(Pabst touts ascent to No. 1 American-owned beer maker)
Pabst Brewing Co. doesn’t operate breweries anymore, but it wants to be the first choice for every red-blooded American beer drinker.
The company, which owns dozens of beer brands and contracts with MillerCoors LLC to create most of its brews, is staking its claim as the largest remaining American-owned beer maker.
Just days after industry giant Anheuser-Busch Cos. announced its sale to InBev, a European brewer, Pabst is conducting an online survey, asking customers about it.
“Did you know that after this sale is completed, Pabst Brewing Company will be the largest remaining American-owned brewery?” the survey asks. “How likely is this information to affect your decision to purchase beer? Would information about Pabst’s American ownership on packaging, like bottles or cans, impact your decision to purchase our products?”
Executives at Pabst, based in suburban Chicago, and spokesmen for St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.
But a Pabst statement noted that it will be “the last of the famous iconic U.S. brewers to be fully independent and American-owned.”
“Most of our brands (Pabst, Schlitz, Stroh, Schaefer, Rainier, Olympia, and others) have been around since the 1800s,” the statement said.
It seems clear that Pabst is poised to snatch at the patriotic appeal long used by Anheuser-Busch.
That’s probably a smart strategy, given that some drinkers of Budweiser, the Anheuser-Busch brand that’s been sold with flag-waving ads, aren’t happy about the King of Beers being acquired by a company based in Belgium, said Mike McCarthy, an associate professor of marketing at Miami (Ohio) University.
“I do think Budweiser has cultivated a very, very strong patriotic, all-American beer image for many, many years,” McCarthy said. “I think there is a little bit of a sense that Bud is a quintessential all-American beer.”
However, with Budweiser and other Anheuser-Busch brands being owned by a European company, calling those brands all-American beers “will be a little hard to say with a straight face,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said even if just 1% of Budweiser’s customers dropped the beer and switched to Pabst Blue Ribbon, that would bring a huge boost for the brand. Its Americana image was immortalized in the 1973 Johnny Russell song “Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer,” and later in the 1992 Mary Chapin Carpenter song, “I Am a Town.”
Budweiser has seen declining sales for several years as beer drinkers turn to Bud Light and other low-calorie brews. But Budweiser in 2007 still posted sales volume of 24.6 million barrels, accounting for 11.3% of the U.S. market, according to trade publication Beer Marketer’s Insights.
Pabst Brewing, meanwhile, posted sales of 6.1 million barrels, or 2.8% market share, for all of its brands.
Anheuser-Busch’s 2007 market share was 48.2%, while Miller Brewing Co. and Coors Brewing Co., which have since combined to form MillerCoors, posted a 29.5% market share. MillerCoors is a 50-50 joint venture of London-based SABMiller PLC and Molson Coors Brewing Co., which is based in Denver and Montreal.
Pabst’s possible patriotic appeal could be seen as a bit ironic, given that its beers are made by MillerCoors, which is owned by one company based in Great Britain and another company that is co-based in Canada. Pabst, owned by the California-based Kalmanovitz Charitable Trust, closed its Milwaukee brewery in 1996 and shuttered its last remaining brewery in 2001 after hiring Miller to brew its brands. Pabst moved its offices from San Antonio, Texas, to Woodridge, Ill., in 2006.
Another irony: Anheuser-Busch in 2005 aired a TV spot that featured its employees talking about how they’re proud to serve “the only major American brewery that’s still American-owned,” profits from which stay in the United States.
The spot was a not-so-subtle dig at Coors, which earlier that year had merged with Canada’s Molson Inc., and Miller, which was sold in 2002 to South African Breweries PLC, which then changed its name to SABMiller.
In 2004, Anheuser-Busch put up posters in liquor stores and other retail outlets saying Miller is owned by “South African Breweries.” U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ordered the posters be taken down, saying they were inaccurate because Miller was actually a subsidiary of SABMiller.
I know this sounds crazy, but in a hot place like Florida, my favorite beer is Old Milwaukee.
Don’t knock it , unless you’ve tried it.
Consumer Reports had a blind tasting and called it Americans’ Best Tasting Beer.
There's a difference between being the largest American brewer of beer and the largest American brewer of urine.
I’ve taken biology courses where we were required to taste urine. Ours, specifically. Apparently you can tell a lot about how well a person’s body is functioning from the taste of urine.
Doctors used to taste urine before there were reliable tests for diabetes. The more common form of diabetes shows up as sweet-ish tasting urine. Indeed, the greek/latin term for this kind of diabetes, “Diabetes mellitus” literally means “honey sweet urine.” “diabetes” is greek in origin, meaning “to go through” or possibly “siphon,” and “mellitus” is latin based, meaning “honeyed” or “sweet.” From this latin root, we have words like “melliflous” meaning “sweet sounding” or “smooth and sweet.”
From the CDC:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=diabetes.section.5
PBR tasted kinda of like a watered-down Miller: too sweet, not enough hops, just all-around bland.
You bash the Phillies but you like their local brew? Boo!
PBR is one of my faves. Have always liked it, and have taken crap for liking it.
Are you kidding? I love the Sunset Wheat!
Really? They don’t sell it CT? I was in NYC on business a couple weeks ago and they definitely had it there. I’m surprised.
This Bud’s E U.
you may have got us last week but no danger. wagner will choke a few more games up, the phils will trounce the mets in september like last year, and the mets will be playing golf come october. ;)
My world-class beer consuming is far in the past, but around this house, Point is the only one in the 'fridge, I tell you what.
Potosi is back up and running this month, but I haven't had a chance to try any as of yet.
Mr. niteowl77
Exactly. As my quantity decreased, my demand for quality increased. So many small local brews today. So little time.
Beer Ping!
A low to medium ping list aimed at all of us who, well, love our beer…
FReepmail rzeznikj at stout or GOP_Raider to be added or struck from the list…
It’s official then...
I’m switching.
First beer I ever tasted was a PBR, when I was 11. My pawpaw gave me a sip. Then he had to snatch it away from me :)
It’s my baseline.
We had a Dachsund when I was a kid. Dad would set down two saucers of beer and the dog ALWAYS drank the PBR and shunned the Miller.
Dad won a lot of bar bets with that dog. :)
That is CLASSIC :)
Must be an acquired thing. It’s got a funny taste to me, some kind of spice I think.
Nope. Don’t think so. Yuengling is privately held.
Yep. I haven't bought beer in ages. I make my own, which is therefore American-made, although I sometimes have to use a small amount of imported grains.
I've found that I prefer my own beer to what is available in the stores, or even brewpubs.
As a Bud Lite drinker, it may be time for a change.
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