Today's lesson: To keep American beer American, shut up and fish?
If you're asking why Anheuser-Busch is selling to Belgians, the answer might be because of a fishing trip that went wrong, according to a theory reported by The Wall Street Journal.
I kid you not. Busch III apparently decided it was more important to take a phone call from the States while fishing with a big-wigs from the company that brews Corona Extra in Mexico than to continue reeling in a fish he had hooked.
He then decided to fly back to the States early, cutting short the fishing trip, the report says.
Relations between the two companies, despite a deal linking them financially, reportedly remained chilly for years.
If the Corona Extra brewer would have been willing to sell its controlling stake in the company to Anheuser-Busch, it could have helped stave off InBev's takeover of the King of Beers, or so the theory goes.
See the theory here, complete with a nice fish picture.
Scott · July 17, 2008 8:50 AM
I don't know why people are so upset about AB being bought by InBev (well, actually I do. AB was an American brewing mainstay). But nothing will change here domestically with the beer. If anything, it will help bring more foreign beers to our country! And for anyone who likes something different every once in a while, that's great.
And let's be honest here. It's a great time to purchase anything American. Our money and economy is just in the dumps (and probably going to get worse). Can you blame foreigners for buying up our companies for cheap?