Wednesday’s Independence Day ad is also from 1976, a series of bicentennial stickers for Budweiser’s 70s pitchman Budman. The six are known collectively as the “Budman Patriot Set.” Happy Independence Day!
The Fife Player
Crossing the Delaware?
Flying the flag
Betsey “Bud” Ross
Paul Revere lighting the lamp in the North Church.
Fixing the Liberty Bell?
Today in 1776, the United States declared their Independence from Great Britain.
United States
United States Breweries
Last year I did a page of brewery links for each state, which can be found below:
United States Brewery Guides
Other Guides
Guilds: Brewers Association; Beer Institute, numerous State Guilds plus many additional U.S. organizations
National Regulatory Agency: TTB
Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: TTB Requirements
Drunk Driving Laws: BAC 0.08%
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
WHO Alcohol Data:
Patterns of Drinking Score: 2
Prohibition: 1920-1933
Tuesday’s ad is from 1976, a bicentennial Pabst Blue Ribbon sticker showing two fife players and a drummer drumming on a glass of beer. I’m not sure why they’re dressed like Superman or have capes or all have mustaches, but they do look patriotic. Happy Independence Day tomorrow!
Monday’s ad is from 1956 and is for Budweiser. It’s a pretty cool image — an illustration I believe — showing several couples dancing with a band behind them providing music to tap their toes to. But the scene is distorted because we’re seeing it through the golden hues of a glass of beer.
Today in 1960, Somalia gained their Independence from Italy and the United Kingdom.
Somalia
Somalia Breweries
Somalia Brewery Guides
Other Guides
Guild: None
National Regulatory Agency: None
Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: N/A
Drunk Driving Laws: BAC 0.00%
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
WHO Alcohol Data:
Patterns of Drinking Score: N/A
Prohibition: Yes
Today in 1962, Rwanda gained their Independence from Belgium.
Rwanda
Rwanda Breweries
Rwanda Brewery Guides
Other Guides
Guild: None Known
National Regulatory Agency: None
Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Not Known
Drunk Driving Laws: BAC 0.08%
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
WHO Alcohol Data:
Patterns of Drinking Score: 3
Prohibition: None.
Today in 1962, Burundi gained their Independence from Belgium.
Burundi
Burundi Breweries
Burundi Brewery Guides
Other Guides
Guild: None Known
National Regulatory Agency: None
Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Not Known
Drunk Driving Laws: BAC 0.10%
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
WHO Alcohol Data:
Patterns of Drinking Score: 3
Prohibition: None
Today in 1960, Democratic Republic of the Congo gained their Independence from Belgium.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo Breweries
Democratic Republic of the Congo Brewery Guides
Other Guides
Guild: None Known
National Regulatory Agency: None
Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Not Known
Drunk Driving Laws: No Limit
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
WHO Alcohol Data:
Patterns of Drinking Score: 3
Prohibition: None
Friday’s ad concludes our week of Rheingold Beer ads, this one from 1956, featuring Miss Rheingold from that year Hillie Merritt. Standing in front of a colorful garden, she’s about to get on a bicycle built for two. I wonder who the second person is?
By now you’ve already seen the news that Anheuser-Busch InBev has taken another step closer to realizing their quest for world domination in the beer business. They’d already owned half of Mexican powerhouse brewer Grupo Modelo — makers of Corona, among other brands — but it was non-voting stock and they asserted very little control over them. In fact, Corona is often a competitor in the U.S., usually with non-Bud distributors. The irony, of course, is whether you bought Bud or Corona, eventually at least some of that money still made its way to ABI. The phrase “laughing all the way to the bank” springs to mind. Hard as it to believe, they already have a new website up even though the merger’s only been finalized in the last twenty-four hours. The name of the new site is Global Beer Leader. Does anybody else think that sounds ominously close to North Korea’s “dear leader?”
ABI is paying Grupo Model $20.1 billion to become ABIM, making it the second-biggest deal ever brokered in the beer world. The first was the $52 billion InBev paid to merge with Anheuser-Busch in 2008. The deal still needs government approval, and will likely be addressed and decided in the first quarter of next year.
According to the deal, Crown Imports — the current importer of Corona and other Grupo Modelo brands under the Constellation Brands umbrella — will continue to be the importer to the U.S. In fact, part of the deal includes the sale of the half of Crown Imports owned by Grupo Modelo to Constellation Brands, who had owned the other half, for $1.85 billion. That gives them 100% control over the distribution of the Modelo brands in America. ABIM head honcho Carlos Brito told Harry Schumacher this morning that they’re looking at this as a golden opportunity primarily to combine Bud and Corona outside the U.S. in the global beer market.
Adam Nason at Beer Pulse has a helpful chart showing that the merger gives ABIM control over 8 of the top 15 global beer brands, just over half.
Full details of the deal can be found at the new website Global Beer Leader.
NOTE: This NOT their official new logo, I made this up as a parody.