Who produced and branded Budweiser?
As you can imagine, Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest manufacturer today, has spent a lot of effort to reach this point. Adolphus Busch and his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser, had been operating the St. Louis Brewery since the mid-1800s.
The popular craft at the time was to brew something lighter, as opposed to the dark and strong American beers. His close friend Carl Conrad, a wine and alcohol merchant, visited the city, whose German name is Budweis, today known as České Budějovice, and could not forget the wonderful beer he drank in a monastery there. Today, České Budějovice is the largest city and commercial center of Southern Bohemia.
Conrad suggested this idea to his friend, and they named the similar beer they produced with Busch "Budweiser", meaning "from Budweis".
Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is a brewing company based in the United States. The company was founded in 1852 by Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch and was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2008. The company is headquartered in St Louis.
Eberhard Anheuser (27 September 1806–May 1880) was a German-American soap and candle maker, and the father-in-law of Adolphus Busch, the founder of the Anheuser-Busch Company.
Could Budweiser's story, which began in 1857, provide an important message in today's political landscape? If we consider that the birth of the company started with Adolphus Busch, who immigrated to America from Germany, it is understandable why this story is important in today's refugee and immigration policies.
There are many troubles in the story of Adolphus Busch's migration from Germany to St Louis, Missouri, USA in 1857. Adolphus Busch travels dangerous roads, gets injured, passes through people who do not want Germans (immigrants), and shouts “Go home!” He is exposed to their voices, and he gets cold and wet, but eventually, he reaches St. Louis. He also emphasizes that his only wish throughout the journey was to produce beer. At the bar he finally enters, a friendly gentleman buys him a beer. Busch thanks him but says next time, let's have this beer. And he shows off the sketch of a Budweiser bottle he drew in his notebook. By the way, who is that gentleman? Eberhard Anheuser, who would later be Busch's father-in-law and the founder of the Anheuser-Busch company that would produce Budweiser!
In my opinion, and I think for many people, this story tells Americans this in a nutshell: "That beer you drink so much today, you are drinking it thanks to an immigrant."
A different version of Budweiser's story
Anheuser started his production life with the production of soap and candles. In 1852, despite all his inexperience, he established a brewery.
Adolphus Busch immigrated to America from Germany in 1857 and started working in Anheuser's factory. By 1860, Adolphus married his boss's daughter and took over the management of the factory, changing the company's name to Anheuser-Busch Brewing.
At that time, heavy dark ales were drunk in America. Considering the hot summer period, Adolphus started working on a new option and created Budweiser.⠀
While Adolphus was innovative with his beer, he also continued these innovative steps with his other steps.⠀
Adolphus pasteurized his beer before even milk producers in America had pasteurized it.⠀
To prevent the beer from spoiling during long train shipment journeys, he installed a refrigerated train system and spread his beer fresh and cold throughout America with this system.⠀
He also had innovative ideas about marketing. He ensured that his brand was adopted even more by having hit songs made specifically for his brand.⠀
Today, Budweiser ranks 3rd in the list of the world's best-selling beers, after the top two Chinese brands, Snow and Tsingtao.