Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Munich Oktoberfest's bland lagers

Greg Kitsock in the Washington Post complains that the beers at Munich Oktoberfest (from just six breweries) are bland lagers.  There is more variety at an American beer festival (and American craft brewers look to Belgium and not to Germany for ideas). Kitsock does complain the joint effort of Jim Koch (Boston Beer) and the German firm of Weihenstephen for creating a new beer called Infinium within the Reinheitsgebot or beer purity law.  For more, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092706272.html

Belgians drink less beer

Anheuser-Busch InBev plans to eliminate nearly 20% of its jobs in Belgium because of a decline in sales there.  Belgian consumption fell 20% from 2000 through 2008 and continued to fall in 2009.  Beer consumption has fallen in all major markets except for Latin America.  Supposedly alcohol consumption has shifted to wine and spirits. For more, see here.

Chocolate rebel: Le Chocolaterie de Jacques Genin

The most fashionable artisan chocolate maker in France today is Jacques Genin.  The Wall Street Journal tells his story here.  A sidebar to the article briefly describes Belgian chocolate makers Pierre Marolini, Wittamer, and Mary Chocolatier Confissur, Swiss chocolate maker Confiserie Sprüngli, and British chocolate maker Auer Chocolatier.  By the way, when chocolate arrived in France around 1615, ordinary people were not allowed to consume the "food of the gods."

Mexico's Modelo challenges InBev takeover of Anheuser-Busch

Mexico's Modelo argues that its partnership with Anheuser-Busch allows it to block the InBev takeover of the St. Louis-based company. (A-B owns half of Modelo's shares.) Many observers believe that Modelo really hopes to negotiate to improve its autonomy after the Brazilian-Belgian InBev acquires Anheuser-Busch. For details, see the Wall Street Journal story here.

Drinking beer in Bruges

Rick Steves discusses drinking a rich variety of beers in the Belgian city of Bruges, only one of which (Zot or the fool) is actually brewed in the city. He did his drinking at 't Brugs Beertje which offers more than 300 Belgian beers. For details about Belgian beers, see here. It was not clear from the article whether Steves sampled any InBev brews. Probably he did, but his focus was on more distinctive and offbeat beers peculiar to the local market.

This Bud is for ... EU (says the Drudge Report)

The Anheuser Busch board is expected to vote on Sunday night (13 July 2008) to accept InBev's take over bid. For details, see here.

Anheuser-Busch moves toward acceptance of InBev take over bid

After InBev increased its financial offer, Anheuser-Busch appears to accept the take over by the Belgium based (and largely Brazilian-run) company. For details, see here.

Anheuser-Busch suit against InBev includes reference to Cuban embargo

In a law suit against its unwanted suitor the Belgian-Brazilian firm InBev, Anheuser-Busch pointed out that InBev violated the American embargo against Cuba. For more, see here.

InBev proposes to replace entire Anheuser-Busch board

To put pressure on the existing board, InBev has proposed replacing the entire Anheuser-Busch board. A Missouri senator has pledged to stop the foreign take-over of the iconic St. Louis brewer. For more, see here.

Putting the InBev bid for Anheuser-Busch into historical perspective

Writing in the Washington Post, historian Maureen Ogle puts the bid by Belgium-based InBev to take over USA-based Anheuser-Busch into historical perspective here.