NOOOOO!
I can’t describe the strong reaction that I had upon reading this headline: Belgian Brewer InBev to Buy Anheuser-Busch for$52B
No! I just heard on NPR that AB was all, “You’re mean! We don’t need your money! And, hello? Cuba? Please,” and that was very comforting to somebody who grew up on Busch Light (after graduating from wine coolers and Boone’s Farm, of course). When I moved on from the watery taste of Busch Light, it was the watery taste of Bud Light that I loved. I felt more sophisticated. Bud Light was a grown-up beer. On special occasions, such as 8th grade graduation, I bought it in bottles instead of cans. In college I experimented a little bit with Bud Ice Light and Zima, but everybody experiments in college and nobody should be judged for that. When I moved to Arizona at 19 and my brother sneered over my shoulder every time I ordered my tried-and-true favorite, I branched out a little bit and started enjoying Bass Ale, which is an import, but it’s distributed by Anheuser-Busch, so it was ok.
Even though nowadays I don’t really stick with the AB brand all that much, it’s still a piece of my childhood. I don’t buy Fun Dip anymore, either, but it still holds a special place in my heart and I would prefer that it was still called Lik-m-ade like it was when I was young. And you know how at the end of the Bud commercials, the deep-voiced announcer says, “Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, Missouri”? That just feels like home to me. If he starts saying, “Anheuser-Busch InBev, St. Louis, Missouri, Belgium, Cuba,” that just won’t feel right.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:30 am
I so wish I liked beer. It seems so refreshing. But then I taste it and wretch and it doesn’t seem so refreshing anymore.
And Zima! I would never judge you for drinking Zima, if you don’t judge me for drinking Zima with a shot of grenadine in it. So, yeah, pink Zima drinker here. I know how to class it up.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Uh, I need to clarify that I don’t drink pink Zima anymore. Just had to make that clear. I drink cheap white wine out of plastic cups.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:42 am
@Carol, you’re drinking a pink Zima right now, I just know it.
July 14th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I thought it was Lick A Stick.
July 14th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
@Kristen You’re filthy.
July 14th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Yikes! as a Pink Zima drinker myself I’m gonna hold my head high now that you have given me the courage to say “It was college. I was experimenting.” It did feel down right cosmo at the time (ooh another pink drink I enjoy). As far as AB goes, my husband is currently weeping over that fiasco. He hates to support foreign when he can buy domestic
July 14th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Um, I don’t want to start a rumble here on poor Abby’s blog, but I remember sipping Zima with a certain lady who was a) not in college and b) not experimenting. She was a professional career woman with a gold Chevy Beretta and everything.
Or we could just pretend we were both college freshmen when that happened. Yeah, just let’s go with that.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Way to call a girl out! I thought we were sisters. Cold. Man you remember real clearly for as many brain cells as we’ve killed.
Abby, I’m sorry to air this dirty laundry on your other-wise clean site.
July 14th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
You bitches calm down. This is a family joint. A Family Guy-type family joint, but still.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:12 am
I guess this is a little less worrisome than when China tried to buy a U.S. oil company. And as a very off-topic comment, why on earth does the United States *export* oil? Isn’t it common sense that if we stop exporting American oil, we could use it ourselves and reduce the amounts we import?
July 15th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Speaking of Zima…I used to put jelly life savers in them to “spice it up”…yes, it was college…
I am an AB supporter, I worked for Fabiano Brothers in college and they were the BEST company to their workers…and I could buy cheap beer t-shirts for the guys…had to woo them somehow!
July 15th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
@Brandy that sounds *extremely* experimental. Does your husband know about your past?
@Shameless Agitator I guess it’s a *little* less worrisome, but it doesn’t feel good. Isn’t it all about how it feels?