It's Not So Good to Be the King (of Beers)

"Put it back in the horse!"
~H. Allen Smith, after he drank his first American beer.

This is classic. I was just forwarded this article from the Nation from a friend. Budweiser spent $40 million dollars for a monopoly on beer sales at this years World Cup. You'd think that would be good for Budweiser. That was before they knew it would be held in Germany. Budweiser is a company with German roots. That should be good news for them too. Not quite. The Nation article explains, "Unfortunately, Germans don't like the beer. They call it Spulwasser, which roughly translates as dishwater."

Any true beer lover knows this to be true. Trying to sell Budweiser in Germany is like trying to sell Boone's Farm wine in France. Or like trying to sell Burger King's croissandwich there. I went to Burger King in Paris, and they don't sell the croissandwich there. Yes, a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with cheese is a Royale with Cheese. My friend suggests, it would be like having Hyundai sponsor a NASCAR event. The Nation article says Budweiser had to back off, that selling it there would have resulted in riots:

"The Germans have even set up an anti-Bud website. If you take the time to drop in on the site, you will see pictures of Teutonic youths performing extreme anti-Bud acts."

I love it. Budweiser is tasteless piss brewed not for flavor but for mass appeal. And I love the Germans for rejecting their $40 million in advertising dollars and their bland brew. Here is what they say on their site. They could use some help with their English translation, but good taste has no language:

"Human dignity is inviolable"
[Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, Article 1 (1)]

Dish water. Insult to your tongue. The american "beer" Budweiser has faced many -- mostly desperate -- descriptions. "Official Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup '06 in Germany" was usually not amongst them. Sadly enough, this expression is as true as all the others since the american "brewery" Anheuser-Busch will be the official "beer"-supplier for the football World Cup this year. An insult to all true beer lovers, taste buds and football-fans.

What have we become? Self-denial for 40 million US-Dollars? What are our children supposed to think of us?

"A time to make friends" - with a bud in our hands?!

However, we won't give up without a fight. United we're strong. Your voice does matter. Become part of the BudOut-Community and send us a picture with you anti-bud-message. Two minutes of your life for the good taste. Two minutes of your life for a better future.

Be into beer.

-Stand up and fight the powers. And have good beer now and then.