I had a friend who interviewed for an IT job at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis several years ago. “I didn’t take it, because the pay was below average,” he said. “But the perks were excellent. Every employee gets two cases of beer a month.” I’ve never one to get all excited about a job because it offers “excellent benefits,” but I must admit, free beer is an excellent benefit indeed.

However, with the InBev takeover of the brewery, there’s speculation that the free-beer perk for employees will come to an end, according to this ComputerWorld article. (I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be citing a geek magazine in a blog about booze.) It’s one of many cost-cutting measures InBev is expected to make to streamline operations. Furthermore, some of Anheuser’s IT employees may lose not only their beer but their jobs, as InBev outsources operations to further control costs.

Sounds like St. Louis will be a little less of a party town without all that free beer floating around… of course, they can always buy some of Mid-South Alcoholic Supply’s products with their unemployment checks to liven things back up.

Presidential candidate John McCain has a possible conflict of interest to deal with, should he win the office. His wife Cindy owns a large Anheuser-Busch distributorship in Arizona. According to this article, McCain’s conduct in the Senate has consistently been above board regarding this conflict of interest - he has made a practice of abstaining from voting on legislation that concerns beer or alcohol. However, as President he would not be able to defer decision-making to other people. He would be forced to rule on issues that could affect his wife’s beer business.

The article also states that Cindy McCain made roughly $800,000 on the sale of Anheuser-Busch to InBev, based on the amount of stock she owns.

People look forward to the Super Bowl not only because it’s the NFL’s championship game, but because championship-quality commercials appear throughout. And perhaps no one is better known for entertaining Super Bowl commercials than Bud and Bud Light. However, this article speculates that InBev, which acquired those brands last week, will but back on Super Bowl advertising for its two new flagship brands. Bud and Bud Light may also have to cut back on local advertising clips on stadium scoreboards, the article notes.

I’ve heard many of my friends say that they refuse to drink Bud and Bud Light anymore. “They’ve sold out,” friends have said. “I guess I’m a Miller drinker from now on.”

Whether you’re loyal to Bud or moving on to a new beer, be sure to enjoy a cold one in one of our many beer mugs.

It’s finally happened. Anheuser-Busch, the largest brewery in America, has agreed to be acquired by Belgian brewer InBev, maker of Stella Artois, Beck’s, and other well-known beers. More details in this NY Times story.

The fear in the St. Louis area, of course, is that consolidation of operations will cause some of Anheuser-Busch’s 6,000 employees in the area to be laid off. There’s also a sense that Bud and Bud Light are a little less “America’s beers” than they were before the merger.

On the other hand, there could be an upside to this… cheaper Stella Artois in the US. Stella is a GREAT beer.

I’ll keep my eye on the news and keep you informed of further details.

Belgian mega-brewery InBev is attempting a $46 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, Missouri, whose most famous products are Bud and Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch rejected the offer in late June, announcing their intentions to keep their world HQ in St. Louis. However, according to this Forbes article, InBev is not done… it’s going to attempt a hostile takeover, in which it will try to replace Anheuser’s board of directors with a slate of its own.

InBev is the second-largest brewery company in the world and brews Stella Artois, Beck’s, Skol, Brahma, and Leffe.