Big Business Beer

And on the other end of the spectrum (from the previous post) we have in the news today the Big Business Beer (anti-distributist) getting even bigger. You know, the kind of brewco that uses sex to sell its product, and gorifies heavy drinking to youth.

Anheuser-Busch rivals Miller Brewing Co. in Milwaukee and Coors Brewing Co., of Golden, Colo., will be combined under a joint venture announced by the parents of the two firms Tuesday.

SABMiller plc, of London, and Denver-based Molson Coors Brewing Co. have signed a letter of intent to combine the U.S. and Puerto Rico operations of Miller and Coors.

The new company, which will be called MillerCoors, will have annual combined beer sales of 69 million U.S. barrels and net revenue of approximately $6.6 billion, SABMiller and Molson Coors said in a joint press release.

read it all at the St. Louis Business Journal

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The Culture of Beer

Majoring in international business at the University of Tulsa, [Eric] Marshall spent a semester studying in Germany.

"And I just fell in love with the culture of beer," he says, putting the emphasis not on the word beer, but on culture.

The culture of beer has nothing to do with drunken keg parties or stumbling out of a bar late at night. A beer lover, to paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, would never insult beer by drinking too much of it.

The culture of beer is about an ancient craft that has been handed down generation-to-generation since the pharaohs and the Babylonians. It's about the infinite subtleties that can be achieved with just four simple ingredients -- water, malt, hops and yeast.

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"I always knew that sooner or later I'd come back to Tulsa," Marshall says, standing next to that open trench in his warehouse. "I love Tulsa. This is my home. This is where my family is. And this is where I want to make my beer."

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"The goal is to be part of the culture," he says. "To become 'local lore,' as they say."

The way Kansas City has Boulevard. Boston has Sam Adams. And Houston has Saint Arnold.

"This is going to be our beer and I want to make something that Tulsa can be proud of."

read the whole article, "Hops for Tulsa" by Michael Overall at Tulsa World


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