Assignment One- Zack Stewart

Anheuser Busch

Background:

I will be researching different areas of personal interest of Anheuser Busch. These areas
include history, brewing and products. Here is a tad bit of information for you to get an idea of
the company; Anheuser Busch is a brewing company that was founded in St. Louis, Missouri.
The company was founded in 1852 by a German American man named George Schneider.
Schneider struggled financially to support the company, which pushed him to selling the
company in 1860 to Eberhard Anheuser. Overtime, the company grew and needed more places to
distribute their products. Meanwhile, Anheusers daughter just so happened to marry a man who
was in the wholesale industry. His name was Adolphus Busch. After working for his wifes
fathers company, Busch decided to buy a share and become a partial owner. Busch continued to
work until his father in-law died. Although the passing of him saddened the family, this opened
new doors for Busch. He was able to become the sole owner of the company and went out in
search for new opportunities. Busch went on to create new recipes for products that are very well
known such as, Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob. Although the company is over 150 years
old they continue to advance and innovate.

Observation 1:

Here I will be observing the history of Anheuser Busch. Anheuser Busch has a very rich
history not only in the United States, but in the world also. The company was founded in 1852 in
Missouri and has been family owned since Eberhard Anheuser, a soap maker, purchased it from
George Schneider. The family has instilled the values of quality, art, science, dedication, military,
and its workers. Anheuser Buschs main marketing view has remained to be the Budweiser
Clydesdales. The Clydesdales stand for the tradition, strength, and resilience of the company.
When Anheuser bought the company he soon after hired his son in-law Adolphus Busch. Busch
was a German immigrant who was schooled in brewing. The two then made the company known
as Anheuser Busch. Their products remained very local and restricted until the refrigerated
railroad allowed access throughout the states and all over the country. Which in turn leveled the
field between large breweries and regional breweries. The company legend is that Adolphus
obtained the brewing recipe and brewers yeast from some monks at a monastery. Although this
is fiction, it shows the companys strong tradition. The actual recipe has actually remained
unaltered and contains the finest European ingredients. Anheuser Busch has showed their support
in the military in many ways for more than 150 years. In World War I they founded a subsidiary
to produce engines for navy submarines. The family also purchased war bonds to finance two
bombers named Miss Budweiser. Also during World War II they supplied the military with ammo
hoist and canceled all product being shipped east to help supply war efforts. Anheuser Busch

lends and raises funds for veterans and their dependents. During prohibition the company
produced malt syrup for home breweries, and the refrigeration car company was created. Also
they sold a soft drink made similar to beer called Beva, but was shut down to further prohibition
laws. Still to this day the company offers tours at Grants Farm and Warm Spring Ranch, where
you will see the breeding grounds for the Clydesdale horses. They also offer tours of their
breweries.

Observation 2:

Here I will be observing the brewing processes. The exact recipe of the product varies on
each individual product and sub product. And of course the specifics arent to be shared. But the
process is pretty much generic for all of the products. The steps are milling, mashing, straining,
brewkettle, primary fermentation, beechwood aging, and finally the finishing process. In milling,
Barley malt and rice are ground and precisely weighed. Then, barley malt and rice are mixed
with water; natural malt enzymes break down the starch from the grains into fermentable sugars
for mashing. Next, the combined grain mash is strained, leaving a sugar-rich amber liquid called
wort. Then hops are added to the boiling wort in the brewkettles. Hops are the spice of beer,
adding special flavor, aroma and character. After that the wort is cooled and clarified, and the
yeast is added; for six days, the yeast ferments the wort to beer. The semifinal step is Beechwood
Aging during which laagering, the beer is krausened, naturally carbonated and aged on
beechwood chips for 21 days to mature the flavor of the beer. Anheuser-Busch is the only major
brewer in the world using beechwood aging. Lastly to keep the laagered beer flavor and clarity
intact after packaging, brewers must remove yeast and some unstable protein materials through a
process called finishing. The beer is chillproofed and filtered for clarification before being
released for packaging into bottles, cans or draught keys. All of these steps are closely monitored
by brewmasters. Throughout the creation process the bremasters taste test the beer a minimum of
5 times, along with consulting with other brewmasters.

Observation 3

My final observation will be on the brand differentiation of Anheuser Busch. Anheuser

Busch has close to 70 brands and sub brands of beers. My personal favorite is Budweiser. In my
opinion the beer has a full taste. I have sampled probably 95 percent of all of Anheuser Buschs
beers. I prefer Budweiser because it has slightly bitter at first, but has an aftertaste the
compliments that very well. Of those 70ish brands, the most popular ones being Budweiser, Bud
Light, Michelob Ultra, Natural light, Busch ice, and Rollingrock. They also own a popular craft
beer named Shock Top. Furthermore they have a nonalcoholic beer named O'Doul's for
consumers who enjoy the taste but not the effects of alcohol. Anheuser Busch dominates the
market in the United States as the number one distributer of beer at almost 47% of all beer sold.
Also at the end of last year in 2015, there was rumors from multiple sources, of a giant 100
billion dollar merger between Anheuser Busch and SABMiller. If this merger happens it could
practically create a monopoly in the beer market, controlling over 75 percent of all beer sales.

Interview:
Consumer: Brian Modlin

1. Q. What is your favorite Anheuser Busch beverage?

A. My favorite would have to be either Bud Light, or Michelob Ultra.
2. Q. What makes Bud light and Michelob Ultra better than any others you have had?
A.I like Bud Light because of how cheap it is. Its usually about 3 dollars less than the
others per a 24 pack. And for Michelob I like the light taste of it, I dont feel full after
drinking it. Plus its less than 100 calories a beer.
3. Q. When do you usually drink Bud Light, and how many?
A. I usually drink when I am with a group of friends or just need to relax. And usually
six or seven, no more than twelve in a sitting.

4. Q. At what age where you when you had your first Bud Light or Michelob?
A. I believe I was 14 or 15. Some friends and I stole one of my fathers Bud Light out
of the refrigerator and went to the river to drink them.

5. Q. Is there anything you do not like about Bud Light or Michelob?

A. The only thing I dont really care for is the feeling I get the next day when I drink
too many.

Analysis:

Anheuser Buschs strong company values the morality is what I believe helped get them
the stature and presence the company has today. From their willingness to help out their
employees, to their history of supporting the military. Most companies these days only care about
the hierarchy and doesnt worry about supporting the masses. At least very large companies. Also
the fact that in the beginning Anheuser shared the company with his son in law. If this didnt
happen, the company would have probably have been a flop and we wouldnt have these great
refreshments. In my experiences, todays in-law relationships barely care to interact, nonetheless
sharing a company. The fact that the company has stuck with the original recipe shows resilience.
They could have tried something different and switched recipes and then the company wouldnt
be what it is today. Finally Anheuser Buschs ability to spread out to many products have helped
them prosper. If they would have stuck with just Budweiser, they wouldnt be quite the empire

they are today. They have managed to branch out to many different beverags allowing them to hit
almost all demographics. From non-alcoholic, to craft, to healthy low calorie, to malt liquor.
They literally have something for every taste preference.

Chart:

Brand diversifying

Corporate Brand Management

Imperatives

Beverage companies

Big food, food systems, and global health

Alcoholic beverages

Caffeinated alcohol beverages: a public

health concern

Merger between SABMiller and Anheuser

Busch

The global alcohol industry: an overview

Anheuser Busch merger

Large companies support in the military

Network support and the success of newly

founded business

Purpose:

Anheuser Busch has grown their way onto many consumers and has become part of
everyday life of some. Over the past 164 years its intriguing to see what Anheuser Busch has
accomplished. They have grown substantially into a thriving business. Anheuser Busch along
with other have completely changed the adult beverage market, and theres no telling where it
would be today without them. Along with adult beverages, their continuous support with the
military and their employees shows what sort of character this company was built on. I hope to
one day have this sort of rich history in something Im a major part in.

Sources:

Observation 1
http://anheuser-busch.com/index.php/our-heritage/
http://anheuser-busch.com/index.php/our-heritage/history/

Observation 2

http://anheuser-busch.com/index.php/our-heritage/commitment-to-quality/brewing-process

Observation 3
Anheuser Busch merger
http://anheuser-busch.com/index.php/our-beers/

Ashlyns comments on peer revised draft of assignment

one:
Zach-I think you have some really interesting information here, and it is obvious to
me that you are invested in this topic. In revision, I do think there is some
refinement that needs to be done particularly with the proposal section.
More specifically, I want you to work on/revise:

As I was reading your observations, I was a little bit confused as to

what exactly you were observing. Were these documentaries that you
observed? Where did you get the information? A brief summary
explaining what/where the observation took place would help address
this issue. I know you list the sources you observed at the end of your
paper, but having this info with summaries for each observation would
be really helpful.

Give readers a bit more background on your interviewee. Why did you
choose this person to interview? How do they affect your personal
understanding or opinion about the beer, brewing process, etc? Just a
a couple of sentences would easily suffice here.

The "analysis" section needs some work. What you have here reads
more like a summary of the history and development of the business

rather than an explanation of the rules and conventions for appropriate

behavior. In your case, it would seem to me that explains some of the
brewing process and the quality tests that must be performed would
help outline the rules and conventions for what you are observing.

The proposal definitely needs some work: Like your analysis section,
your proposal reads very much like a summary about the Busch history
and business, with a brief mention of yourself being involved in
something similar as the final sentence. As of right now, the proposal
isn't really saying anything about what you would like to research. In
looking at the sources you have collected, it seems to me an area that
you may research is the Busch business model and how the company
remains profitable in times were local craft beers are starting to
overtake the market even in chain restaurants. See me, and we can
work on developing your proposal a bit more.

Adding slideshow images or perhaps clips from the brewing process

within the revised portfolio version of this assignment will be
immensely helpful for readers to visualize.

Small Editing Concern: Please go back and proofread the assignment

carefully; there were some spelling and grammatical mistakes throughout
the paper. These didn't interfere with my reading of the assignment, and no
points were lost as a result, but do please go back and correct these for the
final version to be published in the portfolio.