Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and Americas Kings of Beer by William Knoedelseder

Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and Americas Kings of Beer Reviews

• 
  Denise Kruse

  Lost a star for typos. The most offensive - "Gravis" Road in south St. Louis? Really? As if a four-second Google search would have killed your editors.
• 
  Betsy

  I don't like Budweiser or Bud Light, but once, many years ago, I worked for the niece of Gussie Busch so I thought I would give this book a try. It's a fairly enjoyable read with so many characters that it is difficult to keep the names straight. The family, which bleeds beer, has all the problems and egos that so many of the rich do.
  
  The author spends a good deal on Gussie, who became synonymous with the St. Louis Cardinals, and August III, his son. I vaguely remember seeing them at my employer's house, but it was fairly obvious who was running things. Everyone kowtowed to the old man, but in the coming years he was ousted from control by his son.
  
  This book brought back some memories, but it also seemed to be a story, which has been told before. Money doesn't guarantee happiness.
• 
  Marla

  This was a selection my book club picked. I would never have picked this book up voluntarily on my own. I don't really care much about the lives of the rich and famous. That being said, this turned out to be a fascinating book. I supposed it helped because I live in St. Louis.
  
  There were parts I kind of skimmed. But it was an easy read, although somewhat biased. The author is definitely not a fan of the Busch family. However the part on the St. Louis Cardinal purchase by Gussie Busch was fascinating. How Grant's Farm came into being was also interesting. And even though I'm in St. Louis and have heard plenty of Busch family stories over the years, I really had no idea of the magnitude of their wealth. Like crazy rich. The "fall" part of the book was kind of heartbreaking even though the author has no sympathy for The Buschs'. It's a good lesson in "money doesn't make you happy."
  
  If you love the Cardinals as I do, or have any interest in St. Louis history, this is a very good read.
  
  Go Cards!
• 
  Kristy Miller

  As my mom called it, Lear with beer. The author follows the Busch family from the founding of the company through the aftermath of the sale to InBev (Booo!Hiss!). There's business and politics, and lots of family history and gossip.
  Though I consider St. Louis my home, I didn't grow up there. So much of this history was new to me. I think the parts about fighting prohibition, and how the company stayed alive during the dry years were quite interesting. I also loved the company's history with my favorite baseball team (Go Cardinals!). I even enjoyed some of the business parts, like how they developed Bud Light, and August III's fervor quality, consistency, and taste testing. The family drama was fascinating, especially since they were able to tightly manage the public stories for so long. Since I lived there at the time of the buyout I saw first hand the financial hit the city took, and had several friends who lost their jobs with AB. The information presented in the book was fascinating, but the writing wasn't great. The author isn't fond of dates, and with 4 Augusts and Adolphus each, the names could get pretty confusing. I'll be thinking about this book the next time I visit Grant's Farm when I go home to visit my parents.
• 
  Anna Walsh

  3.5 stars so rounding up to 4. This fam is wilddd
• 
  John

  Wow. Just wow. From high on the mountain as the King of Beer to being bought out by a competitor and the family out of the business. What a story.
• 
  Rob Eelkema

  First of all, you can tell that I'm on a roll.....two books read very recently....kind of manic I guess and making up for lost time not reading much. Yes, I need to read more.....nothing like a good book to get you in the groove again......
  
  This is a great book about Anheuser-Busch and the history around Budweiser. I can honestly state that I'm a Miller Lite and/or Coors Lite drinker; however the story behind Budweiser is still a great read.
  
  Most of the press focus is on August IV but there is so much more to it than just the last family CEO that sold out to InBev. Yes, August IV is a fucked up rich man but he was in a family that pushed you to your limits and didn't always provide that father-son relationship that most of us received growing up. I have some guarantees that August IV will be dead in less than 5 years even though he is worth over $100 million dollars....a classic case showing that money doesn't buy happiness.
  
  This book came out on Election Day (November 6) and I finished the book today....three days later. I was hooked the whole way and really recommend this book from a lot of different angles.....business leadership dos and don'ts, father/son relationships, the positive contribution that AB provided to St. Louis and the USA, the great advertising that Bud provided for so many years (especially during the SuperBowl) and the finality of "selling" out when you don't want to.
  
  Highly recommend the book....even if you are not a beer drinker.
• 
  Jeff Mauch

  This is much more a history of the Busch Family and how it impacted the company than it is a history of Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch. I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of detail on the company particularly in the later years as craft breweries started to become more impactful on sales. That said, it's still an interesting read and full of information I'd never before been aware of. The unraveling of the last Busch (Busch IV) in particular is fascinating and just goes to show that money can cover up many flaws and mistakes for you, but only for so long. The last quarter of this book reads like a bad reality show script at times. It's amazing how even after dozens of bad and poor decisions a company like this can continue to exist and at times grow, almost as if by mistake. While I hoped for a bit more focus on the brewing decisions of the company, this was a solid read and gets more and more interesting with every chapter so that by the end you can't put it down.
• 
  Jim

  Anyone who grew up in St. Louis, or anyone who has ridden the Budweiser Special train at Grant’s Farm, or anyone who has watched the Clydesdales pull the red beer wagon around the warning track at a Cardinals baseball game...this book’s for you.
• 
  Lydia

  Absolute monsters, all of the them, but damn if this didn't make me crave a Bud.
• 
  Carla

  If this was my first book I'd read on the Busch family, I would have been impressed. There were a few new stories, and certainly a different "spin" on the family than the first book I read. Amazing how holding such a small percentage of the company, they managed to have everyone in St. Louis thinking that they owned the whole thing. lol On one hand, the brewery, like I'm sure they all did at some point, provided a lot of middle class jobs. An opportunity for people to work for one company their whole career, to buy a house, send their kids to college, drive decent cars...that is what I appreciated about them. How they spent their own money...gosh, it was their own money, but what a WASTE!!! Extravagance to no end. Giving money to charities? Yes...but never, never forget...Anheiser-Busch NEVER did anything for ANYONE without getting ten fold back themselves. All the money they "gave" away..were write-offs for them. Period. It's sad that in the end, that August IV was not able to step up to the plate and run the company. Daily drugs will do that to a person. I suppose for the brewery to survive, it had to happen...be sold. The Busch's are all rich (filthy rich), and InBev...four days after buying the company, laid off 1000 or 1400 workers in St. Louis alone. Scumbags. I'm sure most of the people that bought and/or read this book are from here. It's part of our history!
• 
  Olivia

  I loved the history of St. Louis and of the company itself. As for the family history, it was cool to take an inside look, though it felt personal. I wanted an objective perspective. The authors stance felt incredibly biased, to the point where it has me doubting some of his depictions. For example, some of the personal conversations relayed involving any of the Busch family-- directly quote Gussie, The Third or the Fourth. These did not mention quotes from a speech, article, or interview, but were written as if the author was there. His notes list "confidential interviews" for some, but without even a "confidential sources stated Gussie said..."
  
  For the record, I didn't do any research on the author's research, so maybe my point is inaccurate or I misunderstood. This was just a general thought as I was paging through the book.
  
  Overall, I did find the history of St. Louis's beloved Bud interesting enough, but this book has me itching to reach for another book on the topic, something that isn't laden with bias and already distaste for the personal character of the members of the Busch family.
• 
  Byron

  I wasn't aware of how wild August Busch IV is until a dead hooker turned up in his place in Frontenac, not far from where I grew up, a few years ago. Come to find out, he was being protected by the media, as the scion of one of the most important business families in St. Louis FWIW. Of course all of that has since come to an end. Bitter Brew traces the story of Anheuser-Busch from its origins, back during the dark ages, up through the hostile takeover by InBev, a few years ago, with all of the ups and downs (especially downs) in between. It's less an informative business tome and more of a trashy tell-all, with lots of alcohol-fueled hijinks, thot cruises, random dead female companions and what have you. If you're from St. Louis, you'll get a huge kick out of this. Even if you aren't, you'll almost certainly find this amusing.
• 
  Tim Jin

  I haven't been a consumer of Anheuser Busch products for well over a decade. It's a part of my life that I just outgrew, but when I was drinking Budweiser was one of my favorites. "Bitter Brew" is an excellent business story, where generations after generations ruin the family business because of their birthrights.
  
  Instead of getting the job base on merits, August Busch IV (The Fourth), became CEO and ruin the legacy of the family and the business. Not only he made really bad business choices for Anheuser Busch, but he was also a big time substance abuser and playboy. It is because of his family's name that he became the head master brewer.
  
  It's really interesting to read these kinds of books. Not only it's informable, but the ultra wealthy crumbles because of birthrights.
• 
  Melody

  I thought this would be interesting to listen to. It certainly was, but as the book progressed, it got more and more gossipy and scandal-laden. By the time that happened I was as invested in the characters as though they were fictional and couldn't quite stop. But I felt ashamed for listening so avidly to the tale of a family's descent into sordidness. The earlier history is more what I expected, and consequently the part of the book I liked best. The inescapable conclusion I drew at the end is that really rich people are really weird and tragic so it's a good thing I don't have much money.
• 
  Amar Pai

  Pretty interesting! I'm a sucker for a good American wealth-dynasty story esp. when it ends in scandal and disgrace. Also funny that throughout this book everyone is all "WE MUST UPHOLD THE LEGACY OF BUDWEISER" as if the American version is some kingly brew. Man, I gotta see what
  August IV is up to now. The way the book ends, I wouldn't be surprised if he's dead...
• 
  CD

  This is a bio/history of the Anheuser-Busch company blended with a biographical portrait of several members of the Busch family. Not a happy ending was had by all.
  
  The final takeover and gutting of A-B in 2010 forward is a sad story. Except for a few stockholders who became wealthier than ever.
  
  As August Busch (Gussie) said, 'It's all about the beer!"
  
  The book is sloppy in places in timeline and coherence. There are some obvious errors that slipped through (?lack of and not poor editing?) to the published work. The errors range from simple grammatical constructions that aren't clear to geographical problems.
  There are more stories hinted at that are not explored that would have made for an even more valuable story of one of America's great business families. That the writer was able to access so many of the main players before they died adds to the work.
  
  Average recommendation to business and American social/cultural history readers.
  
• 
  Billy

  I was looking for something more substantial when I picked this up, but I suppose I should know better when reaching for a Bud.
  
  The tawdry tales of the Busch clan one generation after the next made for a highly entertaining read, to the point where it started veering into salacious territory. The audiobook also made some strange choices when it came to how cartoonish and weak it made quotes by women throughout. But the whole tale made for good rubbernecking, as the power inherent in a great American dynasty eventually fails to keep pace with the reach of globalization.
• 
  Dave Feldmann

  Grew up in St. Louis but never fully knew the story of Anheuser-Busch. From the early days of the company to the tyrannical rule of August 3 to the sad downfall of the company under Fourth. This book has a lot with feelings of pride, hope, sadness and despair. If you love beer and are from St. Louis definitely a great read.
• 
  Meredith Spidel

  This was not a light read by any stretch, but my husband read and recommended--fascinating story, so very well told! Not just a history of the Busch family, but of America and the ever-evolving world of beer as well.
• 
  Michael Payne

  Warren Buffet is fond of saying, "You want a business so good that even an idiot's nephew could run the place, because eventually one will."
  
  In the case of Anheuser-Busch, the company was not able to survive that fate.
  
  This is the bitter truth.
  
  Worth the read.
• 
  Andrea Eckelman

  I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would as a non-beer drinker. The story of this family is just wild, and I really liked the history of the rivalry between AB and Miller.
• 
  Tamara Curtin

  Wow, this family was amazingly messed up. It was fascinating to see how the farther removed the "heirs" become from the need to truly work and build something, the more unhinged they became. The effort that went into building the brand, and the cunning displayed in diversifying during the Depression was really interesting reading. The fall of August IV though was all a bit too long and could have been summarized by "rich white guy is a mess, does stupid things that end up in women dying, duly covered up by the family, and then he crashs and burns and ends up going to Costo wearing pyjamas and crocs." and saved a lot of trees.
• 
  Meghan Becker

  Very interesting read about a revered family in St. Louis for all of my lifetime living here. Lots of skeletons in those walk in closets!