Fred Eckhardt (1926-2015) was a homebrewer and writer, and is considered the dean of American beer writing. In February of 2025, Eckhardt was among the first class of inductees into the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame.
The century-long trademark war between Anheuser Busch (USA) and Budějovický Budvar (Czech Republic) turned red hot during the period 1991 – 1997 primarily because AB sensed a heaven-sent opportunity to dangle gold doubloons before the famished eyes of fledgling post-communist officials who were desperate to privatize the economy.
The American monolith’s ham-fisted eagerness to grab this ripe fruit backfired, subsequently eliciting a patriotic backlash and resistance on the part of the Czechs. It is an important chapter in my “40 Years in Beer” series.
40 Years in Beer (Book II) Part 52: “Anheuser-Busch, Gone Home,” our classic 1997 victory lap
Concurrently, A-B sought various ways to bludgeon the threat is saw in the emerging microbrewing revolution in America, either by acquiring smaller breweries to be desecrated, or creating its own mockrobrew lines, and sometimes resorting to bludgeoning challengers — as in the case of Sam Adams Boston Lager and its highly visible founder, Jim Koch (also a 2025 hall of fame inductee).
A-B’s disinformation campaign famously came to...
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