Unless George F. Will writes about baseball, I find myself ranging annoyed to
PO'd. Until I read
Survival of the Sudsiest I never thought of him as a humorous writer:
"Perhaps, like many sensible citizens, you read Investor's Business Daily for its sturdy common sense in defending free markets and other rational arrangements. If so, you too may have been startled recently by an astonishing statement on that newspaper's front page. It was in a report on the intention of the world's second-largest brewer, Belgium's InBev, to buy control of the third-largest, Anheuser-Busch, for $46.3 billion. The story asserted: 'The [alcoholic beverage] industry's continued growth, however slight, has been a surprise to those who figured that when the economy turned south, consumers would cut back on nonessential items like beer.'
'Non what'? Do not try to peddle that proposition in the bleachers or at the beaches in July. It is closer to the truth to say: No beer, no civilization."
I am not a great beer drinker, but that was a great line (and there is more unquoted that is funny). And when I do drink beer, it is not Bud (my favorite Americans have bitten the dust:
Strohs, Pabst). As reported in today's
New York Times, Budweiser has been sold:
Anheuser-Busch has agreed to sell itself to the Belgian brewer
InBev for about $52 billion, the two companies confirmed Monday in a
joint release, putting control of the nation’s largest beer maker and a fixture of American culture into a European rival’s hands.
It seems strange to think the Bud will now be owned by foreigners. I suppose they may replace the
Clydesdales with
Belgians.
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