Previously: 40 Years in Beer (Book II) Part 51: Papazian sidesteps AB vs. Budvar by prohibiting FOSSILS from quoting him.
As of 2024, the trademark war between the American and Czech versions of Budweiser has persisted for longer than any present-day humanoid has been alive.
When the conflict began in earnest in 1907, České Budějovice was a component of the Habsburg (Austro-Hungarian) Empire. Then came the independent interwar Czechoslovak state, the Nazi-controlled Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, a half-century of East Bloc communism, and finally renewed independence following the Velvet Revolution in late 1989.
My first visit to the city of České Budějovice came in 1989, during the waning period of communism. I enjoyed a second stay in 1997, as recounted in the essay reprinted below, and a third in 2004. The latter two included excellent Budvar brewery tours.
The Anheuser Busch – Budvar cold war 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.
In essence, “Hell no, your Bud blows.”
Far away from the front lines in New Albany, which I habitually referred to during the 1990s as the Open Air Museum of Ignorance, Superstition and Backwardness (and was being charitable in doing so), I was delighted to muster a few stray polemics and rattle the cage in defense of Budvar.
Great Britain’s esteemed Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) applauded, Charlie Papazian retreated further into his relaxing Rocky Mountain Xanadu on the banks of De Nyle, and I observed a magical separation of wheat from chaff; you were against AB, or you weren’t, and in the case of the latter, you went out of your way to tell me to shut up — and boy, did I love it.
All this revelry has been covered in the two previous installments of this series.
40 Years in Beer (Book II) Part 50: Papazian goes AWOL as we contest AB’s aggression against Budvar.
40 Years in Beer (Book II) Part 51: Papazian sidesteps AB vs. Budvar by prohibiting FOSSILS from quoting him.
Fast forwarding to the present, and a 2024 article at the South...Read more
