Yankee Brew News Archive

Megabrewer Files Petition With BATF Against Boston Beer Company

Originally Published: 04/96

Megabrewer Files Petition With BATF Against Boston Beer Company

In the latest volley in the David vs. Goliath battle for the American beer drinker's dollar, Anheuser-Busch, the world's largest brewer, filed a petition with the BATF against the Boston Beer Company.

Anheuser-Busch, along with several smaller brewers, wants the BATF to force brewers to divulge where their beer is brewed and by whom. In addition to Boston Beer, which brews only 10% of its beer in Boston, Pete's Brewing Company was also cited in the petition to the BATF.

Boston Beer president Jim Koch sees the petition as another example of "petty harassment" from the brewing giant, which he claimed in one advertising campaign spills more than he makes in a year. Koch's defense is that Boston Beer selects its own ingredients, determines procedures, and uses its own recipes, which makes Sam Adams the beer it is regardless of where it is made.

Ironically, beer drinkers over the age of thirty may remember that about fifteen years ago, Anheuser-Busch stopped identifying the specific city in which bottles of Budweiser were brewed. Discerning Bud drinkers believed the St. Louis-brewed beer was superior, and demanded it at liquor stores, causing inventory back up of non-St. Louis Bud, and a shortage of the St. Louis-produced beer.