Czech Mate for Anheuser-Busch
A-B, King of Beers, announced yesterday that it's making friends with the Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar, a staunch and longtime foe.
No, the two companies have not put to rest the dozens of pending trademark cases over the name "Budweiser" -- which Budvar claims, owing to its production since 1895 in the Czech town of Budweis, but which Anheuser-Busch trademarked first. (Read more about this dispute, and the place-based labeling notion of terroir at its heart, here.)
Instead, A-B will become the U.S. importer of Czechvar: a light lager, and another Budejovicky-branded bottle.
You can already buy Czechvar in 30 states, including, I believe, Missouri. (Budvar is definitely sold, if not often swilled, in these parts.)
More money, in the end, for both companies to pour into their Budvar battles....
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