Is patriotism important when choosing a beer?

I once saw the Budweiser Clydesdales up close, and I felt as if I had experienced a unique piece of Americana. After all, what could be more American than a cold Bud?

The team of draft horses was being transported across the country in a special truck that included a stall for each, not to mention climate control and all the comforts celebrity horses deserved. And the truck was hard to miss with a picture of the legendary beasts in full harness emblazoned on both sides.

The driver had stopped for lunch in the small West Texas town where I lived and worked on the paper at the time, and a photographer and I grabbed him for an interview and a visit with the Clydesdales. These enormous horses were even more impressive in person than on TV, towering over us puny humans, stamping their hair-covered legs with hooves nearly the size of manhole covers.

There I was, face to face with these national icons, the symbols of the company that produces the King of Beers, the company that, for so many, represents all that is great about America.

Well, at least that is what Budweiser’s owners would like us to think. And this summer, Budweiser is engaging in a brazen effort to rebrand itself with the country’s own name – “America” – right there on the can where “Budweiser” is now.

The new patriotic label also will feature the phrases “Liberty and Justice for All” and “Indivisible Since 1776.” The Washington Post reports that the top of the can will feature the lyrics from the first four bars of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and the label also will include, in capital letters: “Land of the Free,” “Home of the Brave” and “From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters, this land was made for you and me.”

Woody Guthrie would have been proud. But shouldn’t it have been, “From the Beechwood Forest”?

Those who know their classic Bud label are aware that the “exclusive beechwood aging produces a taste, a smoothness, and a drinkability you will find in no other beer at any price.” I wonder if there will be room for that claim on the new label.

But who cares when, on a scorching Fourth of July, we will be able to say, “Hey, give me another can of America.”

Alas, though, perhaps we need to read between those lines of patriotic verse. Anheuser-Busch, Bud’s parent company, isn’t exactly all-American. It was purchased in 2008 by InBev – a brewing company that came about as the 2004 merger between Belgium-based Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev.

The merger resulted in the formation of Anheuser-Busch InBev, often abbreviated AB InBev, a company with operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries. While Budweiser still is made at various locations in the United States – notably the landmark brewery in St. Louis – it now is owned by the largest brewing conglomerate in the world, which also produces more than 2,000 other brands, including Beck’s, Stella Artois, St. Pauli Girl, Labatt, Bass, Lowenbrau and hundreds of other lesser known brews around the globe.

And when you think about, what could be more American than that – a giant, faceless international corporation, mass-producing the beer that we have regarded for decades as the national beer, homegrown, home-owned, homemade and, now, sold to us in cans reeking of patriotism?

It’s big ... USA big! Big as a Clydesdale!

I would suggest, however, that when the Fourth of July rolls around and you are feeling patriotic and in a mood to support U.S. brewers and indulge in a truly American beer, you go small. Make your way to the nearest brewpub or store selling brands made by small-batch brewers toiling within a few hundred miles or so, and hoist a few while singing “This Land is Your Land.”

Drink American, not “America.”

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 8:44 PM with the headline "Is patriotism important when choosing a beer?."