Chatterbox: May 2012

Where is Budweiser from?

A simple question to which most would reply with confidence - USA. But hold on, in the world of food and beverage nothing comes without caveat and contradiction. So, true to the form our Bud also has two origins or shall we say a disputed origin that has been debated for last 140 years.

Curious case

The Czech Republic has its own Budweiser... since 1785!!

For the uninitiated - The Issue

This issue involves United States of America and the Czech Republic. For past hundred years, an international legal dispute continued between the American brewer Anheuser-Busch and the Czech beer producer Budejovicky Budvar over the right to use the trademark name Budweiser on their products. Currently, both of the brewers produce beer beverage labeled Budweiser, and battle over who does have the legal right to the commercial use of this name. Both the brews have a long history of existence. The disagreements over the right to use the trademark started in late 1870s, when the brewers began to export their like-named products to markets beyond their national borders. Attempting to legally win the exclusive right to the trademark use, the dispute has been taken to courts in different countries. The results so far did not provide either party the exclusive right to the name, but rather resulted in the division of market.

Why the same name?

Budweiser refers to beer produced from or in the style of Budweis, a city in Czech Republic. Locals have been producing beer here since 13th century. Czech company Budvar has been brewing here since 1895. Two German speaking Americans - Adolphus Busch and his friend Carl Conrad (from Anheuser-Busch brewery, USA) in 1876, developed a "Bohemian-style" lager, inspired after a trip to Budweis in Bohemia (today's Czech Republic). They named their beer Budweiser after the Bohemian style beer they produced.

As it stands now

After over a hundred year of court battle eventually, the courts allowed Anheuser-Busch to use the Budweiser name in North America while Budvar's Budweiser is sold in North America as ‘Czechvar’. Budweiser Budvar has exclusive control over the Budweiser brand name in the whole European Union and Anheuser-Busch uses the brand name ‘Bud’ here.