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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

This Bud’s for Summertime in California

As the senior brew master at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Van Nuys, Jeff Jenkins has taken tours through the facility that include people who didn’t know that beer was made there. “They thought we were a bottling plant,” said Jenkins, who has been at the brewery for two years. “They thought all the beer was shipped in from St. Louis.” To better show the connection between the brewery and the San Fernando Valley, the Van Nuys plant is turning out a limited-edition aluminum bottle for Budweiser beer. The beer’s name is replaced with “California” while the center medallion “AB” monogram has the state initials and the “King of Beers” motto has been swapped for the California motto “Eureka.” Finally, the company name on the bottom of the can has been replaced with the California nickname, “The Golden State.” The bottles include a line from the folk song, “This Land is Your Land.” The state name bottles – of which there are 11 that also includes Missouri, Colorado and Florida – is a follow-on from last year’s marketing campaign that renamed Budweiser as “America.” The brewer is producing those America bottles again this summer, Jenkins said. “As a company, we are trying to remind the communities we are in that we are still there,” he added. “We are not some faceless whatever – we are part of the community.” The California bottles will only be available in the state from mid-July through September. Opened in 1954, the Van Nuys brewery is the third oldest of the dozen that Anheuser-Busch operates in the U.S. Located on 95 acres on Roscoe Boulevard near the 405 freeway, the facility has a brewery, packing plant and warehouse. For more than 10 years starting in the mid-1960s, the beer maker operated the Busch Gardens theme park on the property until it was closed to make way for an expansion of the beermaking operations. More than 30 beers are made in Van Nuys, including Budweiser and Bud Light and the many variations of those brands. In addition, Anheuser-Busch has craft and specialty beers such as Rolling Rock, Shock Top Primary, Busch and Michelob made at the facility. Along with California, the beer is shipped to Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii and 40 export markets. Although there is an international reach, the new California cans are a way to remind people in the Valley region that Anheuser-Busch is in their backyard and that is where the beer comes from, Jenkins said. “This is not somebody else’s beer; this is your beer,” he added. – Mark R. Madler

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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