Financial bonanza

In a room six stories above the tanks in Anheuser-Busch’s historic St. Louis brewhouse, glasses — filled with water, beer and unfinished brew — were lined up on the counters in neat rows. Just waiting to be tasted — and tested.

Whether you like its beer or not, one thing is clear: Anheuser-Busch pays attention to details. Its daily routines have paid dividends.

"I’ve tasted Bud from all over the world, and I couldn’t taste any difference," said Charles Bamforth, Anheuser-Busch endowed professor of malting and brewing sciences at the University of California-Davis.

A-B’s traditional devotion to consistency and quality borders on the obsessive. Industry observers say the St. Louis-based brewer needs to keep that culture if it wants to remain the industry leader. The cost-cutting predilections of InBev, which purchased A-B last year, raise questions. The takeover was followed by large cost cuts, including some cuts in brewery jobs.

In a swirl of wrenching change, A-B is anxious to show continuity with its past and commitment to its established brewing processes.

The Budweiser brewing process is "exactly the same," said Peter Kraemer, who oversees Anheuser-Busch InBev’s breweries in North America.

Count Bamforth among those who hope it stays that way.

"In the world of brewing, Anheuser-Busch is held up as the flagship of quality," said Bamforth, author of "Grape vs. Grain" and numerous other books on brewing.

Anheuser-Busch’s brewing department is considered the industry’s elite. It is known for hiring the finest brewers, chemists and technicians. But Anheuser-Busch InBev has laid off some brewery workers, including engineers, in recent months. Will the cuts eventually affect the liquid itself? Will there be a clash of cultures if InBev looks for further cost savings at A-B’s breweries?

Peter Reid, publisher of Modern Brewery Age, said the extent of recent cuts to A-B’s technical staff had been "alarming."

But Kraemer said that there actually were few personnel changes at A-B’s breweries, and that the brewer had a talented work force that would ensure the same focus on quality.

Anheuser-Busch executives say InBev is on the same page with them when it comes to brewing fundamentals and quality control. They point to InBev’s interest in rolling out some of A-B’s innovations and processes — oxygen-absorbing bottle crowns, for example — all over the world.

When InBev bought Anheuser-Busch, Chief Executive Carlos Brito "made it very clear to me that it’s my job to make sure this stays intact," Kraemer said after giving a tour of A-B’s St. Louis brewhouse and beer tasting rooms. "He gave me full authority and the responsibility and told me I’ve got to make it happen."

Time will tell if that attitude endures as Anheuser-Busch InBev tries to pay off billions of dollars in debt taken on to form the world’s biggest brewer.

A-B has long been willing to pay for processes and materials it believes contribute to quality.

Beechwood aging, for example, stands out as labor-intensive in A-B’s technology-laden breweries. The practice in Budweiser brewing dates back to 1876, but very few brewers use it today. Workers rake the chips into massive fermentation tanks, and then rake them out again.

At first glance, the process would seem to be a tempting target for cost-cutting managers. But Kraemer said Budweiser’s beechwood aging remained the same, with no plans to change used car loans.

Still, others wonder if the brewing process will remain completely untouched.

"I think that the Anheuser-Busch brewing staff does consider this (brewing) process sacred," said Reid. "To a certain extent, the two philosophies are mutually exclusive. Cut the costs of everything: How is that fitting with this sacrosanct, to some extent cost-inefficient process? It will be interesting as we go forward to see where they draw the line in the brewhouse."

Anheuser-Busch apparently smudges no lines when it comes to testing its beer. Several times a week, top managers in St. Louis gather in the executive tasting room to do quality control. They try a wide selection of beers and log their findings in laptop computers. They taste beer warm to get the nuances of flavor.

Everything that comes in contact with the beer has to be tested, included the water that flushes out brewing tanks and bottles.

Even the air in the executive tasting room is filtered to eliminate distracting trace odors.

"Any little thing can really cause issues for you," said Kraemer, whose father and great-uncle also oversaw Anheuser-Busch’s St. Louis brewery. "You have to do things right."

Brewmasters get intense training in how to properly taste beer. Testers spike liquid samples to determine each trainee’s threshold and sensitivity to various tastes. Even veteran beer testers have to log their findings to determine if their perceptions deviate widely from the larger group’s. Eating garlic or spicy food makes beer taste more bitter, so tasters have to watch their diets.

Even with an unpretentious beer such as Bud Light, an expert taster follows a prescribed method: Roll the liquid around on the side of the glass, take a few small sniffs and then take a sip. Bud Light should taste fruity, not overpowering. The taste should fill your mouth, and then disappear.

On a recent tour of a tasting room, Kraemer picked up a glass and took a swig. "That’s pretty good beer. Exactly where it should be."

Churning out uniform beers every day, in a dozen U.S. breweries and several more overseas, is a serious enterprise. A-B adjusts brewing water across the world to make sure the taste profile is the same in China, New Jersey and St. Louis.

Dark stouts, the kind beloved by craft beer aficionados, can hide some sins, but A-B makes its money on light lagers that can’t conceal deficiencies. That makes consistency even more important. A-B brewers take a lot of pride in delivering on the blueprint of the beer.

Technicians watch as each piece of equipment is put together, scrutinizing details such as the welding, because rough welds can allow bacteria to grow. A-B tests gaskets to make sure they don’t make the beer taste like rubber. All to prevent unwanted tastes and substances from sneaking into the beer.

Will this culture of beneficial obsessiveness endure under the reign of InBev? Kraemer says he’s counting on it.

"The brewery that you see today is the same one you saw six months ago, and it’s the way it’s going to continue to be," he said. "I’m in trouble if it doesn’t stay that way."

jmcwilliams@post-dispatch.com

314-340-8372

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Filed under: technology by Pascal