“The Fourth” was directly involved in incidents that left two young women dead and spent most of his last few years in charge of the company holed up in a secluded lake house, loaded down with drugs and nearly 1,000 guns and high-powered rifles, according to accounts.

Most fascinating of all perhaps was the company’s last president, August Busch IV, who presided when InBev forged its hostile takeover. Almost all of the leading men in the Busch family were caught up in one way or another with womanizing, over-drinking, infidelity, suicide, gun play, accidental death or drug use. Based on interviews with friends, relatives and family members themselves, Knoedelseder paints a picture of entitlement and dysfunction that would make Lindsay Lohan blush. That fortune also essentially destroyed the family. They used that strategy and some savvy marketing and advertising to grow into a giant and amass a fortune. Even as other brewers of the time sought to shorten and cheapen the brewing process by using synthetic additives and chemicals, A-B insisted they would not cut corners on their ingredients or lengthy aging process. Although they were producing a recipe that today’s hardcore craft beer fans find unpalatable, the early leaders of the company were sticklers for the quality and production standards of their beer. I was actually surprised that I came away with a certain sense of respect for A-B, at least in the company’s earlier days. Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. Louis Cardinals, business strategy or soap-opera-style scandal.

To sum up, this book should work for anyone interested in beer, beer history, American history, Prohibition, the history of St. The book, by former Los Angeles Times reporter William Knoedelseder, recounts in great detail the formation and infancy of Anheuser-Busch, the growth of the company into a mega-conglomerate, the many layers and scandals of the super-rich Busch family and the hostile takeover by InBev.

Bitter brew by william knoedelseder