Anheuser-Busch CEO wants beer to be called ‘American’ made

Anheuser-Busch is encouraging its distributors and partners to replace the term “domestic” with “American” when marketing beer, arguing that the term better reflects the industry’s identity. 

In a Wednesday letter titled “A Call for American Beers,” CEO Brendan Whitworth expressed his dissatisfaction with the longstanding use of “domestic” to describe American-made beer, saying it shows up on bar menus, at beer stands, in grocery aisles and is used by syndicated data providers “too frequently.”

Whitworth starts the letter with six words, “I don’t like the word ‘domestic.'”

“I’m asking the Anheuser-Busch team and our wholesalers to make the change. Change the bar menus, change the venue boards, change the signs, change their reports, change their jargon, and insist upon American. I hope other American brewers and wholesalers will join us,” Whitworth also wrote.

He is also calling on marketing and research firms such as Circana and Nielsen to do so as well.

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While the word is not “necessarily an incorrect adjective to use,” Whitworth said. “It just doesn’t fully capture the spirit and passion that’s intrinsic to the American beer industry and its brands.”

It also falls short of capturing “the pride we should all take in products made right here in this great country,” Whitworth continued.

The move comes amid a patriotic push from the White House. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Whitworth did not mention Trump’s executive order in his letter.

Whitworth – who served in the Marines before joining the CIA – was named as the Anheuser-Busch chief executive in July 2021 and led the company through challenges associated with its controversial 2023 Bud Light marketing campaign featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which sparked backlash and a significant boycott by consumers and public figures. 

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Whitworth tried moving beyond the controversy by launching a slew of patriotic or humorous marketing campaigns focused on the company’s broader role in American culture. Those also highlighted the workers responsible for making the company’s beer and its contributions to the economy and communities. 

In the Wednesday letter, Whitworth underscored that American beers should better advertise that the product is made by “American hands.” 

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“They are brewed by American workers who receive American wages. They rely on American farmers and on American raw material suppliers. They support American causes like the military and first responders,” he said. “They pay American taxes. And they exist because of decades of capital investments made in hundreds of local communities, right here across this great country.” 

Whitworth said that 99% of the beers that Anheuser-Busch sells in the U.S. are made in the country. Additionally, 99% of the ingredients the company uses come from American farmers. 

“Together, let’s leave ‘domestic’ in the rear-view mirrors of those good ol’ American pick-up trucks. Let’s all take more pride in our American beers,” Whitworth said in the letter.