Busch scion's new beer circulating in region

Six years ago in July, Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. of St. Louis was acquired by Belgium-based brewing company InBev for $52 billion, creating a new company named Anheuser-Busch InBev.

About 2 1/2 years ago, Billy Busch of the Busch beer-brewing family chose to continue the clan's 150-year-old legacy by starting the William K. Busch Brewing Co., creating a new American lager.

The company recently joined with Kohlfeld Distributing Inc. in Jackson and expanded its market to Southeast Missouri, including Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Poplar Bluff. Its lager, Kräftig and Kräftig Light, are available in area stores and restaurants.

"Like many people, [I] was sad to see the company that my great-grandfather started, and that went through five generations of the Busch family leadership ... get sold to a foreign company," Busch said in a recent phone interview with the Southeast Missourian. "I wanted to continue the Busch legacy of brewing, so I started the William K. Busch Brewing Company."

The company plans to continue expanding, but slowly, so it can grow its roots in St. Louis and the state.

"That's the most important thing to me," Busch said. "I want to be known as the beer from Missouri, just like the old company was."

The new company's products have been in the Southeast Missouri market for about a month, and sales have been strong so far, although he did not elaborate.

What makes Kräftig different is its brewing process, Busch said. It follows Reinheitsgebot, the German Beer Purity Law dating to 1560. The all-natural brewing process uses only four ingredients: barley, hops, yeast and water.

The long brewing process results in a flavorful, "very healthy kind of beer," Busch said.

The choice to go with lager was based on Busch family tradition and the popularity of that style of beer in America, he said.

"In order to build a brewery and in order to follow in my family's footsteps, I felt that it was important we brewed lager beer," he said.

It took two years of brewing and rebrewing to perfect the lager recipe used today. Kräftig products are brewed at La Crosse City Brewing Co. in Wisconsin.

"We feel that we've lived up to the rich tradition of the Busch brewing legacy with these brands," Busch said of Kräftig.

After starting with two markets and having expanded to a fourth, the goal is for the William K. Busch Brewing Co. to continue growing its business, build a brewery in St. Louis and at some point become a national company, Busch said.

ashedd@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent addresses:

Cape Girardeau, MO

Sikeston, MO

Poplar Bluff, MO