Something felt incongruous at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on a chilly January evening. Hertha Berlin supporters queuing for beer at the concourse taps were not being served a domestic brew. The stadium had replaced Beck’s — a German staple owned by the same Belgian conglomerate — with an American import: Budweiser.
The move caught fans off guard. The mass-market lager synonymous with American baseball parks seemed an odd fit for a German soccer match. Questions abounded: why was it branded “Anheuser-Busch Bud” rather than simply Budweiser? And why was its parent company, AB InBev, mounting a major push for an iconic American product at a moment of heightened transatlantic tension?
The answer lies in a calculated wager on a narrow but expanding segment of one of the world’s largest beer markets. AB InBev, the Belgium-based multinational that has owned the American brand since 2008, declined to answer detailed questions regarding this, its third attempt to crack Germany since the 1990s. Officials would not explain the timing of the relaunch, which coincides with a sharp decline in German sentiment toward the United States.
“Germany is probably the hardest beer market in the world,” said Oliver Lemke, who operates a namesake brewery and restaurant group in Berlin. “You have an abundance of local breweries and a public that generally does not appreciate beer styles outside their tradition.” Lemke, who separates politics from commerce, added that purely on market fundamentals, “I don’t see why they’d come here.”
The company frames the entry as a homecoming. Founders Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch were German immigrants who launched the brand in St. Louis in 1876, naming it after the Czech town of Budweis to appeal to fellow immigrants. For more than a century, however, trademark disputes with the Czech brewery Budějovický Budvar blocked Anheuser-Busch from selling its version in much of Europe. Two previous forays into Germany — one ending in poor sales, the other derailed by ongoing litigation — both failed.
Last autumn, AB InBev announced a new attempt. For legal reasons, the product bears the label “Anheuser-Busch Bud.” A company spokesman described the launch as returning the brand to its founders’ homeland in time for its 150th anniversary. “We are proud to make Anheuser-Busch Bud available in Germany again,” wrote Florian Farken, a spokesman for AB InBev Germany.
The rollout has centered on soccer sponsorships. Hertha Berlin switched its stadium pour from Beck’s to Budweiser for home matches, followed by Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg. Yet outside these venues, the beer remains scarce. It is largely absent from grocery shelves, including the commemorative World Cup packs the company produced.
The strategy hinges on a singular market trend: while overall German beer consumption fell 6 percent last year and has dropped a further 9 percent in 2024, according to Holger Eichele, chief executive of the German Brewers Association, the import category is growing from a small base. AB InBev cited “international lagers” as among the fastest-growing segments in its announcement last year. Eichele confirmed that German consumers are increasingly “interested in testing, finding out new products, new styles, new brands.”
Analysts remain skeptical. The trade publication Getränke News warned this spring that given the difficult market conditions and the “recent decline in the image of American products,” sales are “likely to fall short of expectations.”
At a Hertha match this spring, even a visiting American fan — the author’s father — initially balked. “Can’t we get a German beer?” he asked in the concession line. Minutes later, from across the row, he lifted his cup in surprise. “It tastes better here!” he said.