8 Beck’s

Introduction

Have you ever tasted the beer Becks? The beer is poured golden clear with a fluffy white foam on top with a sweet, refreshing taste. Becks is currently the most popular German beer in the world, Becks beer has been created from the same ingredients for over 140 years. The ingredients used in the beer are malt barley, hops grown in Hallertau Germany, fresh brewing water and Beck’s yeast strain. The beer doesn’t have any additives added to it as it’s only allowed to be brewed in Germany with the 4 main ingredients in beer. The beer has an alcohol volume of 5% and only 143 calories per 12 fluid oz. Becks was created by Brauerei Beck & Co when it was  first established in 1873 in Bremen, Germany. The beer was only being sold in Germany. The beer slowly became one of the popular German beers and became the most purchased over the years. In 2012 the beer made its way to America and started being brewed in St. Louis, Missouri. The beer is currently being sold to nearly 100 different countries including the United Kingdom, France, Italy and China etc.

Origins

Becks beer was created by Luder Rutenberg, Luder never grew up in the beer business, his father was an architect and a home builder, and when he grew up he followed in his fathers tracks. Luder Rutenberg was an architect and built many 1-2 story homes in the streets of Breman, Luder ran into some issues with not being allowed to build these big homes in his area he decided to partner up with

his sister and brother to create Runge Brewery. Luder Rutenberg had bigger ideas and wanted to create one of the biggest breweries in Germany. Luder brought in other small breweries into his company and the master brewer Heinrich Beck. Beck was the lead brewer for the company. This is when in 1973 the new building was created in Bremen and the brewery name was changed to Brauerei Beck & Co.

Luder Rutenberg

Where did the name Becks come from? The name of the beer was originally going to be called Rutenberg beer until Luder Rutenberg and other brewers thought the name would have been too much of a mouthful so they decided to go with Heinrich Beck’s last name.

When the brewery first opened in 1973, the beer Becks was only distributed to places in Germany. The beer started gaining a lot of popularity for its refreshing taste and started gradually becoming the best beer in all of Germany, with the rising of the sales, the brewery started gaining a lot of recognition from other brewery companies. In 2001 the brewery was purchased by the beer company InterBrew, they agreed to buy Brauerei Beck & Co for 1.8 Billion euros which was nearly 3million dollars at the time.

History behind Anheuser-Busch InBev

Den Hoorns, the original founder of first beer was created in Leuven, Belgium in 1366, The brewery used to be a tavern for the hunters who would come in to relax and enjoy a beer after a long day’s work. In 1717 the brewery was purchased by professional brewer Sebastian Artois. Sebastian later changed the name to Brouwerij Artois. Later down the road in 1987 Artois Brewery combined with another Belgian Brewery called Piedboeuf, and this was when the name changed to InterBrew. Then I’m 2004 Interbrew merged with Ambev to later be called Inbev, InBev later merged with the popular company Anheuser-Busch in 2008 and the name is now Anheuser-Busch InBev, InBev is one of the largest conglomerates in the world, the company owns over 200 different beer brands, some popular brands that you probably heard of are Budweiser, Stella Artois, Busch, Michelob and Corona

YouTube. (2018). LeBECK’S: the legendary beer-can from Beck’s. YouTube. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJlhXmWdM2o.

A year after Becks made its way to the United States, the company ran into some issues involving a lawsuit from it’s customers. People around the country came together to come after the company for making them believe that the beer was created/imported from Germany. The label was placed on the bottom of the case stating that the beer was made in the states, but the court didn’t believe that was enough. Up to 50$ dollars was given back to customers who had bought becks from a retail outlet with their receipt, and up to 20$ for customers without. This issue of labeling cost Anheuser-Busch 20 million dollars.

Milestones

• 1873 – Brauerei Beck & May was established.
• 2001 –  Brauerei Beck & Co was purchased by InterBrew
• 2001 – Brauerei Beck & Co changed to InterBrew
• 2004 – InterBrew merged with AmBev
• 2004 – The name was changed in InBev
• 2008 – Anheuser-Busch purchased Becks for close to $3 million
• 2012 – Becks started being sold in the states and brewed in St. Louis
• 2013 – Anheuser-Busch lawsuit vs Customers for over $20million

Brewing Science and Industrialization

Beck beer started into the brewery business later than most popular beer brands, dealing with trying to produce a lot of beer but not having the place to store it due to the lack of brown bottles during the war era, Beck’s started off with brown bottles but ;ater decided to start selling the beer through green bottles. During this time Beck was one of the only beers to be in a different bottling, but with the rise to greatness and the sales they were previously making, the green bottles would only do them good. The increase of marketing due to the bottles catching new people’s eyes and taking a sip of that refreshing taste got people hooked. The beer was transported all around the work to marketers after Anheuser-Busch purchased Becks in 2013 before they were doing international trades with other countries but no info was provided for how.

Beer Style

Beck’s is a classic European lager beer with a rich foamy head and golden colour, Beck’s beer was created in Germany so therefore in the process of becoming one of the top beers, they had to follow more strict guidelines for brewing legally than in some other parts of the world, due to the purity law of 1516. This only allows beers to be brewed with the 4 most common ingredients used. No additives in the beer to give it extra flavouring or added colors to change the look of the beer. With following the law of creating beer, Beck’s was brewed with only the top malt barley, the freshest water, hand-selected hops that come from the Bavarian Hallertau region, and Beck’s exclusive yeast which has been cultured for many generations. The beer is brewed at low temperatures to produce the dry beer which creates a thinner drink and gives it that crisp mouthfeel.

WWI & WWII Era

During the WWII Era, Beck’s brewery was destroyed and causing the production of the beer to cease for years. During this time Beck’s international trade was doing very well so over these years they mainly focused on producing the beer to other countries, with the brewery being destroyed they didn’t start producing and selling beer back to Germany until 1949. Beck was dealing with the downfall of the war and lost employees due to the destruction of the facility and the tragedy going around the world, even though Beck was still focusing on sending beer to other countries, some were even rewarded with Becks.

Eitel-Friedrich Kantrat earned Beck’s beer after his 225 days patrol and achievements.

Consolidation

As we all know now after the previous readings, Luder Rutenberg and Heinrich Beck were the main people involved in the original start of Becks. This brewed beer was created and distributed to mainly only other places in Germany, But this all changed when InBev took over Becks. While keeping the beer alive, and gaining a lot of attention for their popular German drink. They managed to sell Brauerei Beck & Co for $3million USD. They sold to the larger company Interbrew which later merged with one of the biggest beer distributors around the world to create InBev. InBev managed to transport the beer to over 100 different countries and even created their own location in St. Louis to craft Becks. To keep the legacy of the beer from dying down, they managed to sell Brauerei Beck & Co for $3million USD. They sold to the larger company Interbrew which later merged with one of the biggest beer distributors around the world to create InBev. With the publicity, work, and effort InBev put into Becks, The company really helped the beer achieve the honors of being the most popular German beer around the world.

Marketing and Branding

The branding Becks made a debut appearance for itself in 1984, an advertising campaign published in Germany. The campaign was taken on the German sailing ship “Alexander Von Humboldt” Beck’s invested in new green sails for the ship, all the people’s eyes grew attracted to the matching bottle to the green sails, with the commercial showing the audience the concept of freedom, family and friendship and exploring the world. This campaign lasted until 2007 but throughout those years this gained Becks alot of attention and worked very well for them. A decade later, Becks launched its new campaign “Only you make it legendary” The concept behind this one was that it goes on about the freedom you have to decide and that you are the only one that can make your moments legendary.

This is the Alexander Von Humboldt Ship with its fresh bright green sails.

Citation

Encyclopedia.com. (n.d.). Brauerei Beck Co. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economics-business-and-labor/businesses-and-occupations/brauerei-beck-co

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2004). InBev. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/InBev

Top 5 facts about Beck’s beer: Best beer HQ. Best Beer HQ | Home of the best beers in the world. (2016, July 27). Retrieved February 7, 2022, from http://www.bestbeerhq.com/top-5-facts-about-becks-beer/

Becks: Ab-InBev | Ab-InBev. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.ab-inbev.com/content/dam/universaltemplate/ab-inbev/News/Press%20kit/ABI_FS16_Beck’s.pdf

Designed by Team D. (n.d.). Beck’s German beer. Hensley Beverage Company. Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://hensley.com/project/becks-beer/

Uboat.net. Front page. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://uboat.net/men/kentrat.htm

Beck’s. Abinbev. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://europecareers.ab-inbev.com/index.php/brands/becks

Image Citations

Store, B. (n.d.). Becks beer. Becks – The beer store. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.thebeerstore.ca/beers/becks.

Brooks, J. (2021, February 8). Historic beer birthday: Lüder Rutenberg. Brookston Beer Bulletin. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/historic-beer-birthday-luder-rutenberg/

Beck’s. Abinbev. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://europecareers.ab-inbev.com/index.php/brands/becks