Beers and from whence they came (theoretically)

St. Louis, my hometown and the home of Perennial Artisan Ales, is a Budweiser town through and through—even now that Anheuser-Busch is owned by InBev. (Coincidentally, I just started reading Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America’s Kings of Beer, which is fascinating so far.) True, new microbreweries are springing up there almost as fast as they are in Chicago, and Schlafly has been making craft beer for more than 20 years. It’s not hard to find good beer; it’s just that the bar in Terminal B of Lambert Airport is called the Budweiser Stadium Club. And if you drive down to the Perennial brewpub, all of the corner bars you pass on the way sport neon signs that say “Budweiser,” “Bud Lite,” or “Anheuser-Busch”—never “Miller” or “Fat Tire.” There’s at least one that, in addition to the neon sign, has a faded Budweiser ad painted on one wall.