Hopping mad over World Cup beer deal
Roger Boyes, Berlin
May 23, 2006

IT is brown-gold and alcoholic but, then, in the scathing verdict of German beer fans, so is paint thinner.

The Germans are furious that Budweiser will be the official tipple for the soccer World Cup.

The American lager has secured a near-monopoly of beer sales inside World Cup stadiums and within a 500m radius of the grounds, supplanting more than 1270 domestic breweries. And what most upsets the fans is that Budweiser - advertised as the "King of Beers" in the US - fails to meet the ancient German standards for purity, which stipulate that beer can be brewed only from malt, hops and water.

Budweiser uses rice in its production process and therefore fails to qualify as a beer in the German sense.

Budweiser's World Cup status is a slap in the face for a country that attaches such importance to beer production. When Germany was a patchwork of principalities and duchies, a sponsored brewery was seen as the stamp of independence.

"Most pubs don't even stock it," groaned Walter Konig, of the Bavarian Breweries Association. "Bavarian beer should be available in a Bavarian stadium - Munich - for the first kick-off.

"But what can we do? Budweiser paid $US40million for the concession even before Germany had been chosen to host the tournament."

Franz Maget, a Bavarian Social Democrat, has called Budweiser "the worst beer in the world".

This is more than a slanging match between brewers - it has become a kind of guerilla warfare for trademark lawyers.

One German beer, Bitburger, will be allowed some sales space in the stadiums when the tournament starts next month.

Since the Czech brewery Budweiser Budvar, which makes a stronger brew, contests the right of the Americans to use the name Budweiser in Germany, only the name "Bud" can be displayed.

But "Bud" sounds like "Bit", the name used by Bitburger. Budweiser's owners, Anheuser-Busch, have therefore had to allow some sales of Bit alongside Bud.

However German sensitivites were spared when protests from British World War II veteran forced David and Victoria Beckham to cancel a fly-past of Battle of Britain vintage aircraft as part of their weekend pound stg. 500,000 ($1.24 million) cup party.

Indeed the charity gala held at the Beckham's Sawbridgeworth mansion in Hertfordshire was a bit of washout, despite the presence of celebrities such as Australian super model Elle Macpherson, England star Wayne Rooney, and the Duchess of York and her daughter Princess Beatrice.

The Times