Super Bowl LIX attendees will have a choice of “American” lagers – as opposed to “domestic” beers at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday.
The switch follows Anheuser-Busch InBev U.S. CEO Brendan Whitworth’s call for “domestic” beers to be reclassified as “American” beers in a 600-word missive to distributors earlier this week, first reported by Beer Business Daily.
Whitworth wrote: “The ‘American’ part matters, and the pride we take in this great country should also be properly and accurately applied to our great American beers. Domestic isn’t necessarily an incorrect adjective to use. It just doesn’t fully capture the spirit and passion that’s intrinsic to the American beer industry and its brands.”
Photos of a video menu board in the Superdome show A-B’s Bud Light and Michelob Ultra available in 16 oz. aluminum bottles for $13 under the heading of “American lagers.” The images were provided by A-B along with a letter from VP business wholesaler development Bob Tallett and chief sales officer Simon Wuestenberg touting positive reactions from the company’s distributor and retailer partners.
“This is a fantastic initiative and one the entire industry can get behind,” Matesich Distributing Co. president and COO Sarah Mastesich Schwab wrote to A-B. “We’re committed to updating all materials to ‘American’ and getting our entire system to do the same.”
Total Wine & More CEO Troy Rice applauded the proposed change.
“We believe the term ‘American beer’ supports and represents the proud brewers across our great country better than the term ‘domestic beer,’” he wrote to A-B. “We look forward to making this shift at our stores over the coming months.”
Independent bev-alc journalist Dave Infante skewered the move in his Fingers newsletter, writing that it “stinks of desperation” from a company that lost the most share in dollars (-1.11 share points) and volume (-1.02 share points) in the category in 2024, according to market research firm Circana.
“Even if ABI could ‘unilaterally’ force the entire industry to start referring to domestic beer as American beer, it wouldn’t meaningfully affect neither the sales nor the stature of the segment, let alone Bud Light’s,” Infante wrote.
Whitworth’s request comes as the Trump administration has threatened – and backed off from – tariffs, issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and “the Americanness of consumer goods is of paramount partisan significance,” Infante wrote, suggesting that the play is designed to appeal to right-leaning consumers, who boycotted flagship Bud Light in 2023 after the brand partnered with a transgender woman as part of an influencer campaign.
“Whether ABI’s chief exec has indeed been noodling on his also-pointless America First alternative to ‘domestic’ beer for a long time (as he claims), his pitch scans with the macrobrewer’s other efforts to endear Bud Light, and itself, to the country’s revanchist right wing,” Infante wrote.
In a statement shared with Brewbound, an A-B spokesperson wrote: “As CEO of Anheuser-Busch, Brendan has well-informed views and perspectives on the industry that he shares regularly with our employees and our business partners.”
In 2024, imports edged out domestic premiums as the largest segment in the beer category at off-premise retailers tracked by market research firm Circana, with dollar sales of $11.245 billion, compared to $11.108 billion for domestic premiums. Imports gained +10.1 share points in beer category dollars, while domestic premiums declined -1.27 share points.
Despite shedding more than $594.6 million in off-premise sales 2024, A-B remained the top U.S. beer category vendor in 2024 with more than $14 billion in dollar sales (-4% YoY), in Circana-tracked off-premise retailers.
A-B ended 2024 with a 30.88% share of 2024 beer category dollars (-1.11 share points). The company’s volume declined -5.2% for the year.
In their letter, Tallett and Wuestenberg noted that Circana has pledged “to make the switch to ‘American’ when reporting sales figures.” Circana has not responded to a request for confirmation as of press time.