Detroit Free Press

Mackinac Island and the Ambassador Bridge are being featured on cans of Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light this summer, and the “Canadian” brand long popular in Michigan is even helping to support clean water Up North.

Another popular brand, Budweiser, has been known to wrap its cans in American flags and even renamed the beer “America” the last couple summers. On a Meijer end-cap, I recently saw shelves packed with Budweiser Freedom Reserve Red Lager, a beer “inspired by George Washington’s hand-penned recipe from his personal military journal dating back to 1757,” as an Anheuser-Busch news release describes it. Proceeds from that beer support U.S. veterans and their families.

But here’s something you probably won’t see in advertisements: Budweiser’s ownership (AB Inbev) is based in Belgium, and Labatt USA’s (Florida Ice and Farm Co.) is in Costa Rica.

“Most of the beer that’s sold in America is owned by foreign corporations, but this is a really important beer market to them,” said Larry Bell, founder and president of Bell’s Brewery, based in Michigan. “They would prefer that people think they’re local and contributing to the local economy when, in fact, the money is leaving the United States.”

To be sure, both AB Inbev and Florida Ice and Farm Co. employ a lot of Americans at brewing operations in the United States and Canada. But independent, local brewers such as Bell’s arguably have a deeper connection to their local communities.

Mary Beth Popp, director of corporate relations for Labatt USA, responded to Bell’s comments:

“Labatt USA is owned by FIFCO, an innovative, triple bottom line company that invests in local communities where we sell and market Labatt beer. Our employees live and work in Michigan, and across the Great Lakes region. We feel a deep responsibility to improve the quality of life, community and environment there. We celebrate being part of a company that is recognized by the World Economic Forum as a leader in sustainability.”

The Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light “Loving Michigan” cans, including the company’s  signature red maple leaf, also feature Grand Haven State Park and Turnip Rock. They’ll be available this summer wherever 24-packs and 15-packs of the 12-ounce cans are sold.

“Labatt USA will make a $10,000 investment to support the Grand Traverse BAYKEEPER’s efforts, which is part of a larger investment of more than $100,000 with Waterkeepers throughout the Great Lakes region,” according to a news release.

Grand Traverse BAYKEEPER advocates for preserving water quality throughout Grand Traverse Bay’s nearly 1,000-square-mile watershed. Labatt USA describes its “triple bottom line” as a business philosophy focused on “people, planet and profit.”

“I laud the company for its actions and triple bottom line,” Bell said. “I’ve heard the president of the company speak, and those are great ideals that they have.”

Bell, a founding member of the Great Lakes Business Network that advocates for protecting the lakes and decommissioning the Line 5 oil pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac, said the water’s quality is especially important to him and the brewery because it’s the No. 1 beer ingredient. He also added that both Two Hearted Ale and Oberon are all-malt, non-GMO products.

Labatt Brewing Co. originated in 1847 in Canada, and Anheuser-Busch was started in 1852 in St. Louis. But both have been sold to owners in foreign countries.

Regarding the authenticity of Budweiser Freedom Reserve, Jeff Alworth, writer of “The Beer Bible” (2015), pointed out in a blog that Washington may have never even heard the word “lager” in his life.

“In the mid-18th century, lagers were made exclusively in Bavaria (and maybe Bohemia). It was an obscure, provincial tradition ignored by the rest of the world. London was the center of the brewing universe, not Munich,” Alworth wrote, adding that porters were a popular export to the colonies at the time. “The English did not drink lagers. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Washington would have even encountered the word, much less the beer.”

He added: “Ever since the Belgo-Brazilian giant bought Budweiser a decade ago, it has shattered the brand’s sense of confidence as an American brand, and they’ve been overcompensating ever since. But dragging Washington into it is really going beyond the pale.”

Michigan in 2017 had 330 breweries, more than doubling the number from four years earlier. The growth is part of a national proliferation to more than 6,300 craft breweries — and a 12.7% share of the U.S. beer market. Meanwhile, the traditional macro-brewing companies have purchased independent brands, experimented with different recipes and marketed beers to connect with customers’ identities while also helping to support clean water and U.S. veterans.

Spirits of Detroit columnist Robert Allen covers craft alcohol for the Free Press. Contact him: rallen@freepress.com or on Untappd, raDetroit and Twitter, @rallenMI.