Last Call for Bud Light: The Fall and Future of America's Favorite Beer

by Anson Frericks

The astonishing inside story of how Bud Light lost its position as the most popular beer in the United States from a longtime Anheuser-Busch executive.

Anson Frericks, a former president at Anheuser-Busch—formerly the home of America’s most popular brewery—watched as the company unraveled at the hands of globe-trotting financiers and progressive middle management.

Rather than pursue shareholder profits, Anheuser-Busch suddenly became focused on stakeholder capitalism and the vague mandates of environment, social, and governance (ESG). This ill-advised change cumulated in the shocking evaporation of $30 billion in market cap after releasing an advertising campaign starring political activist Dylan Mulvaney.

Now, Anheuser-Busch’s evolution and its subsequent fallout is brought to light as never before with this ultimate insider’s look. Compelling, candid, and eye-opening, Last Call for Bud Light is the unforgettable story of the downfall of an American icon.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Audiobook

304 pages, Hardcover

Published February 4, 2025

Reviews

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars for Last Call for Bud Light: The Fall and Future of America’s Favorite Beer by Anson Frericks read by Kirby Heyborne.

It was interesting to hear the history of this iconic brand. How the Busch family founded the company and how the different generations of the family had success and made new innovations. But then the financial crisis of 2008 left the company vulnerable to takeover. The Busch family ultimately lost their company and the new Brazilian ownership had different strategies for success. And then Wall Street started applying new pressures to conform and ultimately this led to the disaster. But it’s not too late to turn things around. From the author’s inside knowledge of the company, he lays out a compelling plan to help the company regain its top spot in the market.

[David Aynat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scathing condemnation of a company’s missteps, but hypocritical and clearly biased when he states that companies should avoid political topics. Clearly, the author is only interested in companies avoiding the political topics HE disagrees with personally. Additionally, seems clear that Mr. Frericks is pushing to buy out Anheuser-Busch under his leadership. Poorly written and self-serving.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting insider story about Budweiser post AB-InBev Merger that culminates with the steep decline in sales post Dylan Mulvaney partnership fallout. Narrator does a good job weaving together insider knowledge with the reports and financial data that support his claims, however the book does not read as an impartial account.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a page turner! I loved this book.

Living in the shadow of Anheuser-Busch’s former world headquarters in St. Louis, I watched the beer giant change with In Bev ownership, change with cost cutting, change again with the move to
New York for the execs, and change yet again with its sudden devotion to ESG goals which culminated in their disastrous ad campaign with Dylan Mulvany.

This author, a former executive at AB expressed exactly my sentiments about AB’s 15 year unmooring. AB lost sight of its customer. The Busches knew how to connect with their customer and build their brand. The cost cutters of InBev, while doing that necessary work, did not understand their American consumer.

And when the Mulvany fiasco happened, they failed time and time again to make it right. This author says a simple apology for screwing up would have brought back their customer. I agree. I waited and watched for AB’s apologetic message—it never came.

The problem isn't so much with Dylan, the problem was the ad campaign was inauthentic to the brand. Dylan Mulvany didn't drink beer, didn't relate to Bud customers, didn’t even know about March sporting events. It was a mismatch of spokesman and product, a forced “enlightenment” for Bud consumers and they resented it.

This book summarizes challenges large corporations have seen in recent years in public pressure to adopt goals (DEI, ESG) that have little to do with their core business. The author gives several examples throughout of how various businesses faced those challenges, some more successfully than others. Unfortunately, St. Louis’ largest brewer did not respond well to those challenges and their bottom line reflects that today.

[Todd Luallen · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is not what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be somewhat of an expose about the Dylan mulvaney fiasco and the head of marketing that blew it. in reality that's only one chapter in the entire 20 or 21 chapter book. having said that I still really enjoyed the book and enjoyed what the author had to say about how we move forward or how companies move forward focusing on shareholder value and not ESG. I actually thought this book would be somewhat right leaning if not heavily right leaning politically. however I would say this book is very neutral politically and definitely does not seem to favor one side or the other really.

[Rachel Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was written by an uneducated and horrifically illiterate person. Not only would I never suggest it, I’d judge poorly anyone who does. Shallow, narrow minded, and utterly propagandized, it disgusted me to even try to finish. I think I got dumber in the little time I regret spending on it.

[Greg Talbot · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel fairly certain if Anson Frericks and I were ever at the same bar, we would not be at the same table, and still I would hear every word and clink of bottles of his conversation. To his credit, the central story of "Last Call for Bud Light" is something worth shouting about. Fredericks describes the hostile takeover of Bud Light from AB InBev. America's most trusted beer, managed for 150 years by 5 generations of an entrepreneurial family was no more. A brazilian-beligum investor group bought them out, and Frericks provides his employee experience of the unfolding acquisition. It is a story of an American company bought out by foreign investors - who try to maintain a brand and image of integrity.

Unfortunately, "Last Call for Bud Light" falls into the trap of extreme overreach. In the chapter "Welcome to Belgium", Frericks walks us his perspective on macroeconomic challenges, ping-ponging from challenges in the real-estate market to big tech product launches. The punchy spartan writing style works when the topic is close to his work experience, but comes off as naive and even childish when wading into areas outside Anheuser-Busch. Statements like "Even in 2010, Apple was a vibe. Amazon, by contrast, was a bookstore on a screen" (p.53). There are some wild sentences poking fun at their advertisement campaigns with ambigious gendered actors. Dilly dilly indeed.

The book really loses steam in the second half - part of which may be because Frerick's employment has switches from Anheuser-Busch to his launched private equity firm "Strive". There is less story to share so he pads the book with politics - we are never far from Anson's conservatively-coded opinions. We get introduced to his overriding theme - corporate America has shifted from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism. DEI, ESG, LGBTIA+ and any other acronymns that raise the blood of a red-blooded American are derided and seen as oppositions to meritocracy. Throw in some talk for Kid Rock, Vivek Ramaswamy, and we are halfway to a Fox News panel. It become a story increasingly difficult to connect to, as Frericks seemed more impassioned with a capitalist love-story that I found pretty thin and unexamined.

All of this builds to a failed marketing campaign with Dylan Mulvaney. I wasn't aware of the brew-up before this book, or the cringe commericals, but clearly there was a massive misalignment between this influencer and the frat-coded Bud audience. I did find myself persusaded by the points about the overzealous virtue signaling of large firms, and the perils of branding identity based poltics. With that said, Fredrick's approach is so misguided and crass. He brings in a reference to an unrelated tragedy, a school shooting by a transgender assiliant, whose only relationship to the branding campaign is the dates on which the events took place. It felt gross, irrelevant and careless - and I think Fredriks could easily make the point that the firm lose their north star without the chest thumping. There were no counter references to a positive trans-person or any attempt to humanize the community. Instead there are shock-jock references to Mulvaney's statements - which again feel cherry picked to humiliate the influencer. Fredricks spares no punch at the leadership team and belittles their saving-face measures as a non-apology.

Ultimatley Frerick's politics don't bother me - even if I think he fails to address his glaring biases. (The most glaring being his tacit approval for Brian Kemp's campaign to make voting harder in Georgia - completely ignoring how it disadvantages the working poor. Also he gives no mention of Trump's assault on the justice system with "The Big Lie" campaign. Funny right?). I just kept wondering as I read on - "is this how a leader would act"? So quick to undermine former employees, or offer political bromides, but never shows his own accountability. Also, do we really go through this whole book about the downfall of a major beer company, and not address the rising acceptance as marijuana as a prefered substance? Could we talk about how cell phones and dating culture are changing the impact of alcohol in youth culture? I couldn't help but think about another influencer, Garth Brooks, who steered his conservatively coded nightlife bar with statements of openness and acceptance toward the LGBTIA+ community with authenticity.

If reading this book leaves a bad taste in your mouth, know you aren't alone. It might have you reaching for a something a little more palatable like a local brew.

[George Hamblen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand , I found the rise of Bud Light story very interesting. On the other hand ,his philosophy on topics such as DEI were disturbing. The author goes out of his way to lay blame on Bud Light’s problems squarely with DEI initiatives. There is a big difference between a successful DEI campaign and simply bad decision making. His anti DEI agenda became very clear.


Other interesting observations.

He briefly talks about Trump’s 2016 tariffs impacting business. Seems like they are headed down this road again.

He couldn’t understand how Georgia’s “election integrity” laws were hurtful. At the same time thousands of people were being purged off of voter rolls. All he could care about was losing the all star game.

He talks about how Blackrock kept pushing DEI initiatives. Yet, never mentions how Blackrock has hurt so many companies through their acquisition game.

He goes on to quote Milton Friedman on how business should stay out of politics and focus on making money. Sorry, business and politics are forever intertwined. How the company chooses to proceed is the challenge. Otherwise, please give back any of the tax breaks and favors your companies have received from taxpayers.


He talks about how out of touch AB leadership has been. It’s clear to me that’s he’s the one out of touch.


But most striking is not once in the book is the quality of the beer ever discussed. The beer’s success is strictly related to the advertising. Good ads = good sales. Bad ads = sales drop. Is it really that simple?

[Jill Vaughn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read for business book nerds like me. While the last part of the book deals with the maybe what will go down as the worst marketing decision in history, the rest of the book describes the transition of American owned Aheuser Busch to foreign owned entity InBev. The author describes the changes the brewery went through from a company known for its excesses (free beer in the employee cafeteria) to InBev's obsession with cost savings (even the office pens had to be bid out). The author describes the pressure leadership was under to reduce costs to help InBev pay down the debt they took on to purchase AB. The author discusses some of the bad decisions and strategy made by the Brazilian and Belgium InBev leaders, for example trying to buy back all the wholesale distributors when most state laws prohibited breweries owning the distribution network and moving the marketing/advertising out of St. Louis to New York. What I really took away from the book was how organizations can fail when they move to far away from taking care of their loyal customers. The author makes very interesting points about ESG scores and I think he is right on the mark when he points out organizations that cannot meet their financial scores, try to shift to raising their ESG score. He also discuss the dangers an organization faces when their CEOs delve into social causes that have nothing to do with their business.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. I may have found a new book genre to read; I had zero idea that Business journal nonfiction books were such page-turners!! A friend loaned me this book after I saw it on his bookshelf, and I commented that I'm sure it was a interesting read. He's a financial manager, so these kinds of books are right up his ally. I read it with reluctance, because while I was sure it would have some interesting insights into Bud Light and its downfall, I also thought it would be a boring and tedious read for those of us not in financial world.

I was wrong! I seriously couldn't put this book down-- it read like a thriller, and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. I knew about the Dylan Mulvaney 'misstep', but learning about all the years leading up to that single mistake and the downward spiral this company was already on and was surprised to learn that the downfall for Bud Light didn't happen overnight. Reading this opened my eyes, even more, to how powerful corporations with money are at shaping culture and telling people what they should think about and care about. Also, how easily human beings buy into it.
(Note, if you are looking for a 'tell-all' about Dylan Mulvaney, this isn't it, the book is NOT about that, it talks about it very briefly and in a way that is complementary to Dylan)

I honestly think everyone should read this book.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book lays out the recent history of AB and the Bud Light (and their other products) marketing under InBev ownership. The book briefly touches on the worst of the last family CEO's traits, but then contrasts to the mistakes by the following on leader teams. The author does a nice job relating his personal experience as an upper middle manger, and his involvement in the later marketing mess.

The real strength of the book is placing the last marketing disaster within the greater realm of seeking approval from both large funds and Euro awards by using, and overdoing, social marketing messages as part of ESG.

The author does see the issue as a tipping point that started with Forman and covid, and led corporations to jump off the cliff and tick off a large percentage of their core customer bases. I can't tell just how accurate he is, but he makes a logical argument thread, tied in with his own experiences.

[Pat Lampe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good book! The history and culture of both Budweiser and the acquiring Brazilian company were so interesting and explained how things devolved for this great American company. Mistakes made along the way, great successes in marketing, Covid, and the fateful choice of the Dylan Mulvaney campaign were examined. Lots of business strategies and practices that the average person doesn’t know…regulations, pricing, negotiations. The author did a great job of presenting it to even the most non-finance person (me). I loved this book and I do hope that Budweiser recovers. As Kid Rock said, apologize.

[Lauralie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written. I'd always thought bud light was an American brand, and I was surprised to find out that in actuality it's owners are Brazilian and Belgian. This book speaks to the globalist, shareholder dominant view that placed a wedge between producer and consumer, a business model set to please the shareholders instead of the consumer resulted in a boycott and money lost. This book provides the history of the company and parent company of Budlight and how the fall of bud light began many years before when the owners began to shift away from their consumer base.

[Anna Chochrek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grabbed this off the shelf at my local library because I enjoy an occasional Bud Light, and wound up surprised I enjoyed reading this so much! I learned a ton about one of America’s most iconic breweries, and about how problematic it is when companies get involved in issues larger than what they actually do. Frericks has an interesting stance on corporate responsibility and ESGs, and writes about his perspective and experience in the beer industry in an interesting way. If you’re a fan of beer or business I’d pick this up!

[SheMac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up from 3.5 ... Hard to get into at first ... Not everyone will appreciate Frericks' politics but still may find interesting his up-close look at AB's post-takeover struggles: from the culture clash of an American icon and its new European and South American overlords to InBev's embrace of stakeholder capitalism, which, of course, culminated in the rather successful boycott of Bud Light.

[CHERIE EYER · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on Anheuser Busch history, written by a former Vice President of Sales. Well documented and researched. It's a good read for business owners, shareholders, and history buffs. My family has been an Anheuser-Busch wholesaler for over 65 years and I found Anson Frericks' work to be entertaining, insightful, and positive.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not for everyone. I did find it interesting though. Ad campaigns, what makes a company successful and fail are the highlights of this book. Of course it is from the authors perspective as having been an employee for 10 plus years. I enjoyed it and chose to read it after an interview I heard of his on Mike Rowe’s podcast.

[Chris Beach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book that covers the early days of the great American Beer Company Budweiser. The book then moves onto how and why great companies chose to destroy themselves in the early twenties. Budweiser / InBev of course being one of the bigger catastrophes. Our once great Beer Company was closely followed by Disney ; for rather obvious reasons. Then of course Proctor & Gamble / Gillette for producing an add that might have been the worst of them all with its add painting all men as , well, basically demonic. LOL ! Finally we have our dear author, an extremely bright man , taking on the fraudulent thief Larry Fink along with ESG opportunists State Street Bank and Vanguard. Enjoy !

[Chrissy Hahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened on audiobook. Found most of it to be super interesting. Working for an Anheuser-Busch distributor, it felt very relatable. Was interesting to learn some of the history of Anheuser-Busch and some of the “behind the scenes” information.

[Janice Sebring · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprisingly entertaining read about how InBev gradually destroyed the Bud Light brand out of indifference to the American market. I couldn't put it down. Also a fascinating look at marketing for non-business types like myself.

[Gary Evins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dry if you are not a business geek, but gets it right about "taking care of business" in the American way. We must ultimately remain true to our American values.

[Austin Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

From someone who worked at the company in sales management from 2015-2022. This book is a great analysis of the underlying factors that led AB to be in the situation it found itself in spring 2023.

[Wil · Rating 5 out of 5]

American CEO shows what companies are doing that are questionable

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shows how leadership and change of culture impacts business when customer focus is set aside. Much deeper read than I expected.

[Karen Eisner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended for all management, marketing and business majors of what not to do to a brand.

[R Vacko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because it’s almost like a HBS case. Much more entertaining!

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ Interesting to learn more of the back story.

[Michele Pfrogner · Rating 5 out of 5]

My rating is more of a 5-, because I wish Frericks had included an index. I am not a "business person," so I struggled a bit with some of the terminology and explanations, but I think I now understand the "big picture" better. In my opinion, Frericks did a professional job of laying out the missteps by the C-suite "executives," who largely ignored American culture and business practices when Anheuser-Busch was taken over by these European hot shots. A part of me was glad that a boycott actually worked, but, after reading this book, I now realize that it wasn't just the C-suite hot shots who paid the price for their mistakes. The author writes, "I'm not sure when it became controversial to say that not every spokesperson is the right fit for every brand ... Audrey Hepburn [whom Dylan Mulvaney was trying to "channel"], it should be noted, never even drank beer "(251). The partnership between Dylan and Bud Light was not authentic, and customers knew it. I am not a beer drinker, and do not intend to become one, but I appreciate this unbiased look behind an extremely important once-American company.