Budweiser may be the “King of Beers,” but its newest beer labels remind Virginians that the state motto is “Thus Always to Tyrants.”
Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, this week started a marketing campaign that features new labels for its beer packaging in the 11 states where the company has breweries, including Virginia.
In those states, the Budweiser name on beer cans and bottles is being replaced temporarily by the state’s name, in what the company describes as a tribute to the communities that have brewed its top-selling beer for generations.
Anheuser-Busch’s 1.2 million-square-foot brewery in James City County near Williamsburg opened in 1972 and has about 580 employees, with a $53 million payroll.
“Our new state bottles and cans celebrate the homes of our breweries and the communities that support them,” said Ricardo Marques, vice president of Budweiser, in a statement released by the company.
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Also, the Budweiser slogan “King of Beers” is being swapped on the labels with each state’s motto. In Virginia, that’s “Thus Always to Tyrants.”
The motto is printed on the beer labels in English, not the Latin “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” which is what’s on the Great Seal of Virginia along with a figure of Virtus, the goddess of virtue, who holds a spear and rests her foot on the chest of a supine figure representing tyranny.
“Sic Semper Tyrannis” also is, infamously, what John Wilkes Booth is said to have shouted after he shot President Abraham Lincoln.
The special labels will be on Budweiser packaging in Virginia through September, the company said.
Other states with Budweiser breweries that will have special labels are California (where there are two breweries), Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Texas. Labels also will include other patriotic elements such as the lyrics to the National Anthem.
The new labels come as Budweiser and other major beer companies try different ways to attract and retain consumers and compete with a growing number of locally owned craft breweries that have sprung up recently across the nation.
While overall U.S. beer sales were flat in 2016, craft beer sales were up 6.2 percent by volume for the year, according to the Brewers Association, an organization of independent craft brewers.
The number of craft breweries in the U.S. jumped to just over 5,200 in 2016 from 2,400 in 2012.
Virginia had 164 craft breweries in 2016, up from just 50 in 2012.
In June, the Brewers Association announced it was introducing a new seal that craft brewers can place on their packaging if they meet the association’s definition of an independent brewer.
This isn’t the first campaign by Anheuser-Busch meant to inspire a sense of patriotism in beer drinkers. In 2016, the company temporarily swapped the Budweiser name on its cans and bottles with the word “America.”
As part of its latest campaign, Budweiser also is planning an open house on Sept. 16 at its James City brewery at 7801 Pocahontas Trail, which the company plans to invest $18 million this year. People interested in attending must register ahead of time at www.budbrewedlocally.com.