On Wednesday, February 27, 2013 11:29:04 AM UTC-4, True North wrote:
On Wednesday, February 27, 2013 11:21:01 AM UTC-4, JustWaitAFrekinMinute! wrote:

On 2/27/2013 9:38 AM, F.O.A.D. wrote:



Budweiser waters down its beer, lawsuit alleges







Beer lovers across the U.S. have accused Anheuser-Busch of watering down



its Budweiser, Michelob and other brands, in class-action suits seeking



millions in damages.







The suits, filed in Pennsylvania, California and other states, claim



consumers have been cheated out of the alcohol content stated on labels.



Budweiser and Michelob each boast of being 5 percent alcohol, while some



"light" versions are said to be just over 4 percent.







The lawsuits are based on information from former employees at the



company's 13 U.S. breweries, some in high-level plant positions,



according to lead lawyer Josh Boxer of San Rafael, Calif.







"Our information comes from former employees at Anheuser-Busch, who have



informed us that as a matter of corporate practice, all of their



products mentioned (in the lawsuit) are watered down," Boxer said. "It's



a simple cost-saving measure, and it's very significant."







The excess water is added just before bottling and cuts the stated



alcohol content by 3 percent to 8 percent, he said.







Anheuser-Busch InBev called the claims "groundless" and said its beers



fully comply with labeling laws.







"Our beers are in full compliance with all alcohol labeling laws. We



proudly adhere to the highest standards in brewing our beers, which have



made them the best-selling in the U.S. and the world," Peter Kraemer,



vice president of brewing and supply, said in a statement.







The suit involves 10 Anheuser-Busch products: Budweiser, Bud Ice, Bud



Light Platinum, Michelob, Michelob Ultra, Hurricane High Gravity Lager,



King Cobra, Busch Ice, Natural Ice and Bud Light Lime.







Anheuser-Busch, based in St. Louis, Mo., merged with InBev in 2008 to



form the world's largest alcohol producer, headquartered in Belgium. In



2011, the company produced 10 billion gallons of malt beverages, 3



billion of them in the U.S., and reported $22 billion in profits from



that category, the lawsuit said.







AB InBev, the maker of Budweiser and Stella Artois, controls 39 percent



of the U.S. beer market.







According to the lawsuit, the company has sophisticated equipment that



measures the alcohol content throughout the brewing process and is



accurate to within one-hundredth of a percent. But after the merger, the



company increasingly chose to dilute its popular brands of beer, the



lawsuit alleged.







"Following the merger, AB vigorously accelerated the deceptive practices



described below, sacrificing the quality products once produced by



Anheuser-Busch in order to reduce costs," said the lead lawsuit, filed



Friday in federal court in San Francisco on behalf of consumers in the



lower 48 states.







Companion suits are being filed this week in Pennsylvania, New Jersey



and elsewhere. Each seeks at least $5 million in damages.







The named Pennsylvania plaintiffs, Thomas and Gerald Greenberg of



Ambler, said they buy six cases of the affected Anheuser-Busch products



a month. They did not immediately return a message Tuesday, and Boxer



would not elaborate on their purchases except to say the



consumer-protection suit does not involve retailers or bar owners.







One of the California plaintiffs, Nina Giampaoli of Sonoma County, said



she bought a six-pack of Budweiser every week for the past four years..







"I think it's wrong for huge corporations to lie to their loyal



customers � I really feel cheated. No matter what the product is, people



should be able to rely on the information companies put on their



labels," Giampaoli said in a news release issued by Boxer's law firm.







Bloomberg News first reported Tuesday on the lawsuits.







In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Boxer said he has



evidence to corroborate the former employees' allegations, but stopped



short of saying the beers had been independently tested.







"AB (Anheuser-Busch) never intends for the malt beverage to possess the



amount of alcohol that is stated on the label. As a result, AB's



customers are overcharged for watered-down beer and AB is unjustly



enriched by the additional volume it can sell," the lawsuit said.



- - -







Probably didn't happen when the Bud brand was a proud American brand



owned by the Busch family. Never liked the brands, but I know a lot of



people did.



















Probably some kind of wildcat action by the union...





You, my...you couldn't sound any stupider than you do.

It must come naturally, as you're not known for working hard at anything.



D'oh......that should be 'my, my'