Fifth-Generation Brewmaster and Five Other Budweiser Brewing Experts Spotlighted in New Track Your Bud TV Campaign

ST. LOUIS (April 29, 2013) -- When 3 p.m. rolls around each day in St. Louis, Pete Kraemer has a job that a lot of people would love: He tastes beer.  Beer from all over the United States and the world.  He and the brewmaster team he leads gather in a wood-paneled tasting room on the top floor at Anheuser-Busch's historic St. Louis brewery.

It's a fun job that involves equal parts art and science, but there's also a big responsibility: ensuring that the Budweiser brewed in the United States, Canada and around the world meets the company's legendary consistency in every batch brewed, every single day. Kraemer's job also entails every detail that goes into making beer -- and it's not just what happens in the brewhouse. It actually starts in the fields.  His group oversees barley research in Fort Collins and hop research in Huell, Germany, and maintains relationships with growers across the United States.

To help showcase some of Anheuser-Busch's strongest assets - a nationwide system of 12 breweries, some of the top brewmasters in the business and the company's focus on using the best ingredients  - Kraemer and five other Budweiser brewmasters from across the United States are the "stars" of a new "Track Your Bud" TV campaign starting Tuesday.

The commercials highlight "Track Your Bud," a digital campaign that allows consumers to trace the origin of the beer they hold in their hands to one of Budweiser's 12 U.S. breweries, while offering a look at how the beer is made and the source of ingredients.

"I have to admit that I'm a little more comfortable in the brewhouse than on TV, but what I really love about this campaign is that it shows off our outstanding brewmasters as well as where and how Budweiser is brewed," said Kraemer,a fifth-generation brewmaster whose father, a Hungarian-born German immigrant, also held Anheuser-Busch's top brewing job. "The care that goes into making our beer at all steps of the process is second to none - this app and the TV spots help showcase this."

In addition to Kraemer, the ads feature five of Budweiser's top brewmasters -- Jim Bicklein from St. Louis; Dan Kahn from Cartersville, Ga.;  Aaron Vaughn from Jacksonville, Fla.; Katie Rippel from Fort Collins, Colo.; and Dave Taylor representing Newark, N.J.

The new 30-second ads will be running on various networks over the coming weeks, including local and national sporting events and entertainment programming.

How does Track Your Bud work? By downloading the free app or visiting TrackYourBud.com, consumers can enter the Born On Date found on bottles and cans and be taken on a guided tour of the creation of their individual beer by the Budweiser brewmaster responsible for it.

The "Track Your Bud" platform, first introduced last year, includes a social application, available on iTunes or Google Play, that integrates with Facebook to connect beer drinkers across the country with each other through the Budweiser they hold in their hand.

In addition to its flagship brewery in St. Louis, "Track Your Bud" showcases Budweiser's state-of-the-art breweries in Merrimack, N.H.; Baldwinsville, N.Y.; Newark, N.J.; Williamsburg, Va.; Cartersville, Ga.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Columbus, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Fort Collins, Colo.; Fairfield, Calif.; and Los Angeles, Calif.

Because great beer starts with great ingredients, Track Your Bud also gives consumers insight into where Budweiser's raw materials come from - which includes barley farms in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin; and hop farms in Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Germany.

The site also details other facts about the Budweiser brewing process, including that brewmasters use the original Budweiser yeast culture strain from 1876 and still practice the time-honored process of Beechwood aging, which was commonly used by German immigrants to the United States in the 19th Century. Anheuser-Busch is the only major brewer that continues to use Beechwood aging.

For Kraemer, beer isn't just a job. It's part of his family DNA. He is the third generation of his family to work at Anheuser-Busch.  His father, Gerhardt Kramer, was a legendary brewmaster who retired in 2001. Pete followed in dad's footsteps when he was named the company's top North American brewmaster in 2009.

"My dad always encouraged us to pursue whatever made us happy, so I chose a career in brewing," said Kraemer, who has been with Anheuser-Busch for 23 years. "To prepare, I studied chemical engineering, which is what my dad recommended. Let's just say I think his advice was more than helpful - I think I have the best job in the world.

"I'm glad that Track Your Bud is helping to showcase what makes our beers and our breweries special, something that my father took a lot of pride in. My dad joined our company in 1958 - recruited by my great-uncle, who had joined the company in 1937. Today, my brewing team continues to honor those who went before us and helped build our company. That's pretty special."