Blue's Clues: Anheuser-Busch Brewery

Tony went the long way to get the Mill (aka he forgot how to get there), but it did afford us the opportunity to snap this picture while stopped at a red light. Sadly, the brewery is only six blocks from our house, but we saw the whole neighborhood and then some getting there!

I was really excited to tour the Budweiser brewery. I hate beer, but we live in St. Louis now. How can we not visit the headquarters of Budweiser?

In 1860, Eberhard Anheuser purchased the Bavarian brewery here in St. Louis and renamed it the E. Anheuser & Co. It was his first attempt at brewing beer. Prior to the purchase, he was a soap and candle manufacturer here in St. Louis. At that time, more than 50 breweries were in operation in the city. Today, only one remains.

The name was later changed to Anheuseur Busch after a brewery supply salesman by the name of Adolphus Busch married Eberhard's daughter Lily and was made an equal partner in the brewery.

Entrance to the tour center here in St. Louis. It's a gorgeous welcome center with very high ceilings and flags from all of the countries

that sell Budweiser.

Display case of all of the Anheuser-Busch products. Budweiser and

Bud Light remain the two best-selling beers in the world.

I thought that this was neat. During Prohibition, the brewery produced other products to stay in business. This plaque describes what happened at the brewery when beer was re-legalized. More than 25,000 people gathered at the gates to greet the first cases of beer produced in the post-Prohibition era. The Clydesdales were used for the

first time on this day. They have been synonymous with the

Budweiser name since.

The headquarters here in St. Louis is home to one of the six famous Budweiser Clydesdale teams and their stable is the first stop on the tour. Here, we learned probably the most interesting fact of the day. The horses on the teams are bathed daily. Yes, you read that correct.

D-A-I-L-Y

It takes them almost an hour to bathe one horse. The team has 8 horses. I'd love to know how much the staff members make to do nothing except bathe the horses all day long.

There were two workers with bathing the horses while we were there.

This is their stables. Yes, their stable has a chandelier. And not just any chandelier. It was originally commissioned by the Busch family for the 1904 World's Fair here in St. Louis and features the Anheuser Busch eagle logo on all sides. The multi-colored stained glass windows were my favorite part.