Since I’m pretty much conceding the World Series to the crap-eating Cardinals and their anti-stem-cell-research pitchers, I figured I’d lash out one more time at St. Louisians (or whatever they call their overweight citizenry).  Having sworn myself off any BudMillerCoors product, it pains me to read articles like this, although I can’t blame the Missouri folk for supporting the local economy.  Of course, when anyone publicly admits to drinking bad beer on purpose, the beer snob in me turns my nose up at their unrefined tastes.

Here’s a snippet from the article.

This city rarely parties without the King making a cameo. Whether it's beer-soaked bratwursts or block parties packed with suds-soaked revelers, the King is always in the house. Somewhere.

Home of the nation's largest brewer of domestic lagers -- Budweiser, the King of Beers -- St. Louis is as synonymous with beer as, oh, say, Detroit is with cars. And just like metro Detroiters who worry about Nissan, Honda and Toyota, residents in St. Louis have imports on their minds. Think Heineken, Amstel and Labatt.

For Michiganders, the mantra is "Buy American"; for Missourians, it's "Drink responsibly."

"Our family has only bought Anheuser products; if you live here, you drink Bud," said Tom Fulhorst, 37, a Lake St. Louis resident. "Just like if you live in Detroit, I'm sure you're not going to hop in a Nissan."

"In St. Louis, there are a lot microbrews cropping up, but everyone here pretty much drinks Bud," said Ryan Sullins, 30, of St. Peters, a suburb. "My dad is a Teamster, and I just grew up in the environment that you support your own."

Having grown up in Detroit where it really was a no-no to buy a foreign car, even though American car engineering was at its low point in the 1970-80s (K-Car, Pinto, Hornet, Gremlin, Citation), I have to argue against the “buy local at any cost” mentality.  I am always for supporting the local economy and try to buy as much local products as I can, assuming they are of equal or greater value than a national product.  But when the local nationwide company makes a not-so-great product, why support it?  This rant is definitely slanted against my dislike for Budweiser, but it really applies to local Fortune 500 companies, not the mid and low-level local companies that I love to support.  I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with Delta so I support Air Tran when I can.  While I like Coke, I prefer Dr Pepper on the rare occasions I have a soda.

Of course there are lots of times when I’m lockstep with the American sheep-like public (i.e. Target) but it’s because they offer superior products or service.  But I can say with confidence that Budweiser is not one of those companies.

(Author's Note - I aplogize for breaking my own blog rules and including more than one link in an entry, although each one is relevant to today's post.)