Earlier this month, InBev, a Belgian-based multinational brewing giant, struck a deal to buy Anheuser-Busch. The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, network news and cable channels all jumped in with reporting and commentary about the sale of the iconic American company and the Budweiser brand. Even political columnist George Will wrote about it. And not surprisingly, A-B's hometown paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, kept track of the takeover in an excellent series of articles.

The story was well summed up by Post-Dispatch business columnist David Nicklaus: "History books will record that August Busch IV was the last member of his family to run the brewery that shares his last name. The decisions that cost Anheuser-Busch its independence, though, were made years before the Fourth occupied the chief executive's chair. Anheuser-Busch took an overly cautious approach to international expansion. Its insular corporate culture was slow to adapt to new market realities."

Lawrence Jackson/AP (ENLARGE)

With Belgian-based InBev's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser and Stella Artois become corporate partners.

BOB TOWNSEND BEER PICK E-mail Townsend Related: • More on food and drink • Restaurant reviews and search More Townsend New brews for fall and Oktoberfest  Budweiser American Ale  Craft brewers a perfect fit in Slow Food Nation event  Sweetwater Motor Boat Ale  Weyerbacher Brewing on track, after a struggle  • Bob Townsend is editor of Southern Brew News, a bimonthly beer publication distributed throughout the Southeast.

But as Nicklaus goes on to point out, the reason the takeover was so shocking to so many people was that for much of the nearly 150-year family and corporate history of Anheuser-Busch, the company had more often been the innovator — and the one taking over other breweries.

As a fan of smaller, local breweries, and of beers from places only beer geeks have heard of, I'll admit to a view that's somewhat skewed. That said, while wondering why I couldn't work up more patriotic fervor for the passing of the all-American Anheuser-Busch, I did find myself eagerly soliciting the takes of beer insiders and friends. Their comments ranged from optimistic to philosophical to somewhat cynical.

Here's a bit of what they had to say.

• Freddy Bensch, Atlanta's Sweetwater Brewing Co. "big kahuna": "We think A-B being purchased by a foreign corporation, such as InBev, creates a great opportunity for small, locally owned breweries, such as Sweetwater. First of all, we now become one of the few true American-owned businesses brewing beer in the Southeast, and that is something to be proud of in a time of immense global consolidation."

• Steve Craine, president of Atlanta-based A-B distributor Eagle Rock: "We are excited about the news. At the highest levels this has to be a great deal for both A-B and InBev. But when they start talking about the 'global' impact, I don't think our 20 counties in North Georgia will feel much of a difference. Budweiser is still the great American lager."

• Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver: "I hope the workers don't get hurt. But otherwise, it's all industrial beer, and at the end of the day, I simply don't believe that Anheuser-Busch is in the same business we're in. Our business is about the beer. Theirs is entirely about money. And money does whatever it wants. I'd rather that any large corporation remained American, but unfortunately money isn't something Americans are good at these days."

• Crawford Moran, brewer at Five Seasons Brewing Co. in Alpharetta: "It's the end of an era in terms of mass-produced American lager. As far as business goes, none of the big American brewers have been able to deliver shareholder value. Craft beer has taken hold and has been the growth story in beer. I think the InBev deal reflects the success of craft beer. Craft beer continues to grow, continues to innovate and continues to capture the imagination of the public."

• Julia Herz, craft beer program director for the Colorado-based Brewers Association: "This buyout could reduce beer choice for the beer drinker. And in a competitive marketplace dominated by A-B, InBev and MillerCoors, the opportunity for small, American independent brewers to get their beers on the shelves and to the beer drinkers may be severely restricted. We applaud retailers who offer their customers choice, stocking their shelves or providing a beer menu that offers flavor, diversity, many different beer styles and brands."

• Maureen Ogle, author of "Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer": "Historically, deals that remove/obliterate an old brewing family's influence do not bode well for the acquired company. Put another way, A-B will lose all the patina endowed for 143 years and will become 'Just Another Big Beer Company.' Also, as A-B declines, MillerCoors will finally have a level playing field and will seek its revenge for having been trounced so totally and completely by A-B in the 1970s. But my prediction is that both A-B and MillerCoors will duke it out and they will definitely butt heads in the craft segment."