Busch

How does a beer sold in essentially one country crack the top 25 most valuable beer brands on the planet? Busch, Anheuser-Busch's value lager, did it by becoming the unofficial beer of rural America — the cold blue can in the boat cooler, the deer stand, the ice-fishing hut, and the combine cab.

It launched in St. Louis in 1955 as Busch Bavarian Beer, an affordable everyday lager sold under the same roof as Budweiser, with snowy peaks on the can and 'Head for the mountains' in its ads — never mind that neither St. Louis nor most of its loyal drinkers are anywhere near a mountain.

The modern star is Busch Light, adopted by farm country so completely that the internet nicknamed it the 'Busch Latte.' Under AB InBev, Brand Finance rates Busch the world's 21st most valuable beer brand — ahead of plenty of beers sold in a hundred countries.

Pale straw, light-bodied, and unapologetically easy: a touch of corn sweetness up front, a seltzer-snap of carbonation, and a short, clean exit with barely a trace of bitterness. It is engineered for hour three of a hot afternoon outdoors, pulled straight from melting cooler ice.