Bud faces tough taste test in World Cup Germany

BERLIN, May 9 (Reuters) Budweiser may be the ''King of Beers'' in the United States, but it's often laughed at in Germany, where it will be one of only two beers available in football stadiums during the World Cup.

An official sponsor of the month-long soccer tournament that kicks off on June 9, Budweiser parent Anheuser-Busch originally won the rights to a monopoly on beer sales at the 64 World Cup matches to be held in 12 German cities.

But the decision outraged Germany's fiercely proud beer drinkers, many of whom dislike the taste of weaker US beers. The German television station n-tv summed up the country's reaction on its Web site: ''A cry went out across the nation.'' The St Louis, Missouri-based firm took note of the furore and relented. It agreed to give 30 percent of beer sales rights to the family-run German brewery Bitburger to sell its popular Bitburger Pils, better known as ''Bit''.

''We obviously read the stories and are aware of the media ...

the German fan, the German consumer, has great pride in the local beers,'' Anheuser-Busch Vice-President Tony Ponturo told Reuters in a telephone interview.

According to government figures, some 1,200 German breweries produce over 115 million hectolitres of beer every year, much of it for export.

Germany is the world's third largest beer market after the United States and China, and Germans down around 140 litres of beer per capita each year, well ahead of Americans. Only the Czechs and Irish drink more.

Anheuser-Busch markets its beer in Germany under the clumsy name ''Anheuser-Busch Bud''. It is banned from using ''Budweiser'' and ''Bud'' labels due to legal disputes with the Czech brewer Budweiser Budvar over the former and Bitburger over the latter.

But the World Cup deal persuaded Bitburger, which has successfully argued in the past that ''Bud'' sounds too much like ''Bit'', to temporarily suspend its legal dispute, allowing the name Bud to appear at World Cup stadiums.

''We've been able to work out an arrangement with Bitburger that will allow us to use 'Bud' on the perimeter boards, which we think has certainly value for us,'' Ponturo said.

More Reuters AY GC1044