In Focus

Mainstream Hobby? This Bud's For You

I remember writing awhile back that I was a bit bummed because everyone around me had a hobby. Kari knitted, Gail rode horses, and Susie scrapbooked. Until this weekend, I had almost forgotten what my passion was; only because I didn't think it was a passion, it was just part of my daily routine.

I love to learn about companies, public, stock trading companies, and what makes them tick. CNBC is my morning television, the Business section is my lunch reading, and Jack Welch's latest book is my current night time reading. To most it sounds like a very boring hobby, but not so, naysayer. Before each day is done, I can turn Martha Stewart Omnimedia into my own personal soap opera or Enron into a bedtime story. My passion is public companies, and I find it very intriguing as to what makes successful companies successful, and others to limp along.

Back in 1998, I gathered some other women, formed a club, and forced them to have the same interests as I did. Now, in our spare time, instead of reading Danielle Steel novels, we dissect the financial statements of Kimberly Clark. Do you know how excited we all get talking about Coach's balance sheet, or Yankee Candle's income statement? It's almost better than discussing Brad and Angelina.

I said almost.

This past weekend we all met in St. Louis for our annual meeting. Our mission this trip was to buy stock in a new company, get updates on the companies we already own, and have a cocktail or two.

Upon landing in 'The Gateway to the West' we were told that the girls in our club who lived in St. Louis had a surprise for us. They had arranged a private tour of St. Louis based Anheuser Busch! To most, this may not cause joy, but for me? A Fortune 500 company complete with hops and barley? Why, this was better than any decoupage class or bead stringing venture, ever! As you know, I am somewhat of a beer connoisseur, but I could barely contain my excitement because I've owned stock in BUD (that's their NYSE ticker symbol) since 2001.

For the past eight years, I've tried to learn everything I could about Anheuser Busch and manage to stay out of Betty Ford. I've run their gross margins, net margins and blood/alcohol margins until I couldn't see straight. I've done it quarterly, since being of legal age. I've visited their theme parks - Busch Gardens, Sea World and Discovery Cove and I've even been known to stalk August Busch IV when in St. Louis. It's so bad that the Clydesdale commercials have become part of my Christmas Day celebrations.

But, to be at Anheuser Busch headquarters? It was more thrilling than my Monday Night Football trip to Lambeau Field.

I must tell.

Upon arriving at One Busch Place and the 100-acre campus, I felt more like I was entering an Ivy League college than a brewery. The grounds were immaculate. The flowers were in full blooming color, the green grass would fill even the most persnickety golfer with glee, and the landscaping was more beautiful than a beer company's budget should allow for. It had to cost at least twenty thousand a month to keep this up. I was wrong; their landscaping budget is one million a year.

Their historical brick buildings make any big city lofts look like a modular home. I have never seen anything so beautiful. From the ornate cement work atop the overhead archways to the elaborate wrought iron fence enclosures, these buildings would rent for high buck, especially if you had a tap with a direct line. I was not in a beer manufacturing plant but at America's version of the English Parliament.

Up ahead, the Clydesdales paddock and stables. Oh my goodness, you could eat off the floor of their barn. I'm not kidding. This time I wasn't as bold as to ask the budget for the man who was continually sweeping and washing the floors, but I would guess that it matched that of the exterior gardens. For the King of Beers, their horses live like royalty.

Then, beyond the beechwood aging cellar, in the back room of Castle C, were the hordes of computers tracking all the beer lines - Bud Light, Budweiser, Michelob, Bud Ice, Michelob Golden Draft and so on. I asked if the man monitoring the screens had been through air traffic control classes. He told me to have another beer and that chemical engineering and flight school are two different things. They were monitoring the Co2 pressure in each line, the caloric count of each beer, the grams of carbohydrates, and whether or not I had consumed more than one in the past hour. The alarm was sounding on the Budweiser Select line - as I had found my favorite.

My passion had a reward. I had no idea Budweiser Select was their new low carb beer, with more taste than Michelob Ultra. I have slacked in my research, and my new passion became evident.

The moral? Though your hobby may not be mainstream. It's yours. Embrace it. Support it. And if you have to, drink a lot of it.