Good morning, everybody, and happy fancy Friday. Jamie Oman here all in the morning, Common Sense Radio one O four nine, and The Patriot and coming up. Oh yeah, Christian groups are going after this journalist who called them Christian nationalists because they believe that the rights of man come from God, which happens to be in the Decoration of Independence. But that didn't stop a journalist from smearing them, so they're fighting back. I'll bring that to you
in just a little bit. Really honored to have an old and great friend of mine, Billy Bush, on the air with me right now, because this weekend is going to be a good one out at Bush Family Brewing and Distilling, which is a semi brand new operation opened in October. But man, is that a great beautiful place out there in God's Country at Benny Road in Defiance. And beer is great, the food is amazing, and the people are wonderful. You're definitely going to be at home at Bush Family Brewing
and Distilling. And so Billy. Of course, his book Family Reigns, The Extraordinary Rise and Epic Fall of an American Dynasty is a great book and comes in an audio version too if you want that, And Billy. He can't sign the audio version, but he will be signing the book tomorrow from two to four at Bush Family Brewing and Distilling. It's going to be a beautiful day, so a great place to be out there and expansive environs and
an expansive array of beer to have while you're getting your book signed. Billy Bush, welcome to the show, my friend. How you doing, Good morning, Jamie, I'm doing great. Thank you for having me on. Oh yes, you are a great American and a great Saint Louis and actually one of the only bushes now brewing beer in Saint Louis, So thank God for that, and we appreciate you keeping the Bush name on the map. This book. I was always curious about it because it's obviously hard to write.
It took some courage to write this because you had to dig into some things just about the legacy of the business and everything else that you really didn't like but had to accept. Tell me about exactly what it was it made you want to write this book. Well, there's been a lot of books written about the Bush family, but never a book written by a Bush family member who really kind of seen it firsthand up close and personal, and that's
what I'm bringing the reader into. I'm letting him see what it was like growing up as a bush you know, Jamie. For years, I didn't realize that I had come from such a different background than everybody else, you know, growing up there on Grant's farm, working with the animals, having an elephant for my best friend, which I talk about in the book, and some of the mentors that were I was very very close to the work there at Grants Farm. My mom and dad were busy working at the you
know, running the company. My mom was entertaining and she was a big part of the entertainment. My dad, of course was expanding the company during his era. It was probably the time of the greatest growth at Anahezer Bush, and so he was very busy. I didn't see him a lot, so I really counted on some of the people that worked there right on the farm. I talk about Nathan, our chauffeur, who was tragically killed in the car accident with my little sister. So yeah, there were some difficult
things to talk about. Nathan was a great guy and a big mentor to me, and he helped me, you know, when I was a young boy going to school, dealing with some things which I talk about in the book, and I think there's a little something in there for everyone. So I really wanted to write the book because I wanted to let people know what it was really like growing up, and you know, give the history of Anaheiser Busch and what it took to grow this company and how difficult it was.
But there were great successes, great times, which is all in there, and it's just something that in history that you're never gonna you know, you're you're just not going to see that again. It's just great American history, it is, and so I just felt it was important to get out there, Yes, amazing Saint Louis history, that is American history, right down to the Anheuser Bush and the families coming in from Germany and settling in
here in Saint Louis. And so I guess it's been it was difficult then at that point to watch what recently happened or more recently happened with the bud Light brand and the ab name UH and everything else. It must have been hard to kind of watch that. It wasn't really hard for me, Jamie, I gotta tell you, you know, these guys come in from Brazil and from Belgium, and they think they understand the the the American marketing and how the beers run, and they really don't. I mean, they came
in, they understood numbers. They're great bankers, they know exactly what's going off we're going on there, what to trim, what to spend on, but mainly what to trim cut back on, you know, at your expenses, which they were masterminds that doing. But they really didn't understand the American beer drinker. And that's what it takes. For years, I was driving a truck. I was out on the on a beer truck delivering beer to retailers, out there shaking hands with beer drinkers, the people, the tavern
owners, and I got a first hand view. And that's basically what it took to become a good beer man, to go out there and understand what that beer drinker is like and how to market to those guys. And you know, it's basically what my family always said, and that was their motto. Making friends is our business, and that's what you do. That's what the beer business is all about, is bringing people together. It's enjoying a
good time. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. And that's happening out uh at the at the brewery and the silly We'll talk about that a little bit. But this, this, this book, and even as it's so interesting to me because I used to when I was at Channel four and was a reporter. You know, AB had a couple of things going for it. It had it was local here. That was when it was local.
Uh. It was hugely creative in its advertising and everything else, and very very buttoned up in its corporate approach, which actually wound up being the opposite down the line when the Brazilians bought it, because they lost all their creativity and then they lost all their being buttoned up, which is why they had that that brand manager on some I podcast running down the bud Light brand. When I was working Channel four, you never talked to an AB executive.
You only talked to Fleischman, you know what I mean. Uh, And you kept everything locked up, uh but cordial and also creative and professional. And it lost all of that along with it, which I think is why it got into the mess that it got into recently. Well, and my family always knew you stayed out of politics and I think I think their recent advertising with the bud light got him into the politics, uh you know with that kind of woke advertising that they that they went to, and my family
always knew that you needed to stay out of that. That wasn't something that the beer drinker was looking for. Again, the beer drinker was looking for a good time, having fun, enjoying life, bringing people together, including everyone, not excluding anyone. And that's what that's what it was all about.
And that's why I think the advertising was so incredible. Yeah, I mean you go all the way back to the to the ad horse hitch of course, which uh which my father was was a big part of when he uh he gifted him and his brother Dolphice gifted their father, Augustinior, my grandfather, the eighth horse Hitch Clydesdale's as a token for the end of for ahibition. And then of course the clydes Villes became an incredible marketing tool for
Anheuser Busch and it has been that way for for many many years. But as those kinds of things, it's really, you know, it's very Americana. It's very strong. It's it's great advertising because it really it really shows strength and beauty and and happiness. And I think that's that's what the advertising needed to stay at. And unfortunately for for Enbev, you know, they
changed that. Yeah, it's interesting given all that you went through. Basically, I know you, I know you're not staging a pity party here, but what you're saying is, while growing up, it was just there was a lot of struggles, especially with some of the family in fighting and just just basically and your dad, you know, having to do what he had to do and not always being there. And it's amazing that you wound up
going back to the beer business. While somebody might have said, some other person might have just said, I don't even want to have anything to do with the beer business anymore because of my experience whatever, but you ventured back into it, which I think is pretty cool because with with some of the lessons you learned, well thanks Jamie. You know, there were some struggles, and I saw struggles along the way, big time, no doubt about
it. And anyone who likes the show's succession, which I gotta tell you, I've never seen, but I know it's a very very popular show. This book talks about the difficulties of succession and how the brewery was handed from one leadership to the next. And you know, so I saw that firsthand, and there's there's a big part of the book is really about that. But I got to tell you there was so much fun and so many good times that regardless of all the struggles, it was still the positives outweighed the
negatives so much that I really really loved it. I saw happiness. I saw my dad who just lived this dream. Who was who who lived it, ate it, slept it, you know, he was It was all about you know, Annaser Bush. It was all about Budweiser. It was all about growing the company and making it great. And you know, and we were all there working with him, helping him in any way we could to uh, to make sure that happened. His wife, our mother,
made sure, you know, she was a big part of it. And yeah, there were some struggles along the way, but I have to say overall the fun we had, the parties, the celebrities, we got to meet some of the politicians that would come to our house and and we met.
It was just an incredible time. And then you know, going going down in the dugout with the Cardinals and watching the sixties when they had the world, when we won those World Series, and then of course back in the eighties when we were back in the Pennant and the World Series and knowing some of the Cardinals and I mean, and then being able to hang out with those animals, I mean, the elephants and the chimps and all the different animals that we were a part of, and playing polo and doing all
the things. I mean. I wouldn't have changed it for the world. I mean, I would have changed some things if I could have, But overall it was just a great, great time and a great experience. And that's why I really wanted to write this book so people could could get a
feel for it. Yeah, no doubt about it. So Billy Bush is going to be signing his book Family Reigns The Extraordinary Rise and Epic Fall of the American Dynasty tomorrow from two to four at the Bush Family Brewing and Distilling, which actually is Somebody on the Facebook page said, hey, you ought to buy back Grants Farm. Well that's not going to happen. This is is the new Grants Farm West, at least that's how it's being developed.
And because you've got the alpacas out there, You've got the Clydesdale's out there, You've got the sheep out there, and sooner or later, I don't know. You are you gonna have the baby goats out there with the bottles? I don't know. We're we're adding animals out there right now as we speak. We're building some fences and we're gonna get some Belgian horses over there, along with some longhorn steers, some donkeys, and some miniature horses.
So we're gonna have horses of all kinds, of all sizes. And yeah, we're just gonna keep adding two things. And I think, you know, looking at it as Grands Farm West is probably a good way to look at it, absolutely, because it's it's a great place, and it's expansive, so you can actually bring kids out there and they run around. It's really really fun. We speaking really quickly about Grants Farm. How did your how did your brothers and sisters react to your book? That's a good question,
Jamie. Unfortunately, because of the riff and the family, I haven't really spoke to them about it, but I will say I've had cousins who've called me I've had nephews and nieces who've reached out to me and they have been nothing, it's been nothing but an incredibly positive response. They love the book, They relate to it, they understand it. They said, it's a book that they read, and you know a lot of them said they
couldn't put it down. They read it in five or six or seven hours and and just just loved it. They were you know, it made them happy, it made them cry, It just showed all the different emotions and they very very much related to it. So that was really really great to hear. I will, yeah, oh, that's that's great. It's fantastic.
It's a great book. And of course Billy again signing the book out at the Bush family Farm and distilling out there off of Betty Road in Defiance really super easy to get to from anywhere you happen to be, especially if you're out there in God's Country. But even even not and I have to tell you, man, people have been kind of wondering, you know, on the Facebook page about theft and it's back. Crafting Light is back as a beer one of twelve. I think it's twelve, right brood right on
the premises there. Yep, we've got twelve brews on the premises. I think they're all top notch beers. So whatever style of beer people likes, we should have it out there for them, But no crafting Light. Because we won so many awards and it was such a great beer and it tasted so good, there was a huge demand. People kept asking us, what are you going to bring it back? Are you going to bring it back? So of course we had to bring it back. And I got to
tell you it's just like it was before. It tastes great, it's light, it's lively, it's smooth and balanced and just a wonderful beer. And as I remember it to be, and you'll remember it to be, you people that have drank it before. Yeah, we have it in sixteen ounce scans, and of course you can get it on draft while you're there, so please come on and give it a try because it's wonderful. Yeah.
I will never forget how generous you were with an event I had a while back, and while I was off the air, and you gave me a whole pool full of it and I had a big party with people out at the Arrowhead Building supply. So I really definitely appreciate that, and people love the beer. And they also have the hard seltiers out there. And don't forget about the Bridal Spur, which is the private label Bush labeled whiskey,
which is really super good and people love it. I will have to tell you, you know, I've never been an ale guy, but I will My favorite beer out there has become the Renee Red and I don't know why, but it is good. Well, you know, we named it after
a gentleman that works for us on the farm out there. He's a home brewer and he made it, and so he gave Dave the recipe and he came over and helped brew it. The brewery they brew that beer, and yeah, you know what that when I first tried it, and after he had made it in his little home brewery, I said, Renee, we got to make this over at the brewery, and so now we have it there. And you're right, Jamie, I think it's one of the best
beers on tap out there. I agree. I agree. And you know it's interesting too, going back to your book, because I think this is an outgrowth of your upbringing, what you learned in being with the people who were the farm hands and the help out there, because it's no surprise that you wind up having a beer basically named after one of your employees, which is absolutely totally Bush style, you know what I mean, No, it totally is you know, come to think of it, You're right. I
mean, the people that work for us mean the world to us. We're all we're like a big family. And I got to say, you know, the food and the and the environment and the beer and the whiskey that we have out at the farm is all amazing. But hats off to the people that work out there, the servers, the bartenders, the back of the else which of course are the chefs, and and all the people that
are there a brew master. They're all wonderful people and they really care about the guests and they treat they treat people like like they're you know, like they're very special. And that's what hospitality is all about, and that's what we have. When you come out, you'll you'll feel that from the people that work there. Right on bushfamilyfarm dot com. You'll get all the directions,
all the skinny out there on the web. But otherwise cut to the Chase Benny Road in Defiance, going to be a beautiful day tomorrow and two to four Billy Bush will be signing his awesome book and very revealing one family reigns the extraordinary rise and epic fall of an American dynasty. Billy, it's always a pleasure to talk to you, brother. Thank you so much for
everything you do for this city and indeed for this country. And we appreciate you, man, And best of luck with the book signing tomorrow, Jamie. I can't thank you enough for having me on. Always the pleasure, my friend. You take care. Thank you again, no doubt, thank you. That's Billy Bush. And again it you know it's it should it's not really it. Don't let it be lost on you that it's so amazing
and so cool that a Bush is still brewing beer in Saint Louis. Like, that's a that's that's such a critical pivotal part of Saint Louis Is. It's brewing history. Uh, It's it's incredible for and for the life of me. I didn't ask him this, but someday I will about how, you know, how how did Falstaff fold? I think it was because a b just kicked its butt so hard that you know, because I remember back
in the day, you know, my uncle is my dad. Sometimes he was actually kind of more of a bush guy, but and a Budweiser guy, but but occasionally was Falstaff. Uh, and how they went under there's it's got there's gotta be a story there about how Falstaff lost its branding because it was a pretty hot back in the day. But too bad your phone calls and welcome three one, four, five, five, six sixty one oh four. It is common sense. Radium