Source: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/
By Doyle Murphy
Jul 10, 2019
Billy Busch, bad boy beer heir and noted middle-school basketball court scrapper, is shutting down his brewing company.
The William K. Busch Brewing Company is dissolving, which means the end of its Kräftig and Kräftig Light lagers, the business announced today in a news release.
Busch, who is the great grandson of Anheuser-Busch cofounder Adolphus Busch, started the brewing company in 2011 with hopes of replicating his famous family’s success. But it didn’t turn out that way. The company cited “market demand” for the failure of its ambitious plans.
“I want to thank all of our customers, retailers, suppliers, and vendors who have supported us over the last eight years,” Busch says in the release. “I’ve always been passionate about brewing, because it’s in my blood. I hope to one day return to this great American-led industry.”
The company was a chance for the 59-year-old to prove himself as more than just a wealthy heir after a hell-raising youth, which included biting off another man’s earlobe in 1981 during an infamous bar brawl. But his image as a wizened corporate leader took a hit last year when the Riverfront Times broke the news that he had been charged in Creve Coeur with assaulting a sixth-grader who’d had a confrontation with Busch’s son.
Busch was accused of bloodying the kid’s nose during the hands-on exchange. He denied roughing up the boy, but said the boy was bullying his son – something the boy’s father contested.
Busch later pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace.
Anyway, you can still buy Kräftig at the store until supplies run out.