Armed with cigarette profits and brilliant advertising, Philip Morris purchased Miller Brewing in 1970 with the goal of unseating Budweiser as the nation’s #1 seller. They relaunched the 7^th tier Miller High Life brand, putting it on a sales trajectory to become #2 in 1977, behind Budweiser and introduced the nation’s first light beer, Lite Beer from Miller, revolutionizing the brewing industry.

The Beer War is the inside story of how August Busch, III, faced with an ageing corporate infrastructure and a marketing department of only four people, threw his father out of office in a board room coup, and took control of and completely revamped the company.  The Beer War tells how Anheuser-Busch and its two advertising agencies, D’Arcy St. Louis, and Needham, Harper & Steers, Chicago outwitted and overpowered Philip Morris and eventually won the war.  Dramatic, funny, and engaging to anyone who remembers and appreciates some of the most entertaining and memorable ad campaigns in history, The Beer War is told by the people who were on the front lines when the ad campaigns were developed, and who served under the direction of August Busch, III, a quick-tempered workaholic whom they considered intimidating, aggressive, relentless, and one of the best CEOs of our time.