Courtesy Trent Bell Photography
We all know that things just aren’t the same on Pestalozzi Street since Anheuser-Busch was sold to InBev. Quieter, fewer employees, fewer famous faces being seen over the course of a calendar year. Still, beer is bigger business than ever – ironically, due in part to the explosion of craft beer – and now that we’re part of a multinational corporation, that can lead to...bigger things.
Courtesy Trent Bell Photography
Courtesy Trent Bell Photography
In fact, it’s led to Washington, D.C.’s Pennsylvania Avenue. On the 13th floor is the brewery’s D.C. headquarters, a penthouse with a pub. Of course, there are offices and eight full-time employees, but there’s also plenty of room for those all-important networking events.
It’s large and lovely, snazzy enough that the city magazine, Washingtonian, featured it in its Design & Home section. There’s a circular bar, another, smaller one, a kitchen, and sliding glass panels so that the area can be enlarged even more. The iconic "A and Eagle" logo is prominent on one interior wall, and a vintage sign, “Put a Clydesdale in the White House Stable” hangs with a couple of old photos. Along with the brick and wood and brass, there are accents of the green worn by the drivers of the Clydesdale hitch. And the kitchen counter is made out of beechwood. Missing, however, is any discussion of whether it’s aged or not.
Photo by Chris Naffziger
To this day, the Busch family residence at Grant's Farm is known as "the big house."
There was never anything quite this elaborate at the former mothership here. Private entertainment areas always existed and remain, the bar updated a few years ago and used for tastings and in-house activities. At the Soccer Park in Fenton, there was more space for that sort of thing, “beertail parties” and the like, which was also available for outside functions. Of course, in the pre-sale days, the real venue of choice for impressing guests must have been Grant’s Farm.
Courtesy Trent Bell Photography
It’s easy to imagine politicians and high-level federal types doing a little amiable elbow-bending in this private space, perhaps some ambassadors and undersecretaries, and the sort of people whose job descriptions are unclear but seem to know pretty much everyone with clout. It’s a fine and appropriate setting for that sort of schmoozing. Lots and lots of windows, of course, some overlooking the Old Post Office. (You may have heard of that building. It was turned into a hotel two or three years ago with considerable fanfare.)
Another old Anheuser-Busch tradition continues. After work, employees are encouraged to “become familiar with the products.” Sipping on a Stella or Michelob at dusk and watching the floodlit historic buildings might be a benefit the IRS can’t tax.
