How Did My Budweiser Beer Get to Fargo-Moorhead?
From the planting of a seed to the first sip of an ice cold brew—learn how the Budweiser that you’re sipping on got here!
From Seed to Sip!
From the planting of a barely seed, to the crisp, first sip of an ice cold brew, the roots of beer run deep through the economy of our region. Take a look at the full-circle journey of a Budweiser in the FM area.
#1 Planted
The life of a beer begins with a grain of barley. Planted in the spring and harvested 3-4 months later.
In 2022, there were 660,000 acres of barley harvested in North Dakota. Around 80% of North Dakota’s barley production goes towards malting and brewing. On average, 1 bottle of Budweiser contains about 1,500 kernels of barley.
#2 Processed
Once the barley is harvested it is sent to the Anheuser-Busch West Fargo elevator where it is stored before being transported to the Moorhead Malt Plant where it takes 6 days to turn the grain into malt.
The Malt Plant stores 1 year of barley reserve as a safeguard for seasons with poor harvest and to ensure the highest quality of grain.
#3 Brewed
After the malting process is complete it is transported by train to Anheuser-Busch breweries across the country where it’s made into beer.
Anheuser-Busch operates 12 breweries in 11 states across the country. Malt from the FM area is shipped to breweries in: St. Louis, MO; Columbus, OH; Newark, NJ; Merrimack, NH; Baldwinsville, NY.
#4 Packaged
Beer is packaged into cans, kegs, or bottles and shipped out to 400+ Anheuser-Busch distributors throughout the country.
Did you know keg beer is typically only 2-3 days old by the time it arrives in the FM area? Package beer is less than 30 days old.
#5 Shipped
Packaged beer arrives by truck to the FM area at D-S Beverages’ Moorhead warehouse.
D-S Beverages is locally owned and operated. They celebrated their 55th birthday on April 15th!
#6 Arrives
Beer is unloaded, stacked, and stored while it waits to be delivered.
At any given time, D-S Beverages’ warehouse houses about 250 thousand cases of product. That’s about 1 month’s worth of inventory.
#7 Delivered
Once a retailer order is taken, our team of loaders pull product and load it on to the beer trucks to go out for delivery to local bars, liquor stores, and restaurants.
D-S Beverages runs 17 routes throughout its territory which is centered around the FM area but stretches from Oakes to Aneta, ND, and Crookston, to Bemidji, to Park Rapids, Wadena and Morris, MN.
It takes 75 vehicles and 65 delivery and sales team members to service 1,250 accounts in D-S Beverages’ territory.
#8 Purchased
The best part? Grab a case from the liquor store or a tap from the bar and enjoy!
The entire process of planting a barley seed to twisting the top off an ice-cold Budweiser takes about 2 years, but we all know it’s well worth the wait!
Published April 20, 2023
