Is Anheuser-Busch planning an O’Hare-themed “ORD” brew?
BY EMILY MORRIS Staff Reporter emorris@suntimes.com June 21, 2012 6:46PM
Anheuser-Busch has trademarked the airport codes ORD and MDW. Are they planning some airport-themed beers. | Tom Gannam~AP file photo
Updated: July 23, 2012 7:53AM
How does some airport-themed beer sound? What about an ice-cold can of ORD? Or some frosty MDW?
Anheuser-Busch has filed applications with the U.S. Patent Trademark Office for 42 airport codes, including ORD for Chicago’s O’Hare and MDW for Midway.
It’s anyone’s guess what the St. Louis-based brewer, maker of Budweiser and Bud Light, plans to do with the codes. The company didn’t comment Thursday.
Putting a local name on a regional beer would be a strategy in line with the brewery’s decision to file trademark applications for 15 U.S. area codes about a year ago. None was in Illinois.
Anheuser-Busch bought Chicago-based Goose Island, maker of 312 Urban Wheat Ale, in 2011 and could be looking to mimic the success of the brewery’s region-inspired beer.
While “MDW” makes sense as Midway’s moniker, “ORD” can be a head-scratcher.
The code is a nod to the airport’s roots. It was known as Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field in the 1940s. It was built in an unincorporated area named Orchard Place and initially was used by Douglas Aircraft, which built World War II cargo planes there.
