Budweiser fights back with full-page ad against lawsuit alleging watered-down beer

The maker of Budweiser is using splashy newspaper ads to poke fun at a lawsuit that alleges its beer is watered down.

In full-page ads in 10 U.S. newspapers Sunday, including The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, Anheuser-Busch InBev shows one of the 71 million cans of drinking water it has sent to the American Red Cross and other relief organizations responding to disasters.

"They must have tested one of these," the ad says.

The class-action lawsuit, filed in several states, accuses the brewer of by adding water just before bottling its beers. The suit claims the water cuts the alcohol content by 3 percent to 8 percent.

Anheuser-Busch InBev says the claims are groundless. In the ads, the company calls its beer "the best beer we know how to brew."

Neither the ads nor a statement by an Anheuser-Busch spokesman yesterday directly address the complaint. "We never waver on quality," a spokesman said in the statement.

Boxer says in a statement the ads amount to "classic non-denial denials." He said that the company will be asked to produce internal alcohol testing data in court that will prove his case.

The suit involves Budweiser, Bud Ice, Bud Light Platinum, Michelob, Michelob Ultra, Hurricane High Gravity Lager, King Cobra, Busch Ice, Natural Ice and Bud Light Lime.