King of Beers

Traditional TMs
Written By Justin Powley
Cartoon stick figure holding a beer bottle and pointing at a chalkboard with “King of Beers” written in large chalk letters — representing a blog post about the Budweiser brand and King of Beers word mark trademark registration.

Trademark: King of Beers

First Used: 1951

First Registered: 1968

Current Owner: ANHEUSER-BUSCH, LLC [1]

Trademark Type: traditional trademark; word mark

Primarily Associated With: beer [2]

Also A Trademark For: clothing, namely caps, hats, shirts, sweatshirts, shorts, and jackets [3]; and neon signs [4].

Brief (and likely incomplete) History [7]:

It’s a slogan that may make some beer drinkers scoff, many smile with college nostalgia, and others scream out “Hell Yeah!” Whether you agree or disagree, the Budweiser brand is the (self-proclaimed) KING OF BEERS® (or KING® [5] in short or BUD KING OF BEERS® [6] in full).

King of Beers was actually not the first slogan used by the Budweiser brand. Budweiser was the first nationally distributed beer in the US and was primarily sold bottled, so the original slogan was actually the “King of Bottled Beer.” As competition increased in the bottled beer market, the slogan later evolved to “King of All Bottled Beers.”

Budweiser (and its slogan) was temporarily shelved during the Prohibition era when Anheuser-Busch survived by producing soft drinks and “near beer.” After Prohibition was finally ended, the original slogan returned until the mid-20th century, when the rise of aluminum cans prompted the company to adopt the more universal and enduring “King of Beers,” emphasizing Budweiser’s history and leadership regardless of packaging format.

Anheuser-Busch also owns some unique non-traditional trademark registrations, including for the shape and color of its beer bottles and cans and for the use of live Clydesdale horses in connection with the sale of beer! 

Copyright © 2025 by Illustrated IP, LLC. All rights reserved.

[1] Anheuser-Busch, https://www.anheuser-busch.com/.

[2] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 847,980, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=72267115&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[3] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 1,592,134, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73827350&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[4] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,802,092, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76488795&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[5] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 3,174,675, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=78048031&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[6] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 7,769,811, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=98698192&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[7] Budweiser’s slogan wasn’t always the ‘King of Beers’, CNN, posted March 19, 2022, and available at https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/19/business/budweiser-slogan-origin/index.html; Budweiser: The Story of America’s King of Beers, GIGGLE ON THE ROCKS, posted October 30, 2024, and available at https://gigglesontherocks.com/budweiser-the-story-of-americas-king-of-beers/; The Complete History Of The Budweiser Logo, LOGO DESIGN MAGAZINE, available at https://www.logodesign.org/the-complete-history-of-the-budweiser-logo/; The King of Beers vs. the Beer of Kings, WWEEK, posted June 4, 2022, and available at https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-1056-the-king-of-beers-vs-the-beer-of-kings.html.

Justin Powley
Previous

Budweiser Trade Dress
Next

Budweiser Label