In case you hadn’t noticed, the American economy is in a world of hurt. Ford just announced a huge quarterly loss and thousands of job cuts. GM and Chrysler are expected to do the same.

Anheuser-Busch, in the midst of being acquired by InBev, is doing just fine though. In the third quarter:

• U.S. beer volume up 2.3%
• U.S. revenue per barrel up 3.7%
• U.S. sales to retailers up 3.6%

International sales were even better.

A look at Anheuser-Busch’s 3Q business

I’ve heard that beer is mostly recession-proof.

How about you? Have your beer purchasing patterns changed lately?