Anheuser-Busch began selling its own vodka brand as it seeks to add faster-growing and more profitable drinks. Purus vodka is made in Italy from organic wheat, St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch said Monday in an e-mailed statement. The liquor costs about $35 and comes in a raindrop-shaped bottle. This is the brewer’s second spirits brand after it created raspberry-and-licorice-flavored Jekyll & Hyde in 2005 and formed a subsidiary to develop and market other liquors. Purus initially will be sold in bars, restaurants and package stores in New York, Boston, Washington and Annapolis, Md. Anheuser-Busch makes its own line of caffeinated energy drinks called 180 and distributes Hansen Natural Corp.’s Monster Energy. It also delivers vitamin-spiked bottled water made by Borba LLC that claims anti-aging properties.
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