Bud Light Golden Wheat

Personally, I'm amazed by the amount of advertising that ABInBev is doing for this product. I do not doubt they will move some cases and get some fantastic placements. But the timing for this sure is strange, as the typical wheat beer consumer primarily drinks this kind of product in the summer (many wheat beer products are available all year round).

More to the point however is that Bud Light with Golden Wheat is not really adding many new consumers as followers of ABInBev, but merely moving its own consumers from one product to another. This has been consistent in recent times with things such as American Ale.

I know that they are capable of better things and wish they would use their might to get behind them. New items like their gluten-free beer would gain them more new users if it got the same push as one of these new Bud Lights. Still I do like the fact that ABInBev is following SABMiller and trying to get past the straight light lager hurdle.

It's all about light beer

US: Beer industry volumes up as import sales slow
24 September 2009 Source: just-drinks.com editorial team
The US beer industry posted its third consecutive year of increased volume last year climbing 0.5%, according to figures released this week. However, the recession has shaped the market with imported brands suffering at the hands of the growing popular category.
The growth of the distilled spirits and wine industries also continued to take market share away from beer industry, albeit at a slower rate in 2008 than previously, the data showed. On a volume basis, beer held an 85.3% share, wine 9% and spirits 5.7%, the Handbook showed. In 2007, the shares were 85.4% for beer, 5.6% for spirits and 9% for wine.
The Beverage Information Group's 2009 Beer Handbook showed that beer industry volumes reached 2.94 billion cases.
Light beer has grown to become the largest beer segment, controlling more than half of the beer market. Last year's launch of Bud Light Lime helped the Light beer segment gain 2.1%.
Ice and popular segments have also gained volume. These categories benefited from consumers trading down in the recessionary environment with ice gaining 4% and popular beers seeing its first upturn in more than 20 years with a 0.3% gain to 232.6m cases. Another direct result of trading down can be seen in the decline of imported beer, which lost 5.4% to 386.1m cases last year.
"Lights have gained ground continuously since their arrival almost 30 years ago and show no signs of slowing down," said Eric Schmidt, manager of information services for the Beverage Information Group based in Norwalk, Connecticut. "Light is forecast to grow 2% on an annual compound growth rate over the next five years."
The popular beer segment is also expected to continue its positive momentum, while imports, predicted to lose volume in 2009, will slowly recover over the next five years as the economy emerges from the recession, the Handbook said.

No Tie-Up

This is an interesting development in the wine and spirits industry, as we may be seeing a bit of turnaround in how large organizations view merging. My belief is that smaller companies have a lot of positives right now, and this could have made things very tough on both the retailer and supplier had it happened.


Southern Wine & Spirits and Glazer's Terminate Strategic Talks
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
MIAMI — Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Inc. and Glazer's Distributors have terminated their discussion for a strategic collaboration. Glazer's Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Bennett Glazer said, "Following more than a year of wide-ranging planning efforts with Southern Wine & Spirits, we have made the decision that it is in our company's long-term best interests to end these meetings and discussions. Since August 2008, we have explored numerous options and concepts about how best to forge an association with Southern to generate enhanced value for both companies. However, our decision today has been driven by the sheer complexity of the transaction." Glazer added, "We value our personal relationships with the Chaplin Family, hold their management team in high esteem and wish them well in their future endeavors." Southern Wine & Spirits Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Harvey R. Chaplin added, "Today's decision was a very difficult one. We continue to hold the Glazer's Family -- and all that their company has accomplished over the last 100 years -- in high regard." Glazer's President Jerry Cargill said, "Today's announcement in no way impacts Glazer's long-term strategy of being recognized as the industry leader in the distributor tier for brand building and customer service. Glazer's will continue to proactively pursue its blueprint for sustained expansion and growth. We look forward to energizing and growing our relationships with both our suppliers and our customers, and we will continue building on the Glazer's teams' best-in-class capabilities." Southern Wine & Spirits President & Chief Operating Officer Wayne E. Chaplin said, "While today's announcement is a disappointment to us all, Southern will continue to seek opportunities to grow and expand our business as we strive to exceed our trading partners' expectations. We remain committed to providing unsurpassed brand-building, sales and service value to both suppliers and customers alike across our industry-leading 29-state footprint."

iPhone even helps with wine

A Sommelier In Your Pocket
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Shopping for wine is a lot like parenting a teenager. You feel stupid when you're in the middle of it, and when you finally emerge, you're desperately ready for a drink.There is, alas, no app for raising teens. But mobile software developers have begun targeting oenophiles, and in so doing, they have established one of the more useful categories of wireless apps.Appropriately enough, choosing the right app can be puzzling and tedious. Some of the refined entries in the current vintage include Cor.kz ($4), Wine Enthusiast ($5), Nat Decants ($3) and Pair It! ($3). I'd give them a rating of 87, with an asterisk. They're fairly good now, and they should age nicely.Before digging into the details, though, consider the overall value of these services for a moment. Let's say you're at your favorite wine shop with about 15 free minutes, and you want a bottle that will make your dinner guests coo, without maxing out your credit card.The shop owner is helping someone near the Mouton Rothschilds, and the other employees are 23-year-olds with extensive beer-stocking skills. Rather than choosing a random bottle or asking the beer guys, you can now just reach for the sommelier in your cellphone.From there you have a couple of options. Some apps, like Wine Enthusiast, let you find the most highly rated wines at specific price levels, so you can quickly browse the store -- or, if you're in a restaurant, the wine list -- for matches.If you have Cor.kz or, to a lesser extent, Nat Decants, you can reverse the process, and look through the wine list or shelves until you find a promising label. Then it's a matter of doing a quick check on its rating. This approach has limits, simply because it takes too long to type in, say, "2004 Hochheimer Koenigin Victoria Berg Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese," to say nothing of the likelihood of a typo or the time it might take to click through the ratings and then move onto another bottle.Smartphone mavens are already wondering why you can't just use the phone's camera to scan the bottle's bar code and have the app display the wine's rating. In the coming weeks, you'll be able to get fairly close to that bit of grape-soaked geekery, thanks to a new feature from Cor.kz.But first, more about the core features of this app, already on the iPhone and soon available to BlackBerry users and owners of Android devices like T-Mobile's MyTouch 3G.Cor.kz stands on the shoulders of an Internet giant, CellarTracker.com, which houses more than one million reviews by roughly 85,000 wine aficionados. Cor.kz can also help users manage their wine cellar inventory, but it is perhaps best used by those who just want to buy more intelligently.Type in the name of the wine you are considering -- Del Dotto, say -- and Cor.kz retrieves everything in CellarTracker's database about the wine. This can be a blessing and a curse. Wines from Del Dotto, a small but much-beloved vintner in Napa Valley, yield 581 tasting notes. If you type something more specific into your iPhone, like "2005 Del Dotto Cabernet," Cor.kz returns 95 matches.Some of these results include a numerical rating. To save yourself wasted clicks, choose those listings. The rating represents the average from CellarTracker's reviewers, and those entries will also include detailed reviews and retail prices.The bar-code scanning feature, cool as it sounds, will have handicaps. Wine makers often use the same bar code for every vintage, and some makers allow distributors to paste different bar codes on the bottles. Still, with this method, users should at least be able to retrieve a short list of bottles from which to choose.The Wine Enthusiast Guide is simpler to navigate than Cor.kz, but it is much less comprehensive, with 73,000 wine reviews in the database. Del Dotto, as well as other wines like Educated Guess from Roots Run Deep Winery, are two examples of wines that the app overlooked.To be fair, though, the Wine Enthusiast reviews cover many of the most widely sold wines, as well as a fair selection of lesser-known vintners. When you type the name of a wine, the search results are nicely arrayed, with the maker's various wines listed on the first page. Click through to a specific type of wine -- like, say, the Lancaster Estates Cabernet Sauvignon -- and the app offers a review and a rating for specific vintages.It is available for iPhone only, and several users on the Wine Enthusiast Web forums have complained that they cannot connect outside the United States. They were told that Wine Enthusiast was looking into the issue.The app offers users the ability to select specific criteria -- like price, rating and varietal -- and browse a list of wines that qualify.That feature is at the core of another app, Nat Decants, available for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android. But this app belongs in a different subset of wine-related software -- those that help users pair wine with food.Nat Decants is the creation of Natalie MacLean, a wine journalist and registered sommelier, and includes much of the information available on her Web site, Nat Decants (at NatalieMacLean.com). To use it, select from a drop-down menu of either food or wine, and the software offers you suitable options.It only goes so far, in that you are given, for instance, 18 wine varieties that go well with lobster. If you want to drill down and read reviews on specific wines, you must click through to Ms. MacLean's Web site and purchase a monthly subscription for about $2. She said she hoped to integrate her reviews into the app, but in the meantime, users who have a poor cellular connection will find this additional step a source of frustration.To get pairing suggestions from the kitchen instead of the bar, consider Pair It! (for iPhone only), created by Bruce Riezenman, a chef based in Sonoma County, California. Compared to Ms. MacLean, Mr. Riezenman offers more context around his suggestions, helping you refine your own choices.I was initially surprised that, of the services I tested, none suggested the best wine to pair with a specific occasion -- like, say, reaching the end of school vacation. But maybe that would be silly; the best choice for that, clearly, is the first bottle you can get your hands on.(C) 2009 International Herald Tribune. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

Defeating urban myths

Study Indicates Regular Drinkers Exercise More Than Teetotalers
Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Regular drinkers are likely to do more than tone their biceps with 12-ounce beer can curls, according to a new study.Those who imbibe - regardless of how much - get more exercise than teetotalers, researchers reported in the current issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.Surprisingly, the effect was strongest with heavier drinkers, who "were more likely to exercise than light drinkers and exercised for more minutes," said lead researcher Michael French, a professor of health economics at the University of Miami.Though it seems counterintuitive, there are several plausible explanations, said French, who studies the consequences of addictive behavior. Some drinkers may use exercise to negate the calories from the alcohol. Others might have a thrill-seeking nature; those gunning for a runner's high may drink for a similar sensation. (The Chicago Hash House Harriers are "a drinking group with a running problem.") And soccer, softball and other team sports participants might hit a bar after a game.Still, while the researchers found a strong statistical relationship between alcohol and exercise, you can't jump start an exercise program by pounding down more beers, said French, adding that the effects of heavy drinking don't outweigh the benefits of exercise.Moreover, it's wise to consider the timing of the two activities. You might think you golf better after you've had a few, but French's team has yet to confirm it.(c) 2009, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.

beer and anti-trust?

Comment: Beer price rises will test Obama's tolerance
27 August 2009 Source: breakingviews.com
Both Anheuser-Busch InBev - purveyor of the president's favorite tipple - Bud Light - and MillerCoors are raising prices at the same time, during a recession and while beer demand is slumping. With an 80% market share between them, it almost begs for an anti-trust review of the industry.
While the increases are not unusual or unexpected, they still raise a red flag. Both companies typically re-adjust the price tag on a six-pack every year to reflect changes in the costs of, say, barley or hops. But the ability of the two big brewing groups to do so now, while their customers are hurting most, highlights the tremendous pricing power that has accompanied consolidation in the industry.
While Anheuser-Busch, acquired last year by Belgium's InBev, has long held a dominant share of the US market, the number of big players in the industry has steadily decreased over the years. From 1947 to 1995 the number of beer companies fell by over 90%. Though a surge in craft brewers followed, few of them competed directly with mass-market suds like Budweiser and Miller.
That was ok so long as the big three - Anheuser, Miller and Coors - were at each other's throats. And boy, were they. After South African Breweries bought Miller in 2002 it set out to nab market share from Bud. Its bigger rival responded by slashing prices, which the others were then forced to match. This competition fostered a better outcome for consumers - indeed, the summer of 2005 was a beer drinkers' dream.
That's all changed. Miller and Coors kicked off a joint-venture last year that combines the market powers of the second and third largest players. InBev, meantime, has no stomach for a price war following its $52bn debt-financed splurge on Anheuser. So despite slumping appetite for beer and tough times, prices are going up.
The Obama administration is taking a tougher line on monopolistic behaviour. Department of Justice anti-trust head Christine Varney has even signalled a willingness to re-examine deals that were approved under the previous, more permissive, Bush administration.
Taking on Big Beer might be politically popular. Moreover, there's precedent for doing so. Fifty years ago, the DOJ sued to prevent the merger of Pabst, then the 10th largest brewer with the 18th biggest, Blatz. The case went to the Supreme Court, which in 1966 ruled the deal was anti-competitive and forced Pabst to divest Blatz.
That's not an outcome Molson Coors, SABMiller or AB InBev shareholders would toast with pleasure.
By Aliza Rosenbaum and Rob Cox
Breakingviews.com is the world's leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. Breakingviews.com has 22 correspondents and columnists based in London, New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Washington, San Francisco and Madrid. Its aim is to become the lingua franca for the global financial community.

Price Rise

Brewers Raising the Bar on Beer Prices
Thursday, 27 August 2009
ST. LOUIS—U.S. beer drinkers thirsty for lower prices are in for a disappointment, brewers say.Beer consumers will soon be socked by higher prices, as Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer and maker of Budweiser, and other producers around the world have announced price increases, CNNMoney.com reported Wednesday.In a statement, the U.S.-Belgian company said: "We plan on taking price increases on a majority of volume and in a majority of markets this fall. The increase helps cover some input costs," adding that prices will rise "across different price tiers," including its low-end brands.CNNMoney.com said MillerCoors, maker of Miller Lite, Coors Lite and Blue Moon, will also raise prices in certain markets."What is going to be a little bit out of the ordinary is that (prices) are going to be able to go up less than in a normal year because economic conditions are tighter," Benj Steinman, editor of industry trade publication Beer Marketer's Insights told the Web site.Anheuser-Busch InBev reported this month that total beer volumes were down 1.5 percent in the second quarter compared with the year-earlier period.Copyright 2009 by United Press International

Gluten free

Gluten-Free Beer Can Be Labeled As Such, FDA Says
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
When is a beer not a beer? When it's gluten-free.And as of Monday, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which regulates the labeling of beer, wine and spirits, handed off regulation of said cold, sudsy brews to the Food and Drug Administration.That's good news for the nation's estimated 2 million sufferers of celiac disease, for whom consuming any kind of gluten can cause chronic diarrhea, arthritis, bone loss and a host of other symptoms. Their immune systems react to gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley, which causes inflammation in their small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients.Beers brewed the traditional way, with malted barley, contain gluten. But small craft brewers and then Anheuser-Busch began making beer from malted sorghum, an African grain, and sometimes rice. Both are gluten-free. That was great for celiacs but didn't fit in the Federal Alcohol Administration Act of 1935's definition of beer, which was a beverage brewed from malted barley and other grains.On Monday, the FDA issued new guidelines covering non-barley beers. To the benefit of the one in 133 Americans who can't eat anything containing gluten, the beverages can now be labeled gluten-free once they've been tested by the FDA."For the longest time, I couldn't put 'gluten-free' on the label, because there wasn't a definition" under previous regulations, says Russ Klisch, whose Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee makes a popular sorghum beer, New Grist.Gluten-free beer makes up less than 0.1% of the beer market, says Paul Gatza of the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colo. The biggest players are Anheuser-Busch's Red Bridge, Klisch's Lakefront in Milwaukee and Bard's Tail of Norwalk, Conn., he says.Celiacs have been buying these gluten-free beers for years, says Elaine Monarch, executive director of the Celiac Disease Foundation in Studio City, Calif. But accurate labels will be nice, and the new FDA regulations may make it easier for European gluten-free beverages to enter the market, she says.Copyright 2009 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

On the way to zero

Anheuser-Busch Debuts 55-Calorie Beer

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

St.Louis - Anheuser-Busch announced the launch of Select 55, touted as the world's lightest beer, in select test markets throughout the US. Described by the brewer as a smooth, golden lager with 55 calories and 1.9g carbohydrates per each 12-ounce serving, Select 55 answers a growing demand among a segment of drinkers who are seeking lower-calorie alcohol beverages to complement their busy lifestyles.

Whether adult drinkers are looking for light refreshment after a busy day or if they simply enjoy delicious calorie-conscious foods and beverages, Select 55 offers an unparalleled clean, crisp flavor with fewer calories any other beer currently available, according to A-B.

"Select 55 is ideal for adults who want to enjoy beer without feeling guilty about the calories," said Pat McGauley, Vice President of Innovation, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. "Perfect for a variety of occasions, adults will enjoy Select 55 at a double-header baseball game, while grilling on a hot summer day or relaxing a home with friends."

Featuring a light, golden color, Select 55 is made with caramel malts and a blend of imported and domestic hopping. Brewed to complement the full flavor of Budweiser Select, Select 55 features a unique recipe that gives the beer its crisp finish with aroma notes of toasted malt and subtle hopping.

Select 55 is available in 15 markets across the country including: Tampa, Ft. Myers, Orlando (FL), Chicago, Peoria (IL), Louisville, Green Bay, Bloomington (IN), Cincinnati/Dayton, Des Moines (IA), San Diego, Dallas, Austin, Wichita Falls (TX) and Arizona.

Brewed at Anheuser-Busch's St. Louis brewery, Select 55 is available in 12-ounce, clear signature crown glass bottles in 6- and 12-packs, and 12-ounce aluminum cans in 12- and 18-packs.

Copyright (C) 2009 PRNewswire. All rights reserved.

Vine Times in the midwest

New Midwestern Wine Region is Biggest in U.S.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
NAPA, Calif.—Quick, what's America's biggest wine region? If you answered California's Napa Valley, you're way, way off thanks to a federal ruling that creates a new one.It's the Upper Mississippi River Valley, covering a whopping 29,914 square miles (77,477 square kilometers) and encompassing portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. That's 39 times the Napa Valley's puny 759 or so square miles (1,966 square kilometers).The new region is huge news for midwestern vintners."I'm really excited about it," says Paul Tabor, of Tabor Home Vineyards Winery about 40 miles south of Dubuque. "Wine enthusiasts really do look at the labels for an appellation and now we can use that as part of our marketing story."American Viticulture Areas, or AVAs, recognize a unique grape-growing region that may be historically known and that contains specific geological features. The new region was created after area wine and agriculture officials petitioned the Alcohol Tobacco and Tax and Trade Bureau, which controls the designations.Use of an AVA isn't a stamp of approval, but many consumers like the idea of buying wine from a specific area, following the French concept of "terroir"—that wine should reflect the character of the land it came from.Though the image of the Midwest might be wide, flat plains, the new AVA falls in an area that was largely skipped by Ice Age glaciers, so instead of being flat it has the steep slopes and well-drained soil required to grow premium grapes.But there's no getting away from those really cold winters, meaning the familiar grapes of Europe - chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon—can't survive here. Wineries must either import juice or grow winter hardy grapes, many of them hybrids developed in France.Ninety years ago, Iowa was sixth in grape production in the U.S., but that was with the Concord grape, associated with sweeter wines, not today's drier, more food-friendly wines.The region's wine industry re-emerged in the last decade, surprising some with medals in national competitions, Tabor says."Six or seven years ago I got phone calls and e-mails from California wineries - 'What are these wines of yours winning competitions? We didn't know you could grow grapes in Iowa.'"Though the region is big, the wine industry there is small and growing. Tabor estimates there are about 50 wineries and maybe just 400 acres (162 hectares) of vineyards. The Napa Valley's way ahead there. Though only about 9 percent of the area is planted in vines, that still amounts to 45,000 acres (18,211 hectares).The new AVA knocks off former No. 1, the 26,000-square-mile (67,340-square- kilometer) Ohio River Valley AVA.Tabor and others say they had no intention of trying to be the biggest; that was just the region's natural contours.Once the industry matures, they would like to see the same kind of thing that has happened in California, where smaller regions have petitioned to be recognized as distinctive. Napa Valley, for instance, includes 14 sub-appellations.Warren Johnson, one of the people who led the quest for a new AVA, isn't expecting the Upper Mississippi River Valley to become Napa's rival any time soon. But he's happy nonetheless."It's a recognition of, 'Hey, we can go out and produce some good wines,'" he said. "The AVA designation should help put this region on the map."Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Beer Snobs now safe in West Virginia

Now Legal, Craft Beers Ease into W.Va. Markets
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
CHARLESTON, W.Va—In the nearly three weeks since a state law allowing craft beers to be sold in West Virginia went into effect, new labels are slowly making inroads into the state, officials say."We have people calling us daily, asking, 'When can we get this brand or that?'" Kathy Folio, president of North Central Distributors in Clarksburg, said Tuesday. "We're bringing new brands in slowly but surely."Unlike many distributors in the state, Folio pushed for passage of the craft beer legislation, which increased the maximum permissible alcohol level for beer sold in West Virginia from 6 percent by volume to 12 percent.Since many craft beers are brewed seasonally, Folio said they're getting requests for beers that won't be available until this fall or winter."These are things people have been looking for for a long time," she said of the requests.After years of having the legislation blocked by lobbyists for the West Virginia Beer Wholesalers Association, the craft beer bill finally passed the Legislature in April. The law went into effect July 9.Since then, the state Alcohol Beverage Control Administration has approved for sale 54 beers with higher alcohol levels, from eight different breweries or distributors, according to ABCA beer administrator Cindy Clark.Approved labels include such items as Harpoon Leviathan Imperial IPA, at 10.05 percent alcohol; Samuel Smith's Yorkshire Stingo Ale (8 percent); Trappistes Rochefort 10 Belgian Ale (11.3 percent); Rogue Double Dead Guy Ale (8.43 percent); Samuel Adams Imperial White (10.3 percent); Great Lakes Brewing Blackout Stout (9 percent); and Nosferatu Stock Ale (8 percent).Clark noted that ABCA approval doesn't necessarily mean all 54 brews are showing up on store shelves or in bars and pubs."It's up to the distributors whether they carry them," she said.Mark Grey, general sales manager for North Central, said demand for craft beers has been strong in some locations but weaker among large grocery and retail chains."The major retail chains aren't sure what direction they want to go with this," he said.He said it's also a matter of expanding consumer awareness of craft beers."Some areas, like Morgantown and Charleston, have very educated consumers," he said.Also, he noted that craft brewers, by definition, tend to expand slowly into new markets."Most of the craft brewers are very particular and very concerned about the quality of the product they produce," he said, noting that craft brewers cannot increase production levels on short notice, as mass-market brewers can do.Grey noted that the introduction of Yuengling beer into West Virginia this summer led many consumers to mistakenly believe it is a craft beer.However, he said the Pottsville, Pa., brewer's expansion into the market, after slowly expanding production capacities, is a blueprint craft brewers are likely to follow, he said."Yuengling is the model a lot of craft brewers strive to be," he said. "They were very slow and deliberate in their expansion into new areas."

Future comes quick for wine

Pennsylvania Plans Wine Kiosks
Monday, 27 July 2009
You can buy soda pop, DVDs, ice cream sandwiches, even cigarettes out of a vending machine. Why not bottles of wine?That's what Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board officials are thinking as they prepare to place automated wine kiosks at Harrisburg-area grocery stores this fall."If the technology works, we hope to expand statewide with up to 100 kiosks," PLCB Press Secretary Nick Hays said.How soon -- or even if -- they'd be in northwestern Pennsylvania is not known yet."No other locations have yet been identified," Hays said.Each kiosk would be about 25 feet long, 10 feet high and can contain a couple hundred bottles of wine.Customers would purchase wine at one of the kiosks by inserting their driver's license into the machine. A video camera placed on the kiosk would allow PLCB employees in Harrisburg to see if the customer is, in fact, the person whose picture is on the license. The customer would also be required to blow into a device to ensure they are not intoxicated at the time of purchase.The kiosks would have limited hours. They would only be open when PLCB employees were working to identify customers."We foresee these machines being placed in supermarkets," Hays said. "We will work with the kiosk's manufacturer, Simple Brands LLC., to identify possible locations. ... Obviously, a grocery store would need to be interested in having the kiosk."At least one local supermarket isn't interested in hosting a wine kiosk.Wegmans, 6143 Peach St., already sells beer and a couple varieties of wine at its on-site cafe. A kiosk doesn't fit in with the company's philosophy, said Hallie Johnston, store manager."We stress customer service and sharing knowledge with our customers about things like pairing the right kind of beer with a meal," Johnston said. "A wine kiosk could affect our customer service."A local winery owner also expressed doubts about how wine kiosks could benefit the state's smaller wine makers."The bottles in the kiosk would probably be from the larger wineries, not ones like ours," said Doug Moorhead, co-owner of Presque Isle Wine Cellars. "So, having these kiosks wouldn't make a whole lot of difference to us."The kiosks and an effort to sell higher-priced wine at "boutique" stores located inside gourmet grocery stores are two ways the PLCB is trying to improve customer convenience, Hays said.Pennsylvania is known for having some of the strictest alcohol-buying laws in the country. Wine is generally sold only in state stores.Copyright (C) 2009, Erie Times-News, Pa.

German Woes?

Breweries Glum as German Beer Consumption Dries Up
Monday, 27 July 2009
BERLIN — Beer's status as Germany's national drink of choice may be coming to an end, according to new data Monday from a brewery which says it does not even dare raise its prices for fear of ruining sales.The Veltins company said it believed German beer consumption declined more than 5 percent in annual terms in the first half of the year, with higher-priced brands like its own worst affected.Michael Weiss, vice president of the Federation of German Brewers, said it was the worst decline in the industry's modern history. The Czech Republic overtook Germany in per-capita beer consumption years ago.Among the premium German brands, Veltins, Warsteiner, Bitburger and Jever reported declines ranging from 4.6 to 7 per cent. Veltins did not expect any revival till 2012.Veltins regarded any price increases as too risky before the end of 2010, the company said.For years, beer has been gradually falling out of fashion in Germany as people switch to drinks like water or to other alcoholic beverages, such as wine.Copyright 2009 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH

Be on the lookout

Passed on by a friend. I guess Tampa beer drinkers really love their Mexican imports...


$70,000 worth of beerstolen
Updated: Wednesday, 22 Jul 2009, 10:58 PM EDTPublished : Wednesday, 22 Jul 2009, 1:32 PM EDT
Peter Linton-Smith
TAMPA - To some, it's the making of a joke: "what would you do with a truck loaded with beer?"
But for Hillsborough County fire investigators, the theft of two trucks loaded with Corona and Modela beer is no laughing mater.
"You've got thousands of bottles of beer," said sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway.
An estimated $70,000 worth of beer was taken sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning from K&N Trucking on East Adamo Drive in Tampa. The beer shipment originated in Lakeland and was due to be delivered in Naples Wednesday.
Since the theft, K&N Trucking is stepping up security.
"Put it this way, this will never happen again," operations manager Tobias Platts said.
"We are in the process of informing all of our drivers of the changes, and one thing, make them aware and vigilant about their surroundings," Platts said.
There have been a few jokes at the truck depot.
"When are the limes due in," Platts laughed.
Platts, like detectives, though, is taking the theft seriously.
"The organized effort of these thefts is for real, that's why we take it seriously," Callaway said. "Whether it goes to a port or stays locally and gets 'boot legged' and out on the black market, it just vanishes."
Tuesday evening, two of the cabs that were stolen were recovered along West Martin Luther King Blvd. in Tampa. The trailers and beer are still missing.
The trailers are described as a white Lufkin model cargo trailer and a white Wabash trailer, none of which had any markings on the exterior.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Who is the real brewer?

It has long been a facet of the consumer that shows beer is like most products: if the people like it and it has good advertising, the product will sell.

Thus you have beers like Foster's, which is currently made in Virginia and prior to that Canada, despite its "Australian for Beer" tagline. Or Bass, which most English will tell you is no longer brewed. Then there is Corona, which for years trailed Tecate in Mexico, but is overtaking it due to the American consumer.

But it is not just imports that practice small deceptions. It was only a few years ago that Sam Adams actually brewed its own products. And several other brands are strictly marketing ideas, having their beer brewed under contract by another company. Longtime regionals are guilty of this too, evidenced by Pittsburgh brewing 's Iron City recently turning to Latrobe Brewing (former home of Rolling Rock, which is now produced by AB/In-Bev in Newark, NJ) for its production.

This is not meant to slight anyone or any product, it is merely just a fact of industry and global industry at that. Manufacturers are looking at the best ways to produce their products, to ensure that they reach the consumer in the best way possible and at the best price. But beware of pushing that Milwaukee beer, that may have been brewed in Texas or that PA beer from NJ or even an Austrailian beer made in the US. It is still beer, it may be very good and it may be your favorite, but you may not be as knowledgeable as you thought.

Exit Beer?

Posted from Beverage World


NJ Brewery Draws Ire for Naming Beers After Exits
Friday, 10 July 2009
CHERRY HILL, N.J.— A New Jersey brewery is using the state's congested and often-derided turnpike to promote its beer, an idea that concerns the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and a group that opposes drinking and driving.Cherry Hill-based Flying Fish Brewing Co. (motto: "Proudly Brewed in New Jersey: You Got a Problem with That?") has undertaken an ambitious project of releasing a special beer in honor of turnpike exits, one at a time.The beers are being made in limited runs and sold in 750 milliliter wine-size bottles.The first, a Belgian-style ale, came out earlier this year in honor of Exit 4, the exit nearest the suburban Philadelphia industrial park that Flying Fish calls home.The next beer, Exit 11 Hoppy American Wheat Ale, is scheduled to start hitting bars and stores in the region on July 15. The intersection of styles is a tribute to Woodbridge's exit, where the Turnpike meets the Garden State Parkway.Joe Orlando, a spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, said it's a bad idea to associate a highway with alcohol. Flying Fish has answered the authority's concerns with disclaimers that the beer isn't endorsed by the authority."There's been a brokered peace here," Orlando said. "But don't expect to see it in any of our rest areas."That doesn't satisfy Mindy Lazar, executive director of New Jersey's chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "The combination of a roadway and advertising for any kind of a beer doesn't make any kind of sense," she said. "This is almost a mockery."Brewery president Gene Mueller said that's not the case. "The one thing that both of us agree is drinking and driving is never an option," he said.The company plans to introduce more exit beers every few months.Mueller, who founded Flying Fish in 1995 and overseen its growth into the biggest New Jersey-based brewery, said he's not sure if all 29 exits will get their own beers.Mueller said he hopes its fans will help come up with future beer concepts linked to the exits, which are near malls, the Meadowlands sports complex and peach orchards, not to mention right under the approach of planes landing at Newark Liberty International Airport.That's a change from the original idea. Mueller said initially he wanted to have each beer's alcohol content match the exit number - Exit 6 beer, for instance, would have 6 percent alcohol. Most beers have about 5 percent alcohol."But then we thought pretty quickly that Exits 1, 2 and 3 were going to be pretty boring for brewing, and then Exits 16, 17 and 18 were going to be really dangerous."Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Recent Tastes

One night last week while out in Chicago, I finally got to taste the "new" Schlitz. When compared to the PBRs also consumed that night, I thought PBR won out. The Schlitz was still easily drinkable, but I don't believe that it will be able to push itself into a craze like PBR has.

The Economic Hangover and the Beverage Alcohol Market | Nielsen Wire

The Economic Hangover and the Beverage Alcohol Market | Nielsen Wire

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Heineken has apparently decided to play around with Newkie Brown. It seems they are testing a draft only Newcastle Summer Ale with an Oktoberfest to follow. Denver is definitely being used as test market, though I don't know if there are others. This seems strange to me and the colleague of mine who tasted the product did not like it.

I realize that Heineken USA kind of got saddled with Newcastle and its not very high on their priority list (Heineken, Amstel, Dos Equis obviously coming first), but to attempt the seasonal route, as if Newcastle was a craft brewery seems to follow a bit of the dart board approach.

With a tough import market going on and the recent closing up shop of Heineken USA's Star Brands portfolio, I believe the going is going to get tougher for America's once top selling import.