Yes, the Draft Beer beans do actually taste like beer, but we’re a bit befuddled about our excitement level. To the chemical flavor guy at JB, congratulations you deserve a promotion, or at least a bonus.

If I can talk to you man to (wo)man for a second — this bean probably doesn’t land in your top 10 favorite flavors, hell it may not even crack the top 100. How can it when they have Coldstone flavors? And unfortunately for our alcoholic readers of the site, the beans do not contain a smidgen of alcohol. But if you’re an addict of multiple vices and your vapor cig isn’t cutting it – the flavor of these beans might help you get through the trenches:

We’re probably most excited for the new chocolate covered addition of last year’s Tabasco jelly bean. But for some apparent reason, JB decided to feature the new packaging around the entire booth and NOT HAVE SAMPLES AVAILABLE.

This is a complete travesty since we’re at show that parallels a Saturday morning at Costco, if that Costco took Alex Rodriguez levels of HGH and found a way to rain down samples from the heavens. Shame on you JB. You temptress. So we ate some the Tabasco flavored beans with some Mexican chocolate from another booth because that’s our version of R&D. This bean really has some potential.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

AB is at it again.  The big just want to get bigger.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the maker of Budweiser, says it has agreed to repurchase South Korea’s Oriental Breweries from private equity firms for $5.8 billion.

 

AB InBev, the world’s biggest beermaker, never really wanted to part with the leading South Korean brewer, but decided to sell it in 2009 to KKR and Affinity Equity Partners for $1.8 billion, as part of a strategy to reduce debt during the financial crisis. The deal has proved highly lucrative for the private equity firms.

 

Oriental Breweries is known for the Cass brand, South Korea’s biggest seller. InBev said Oriental Breweries had around $500 million in core operating profits in 2013.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com

A Montana-based craft brewer is suing the world’s largest beer-maker, alleging that popular YouTube videos for Bud Light violate its trademarked phrase, “Hold my beer and watch this.”

 

Big Sky Brewing Co. filed its lawsuit against Anheuser-Busch in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Mont. The company says it has used the slogan since at least 2004, and has a trademark.

 

At issue are three videos on Bud Light’s official YouTube site created by actor John Krasinski, best known for playing Jim Halpert on NBC’s The Office, and his business partner, Danny Stessen. The videos depict odd things that might happen after asking someone to hold your beer. In one, a woman celebrating her 100th birthday feigns death after asking a young man to hold her beer, then after the man and his friends leave, she high-fives and laughs with another elderly woman.

 

The videos debuted about a month ago and, as of Tuesday, had nearly 5 million views. The videos are online only and do not air on television.

 

Big Sky’s lawsuit includes photos of cans of one of its brews, the back reading “Hold my beer and watch this.” The suit, filed Dec. 20, seeks unspecified damages.

 

Neal Leathers, president of Big Sky and one of the founders, said the Missoula-based company is “engaged in negotiations with Anheuser-Busch to try and get this resolved. Until something’s actually been resolved, we’re just sort of taking the no-comment route.”

 

An Anheuser-Busch official, in an emailed statement on Tuesday, stood behind the videos.

 

“These humorous Bud Light videos explore the unexpected things that could happen when you ask someone to hold your beer,” said Rob McCarthy, vice president of Bud Light marketing. “There is no trademark use of the phrase ‘Hold my beer and watch this,’ nor is there intent to create any association with Big Sky. Countless other videos and jokes use the same or similar words as a punch line or hashtag.”

 

InBev, of Belgium, purchased Anheuser-Busch in 2008, but the company retained St. Louis as U.S. headquarters. The company makes several top-selling beers, including Bud Light and Budweiser. Anheuser-Busch InBev commands 47.6 percent of the U.S. beer market.

 

Big Sky offers several craft beers with such names as “Moose Drool,” ”Trout Slayer” and “Slow Elk.” The company website says it is the nation’s 50th largest brewer with sales of around 45,000 barrels of beer in 2012. Big Sky brews are sold in 24 states.

Source: http://money.msn.com/