• Anheuser-Busch no longer the #1 and #2 beers in America

    January 9, 2012 Author: Scott
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    It’s not really news that big beer is slowly losing it’s grip on the American consumer, but it’s still interesting to watch things things at the top change.  It turns out that AB just lost the #2 spot to rival Coors and their Coors Light beer.

    This is the first time in nearly two decades that Anheuser-Busch hasn’t controlled the top two beers in the country. The King of Beers is on its way to becoming court jester.

    I wouldn’t read too much into this, but my take it on it is Budweiser customers are finding other beers to drink, whereas Coors customers are still following the pied piper.

    “Anytime you can dethrone the king, it’s special,” a MillerCoors spokesman told Advertising Age. An Anheuser-Busch spokesman was less celebratory, saying the company was on track with a strategy to stabilize Budweiser.

    The No. 1 brand is Bud Light.

    Source: MSN.com

  • Adele doesn’t know good beer

    December 6, 2011 Author: Scott
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    I saw this post on MSNBC And couldn’t resist the opportunity to make fun of celebrity ignorance.  Since when are beers made by InBev/Anheuser Busch the “best quality European lager beer”?

     

    But, for as charitable as Adele may be, there’s one area where she’s not to be messed with: beer. For after the show, the singer requests 12 bottles of “best quality European lager beer. ie Becks, Stella Artois, Peroni etc. North American beer is NOT acceptable.” What did North American beer ever do to Adele?

     

    Source: http://scoop.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/06/9251333-adele-doesnt-want-your-north-american-beer-thank-you-very-much

  • Miller may be bought by Anheuser-Busch

    October 6, 2011 Author: Scott
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    Not that it is a big surprise to see consolidation in any market, but this one is very interesting.  #1 and #2 looking to combine forces.  This can’t be good for beer.  As if our choices weren’t limited enough, they are about to get more limited as Anheuser-Busch flexes it muscle to grab an even larger market share with a purchase of Miller.  It’s time like this that I like to encourage those around me to drink good craft beers by independent breweries.  We’ll have to see how this pans out, but I can’t imagine it will be anything but bad news for the little guy.

    “Analysts downplayed the speculation, saying such a deal would be contrary to recent guidance by AB InBev management.  The Budweiser brewer is “the right size” and is focused on so- called organic growth, Chief Executive Officer Carlos Brito said in an interview with Dutch newspaper De Tijd in July”

    Source: Bloomberg

  • 2011 Fell’s Point Fun Festival

    October 3, 2011 Author: Scott
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    On a cold and wet day Kelli and I headed to Fell’s Point for the 45th annual Fell’s Point Fun Festival.  The festival took place Saturday and Sunday Oct 1 & 2 from 11am-7pm, with us arriving on Sunday around 2pm.  While the street vendor section of the festival was partially crowded, the 98rock/Budweiser Beer Garden was nearly empty.  There were a total of 6 beer booths, with 3 of them shut down and not even serving beer.  The beer that was available was limited to Anheuser-Busch InBev brands.  There was Bud Light, Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Dominion Hop Mountain Pale Ale.

    I was curious how a craft beer like Dominion Hop Mountain Pale Ale of Old Dominion made it onto the taps of the Bud Light truck, so when I got home I did some quick research.  It turns out that Anheuser-Busch owns a stake in the company.  From the wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Dominion_Brewing_Company the following is stated:

    “Anheuser-Busch’s purchase stake gave them no control of either of the two breweries, nor any input or influence on brewery recipes, nor oversight of any day-to-day management — AB’s interest solely resides in the distribution side of the two breweries’ business using AB-favored distributors, entirely focused on competing with SABMillerCoors “craft brand” Blue Moon.”

    So there you have it, another ruse from big beer to make you think you’re getting an independent product when in fact you putting more money in their coffers.  Of course, with no other options (no outside beer allowed and all beer had to be purchased in the Beer Garden), I went with the Hop Mountain Pale Ale.  It was a heavy attempt an an IPA that I otherwise wouldn’t bother with outside of no other options.  I won’t do a full review, but I will give the beer a 3.5/5 stars.  It’s an OK craft beer, but tasted like the flavor was injected into the beer.

    To accompany the beer there was plenty of live music.  We arrived just in time to see The Niki Barr Band.  She did her best to entertain the 50 or so people in the Beer Garden.  It was tough, however, as the beer vendors were on the opposite side of the parking lot from the stage, and most seemed intent on staying closer to the beer than the stage.

    In between bands I found an odd sight of no lines for the spot-a-pots.  I think the cold and rain really spoiled the day and kept many of the festival goers away.

    Next up on stage was Can’t Hang.  They managed to get most of the crowd to come to the stage, and celebrated at the end by bringing as many people as they could on stage.

    After seeing The Niki Barr Band and Can’t Hang we left the Beer Garden to see the rest of the Festival.  There weren’t too many people left, or maybe there never were too many people to begin with, but there were plenty of vendors selling their goods.  We ended our Festival experience with a few orders of mussels from Bertha’s Mussels.