Boozin’ Blog

Is the Inbev take over of Anheuser-Busch inevitable? Many are opposed to it. Missouri Senators Claire McCaskill and Christopher “Kit” Bond who are on most issues politically opposed to one another have come together in awkward displays of opposition to the deal. Folks on the Internet including at least one unintentionally hilarious song-smith have rallied to SaveBudweiser.com in support of stopping the take-over. Even August Busch himself is, at least publicly, strongly opposed it.

But that is often how these things go and then through machinations that escape the understanding of most of us the deal goes through, the protesters realize that they were shouting into the wind and life goes on.

If that happens, though, the battle isn’t necessarily lost. It could be reversed.

One St. Louis brewer has come up with an ingenious solution to the problem: buy Inbev. If they can do it why can’t somebody else do it to them? Schlafly, a St. Louis craft brewer and, incidentally, the second biggest beer make in St. Louis, proposes to raise enough money to purchase Inbev. Therefore, if the takeover of A-B by the Belgian beer giant does go through then Budweiser will still, ultimately, be made by an American company.

It’s a plan so perfect it can’t possibly fail!

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The trend of nostalgic beer brands continues with the return of Schlitz beer to its native Milwaukee this week. The beer, now being brewed by Pabst Brewing Co., is based on the original recipe.

(It appears that “original” means the recipe that was being used in 1960. I’m not really sure why that’s a significant forumulation to choose but there you go.)

The new/old beer has been dribbling across the US for a few months now. It hit beer store shelves in Florida and Minnesota late last year. Then it was released this year in Chicago during the month of April to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the legalization of 3.2 beer under Prohibition.

But now it’s being released exactly where it belongs – Milwaukee. After all, it is “the beer that made Milwaukee famous!”

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The Czechs regularly win the distinction of having the highest beer consumption per capita in the world. It’s a standing that they’ve held for years and it doesn’t look like they’re going to be unseated anytime soon.

But who spends the most on booze? Turns out that, at least in Europe, it’s the Irish. The average household spends 4.1% of their budget on booze. Compare that to 1.4% in England and 1% to Germany and you get some perspective on just how much this really is.

Does this mean that they are drinking a better class of booze or do they drink more of the same stuff that other Europeans? Given that Ireland places second on that beer per capita chart I’d say the latter is more likely.

I knew that I loved the Irish for more than just their music!

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Scotch maker Glenfiddich recently announced that they’ve selected the lucky barrel for this years vintage reserve release. The barrel, cask #4414 for those keeping score are home, was put away on March 7th, all the way back in 1977. For the past three decades it’s been developing the hints of malt cereal, smokiness and leather that made it this year’s favorite of the selection panel.

The panel consisted of six Scotch whiskey experts included a writer, a restaurateur and a professor. Over three hours they studied and debated half a dozen of the final casks chosen. While they all had their merits 4414 had that something extra special that put it over the top.

The panel’s tasting notes reveal some of what they wanted to see in the final selection.

Whisky writer Gavin D Smith said “There is a delicate smokiness to the finish that comes upon you rather unexpectedly when you’ve experienced the light citrus nose to begin with.”

Jim Bradley, owner of two award winning New York restaurants – the Red Cat and the Harrison, said “The intriguing hint of lemon giving way to leather was very cool and helped seal my vote.”

Erik Touzmohamedov,Russia’s foremost Scotch whisky expert was impressed with the nose. “This was by far my favourite, he said. “It has none of the burn associated with whiskies of such strength and produced a fantastic nose that didn’t dominate the whisky.”

Here are some videos covering the process.

For more information about Glenfiddich check out Glenfiddich.com or WilliamGrant.com.

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In case you haven’t heard what’s going on, here’s the issue. European beer giant Inbev appears to be making moves to take over Anheuser-Busch. As I pointed out previously I doubt that this will have much of an effect on the major products like Budweiser, Michelob, Busch, etc. But Inbev’s leaner meaner approach to beer will likely lead to fewer of the craft-like beers and real craft brewers that A-B has been dabbling in over the last few years.

Another movement has arisen which caught me by surprise. It shouldn’t have but it did. SaveBudweiser.com makes the argument that another U.S. company shouldn’t be allowed to fall into the hands of an overseas concern. The site does mention the “great taste” of A-B beer but only peripherally. Its main thrust is clearly a jingoistic one – don’t let those greedy Belgians get their hand on our company.

Overall I don’t think that an Inbev takeover would really mean that much. Let’s consider a couple of instances of big beer mergers and acquisitions.

First, many beer drinkers would be surprised to know that Miller hasn’t been just Miller since 2002. The company is now called SABMiller. The SA stands for South Africa. Five years ago an African brewer became the second biggest beer company in the world when it acquired 100% of Miller. To make things more confusing SABMiller and Molson Coors (a Canadian company) will merge their US interests later this year. Have any of these things had a really major affect?

Second, consider the case of Rolling Rock. Inbev acquired the well-known regional brand and left it largely untouched. The famous brewery in Latrobe, Pennsylvania continued to churn out the familiar green bottles of Rolling Rock. Then a few years ago Inbev and Anheuser-Busch cut a deal that included, among other things, A-B’s distribution of Inbev’s brands like Stella Artois, Becks and Leffe. Rolling Rock was also part of this deal. Once A-B had control of the company they took the brand, the distinctive bottles and got rid of pretty much everything else. They closed the brewery leaving the workers without jobs and moved production to their New Jersey plant.

I doubt that SaveAnheuser.com will receive overwhelming support from Latrobe.

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Surely by now you’ve heard of the bid for Anheuser-Busch that Inbev is rumored to be considering. At this point there’s only rumor and speculation but this is often how these things first appear in the world of big business before becoming reality.

There’s enough real to this rumor to make Bloomberg columnist David Pauly wring his hands fretfully about the fate of his beloved Budweiser. Never fear, Dave, Bud will be safe. Given past performance I doubt that Inbev will dismember nor significantly alter the well-known brand. There might be some shuffling and shifting of small aspects of Bud but the taste and the general market position of it will remain largely intact.

The real danger of the Inbev takeover is what it will mean to the craft beer industry. The story of such take-overs in Europe has been one of the race to the bland. When big beer companies like Inbev take over smaller brewers their big, recognizable brands remain but the smaller product lines tend to get choked off.

Anheuser-Busch, on the other hand, long ago recognized the potential of the craft beer industry in America. They have been working on long-term strategies to claim as much of that part of the market as they can.  The “faux crafts” of A-B are well known. Lesser known is the huge investment that A-B has put into independent brewers. Deals like the one famously made with Redhook more then fifteen years ago are far more common these days than most beer drinkers realize. A-B owns minority shares in small, regional brewers all over the country and has made distribution and marketing available to these brewers that otherwise would have been out of reach.

Does Inbev understand to potential of this market? I doubt they care. Although A-B’s motives are no less based in profit they have the ability to think long term while Inbev’s exploits seem more focused on a slash and burn policy designed to produce quick profit.

By the way, I recognize that fans of Rolling Rock with memories must now think that I’m completely nuts.

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Can it be? Lately more and more well respected craft and import beers have been showing up in cans. The beer can has long suffered from a negative stereotype – both of the quality of the brew as well as the person who drinks it – but things may soon change. Virtually every segment of the beer business has become more expensive recently. As brewers and drinkers alike hope that the situation resolves soon they may find some cost relief in the can.

But that won’t happen until one major stereotype is abolished – that canned beer tastes of metal. It is a common complaint that beer from a can seems to carry some of the flavor of the can. But this is a misperception.

Beer easily reacts with some metals and this proved to be one of the biggest hurdles that packagers had to jump when the beer can was being developed at the end of Prohibition. From the very beginning of canned beer there has been a protective layer between the liquid and the metal. With cans completely coated on the inside it is impossible for the beer to pick up the taste of the metal.

So where’s that taste come from? If you’re asking yourself this question then you’ve probably experienced this metally taste in beer yourself and you’ve spent the last three paragraphs calling me a moron under your breath. Before I share my theory with you ask yourself this: Have you ever noticed that metal quality in draft beer? And yet what are kegs made from?

OK, here’s my theory. I heartily agree that beer drank from a can seems to taste like metal. But the important word is “drank.” The top of a beer can, like every other side, is made from metal. So while the beer drinker takes sips he is literally putting metal in his mouth – or at least to his lips – and to his nose. The taste of metal isn’t coming from the beer but from the taste and smell of actual metal. Pour that same beer in a glass and chances are you couldn’t tell that it came from a can.

So - good beer in cans? Why not, I say.

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On my last post about whisky and aging a fellow by the name of Doug left a comment. He suggested that we check out his community for whisky lovers.

Oh boy, another themed myspace clone, right? But no, I think that they’ve really got something here. Yes, it does have a myspace element to it in that you can set up a profile, visit others’ profiles and basically get into the the business of the other members but there is also a lot of really great information at this site.

Besides the regular community stuff there are interesting profiles of whisky distilleries, a shop with some lovely looking whiskies for sale, and member blogs that show some real expertise in scotch.

So I think I’ll have to give For Scotch Lovers my first ever Boozin’ Blog Stamp of Approval. Now there’s some bragging rights and no mistake!

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I recently found myself in a conversation with William C. Meyers, Scotch Enthusiast. (That’s what the card he handed me said.) And enthusiastic about scotch he is. As we chatted he mentioned with some amusement that he’d been looking for rare bottles on Ebay and he came across one unopened bottle of scotch that was declared to be 32 years old. But, he told me, the label clearly said that it was 12 years old so he emailed the seller for clarification. The bottle was bought 20 years ago so 12+20=32 reasoned the seller.

Scotch and other spirits don’t age in the bottle like wine or good beer. When a bottle of whisky declared that it is 9, 12, 20 or whatever number of years old that means that the liquor sat in the barrel that long.

There’s not a lot in whisky when you come right down to it. In fact there’s little more than water and alcohol. One of the primary contributors of the characteristics of whisky that lovers and enthusiasts cherish such as color, aroma, character and flavor is the barrel and it happens during this aging process.

Generally speaking the longer the whisky sits in the barrel the more it will pick up from the barrel and the more it will mellow in flavor and character. But once it is removed from the barrel and bottled this process stops. So, even though the bottle in question was well over thirty years old, the whisky was still only twelve years old.

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May 15 Kicks Off Summer Refreshment Movement with “Coors Light Code Blue”  

Golden, Colo. (May 12, 2008) – In a movement to deliver refreshment as cold as the Rockies in time for Memorial Day and the summer season, Coors Light “The World’s Most Refreshing Beer,” is declaring May 15 Cold Activation Day to celebrate its Cold Activated Bottle and Coors Light Code Blue campaign. 

Featuring a brand new look, the innovative die cut packaging indicates the beer is cold enough to drink when the mountains change from white to blue. 

“Continuing our quest to deliver the world’s most refreshing beer, we’ve improved our unique cold activated labels and are celebrating nationwide with Cold Activation Day,” said Lee Dolan, vice president of marketing for the Coors family of brands, Coors Brewing Company.   

To further celebrate the industry’s first bottles to give adult beer drinkers the ability to know when their beer is cold, Coors Light will bring “Coors Light Code Blue” to life, a signal for adult beer drinkers everywhere to enjoy Rocky Mountain cold refreshment and observe their love for the perfectly chilled beer.  A 360-degree marketing campaign including TV, radio, OOH, online and print will support Cold Activation Day and the Coors Light Code Blue campaign.  

Ever since Bill Coors invented the aluminum can in 1958, beer innovations and packaging enhancements have been a hallmark of Coors Brewing Company, with the goal of delivering the coldest, most refreshing beer to adult consumers.  Other recent innovations and packaging enhancements include:

• Vented Wide Mouth Can: A wider mouth and the first-ever built-in vent allows for a smoother pour
• Super Cold Draft: An innovative draft system that pours Coors Light below freezing
• Frost Brew Liner: The tinted blue liner that protects the refreshing taste of its beer          
• Plastic Bottle Cooler Box: The industry’s first ice-ready, one-time use cooler package

All 12-oz Coors Light and Coors Banquet bottles, as well as 24-oz Cold Activated Cans and 7-oz Coors Light bottles feature the new enhancements that bring cold refreshment to life.             ### 

About Coors Brewing CompanyCoors Brewing Company is a subsidiary of Molson Coors Brewing Company, (NYSE, TSX - TAP). It is the third largest brewer in the

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