First there was regular American beer. It was filling and had a bunch of calories to go along with it; around 150. It also had about 5% alcohol content per bottle. Then came along its fewer calorie cousin the light beer; it had about 100 calories and 4% alcohol content per bottle.

Now there is a new fad that is taking over the country’s breweries. Ultra light beer that has between 55 and 64 calories and has less than 3% alcohol content per bottle.

The commercials were the first things that drew my attention to the ultra light beers. MGD 64 is a beer sold my Miller Brewing Co. It only has 64 calories and 2.8% alcohol. The ads feature someone being able to order a “regular” size beer with 64 calories and his or her friend ordering 64 calories of their favorite beverage and coming up quite short.

The trend has continued because now Anheuser Busch is going to start marketing its newest ultra light beer, Budweiser Select 55, in more markets starting this month.

Of course, all of these beers are targeted toward the people who do not want to be drinking their calorie s or lose their figure to a beer belly and there is a huge market for this here. However, this beer is unlikely to appeal to anyone outside that group.

In an MSNBC article, when people tasted it, they said that it was watered down and one guy went as far as to say that it was like drinking beer flavored water. This is not, in any way, my opinion of how a beer should taste. Then again, the same interviewee said that he didn’t care about the alcohol content because he was “not a college kid trying to get wasted.”

When it comes to the beer brewing process, because there are less of the ingredients such as malted barley during the fermentation process, the end result is a more watery brew with a lesser amount of alcohol in each bottle.

First there was regular American beer. It was filling and had a bunch of calories to go along with it; around 150. It also had about 5% alcohol content per bottle. Then came along its fewer calorie cousin the light beer; it had about 100 calories and 4% alcohol content per bottle.

Now there is a new fad that is taking over the country’s breweries. Ultra light beer that has between 55 and 64 calories and has less than 3% alcohol content per bottle.

The commercials were the first things that drew my attention to the ultra light beers. MGD 64 is a beer sold my Miller Brewing Co. It only has 64 calories and 2.8% alcohol. The ads feature someone being able to order a “regular” size beer with 64 calories and his or her friend ordering 64 calories of their favorite beverage and coming up quite short.

The trend has continued because now Anheuser Busch is going to start marketing its newest ultra light beer, Budweiser Select 55, in more markets starting this month.

Of course, all of these beers are targeted toward the people who do not want to be drinking their calorie s or lose their figure to a beer belly and there is a huge market for this here. However, this beer is unlikely to appeal to anyone outside that group.

In an MSNBC article, when people tasted it, they said that it was watered down and one guy went as far as to say that it was like drinking beer flavored water. This is not, in any way, my opinion of how a beer should taste. Then again, the same interviewee said that he didn’t care about the alcohol content because he was “not a college kid trying to get wasted.”

When it comes to the beer brewing process, because there are less of the ingredients such as malted barley during the fermentation process, the end result is a more watery brew with a lesser amount of alcohol in each bottle.

Source

Remember Joe the Plumber? I’m sure he’s not going to be happy about this.

The cost of a beer is soon to be on the rise and the increase is due to brewers trying to compensate for not only higher commodity prices but also lower sales. Anheuser-Busch InBev came out on Tuesday saying that it would be increasing the price to consumers.

In a statement the 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.”

MillerCoors also come out saying something similar. It plans on raising prices in some of its markets. However, this company regularly increases prices in the fall to go in line with rising commodity prices and other costs associated with its brewing process.

Of course, the rise in prices didn’t completely come out of nowhere. This recession hasn’t been as kind to beer as one would think it would have been. This time around, alcohol sales were actually down and now the companies are trying to make up for the lack in sales.

One company, Heineken, has risen its prices and uses the rise to account for its profits regardless of its drop in volume. However, Heineken will not likely be able to raise its prices any further due to its main competition being Corona, who said that it will not be increasing prices of any of its brews.

I thought it was kind of strange that in this economy beer sales were so far down. Of course, it’s not like the companies are going broke or planning a bankruptcy anytime soon; I’m sure that they weren’t expecting the economy to be so harsh to them as well.

Up until 2006, InBev owned Rolling Rock. In 2006, Anheuser-Busch bought the pale beer. Now, since InBev has purchased AB, it wants to sell Rolling Rock off again.

Possible suitors include North American Breweries Inc., which is owned by KPS Capital Partners, a New-York based private equity firm, and C2 Imports LLC, a California-based beer importer led by former A-B executive Charlie Cindric, the Journal reported. Last month, A-B InBev sold Labatt USA, the exclusive U.S. importer of Labatt beer, to KPS.

Source

Also according to an article written by AP Business writer Jim Salter, a New York Times report with unnamed sources says that InBev raised their offer from $65 to $70 per share after AB said they wouldn’t accept the buyout, which was only about a week or two prior to this story being published.

AB’s stock price closed at $66.50 today (7-11-08). This is only $.05 short of their season high of $66.55.

The story also stated that the buyout could be completed by the end of the weekend.

So what happens to Budweiser? What about those Clydesdales pulling the cart in the snow? How about that Dalmatian??? I suppose something will happen considering InBev wants to remove all 13 board members from AB.

I suppose only time will tell.