Super Bowl Sunday could be called “National Beer Day,” according to one press release, because an estimated $12 million will be spent on beer for consumption before and during the game day. Much of the discussion centers around Budweiser and Bud Light, since Anheuser-Busch is the Super Bowl’s biggest advertiser. And Miller has co-opted some [...]

Jens Dalsgaard puts it this way at Nanobryg: This is the end of Ølfabrikken. Dalsgaard’s take on Gourmetbryggeriet acquiring the remaining 50% of Ølfabrikken is pretty despressing. Look, I don’t care if I never drink another bottle of Ølfabrikken Porter (though I know just where to find several). I’m not thinking first about my beer [...]

“Brew” Blog reports that Costco has received label application approval to sell three beers under the Kirkland brand name. This has all kind of implications. In brief: – Costco is a poster child for “trading up.” You go there to buy products you are brand agnostic about in bulk (often the dependable Kirkland brand), leaving [...]

Gee, I wish I’d received the press release before we were in Las Vegas and I went looking for a doppelbock to try for The Session rather than a few days ago. For the second straight year, the Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas is pouring a draft beer that is truly special – even by the standards [...]

Lots of catching up to do after a wonderful time in balmy St. Paul, Minn. Great beers, not so good beers. More important, great conversations and stories, not all of them about beer. So just one bit of musing, then off to all that e-mail. First stop Thursday was The Muddy Pig in St. Paul, [...]

I’m not sure (and neither is he) how Stephen Beaumont’s BeerTrends for 2008 #3: Chicks Dig Beer is going to turn out, but it looks like writing about marketing to women is a trend in the making. Witness: – “6 women, 6 decades, 6 beers,” at brewvana, which is not about marketing but how women [...]

You can decide what this might mean. And “nothing” is an OK answer. Lew Bryson writes that he’s off to Miami, where he and Stephen Beaumont are both making presentations to beer industry members at the Cheers Beverage Conference. That’s Miami, as in Florida. I, on the other hand, soon will be bound for Minneapolis-St. [...]

I had planned to muse on women and beer this morning — it seems like such a pleasant way to begin the week. But that’s going to have to wait. We start with good news for the Beer Blogosphere: Roger Protz has started blogging. (Thanks to Jeff Bell for the heads up.) Protz’s credentials are [...]

NEW BEER RULE #8: Always take beer more seriously than yourself. This needs little explanation. But to be clear, this is a beer rule. Not a life or work rule. The alternative version goes like this: Ask yourself if it’s the beer you are taking too seriously or yourself. The rule popped into my mind [...]

We should have seen this coming. The “hops crisis” has reached the point that hops are up for sale on eBay. Forget the bottles of Stone Epic Vertical and Lost Abbey Angel’s Share. Now you can buy the pure stuff. Just rip open the package and stick your nose in (somewhat like the drawing on [...]