- SAM: $93.83
- TAP: $47.47
- BUD: $55.59
The end of another week of trading with new prices to share with you. First off, on a positive note, The Boston Beer Company (SAM) made an incredible increase over the course of the week boasting a 4.5% increase from $89.76 last week to $93.83 this week. Another of my companies, Molson Coors Brewing Company also made some movement in the right direction as they climbed up 2.1% from $46.51 last week to $47.47 by the close of business today. Now for the bad news, Anheuser-Busch (BUD) made another unfortunate drop in prices from $56.47 down to $55.59 which was a decrease of 1.6% and their lowest prices since the start of my investments with them. Overall, not a very bad week but I am still staying hopeful for the week when all three of my companies make some substantial progress in the right direction.
Now as for the news and excitement within my industry of brewing.....another few stories have made the headlines this week. Recent reports of barley shortages have caused some to worry about the future of stock prices within the brewing industry. Poor barley crops in both Europe and North America could cause the prices of our favorite beers to increase drastically. This rise in prices could cripple sales for many brewers and unfortunately cause a very unsettling drop in stock prices throughout the industry. Some companies, like Anheuser Busch, who get their barley from South America may be able to weather this storm a little better than others, which lets me keep at least some hopefullness for future of my stocks in the brewing industry. This increase in hops has been the first major increase in prices since the hops shortage since 2007 when many companies were facing hard times.
One company who stood out in the midst of the hops shortage in 2007 was The Boston Beer Company. They hosted what was called the "Hop Sharing Program". Through this program they donated over 20000 pounds of hops to 96 different craft brewers nationwide to help keep them afloat. It will be interesting to see, with the prices of hops on the rise, if any of the industry giants will make another generous effort to aide the craft brewers through the upcoming tough times they will face.
In other news, Vina Concha y Toro sealed a strategic alliance with Cervezas Kross this week. The agreement contemplates the acquisition of a minimum of 40% of the beer company. This is the first time that the Chilean winery has taken a participation in a company of a sector not belonging to the wine business and the objective will be to participate actively in the premium segment of the national beer market. By entering this business, Concha y Toro will be able to take Kross from its present positive situation to unimaginable growth levels, in turn taking advantage of know-how in marketing, logistics and distribution by being distributed by Concha y Toro y Toro and its commercial network.Vina Concha y Toro enjoys an outstanding position among the world's most important wineries. With consolidated sales in 2009 of US$643 million and more than 28 million cases sold worldwide, the company demonstrates the solidity of its business model and international leadership with a presence in more than 135 countries. One thing has been made certain through this whole deal and that is that both companies involved here have reaffirmed their wish to convert Cerveza Kross into a benchmark in the Chilean beer market, opening up future growth prospects for the brand. This should play out to be very interesting within their domestic market as well as internationally through the many foreign markets they distribute to.
The last topic of discussion this week is about a beer by the name of "Big Flatts 1901". The reason I wanted to discuss this particular beer is because it will be selling for only $2.99 for a six pack and sold at your local Walgreen's. Why is this important? The answer to that is that with an economy still in the midst of a recession, and this beer having both incredible price appeal and great taste, it could cause sales to suffer for some of the major brewers like Anheuser-Busch and Molson Coors. Im still a little sceptical as to what type of serious threats this beer could make against these industry giants, but there has certainly been a great deal of interest in it since its recent release in Walgreen's, Costco and Trader Joes. 
Stephen Colbert, the host of the Colbert Report on Comedy Central, certainly shared my enthusiasm in this new beer as he did a taste test on his show recently. Big Flatts certainly did not win any awards here as he stated “Big as in the quantity you can buy with the change between your couch cushions. And flat for both the taste and the position it’ll put your body in,” , this comment obviously as a crack on the beers name as well as others he made throughout the show have proved he is certainly not going to be a fan of the "budget beer". Others, like Gina Rakers on the beer blog http://www.hoosierbeergeek.blogspot.com/, have made comments like "In a word, the taste is terrible, but at 50 cents a can, you can’t expect a whole lot". So although the recent sales have shown considerable demand, these critics amoung others are not impressed.
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