Its time for the weekly brewing update for 3/25/11.

Here we go for brewing industry news for March 25th, 2011.  This week had few stories that amounted to much but there was a couple things that did catch my attention.
First off, this week I read an article on Yahoo! finance about how Molson Coors has continued their global strategy in expanding the Coors Light brand. Molson Coors announced this week that they will be introducing Coors Light to the beer drinkers in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is the largest beer market throughout the Caribbean, in which the light beer category is estimated to make up over half of the country's overall beer volume. Many feel that this is a great opportunity on the part of Molson Coors by bringing one of the world's most refreshing beers to beer drinkers in that country. It's perfectly timed with the market's growing enthusiasm for American beer and the unique drinking experience provided through the cold activation technology. The Coors brand is already widely popular in the Dominican communities across the U.S. so the folks at Molson are optimistic as to its success in the Dominican Republic. Retailers across the Dominican Republic will be carrying Coors Light bottles and cans featuring the cold activated mountains label that turns blue when the Coors Light has been chilled to the perfect temperature for ice cold refreshment. These innovations and packaging enhancements that have become a hallmark for Molson Coors in recent years and has helped them become one of the fastest growing international beer brands worldwide.

My next story this week comes from atmabus at SeekingAlpha.com who wrote about how Boston Beer company keeps chugging along. Boston Beer Company, who's roots date back to the 1860's, is the largest American beer company and has only been around for about 25 years. Although the only have about 1% of the market, the makers of Sam Adams are the largest remaining American brewer. This is because the other larger brewers have all been purchased by companies from outside the U.S. Budweiser sold to InBev from Belgium, Miller sold out to SAB from South Africa, and Coors sold to Molson from Canada. All the players have commoditized the industry while Boston Beer has taken the opposite approach and chose to remain very localized, differentiated, independent, and driven by passion for quality rather than quantity. Founder Jim Koch takes annual trips to Germany to acquire the premium raw materials the company uses for their one of a kind taste and full flavor. Sam Adams has certainly revolutionized the industry with it's success. When Koch started there were no U.S. craft breweries. Now there is over 1600 and they represent roughly 10% of the beer market in this country. Certainly an impressive number considering the companies short history. I couldn't agree with the author of the article more when he says it is very refreshing to see a successful American start-up stay true to its roots despite such rapid growth and popularity.

Continuing on the topic of craft brewers leads me into another article I read from Tom Rotunno at cnbc.com titled The Beer Industry's Bright Spot. This article is discussing how the craft brewers are continuing to show steady growth despite slumping sales overall in the beer market. According to the latest figures released by the Brewers Association, US craft brewers reported an increase of 11 percent by volume and 12 percent in retail sales in 2010.  This growth, which represents more than one million barrels, or the equivalent of more than 14 million new craft beer cases, comes at a time when total US beer sales were down a little over one percent or roughly two million barrels.  This trend has caught the attention of the larger brewers like Anheuser-Busch and Molson Coors, who has seen the growing popularity of their Blue Moon brand in recent years. Sales of Blue Moon rose almost 25% in 2010 which is Molson's closest beer that goes in line with the craft brewers market. Fortunately, Boston Beer will be able to stay in the craft brewing industry a little longer as the Brewers Association increased the threshold for being a craft brewer from 2 million barrels to an astonishing 6 million barrels per year. The reason this helped Boston Beer was because they are projected to pass the 2 million barrel mark before this year is over. The increase on the threshold will let them keep the branding as a craft brewer in an industry segment they were responsible for starting.

Well that's pretty much all the news for this week, except for the fact that all my stocks are up this week from last week. Certainly some very good news as I have been seeing some drastically low stick prices across all three of my companies I chose to invest in. I don't know what speculation has caused the recent rise in prices but I am certainly very glad to see it make a positive turn again. Anyhow, until next week........."stay thirsty my friends"!!

It's time for beer news for 3/18/11...

• BUD: $55.04
•  TAP: $43.25
• SAM: $85.76

Off we go for this weeks blog following a festive Saint Patrick's Day celebration for me. Last night was certainly a busy night at all the local bars and the green beer was most definetely flowing. Great times and good spirits made for an eventful night. Now its time to get back to business though. So it's time to talk about some news in the world of brewing this week.

First off for news this week I want to talk about an article I read from David Kesmodel at The Wall Street Journal's website. The article I am referring to was about how investor C. Dean Metropoulos and the Pabst brand he purchased last June are in the works to release a drink they are calling "Blast". Blast, from the makers of the famed american brew Colt 45, will be geared towards being in direct competition with Phusion Products LLC's Four Loko, Anheuser-Busch InBev's Tilt and United Brands Co's Joose. This new malt beverage will marketed by famous rapper Snoop Dogg and will contain fruit flavors and be 12% alcohol by volume, twice the amount of the original Colt 45. This move is going to place the brand into the: high alcohol, fruit-infused malt beverage category, which has been a rapidly growing market category but has drawn much criticism from lawmakers and the different anti-alcohol groups. Promotions for this will begin very soon and it will be advertised s

olely by Snoop Dogg via music, television and other appearences including the fact that Snoop Dogg is already touting Blast on Twitter for his many followers.Blast will be making it's debut in stores on April 5th, which is a rather comical pun that they are releasing it on 4-5 like Colt 45. It will be sold in six packs of seven ounce bottles as well as single 23.5 ounce cans. Overall, this is certainly seeming to be a smart move for the brand as sales have drastically declined over the last few years and I think it will definetly give them the competitive edge in the industry again. On a last note with that, if its anything like Four Loko I would warn you to certainly take caution when drinking it because its effects will hit you very quickly and could lead to the same black-out symptoms where Four Loko got its publicity.

On a different note, Molson Coors did their humanitarian part this week as they donated $50,000.00 to the Japan relief efforts being coordinated by the International Red Cross. Molson Coors has a dedicated sales and marketing organization in Japan and has since 1992, and through this they have expressed a great deal of solidarity with their Japanese team. Also, along with the corporate donation the company has made they have set up a great deal of microsite's at different plants encouraging their other employees to help out with donation's through the difficult times Japan is facing.

The next story for the week deals with the brewer Grupo Modelo SAB. They are the brewer responsible for the brand Corona Extra which is the best-selling imported beer in the US, and Modelo Especial. Apparently, after their main-rival Femsa Cerveza got purchased by Heiniken NV many have begun to speculate as to whether this family owned brewer is going to get acquired by the always pressuring Anheuser-Busch InBev. Fortunatly, as of right now, this company is remaining family owned and beginning to make a rise back in the industry as the mexican economy has started to recover along with the companies U.S. sales. This current rise in sales for the company is being realized as many are again beginning to spend the "extra buck" on quality and consumers are focusing less solely on price. Finally taste is winning the battle again, which is definetly a good thing because that gives me more hope for the craft brewers out there as well.

The last story I found rather important this week was from thestreet.com and it was discussing how the author of the article, jonas elmerraji, feels that brewing stocks are boasting recession proof results. My opinion, this guy has had way too much to drink. After looking at how bad my stocks have dropped over the course of the last 3 months in all three of my companies, I seriously don't feel that the industry as a whole is battling this recession very successfully at all. When I look at companies like Boston Beer Company who has seen a drop in prices of almost 15% in just 3 months, I fear more and mo

re for the future of  brewing and what results the industry is going to see over the next quarter to come. Lets hope for the best and certainly don't lose faith because stocks in this industry can and hopefully WILL bounce back. Until next week though, I repeat........"stay thirsty my friends!"

It's time for your brewing industry news for 3/11...

• BUD: $57.05
• TAP: $44.10
• SAM: $87.23

Well here we go for another week in the world of brewing, and I have a few stories to talk about this week, This weeks first story is focusing on one of the brewing industries favorite holidays. Which holiday am I referring to?? That's right, Saint Patrick's Day!!!!! This holiday is one of the biggest drinking holidays for many of the local pubs and bars and generates a great deal of revenue for them. However, many of the brewers within the industry have begun focusing less and less on smacking a green label on their bottles or adding the normal green food coloring to become more festive and instead these brewers are tipping their hats to one of the most authentically Irish beers on the market and that's Guinness. Guinness has been the traditional Irish beer since back in the 1970's when, ironically, it was still actually made in Ireland. Now, however, with their current London address they are still holding strong sales every Saint Patrick's Day as people attribute this smooth stout to the traditional Irish heritage the people feel they are supporting on that holiday. Many of the other brewers within the market have decided instead to focus on making better tasting beers that they can market year round to gain the sales they need to pull through this recession as best as possible. Also, surprisingly, many stats from Saint Patrick's Day in the last few years has shown a tremendous lean towards the craft brewers of each local town. Many of these craft brewers are making distinct beers for the Irish holiday and they do this because it is something they are known for. They brew up their special holiday brews and distribute them at the local pubs and bars around their breweries and have taken increasingly more sales year over year.

Enough about Saint Patrick's Day, instead I want to turn the focus to the NFL lockout. I touched base with this topic some last week but wanted to go a little more in detail this week. I read an article today from earlier this morning that was title NFL Lockout Winners and Losers and was written by Laura Griffin from CNBC. This article caught my attention when it was listed under my industry sector news for the week. Now, about the article, it refers to the many different places and organizations that are looking to lose a tremendous amount of money if this strike persists with the NFLPA. As I read through the article, one big thing that shocked me was the dollar amount for how much money many of these host cities.would be losing if this 2011-2012 football season doesn't kickk off like it is supposed to. Between breweries and bars along with all the other profits brought in from the football season in general, these host cities are looking to lose roughly 160 million dollars per city if there is to be no season come this fall. That study she was referring to only focused on those cities that have football teams locally in the NFL and didn't discuss the many other places nationally that stand to lose a great deal if this strike continues. I think this in incredibly important for the brewing industry because this lack of sales and the speculation of what could come has caused unsettling drops in the value of nearly all stocks across the publicly traded brewing companies. Not good. Plain and simple. I think the NFL needs to get their things in order and get this season off to a smooth start or this industry could start a pretty steady decline that would be incredibly hard to bounce back from.

The next story this week is about an article I read from The Daily Feed  written by Kevin Depew on March 9th. This story was about how wine has proven to be more recession proof than beer. Suprising? Certainly was to me! After reading through the article though, I did find some pretty interesting information that Mr. Depew had to discuss. The basis of his discussion was based on the fact that during the two most recent recessions in our country wine sales have increased by 3-5% while beer sales have dropped around 6-9%. the main reason Depew feels this has happened is related to the class of the people that consume these different beverages. He discussed how many of the people who purchase and drink wine are of a higher social class and in-turn they have felt the financial impact of the recession less severely than those who consume beer. Many of the consumers in the world of brewing are your everyday blue-collar workers who commonly live paycheck to paycheck and when the economy tanks like it has over the last roughly ten years, these people can't find the extra money as often to enjoy their favorite brews like the more wealthy white collar individuals who consume wine. I do have to say that after reading the article, it seems a relevant argument and in fact possibly investing in the wine and distillers sector may be a smarter investment than what brewing ever could be.

Lastly this week, I wanted to discuss Boston Beer Company's fourth quarter profits that they posted on Tuesday. Boston Beer released their fourth quarter earnings announcing exceptionally strong sales and earnings growths. The only problem from this was that many analysts had much higher expectations for the company and because there sales did not meet those expectations it caused the price of their stocks to suffer as of recent. Overall, SAM posted fourth quarter profits of $12.2 million, or 87 cents per share compared with only $7.5 million, or 52 cents per share this time last year. For the full  year,earnings were up over 60% as well and posted profits of $3.52 per share versus $2.17 only a year ago. Full year net sales rose from $415 million in 2009 to $464 million for fiscal 2010. On top of the years profits and revenue amounts,

the company also ramped up its promotional spending 16% as well, spending nearly $37 million in the process to promote its core Samuel Adams lager and seasonal, along with its Twisted tea and Hardcore Cider namesakes.

News of brewing for 3/4/11

• BUD: $58.04
• SAM: $94.40
• TAP: $44.24

So, another week is in the books and things continue to unfold within the industry. To start things off this week, Molson Coors could be in a better spot to thrive in the brewing market than they may have ever planned. The reasoning behind this is due largely to the recent stories about a possible strike by the athletes of the NFL. The Players Union's contract with the National Football League expires this year and many reporters believe that a strike could be brewing, so to speak. The big reason this could be largely beneficial to Molson Coors is that with their recent sponsorship deal with the NHL, and the NFL players possibly going on strike, this could cause a large percentage of the current football fans to shift to hockey as there may not be much, if any, of a 2012 football season for fans to watch or celebrate. On the other end of that spectrum, this could be very detrimental to the folks at Anheuser-Busch InBev because they are currently under contract with the NFL for their sponsorship. Hopefully the NFL's players do not go on strike, mainly because I am a huge football fan, but also because it would just be another brutal blows to BUD's profiits, which is certainly not needed right now as they rebuild from this recession. Those at Anheuser-Busch seem optimistic and feel that, even though they only posted a 2.1% increase by volume last year from the previous year, they are and will continue to keep growing.

Since there seems to be little news within the industry that relates to any of the publicly traded companies, I did find one story that I thought was particularly interesting. The story I happen to be referring to was at irishcentral.com and discussed how President Obama has officially declared March 2011 to be Irish American Heritage Month. More importantly, the White House also announced that the president would be brewing his own beer called White House Honey Ale for St. Patrick's Day.Obama, who said he will pay for the beer making equipment himself, has made presidential history by being the first U.S. president to brew beer at the White House. Also, apparently the White House Honey Ale was also brewed and served for the White House Super Bowl party last month as well. I do have to say that I am glad to see the president has made this bold move and I respect his continued course of individuality.

Another story I found mildly amusing this week was a little battle of David vs. Goliath. This article I stumbled across at abc15.com. In the article it discussed how the San Tan Beer Company in Chandler, AZ has been asked by The Boston Beer Company to stop using their "traditional" SanTan glass. The Boston Beer Company cited the similar look of the SanTan glass to that of theirs for advertisements for Samual Adams and many of their other craft beers. I really can't believe that they have taken such a brash move against the small and seemingly harmless San Tan Beer Company who only tries to share the same or similar craft brewing enthusiasm that those at Boston Beer Co. constantly vocalize.

My last story this week is from guttridge.co.uk where brewing was the topic for discussion on their "Conveying News" web page. The story I found particularly interesting was about how local brewers in the UK are continuing to defy the downturn and about how the production of cask beer has increased in the face of industry-wide declines. Volumes for independent brewers grew grew by nine per cent in 2010. These SIBA members have made incredible progress by increasing more than 800 percent since 1976. Also, along with the extreme increases they have seen by volume, this dedication to success by the country as a whole has helped them create an increasing number of new jobs as well as help increase business for the many local farmers that supply the resources they uses for brewing.

Well that pretty much sums up the current news in the brewing industry and other relevant stories outside of just those related to those publicly traded companies. Until next week, though, remember..........."stay thirsty my friends"!