Lew Bryson

I live in Lager Land. Here in Pennsylvania, Yuengling Lager is ubiquitous, which has created a beer landscape unlike any other in the country. It’s pretty much taken as given here that concern over Yuengling’s incredible growth – from under 2OO,OOO barrels in 1985 to 2 million in 2O1O –... Read More

The madness is over. The shamrocks are falling off the walls. The green has been worn, Erin go bragh is Erin bragh gone. And the spike in Irish whiskey sales is over.  It’s March again, and we’ve got an Irish whiskey story for you . . . again. But what... Read More

I am a reasonably earth-conscious consumer. My family belongs to a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program and gets boxes of great organic produce eight months a year. We drive advanced technology diesel cars that get better than 4Ompg. We compost yard trash. As they blow out, we’re replacing our incandescent bulbs... Read More

Coatepec is in the mountainous part of Mexico’s state of Veracruz. Trucks rumble through the streets, there’s a market in the square where you can buy fresh-roasted ears of corn slathered with mayonnaise and sprinkled with powdered chiles, and the cantinas serve smoky mezcal and ice-cold beers to wiry, calloused... Read More

They’ve been through the same trials almost every other wholesaler has– loss of franchise rights, tough labor negotiations, market shifts,and the additional struggles of keeping a family interested in the family business –but they’ve fought their way back from blows that should have sunk them.Today Burke is big: they got... Read More

Their clothes are weird, their music sucks, and they drink malternatives.And now you tell me they probably don’t think Sierra Nevada is cool?This is what the passage of years does to you: it makes everyone around you more stupid. That pithy bit of bile was the result of a discussion... Read More

“It’s better thanit’s ever been.There’s never been better bourbon made than right now.”-Wayne Rose Mr. Rose, Group Brand Director, Brown-Forman, isn’t talking about his brand, Woodford Reserve, or even the whole Brown-Forman portfolio.  He’s talking about bourbon, about American straight whiskey, an entire category that has benefited from the same... Read More

So says the mainstream media, the economic analysts, the industry analysts; for a change, even the raw numbers bear them out. Overall US beer sales were down 2.2% in 2OO9, and it’s not getting better in 2O1O; the Beer Institute says sales in the first five months are down 4%,... Read More

I’m a big fan of draft beer in the summer. The advantages are clear: less handling, usually less expensive, more environmentally friendly, and as lots of folks will tell you, it’s usually how brewers meant the beer to be poured. I like having draft at all our family gatherings: it... Read More

Vodka continues its dominance of the spirits category, unchecked by . . . well, by anything.  The economy has shuffled the deck a bit on what brands are growing and what price points and niches are successful at the moment.  More than ever, two things are crucial to a particular... Read More