Winter Beers
You know it, because your customers are the ones who find that variety so interesting. These holiday beers aren’t just different, they’re like limited editions: they’re here now, and then they’ll be gone. That’s enticing. “There’s something to be said for a beer that’s only available once a year,†acknowledges... Read More
InBEV’s Big Deal
It was the best of deals.It was the worst of deals. Call it what you may. But whether you like the idea or not, the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by Brazilian/Belgian brewer InBev is the kind of grand combination that changes how markets proceed and do business. It is the kind... Read More
How it is today with Straight Whiskeys . . .
I get packages shipped by FedExI get letters and documents carried by DHLI got the computer I’m writing this on delivered by UPS They have imaginative ads, great services, and snappy graphics on their trucks and cargo jets. High-end service, very profitable, a specialist market. But most of the stuff... Read More
Looking For a Hot Beer?
If you want to know what’s hot in beer,ask someone who sells it. Like a lot of the people who are reading this story. There’s a certain amount of humbleness involved in writing this annual story. It’s all about asking you what’s selling well, then turning around and telling .... Read More
Blueberry Beer
I was at a summertime beer festival, about ten years ago, and I dropped by the back of the booth of a brewer I knew and asked him how things were going. His straight-faced answer: “Well, the lesbians are really liking the blueberry ale.†I must have given him a... Read More
Harpooning the NE Beer Market
You may have figured out by now that I don’t live in Massachusetts.I live near Philly, and look longingly northward.I did live in New England back in the late 198Os,and even then I had two beer rituals that a year was just not complete without.One was driving up to White... Read More
Everything’s Clearly About Vodka
There is a legend about the last words of Peter the Great, the brilliant yet half-mad emperor who brought Russia out of the dark ages of backwards isolation. Peter made Russia a European nation, largely on his own energetic efforts, and he built St. Petersburg, his “Window on the Westâ€,... Read More
Locals Breaking-Out!
There are two small Massachusetts breweries that are edging up toward a break-out point – Berkshire Brewing, in South Deerfield, and Wachusett Brewing, in Westminster, passed the 1O,OOO bottle a year mark in 2OO3, and both are sustaining steady growth. Interestingly, both have reached that mark largely within the state... Read More
Long Trail’s Pherson
Long Trail Brewing recently re-entered the Massachusetts market. At about that same time, I got a press package from Long Trail. That may not seem significant – my desk is six inches deep in brewery press releases – but I can count on the fingers of one foot how many... Read More
Winter Beers ae Back Again
It’s the first of November, and that means two things. One, you sold your last bottle of Oktoberfest yesterday; hope you didn’t overstock, and two, it’s now winter beer season, and all the breweries are going to be selling you theirs. But before you buy into the turbo-charged, spice-burning action,... Read More