College Football & Beer Tapping kegs at college football games for everyone of legal age can be financially rewarding. West Virginia for the first time is selling beer at football games to everyone of legal drinking age — not just high rollers in luxury suites — "and we're expecting to profit around $1 million," said athletic director Oliver Luck. Some largest universities currently sell alcohol in their stadiums only to people in luxury suites. The NCAA has no rule preventing alcohol sales at regular-season events. However, it bans sales and advertising of all alcohol during its 88 championships. Additionally, championship host sites must cover up alcohol-related advertising. "There's also the thought that you control the alcohol situation better if you're selling within your stadium," said Mike Thomas, Cincinnati's athletics director."Rather than people trying to sneak in alcohol, they can buy it in a controlled environment. |
New Can - Same Beer Anheuser-Busch is rolling out new Budweiser cans that update the design for the first time since 2001, seeking to give the brew a more contemporary look as A-B continues to reach out to younger drinkers. The cans, which have just hit stores feature a lot more red and prominently display the brand's iconic bow tie, which has long been on bottles but never on cans. The new cans — representing only the 12th time A-B has changed the design since first putting Bud in cans in 1936 — come after 18 months of study and testing, said Rob McCarthy, VP of Budweiser. A-B has no documentation on the origin of the bow tie, but company lore suggests that it was created to encourage drinkers to use the beer's full name, not simply "Bud." The word Budweiser scrolls in cursive across the bow tie. Ironically, Budweiser's ongoing campaign emphasizes "Bud," with the tag line " Grab Some Buds." The new cans come as Budweiser seeks to reverse a two-decade-plus sales decline that this year has it in danger of being surpassed by MillerCoors' Coors Light as the nation's No. 2 best-selling brew behind Bud Light. |
| Feature News from beernexus.com |
Edited by Jim Attacap
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| BEERNEXUS the crossroads of the beer world |
One Less Bad Beer
Miller/Coors is discontinuing its MGD 64
Lemonade after less than three months on the
market. MillerCoors, the second-largest U.S.
beer maker by revenue, introduced the low-calorie
lemonade-flavored beer in May as a limited-edition
summertime product, expanding from its three-year-old
Miller Genuine Draft 64 beer. The number refers to the
beer's calorie content. "Winning in beer requires testing the
bounds of the market with innovation," the company said in
a statement. "With that commitment, however, comes a
recognition that not every innovation will succeed."
MillerCoors is telling distributors that it will buy back all
MGD 64 Lemonade currently in warehouses, where legal.
It will also cover destruction costs up to $2.50 per case.
The company's prior foray into flavored beers--the
lime-flavored Miller Chill introduced in 2007--started out
strong but sales slid after larger rival Anheuser-Busch
InBev NV unveiled Bud Light Lime the next year.
The beer market has been pressured in recent years as
stubbornly high unemployment among its core consumers
keeps discretionary spending in check. In July MillerCoors
reported volume fell 1.4% from the prior year. Coors Light
and Miller Lite sales improved, but MGD 64 saw
double-digit declines.
