One sector that is obviously not suffering at all is the beer industry. A new report from the Brewers Association puts new breweries that have surfaced thus far in 2010 number some 155. That is getting close to one new brewery per day. To put this number in perspective, all of 2009 only brought 110 new breweries to market.

This number doesn’t just cover the latest craze in beer, nanobrewing, but the Brewers Association is also seeing strong growth in the microbrewery sector as well as brewpubs. What is even more encouraging from these outstanding growth numbers is that the breweries-in-planning list they have has an outstanding 389 projects. Obviously not all of these will come to fruition, but the sheer amount as compared to last years 260 give a good outlook on the brewing sector. Continue Reading »

Fans of Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Wine & Spirits, and the rest of the ratings mags should really be into this. Coca-Cola has done it! They have quantified the happiness of countries and, according to the “Happiness Barometer”, the top five are as follows:

• Mexico – 87.7
• Philippines – 86.4
• Argentina – 80
• South Africa – 80
• Romania – 79.7

Continue Reading »

The study from AlixPartners includes lots of epic graphs, like the one seen here, which clearly explains everything…

Global Business-Advisory Firm AlixPartners conducted a poll of 1,000 consumers in February 2010 as part of a study to gauge the consumer market for fine beverages. The report isn’t encouraging, saying that about 20% of non-alcoholic beverage companies and 35% of alcoholic beverage companies are in danger of going under over the next two years. That isn’t good news for sure, though it seems to be something of a misleading statistic given the ambiguity of it. Continue Reading »

According to the recently released 2010 Liquor Handbook, the Beverage Information Group found that total spirits consumption rose 1.6 percent from 2009 to 2010. This gain marks the twelfth consecutive year of advances for the industry, although this rate of expansion has slowed.

“Due to the economic environment, we have seen a ‘trading down effect’ with more consumption in lower-priced tiers,” says Eric Schmidt, manager of information services for the Beverage Information Group, Norwalk, Conn. “As a result, we are seeing heavy price fighting and couponing taking place in order for suppliers to maintain growth and share.” Continue Reading »

Ever since its emergence in the market place back in the ’70s, organic wines have been receiving mixed emotions amongst consumers and wine geeks alike. As a culture, we are becoming more and more concerned with the environment and the products in which we consume. Local, sustainable, green, organic – these are no longer buzz words, but a part of our daily life. Continue Reading »

Wine and beer folks are always trying to one up each other about their respective beverage’s health effects. Wine folks have volumes of research backing them up. They even have supplements like resveratrol that are derived from red wine grapes. Beer guys sometimes go out on a limb regarding health benefits (It makes you look cool…which boosts your self esteem…which contributes to your mental health…right?).

Well the suds soldiers finally have a legit arrow in their quiver. A study by brew friendly school, UC Davis, finds that beer has silicon in it which contributes to bone mineral density.

Yup, drinking beer can toughen up your bones and you don’t even have to hit your shins with a baseball bat like Muay Thai fighters. I’m really happy to know this because with all the beer I drink, I may have a super-skeleton like Wolverine.  I wonder if I keep up my beer consumption if one day I’ll get a bottle opener that will retract into my hand. One can only dream…

According to an article, “Heavy drinking helps beat dementia” on the Daily Telegraph out of Australia, “Older Australians who indulge in up to 28 drinks a week stand a beter chance of warding off dementia than those who abstain, according to a new study.”

28 drinks a week? That is four a day, one with each meal (Fourthmeal available at Taco Bell), or all four at once if you like to party. I’m not sure if this study applies to older Americans, which could be concerning with how much old people in America love to drive huge steel battering ram cars. What if the dementia still appears, creating old, drunk people who decide to go for a drive? End of the world people!

Time Magazine is reporting that Red Bull Cola contains cocaine.

Really?

“The [Health Institute in the state of North Rhine Westphalia] examined Red Bull Cola in an elaborate chemical process and found traces of cocaine.” Continue Reading »