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Hey it’s Wednesday and that means it’s Rumor Mill Time….With the Super Bowl soon upon us, the craft beer community was rocked by word of a high-stakes NFL wager between two big-time breweries! We’ll be bringing you everything we know so far – but we promise you, this could get ugly. Plus a new report has just been released with some surprising insights into the secret lives of beer consumers.
So fasten your seat belts everybody because….THIS WEEK’S RUMOR MILL IS ON!
High-Stakes Super Bowl Craft Beer SmackDown! (Seattle, WA / Denver, CO) – In advance of the upcoming game between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks, West Flanders Brewing is entering into a wager with brewpub peers at Seattle, Washington’s Elysian Brewing Company. The terms of the wager are brutal.The head brewer for the brewpub of the winning city’s team will be flown to the losing team’s city, where he will take over the losing brewery’s equipment and staff and brew a beer of their choice on that brewery’s equipment.To raise the stakes even higher, on tapping day, the host brewpub must display the winning team’s flag for two weeks or until the beer is gone, whichever comes first. As we’ve said, this isn’t going to end well.
The Secret Life of the American Beer Consumer (Chicago, IL) – Survey Analytics just released the results of a survey on American beer preference and purchasing habits. The survey data shows craft beer and home brewing are still gaining popularity (no surprise there) and that 14% of the survey’s respondents have already engaged in homebrewing.Other highlights include:
Average consumer spends more than $1,200 a year on beer
The average annual amount spent on beer is $1,270
22% of consumers buy and drink beer 2-3 times a week
Budweiser is a polarizing brand; Ales are preferred taste
51% of people rated The King of Beers as their favorite, while 46% named it their least favorite
33% of consumers prefer the taste of ale and 24% would rather have a lager
Only 5% of consumers use price to determine favorite breweries
Very few use cost as the deciding factor for what beer they love the most; deciding factors include best ads (32%), where the beer is brewed (29%), and what style of beer the brand makes (22%)
Shocker – Florida Legislators Threaten To Do The Right Thing! (Tallahassee FL) – In a concerning departure from form, Florida lawmakers are moving a bill through the Senate that could ease the burden of grocery shopping forever! If passed, the new legislation would “allow shoppers to sample beer at their favorite grocery stores, such as Publix, Trader Joe’s, or Costco,” reports the Herald Tribune. “Under the current Florida law, only liquor and wine can be sampled inside a grocery store…”
