District St. Paul - Minneapolis
November 2008 - News

October 29, 2008 – Beer Advocate - Steven’s Point Brewery Boubles Production of St. Benedict’s Winter Ale. St. Benedict’s Winter Ale is an abbey-style “winter warmer” perfect for fold winter nights. It was so popular last year that Steven’s Point Brewery has doubled the production, added a new 12-pck package and extended its distribution. This beer is brewed with dark roasted malts and nole hops. It is available for sale Nov 1 through Jan 31. The legend of St Benedict: St. benedict of Nursia was an Italian monk who founded the Benedictine Order in about 520 A.D. According to legend, while living as a hermit in a cave near a mountaintop monastery in Italy, he was befriended by a raven that brought him food and saved his life by preventing him from eating poisoned bread. St, Benedict’s Winter Ale’s colorful packaging depicts a monk enjoying a mug of ale next to a glowing fire, watched over by a raven perched on the fireplace’s mantle.

October 22, 2008 – Probrewer- MillerCoors has stopped brewing Zima because of “challenging” sales and “declining consumer interest” in the flavored malt beverage segment, according to a statement by Andy England. The company will continue to fill distributor orders until the end of December. By eliminating Zima the company can focus more on the consumer-preferred brands such as Sparks.

October 16, 2008 - (Probrewer.com) - MillerCoors recorded a 0.7 percent increase in domestic sales to retailers, boosted by 6.8 percent growth in Coors Light brand sales, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, co-owner SABMiller plc said Tuesday.

Sales of Miller Lite, however, fell 3.6 percent for the quarter.

Volumes in the craft and import portfolio rose 5 percent, SABMiller said. Keystone Light posted double-digit gains and both Coors Banquet and Miller High Life continued to generate good growth. Miller Chill volumes declined "significantly with aggressive competition in the segment," SAB said. Miller Chill competes with Bud Light Lime from top competitor Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. of St. Louis.

The increase in MillerCoors sales compares with the 2 percent decline in sales for Miller Brewing Co. of Milwaukee for the quarter ended June 30.

AMBA-USDA (September 2008) – Barely Crop reports are in. It seems that this year may be a good one for the barley crops. Higher yields deliver more bushels to the US market for the 2008 crop year. There are about 239 million bushels on 3.77 million acres harvested this year. This is up about 10% from the predicted levels in August. This is also a 13% increase over 2007. The average yield per acre was 63.6 bushels up 3.2% from last year.

Beer advocate (September 2008) – Leinenkugel has now made its Oktoberfest available nationally. Since 2001, Oktoberfest has only been a seasonal beer offered in the upper Midwest. Besides the wonderful flavor the Oktoberfest has alone, it also make a great beer infused brat, try it, it’s yummy.