Today's Wall St. Journal story about beer

Just wondered if anyone else read the piece on page 1 of todays Wall St. Journal on SABMillers Brew Blog:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120829767153417401.html?mod=hpp_us_inside_today

They have appearently have broken a story that AB is going to market a Budweiser American Ale.

Kind of strange considering the ads AB is running saying craft brewed ale is cloudy and heavy.

Interesting story. I noticed A-B stopped that campaign when they started advertising all the different versions of Michelob that are out there.


TL

I just read somewhere that rice might start hitting them in the pocketbook.

olllllo said:

I just read somewhere that rice might start hitting them in the pocketbook.

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the irony. haha

olllllo said:

I just read somewhere that rice might start hitting them in the pocketbook.

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funny you mention that. there was a story on the local news this morning about the wholesale clubs limiting the amount of rice people could purchase.

bigjohnmilford said:

funny you mention that. there was a story on the local news this morning about the wholesale clubs limiting the amount of rice people could purchase.

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I saw that story on our local news also and my first thought was that it could hurt AB more than the hop shortage...

mr_goodwrench said:

I saw that story on our local news also and my first thought was that it could hurt AB more than the hop shortage...

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The articles I have read stated pretty clearly that there is NOT any sort of rice shortage. No one seems quite sure how the whole thing got going but, mob mentality wins again eh?
Besides, I think AB contracts at the grower level, not the commodity market level.

TexLaw said:

Interesting story. I noticed A-B stopped that campaign when they started advertising all the different versions of Michelob that are out there.


TL

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I continue to see both of those ad campaigns here in Ohio, which only makes sense. Most MBC drinkers have no idea that Michelob is under the AB umbrella.

CEMaine said:

The articles I have read stated pretty clearly that there is NOT any sort of rice shortage. No one seems quite sure how the whole thing got going but, mob mentality wins again eh?
Besides, I think AB contracts at the grower level, not the commodity market level.

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My roommate works with a bunch of outsourced guys in the rice region - and he said they're paying double for rice what they were last year. Probably still quite cheap by any standard, but double price none the less.

I hate how AB bashed the craft brew, then tried to sound like they are craft brew. LAME. I saw Miller had a 'Miller Lite Craft Brew Series' or something retarded like that. Anything that said Miller LITE and decent beer really stood out as an oxymoron to me.

I do like watching the big boys fight though...

I would bet AB is one of the biggest purchasers of rice in the world. (Maybe the largest). I would be real surprised if they mark up the price of their rice much. Certainly not as much as they will be for the average consumer.

I heard yesterday on the news that some countries will not be exporting rice this year to make sure they have enough at home.

Strange days for brewing in general with the hop shortage, the price of grain, and the rice shortage.