Time To Invest In Boston Beer?
Bad Weather
The worst floods in China since 1998 and
cooler-than-usual weather are eroding sales at
the nation’s brewers, deepening a slump
caused by the economic slowdown.

China Resources Beer Holdings, the country’s
largest brewer, said that sales fell 4.6 percent in
the three months ended June from a year ago,
partly because of “unfavorable weather.”

Lower-than-average temperatures and torrential
rains probably contributed to a more than 10
percent drop in beer industry sales volume in
China in the first six months of 2016, Allen
Cheng, an analyst at Morningstar Investment
Services said in an interview. Foul weather kept
customers away from bars, restaurants and
karaoke establishments and deepened a
slowdown in sales growth caused by slower
economic growth and a shift toward other
alcoholic beverages.
Boston Beer has found itself struggling in recent quarters
due to the twin impact of increased competition from
smaller craft brewers and a slowdown in consumer
demand for hard cider. A recent RBC analysis showed
that there has been a significant slowdown in hard cider
growth over the last two years to the point that the
category is now experiencing declines. This, of course
has negative implications for Boston Beer’s Angry
Orchard drinks, though working in the brand’s favor is
that it maintained and did not lose its share of the market
during the second quarter.  

Worth noting is that it’s not just Boston Beer’s margins
and margin potential that are attracting bullish bets from
investors; The brewer has virtually no debt on its balance
sheet, and with a price-to-earnings ratio of 29, it’s a
cheaper investment than its competitors Budweiser
(which trades at a p/e of 36), Constellation Brands STZ
+0.40% (which trades at a p/e of 30) and Molson Coors
Brewing Company (which trades at a p/e of 44).
Fruit Flies-  Fruit flies know exactly how much alcohol will be good for their young.
Larvae living on a food source with the right concentration of ethanol will grow into
heavy, healthy adults and will be protected against parasites — which explains why the
insects are attracted to rotting fruit or the crate of empty beer bottles in your kitchen but
not to the vodka or gin.

New Owners- Tenth and Blake Beer Co., MillerCoors’ "craft" and import arm,
has acquired a majority interest in Granbury-based Revolver Brewing.They also
own brands like Blue Moon, Leinenkugel, Saint Archer, Terrapin Beer Company and
Oregon’s Hop Valley Brewing Company.

Warning-  Craft Brew Alliance and Anheuser-Busch InBev just signed commercial
agreements that will give CBA guaranteed distribution via A-B's wholesalers in the
U.S. through 2028 and expanded access to international markets as well as
brewing capacity at many of the larger company’s 12 brewery locations.  It's
another danger sign for small craft brewers distribution chain.

Advent -  The Beer Advent Calendar campaign on Kickstarter combines craft
beer with an advent calendar for the 2016 Christmas Season.  It's a calendar in a
box in which 24 beers are hidden under 24 numbered flaps. Each day from
December 1st through December 24th a single numbered flap is opened to reveal
a beer for you to enjoy on each of the days before Christmas.
That's The Way It Gose

Agose (pronounced “go-sah”) is a light beer made with water, wheat,
coriander, and salt, and typically should be 4-5% ABV.  If you’re familiar
with sour beers, it’s on the mild end of that spectrum, like the Miller Lite
of sour beers. Gose tends to have a nice, sour and tart lemon flavor
that finishes clean and tickles the tongue with a hint of salt. Those
flavors combine to make a super refreshing beer

In craft brewing, brew masters must choose between riding the wave of
the next big trend, be it hoppy IPAs or sour beers, or brew fun styles
they love to drink. Gose beers seem to sit squarely in the middle. The
briny, long-forgotten style with an unusual history is on its resurrection
tour, with many bars pouring them with gumption.

Gose derives its name from the river in Germany, located in a mineral-
rich region centered around the town of Leipzig. In the Middle Ages, it's
where gose beer got its start, according to the German Beer Institute.
It’s one of the few beer styles in the world that calls for high-salinity
water, which historians attribute to the high salt content in the city's
water. After a dormant period, gose beers were brought back to life
after the fall of the Berlin Wall, as Leipzig could once again divert some
of its limited grain resources back to brewing beer.

Yet another factor makes gose beers stand apart from other German
suds: The traditional style is brewed with coriander, a spice addition
requiring a special exemption from Germany’s “beer purity law,” also
known as the Reinheitsgebot. These highly aromatic beers didn’t begin
to work their way into American craft brewing until recently. Now, the
savvy beer seeker can already find more than 200 of them on the
market in the U.S., with even larger craft breweries like Sierra Nevada
getting into the game.


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Edited by Jim Attacap

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