Beer Battling Back for Imbibers

CHICAGO — Beer sales had gone flat, while wine was flying off the shelves.

So beer makers decided to steal a page from wine's marketing manual and create new packaging, flavors and drinks. Now beer is coming back.

The major brewers "blended, became the same," said Nick Lake, beer expert at ACNielsen, the marketing information company.

"If they didn't have the brand in some ads -- a Budweiser ad, a Miller Lite ad, a Coors ad -- if they didn't have the can in it, it could be any one of the three," said Lake, the company's vice president of new business development.

Now, brewers are pitching their beer as cooler, classier and more healthful, trying to do for their beverage what Starbucks Corp. has done for coffee.

The result is that people are finally buying more beer. After idling for the last couple of years, beer sales have shown steady growth in recent months, Lake said. Craft beers and imports are driving the growth.

For the 12 months that ended April 22, national beer sales totaled $4.07 billion, up about 1.4% from a year earlier, according to ACNielsen.

Most of the increase was attributed to double-digit percentage sales increases for imported brands and so-called craft brews. In all, 231 million cases were sold at food, drug and convenience stores combined, up 1% from a year earlier.

The fruity malt drinks, organic pale ale, lager and other new beer products that are driving the increase in sales are on display this week in Chicago at the Food Marketing Institute Show, the supermarket industry's annual trade show.

Beer is still the drink of choice for at least half the people who drink alcohol in the United States, but wine and spirits have been enticing drinkers in ever-growing numbers.

A Gallup survey last year found that wine was the drink of choice for as many Americans as was beer.

The wine industry has jockeyed for attention with cute critters on the label, easy-open screw caps and cans and party-friendly boxes.

Basically, wine seemed to have become more fun. So beer companies started thinking about how to do more with their brews. And, in some instances, they joined forces.

"We can all compete, but then we can all be friends when it comes to beer versus a cosmo or a merlot," said Bill Laufer, a spokesman for Anheuser-Busch Cos.