The New Lakeville Liquor Store Is Glorious

New Lakeville LiquorWell, the new Lakeville Liquor store on Glaxie and Country Rd 46 looks glorious on the outside anyway. I haven’t actually been in the store yet. The opening announcement promises 150 new beer packages, which I’ll be sure to check out this week.  If you’re in the area, print out and bring this Lakeville Liquor Coupon to the new store between now and October 16.

October 8, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Southern Suburbs | Leave a Comment 

New Predictions Of Higher Craft Beer Prices

This summer there was a flurry of stories predicting the increase of beer prices. Now there’s another wave of stories predicting the same, but this time the focus is mostly on the craft beer market.

Locally, the Pioneer Press ran a story on the rising prices, which they attributed to poor crop conditions worldwide, a weak US dollar, and ethanol. Summit founder Mark Stutrud was interviewed for the story:

At St. Paul-based Summit Brewing Co., the costs of malt (made from barley) and hops were by far the steepest among production costs for the company, rising over 5 percent this year alone, according to Summit founder Mark Stutrud.

Last January, Summit increased prices around 1.5 percent and is considering another increase next year. But Stutrud said the brewery also is considering moves to lower its energy costs and make its packaging more efficient.

Craft beers are being hit especially hard because of their reliance on hops for flavor. Beers like Bud and Miller shouldn’t feel the same cost pressure. What makes this interesting is that unlike the rest of the beer market, the craft beer segment has experienced strong growth this year. Will the increase in price slow that growth? If you’re a craft beer drinker, at what point would the cost of your micro-brew make you switch to an MGD?

Here are a few more stories from the Web covering this issue:

That six pack of high-brow beer is about to come at a higher price, thanks to the sharpest surge in decades in the cost of the hops and barley that give each brew its distinctive taste.

What happens when you use about twice the malt and as many as five times the hops of a mass-market brew, like Budweiser or Miller High Life and commodity prices go up?

Russ Klisch is the president of Lake Front Brewery in Milwaukee. He calls this a “perfect storm” of troubles for malt and hop industry.

“The problems have sent the price of malt up 25 percent and the price of hops has almost tripled,” says Klisch.

Doug Odell, co-founder of Fort Collins-based Odell Brewing, said he’s experienced malt increases of 40 percent to 70 percent, depending on the variety and the supplier. He said a fellow craft brewer calculated that it would take an additional 50 cents a six-pack to offset the increase, raising the average price to $7.99.

Odell hasn’t raised prices because other competitors don’t seem to have yet, either.

“If you’re the only one whose prices are going up, well, that’s not a very good position to be in,” he said.


October 6, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Craft/Speciality, Domestic | Leave a Comment 

Anoka’s Better Values Liquor October Specials

Here are the October beer specials from Better Values Liquor in Anoka:

BETTER VALUES LIQUOR
Beer Qty Price
Micelob Golden Draft Regular & Light 12 Pack Bottles $8.88
Keystone Light 24 Pack Cans $10.99
Summit - All Crafts 12 Pack Bottles $10.99
Miller Lite, MGD, and MGD Light 24 Pack Bottles $16.88

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October 6, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Northern Suburbs | 2 Comments 

Top 10 Beers With Balls

InventorSpot.com has released their annual “Top 10 Best Beers With Balls” list. Here’s the list. Check out their site for a description of each beer.

  1. Utopia - The Extremist’s Beer
  2. Kelpie - The Salty Dog’s Beer
  3. Smoked Porter - The Hunter’s Beer
  4. BILK - The Weird Guy’s Beer
  5. Westvleteren 12 - The Monk’s Beer
  6. Samichlaus - The Christmas Lush’s Beer
  7. EKU 28 - The German’s Beer
  8. La Terrible - The Purist’s Beer
  9. Mamma-Mia Pizza Beer- The Foodie’s Beer
  10. Midas Touch Golden Elixir- The King’s Beer
October 5, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Craft/Speciality | Leave a Comment 

October Specials At Lakeville Liquors

Here are the current specials from Lakeville Liquors:

LAKEVILLE LIQUOR
Beer Qty Price
Miller Lite, MGD, and MGD Light 18 Pack Bottles $12.99
Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light 24 Pack Cans $14.99
Corona and Corona Light 12 Pack Bottles $12.49
Modelo Especial and Negra 12 Pack Bottles $12.49

If you find yourself in or around Apple Valley or Lakeville, be sure to check out Lakeville Liquor’s new location on Galaxie and County Road 46. The store opens October 8.

October 4, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Southern Suburbs | Leave a Comment 

Miller Shares Lessons Learned On Chill Launch

The saga of Miller Chill continues. In a speech to the National Beer Wholesalers Association, Miller’s CEO Tom Long outlined 6 lessons the brewer learned from the successful launch of Chill this summer. There’s no doubt that these lessons will be applied to future beer launches:

Lesson #1. Big, simple ideas rule. Miller Chill was launched to capitalize on the trends of premiumization, the growth of light beer and Latinization. And it had a simple clear positioning: “A new twist on refreshment.”

Lesson #2. Old strengthens new, and new strengthens old. Putting the Miller name on Chill communicated quality and light beer credentials to consumers. And Chill has had a halo effect on Miller Lite sales, Long said.

Lesson #3. New turf can and must be staked. Miller Chill’s refreshment proposition enables it to “play offense” against wine and spirits by attracting new consumers – including women – to beer. Therefore, Miller doesn’t plan to “dial down” attributes that make it appeal to women or an attractive summer time drink.

Instead, Miller plans to stake out that turf and “then build from those established strengths,” he said. “Our strategy is not to minimize those distinctive, winning characteristics because we want it to look and perform exactly like every beer out there.”

He added: “By the way, my understanding is that in the early days, there used to be the same seasonality concern about Corona. But you don’t hear much about that any more… because they’ve done a great job over the years of making sure their positioning translates across seasons, occasions and consumer groups.”

Lesson #4. The support must be as unique as the brand. While Miller Chill, out for seven months, has relatively low awareness, it has high rates of trial and adoption by people who are aware of it. So Miller is focusing on driving awareness.

“If we can optimally manage our marketing support of Chill, then we really are just scratching the surface of what’s possible with the brand,” he said.

Lesson #5. Speed energizes. Long recounted the nervousness he and other Miller executives felt upon making the high-stakes decision to accelerate the national roll out of Miller Chill. But once the decision was made, leadership felt energized – and that sentiment spread throughout the system, he said.

Said Long: “Speed is critical for us at Miller, and I believe that speed will become increasingly important to our entire industry… as the competitive game with wine and spirits will increasingly go to the swift.”

Lesson #6. The learning can never stop. While Miller Chill’s launch has been successful, Miller is keenly aware that it’s still early in the game. “We have huge conviction that it has great potential to be a game-changer,” said Long, “but we also know the brand will encounter many crossroads as it develops… and that we will need to be wise stewards as we make those decisions.”

October 3, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Craft/Speciality, Domestic | 1 Comment 

Richfield Liquor’s Beer Of The Month - October

St. Pauli GirlRichfield Liquor’s “Beer Of The Month” for October is St. Pauli Girl.  You can pick up a 12 pack of bottles for $9.98. 


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October 2, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Craft/Speciality, Minneapolis | Leave a Comment 

St. Anthony Village Wine And Spirits October Specials And Coupons

October beer specials from Saint Anthony Village Liquor:

SAINT ANTHONY VILLAGE LIQUOR
Beer Qty Price
Mothership Wit 12 Pack Bottles $32.99
1554 Enlightened Black Ale 12 Pack Bottles $32.99
Fat Tire 12 Pack Bottles $32.99
Coors & Coors Light 24 Pack Cans $15.99
Labatt Blue & Blue Light 24 Pack Cans $15.99
Grain Belt Premium & Premium Light 24 Pack Bottles $14.99
Miller Genuine Draft, Draft Light & Lite 18 Pack Bottles $12.49
Stella Artoist 12 Pack Bottles $12.49
Dos Equis (all types) 12 Pack Bottles $12.49
Stella Artois 12 Pack Bottles $12.49
Guinness Draught 12 Pack Bottles $11.99
Heineken & Amstel Light 12 Pack Bottles $11.99
Blue Moon 12 Pack Bottles $11.99
St. Pauli Girl 12 Pack Bottles $10.99
Summit (all types) 12 Pack Bottles $10.99
Beck’s (all types) 12 Pack Bottles $10.99
Sam Adams (all types) 12 Pack Bottles $10.99
Schell’s (all types) 12 Pack Bottles $10.99
Session Lager 12 Pack Bottles $9.99


For more deals from St. Anthony Village Wine And Spirits, check out their online coupons.


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October 1, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Minneapolis, Northern Suburbs | Leave a Comment 

Eden Prairie Liquor’s Beer Of The Month - October

Eden Prairie Liquor is featuring Michelob as their Beer Of The Month for October. All varieties (Michelob, Michelob Light, Amber Bock, Michelob Ultra and Ultra Amber) are $8.99 per 12 pack of bottles.

Michelob, an Anheuser Busch beer, is made passionately with only the finest ingredients. It was first introduced as a “beer for connoisseurs.” It’s an old classic with a refreshing taste that stays popular through the ages.

October 1, 2007 | Filed Under Beer, Domestic, Western Suburbs | Leave a Comment 

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