U.S. beer sales volumes fell 2.2% last year, the highest rate since the 1950s, with demand worsening late in the year in a sign of the pressures on big brewers to make their mergers pay off.

The decline, the industry's first since 2003, raises demands for industry leaders Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and MillerCoors LLC to come up with better advertising and to rethink recent price increases, said retailers and analysts.

But they must tread carefully, balancing price moves against a need to drive profits in the wake of the mergers that created the two.

The two giants increased prices by about 5% last year, fresh off InBev NV's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch Cos. and the move by SABMiller PLC and Molson Coors Brewing Co. to combine U.S. operations.  Read more...

A 6-liter bottle of Chateau Lafite 1982 fetched HK$363,000 ($46,700), nearly twice its presale high estimate, at a sold-out wine auction in Hong Kong as the quest for rarity and inflation concerns drove prices higher.

The 10-hour sale yesterday of more than 800 lots tallied HK$52.9 million, beating host Sotheby’s own forecast of HK$40 million. Bidders at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel drank glasses of Louis Roederer Blanc de Blanc 2003 and Haut Brion 1998 as they competed with online bidders for choice items, such as twin 1.5- liter bottles of Chateau Petrus 1982 that fetched HK$435,600, against the lot’s top estimate of HK$130,000. Estimates don’t include commission.

As economies such as China show signs of inflation while the government increases spending to sustain growth... Read more...

Adam Leemon - Adam the Wine Guy http://www.adamthewineguy.com/

Scott Goldman - Combier Liqueur D'orange http://www.combierusa.com/

Jeff Mathy and Karl Lehmann - Vellum Wine Craft, Napa, CA
http://www.vellumwines.com/

Derek Buono - Beer Magazine http://www.thebeermag.com/

Aaron Barkenhagen - Bootlegger's Brewery, Fullerton, CA http://www.bootleggersbrewery.com/

Jonathan Mitchell - The Palm Restaurant, West Hollywood, CA
http://www.thepalm.com/

Not since the millennium folly in 1999 have I seen so much frenzy in the wine market.

Back then, with stock markets booming, auction houses setting records for wines and Champagne producers warning there wouldn't be enough fizz for the celebration, producers were enthusiastic and bottles were getting pricier by the month.

What a difference a decade makes. With high unemployment, pared-down expense accounts and a glut of wine, it's the consumer's turn to make merry, with lower prices, more choice and less pretension. Those 99-point ratings don't seem quite so requisite any more to buying good wine. Read more...

Believe it or not, there are some thirsty souls in this world who take in the strings of colored lights, the dangling snowflakes and overdressed fir trees and do not think of Christmas morning. They hear the strains of "Good King Wenceslas" or "The Wassail Song" and are not filled with good cheer.

Instead, they are overcome by Pavlovian symptoms -- dilated pupils, wetted lips, excessive Homer-like salivation. They gather snack bowls. They frost steins. They stand in the kitchen gazing expectantly at refrigerators, fondling bottle openers with a discreet lasciviousness.

Read more...

Encore...

'08 The Holiday Roundtable

David Breitstein - The Duke of Bourbon, Canoga Park, CA http://dukeofbourbon.com/

Adam Leemon - Adam the Wine Guy http://www.adamthewineguy.com/

Susan Canon - Jaffe Estate http://www.jaffeestate.com/
(tasted: 2006 Jaffee Estate Transformation, 2006 Jaffee Estate Metamorphosis)

Brian Thompson - Krupp Brothers Estates http://www.kruppbrothersestates.com/ & Stagecoach Vineyards http://www.stagecoachvineyard.com/
(tasted: 2006 Black Bart Syrah, 2005 Veraison Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 The Advocate)

Herbie Monterrosa - Henry Wine Group http://www.henrywinegroup.com/
(tasted: 2005 Termes, 2003 Torre Muga, 2005 Niades, and the NV Cava Juve y Camp)

Barrie Lynn - The Cheese Impresario http://www.thecheeseimpresario.com/

Dan Dunn - The Imbiber (Author: Nobody Likes a Quitter and other reasons to avoid rehab: The Loaded Life of an Outlaw Booze Writer) http://www.theimbiber.net/
(tasted: Nicolas Feullatte Palmes d'Or and Henriot Champagne)

Natalie Bovis-Nelsen - The Liquid Muse (Author: Preggatinis) http://www.theliquidmuse.com/

Derek Buono & Brad Ruppert - Beer Magazine http://www.thebeermag.com/
(tasted: Stone Brewing Company, Double Bastard Ale and Special Holiday Ale 2008)

Michael Lington - Michael Lington Cigars (New album: Heat) http://www.michaellingtoncigars.com/ & http://www.michaellington.com/

WARNING: You may assume that what you are about to read is the usual dutiful holiday roundup of Champagnes and sparkling wines. But you would be wrong. Ignore this at your own peril.

Hmm. Wrong tone. Too grim. Not at all the light, exuberant note I’m seeking. Let me try again.

Ah, Champagne! Ah, bubbly! Ah, the corks popping anew as we joyously stride forth into the new year!

No, even worse. What, play it straight? Well, why not? Maybe this year the news on Champagne is too good to gussy up. Read more...

Wine nerds have three priorities in life: drinking wine, talking about wine and reading about wine. So don't forget to visit the bookstore when you're hunting for wine-lover gifts this holiday season. Here are my literary picks:

-- "Been Doon So Long," by Randall Grahm (University of California Press, $35). This "vinthology" collects the scribblings of the mad man of California wine, the Dr. Gonzo of grapes, the original Rhone Ranger and President for Life of Bonny Doon Vineyard in Santa Cruz, Calif. Grahm is well versed in literature's classics and afflicted with an ability to see three sides of a coin; he does not shy away from poking fun at himself even as he lampoons the wine industry and those of us who take it so seriously.  Read more...

Derek Buono - Beer Magazine http://www.thebeermag.com/

Brian Lenzo - The Blue Palms Brew House, Los Angeles, CA http://www.bluepalmsbrewhouse.com/

(tasted: Dank Wet Dream Ale, Sweetwater Brewing http://www.sweetwaterbrew.com/; Chico Estate Harvest Ale, Sierra Nevada http://www.sierranevada.com/; High Tide Fresh Hop IPA, Port Brewing http://www.portbrewing.com)

As a gift, the standard bottle of wine just doesn’t cut it anymore. Sure, a stately red or white is a nice gesture, but let’s be honest: these days, it’s little more.

Yet, as a gift, wine has undeniable advantages. Compact and portable, it’s also fun, offering more immediate pleasure than, say, a set of drill bits. And unlike a box of chocolates, it’s fat free.

So how can you give a wine that’s imbued with intention and significance? My suggestion: old wine. When it has been cellared, a wine becomes not just what’s with dinner, but an artifact, a slender bridge to the past. Read more...