Content about Alcohol

NEW YORK — Hy-Vee's new store in Overland Park, Kan., will include a beer and wine bar, according to published reports.

The Kansas City Star reported that the company's new store would be the first in the Kansas City, Mo., area to offer such a bar and one of the few in the country to do so.

Many of Hy-Vee's newest stores throughout the Midwest already include sushi bars, cafes and other food-service venues in addition to traditional supermarket products and services.

NEW YORK — Liquor can cost $2 more at liquor stores in states where the government has a monopoly on sales than at privately owned stores, according to a new study.

Researchers at Boston University School of Public Health, the Boston Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University analyzed the prices of 74 different alcohol brands in 13 "control states" — states where the government has a monopoly on liquor sales — and at 50 private retailers in "license states." The study appeared online in the journal Addiction.

The beer category wants its mojo back. After losing share to wine, spirits and small breweries for several years, major brewers are out to win consumers back to the category with new products that are a big departure from their classic offerings.

The success of Bud Light Platinum, with its higher alcohol content and sweeter taste, has sparked a flurry of flavored malt beverages into the beer market. This year alone, Anheuser-Busch InBev is launching nearly 20 new products to the U.S. market.

NEW YORK — Some people in Washington state may be having "buyer's remorse" over the privatization of liquor sales there, which took effect last week, according to published reports.

Craft beers — particularly seasonals — have provided much-needed innovation to the beer category, providing the category with double-digit sales increases for the last several years. Craft brews’ sales were up 16.2% for the 52 weeks ended in early October 2011, according to the Brewers Association. While craft brews represent 4.9% of total beer category volume, the segments accounts for 7.6% of retail dollar volume.

Bootlegging, debauching and murdering its way through the second season, HBO’s Prohibition-themed series “Boardwalk Empire” has dramatized an era alien to its viewers but whose vestiges have remained in much of the country.


BRUSSELS — Anheuser-Busch InBev announced that it is expanding its Bud Light portfolio with what it is calling "a trendy blue-bottle line extension."

The company said that Bud Light Platinum appeals to a key group of beer drinkers and expands consumer occasions and that the introduction is part of the company's plan to accelerate growth of Bud Light in the United States.

Bud Light Platinum is expected to roll out in Jan. 2012.

CHICAGO — Phusion Projects, the maker of Four Loko flavored malt beverages, has introduced a new product that comes in a smaller can size with lower alcohol by volume.

Unlike Four Loko, which comes in 23.5-oz. cans and contains up to 12.5% alcohol by volume, Poco Loko is available in 16-oz. cans at 8% ABV, Phusion Projects said. Poco Loko, which comes in green apple, black cherry, mango and lemonade varieties, does not contain caffeine, guarana or taurine.

ST. LOUIS — Budweiser has redesigned its can and secondary packaging, which will make its debut in the U.S. market before rolling out worldwide.

The new can and secondary packaging that shows off Budweiser's iconic bowtie, complemented by the Budweiser creed and Anheuser-Busch medallion. This marks the 12th can redesign since 1936.

WOODRIDGE, Ill. — Pabst Brewing has expanded its Colt 45 brand with a fruit-flavored beverage.

Blast, a malt liquor made with real fruit juice, is available in strawberry watermelon, raspberry lemonade, blueberry pomegranate and grape flavors. The beverage comes in 23.5-oz. cans, as well as a 7-oz. bottle.

In line with the launch, Blast has tapped rapper Snoop Dogg as its brand ambassador.

LAS VEGAS — Forgiven Bottling Group launched its hangover product Forgiven, a vitamin B1 supplement the company claims helps metabolize alcohol.

“Forgiven is the first and only alcohol burner available to the consumer seeking a healthy solution to sober quickly when the night is over,” stated Chas Aday, CEO of Forgiven Bottling Group.

One packet of Forgiven will retail for a suggested $3.99, the company reported.