7-23 IAN Beemers not Bud

  Can you tie a Mercedes or a BMW to the type of beer that someone drinks? Stated differently, what are they drinking down in the trailerhood,  as Toby Keith might phrase the question.

 In a recent discussion with Kelly Olsen of the Idaho Barley Commission, I tried to get a grip on the socioeconomic statistics associated with beer choices knowing that there is a lot of malt barley grown in Idaho. More craft beers are sold on premise meaning in restaurants and bars whereas more of the lager beers are sold at convenience stores. So when they are stopping to fill up the tank, they are buying their beer and maybe a lottery ticket. The market is not just monolithic. You can break it down into many segments. But to say that only upwardly mobile people drink craft beers is probably not correct. It is just that they tend to gravitate towards those beers. They have more choice and stronger purchasing power. They exploit that opportunity but that is not to say that many of those upwardly mobile people aren’t drinking Bud Light as well because they are. But they do have more resources in order to make those beer selections.”