Rivalry to heat up in light, high end. The creation of MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch InBev is going to make the U.S. beer business more competitive than it is already. Two big competitive battles will be in the light beer aisle and in the high end. The latest issue of Brew magazine takes a look at how competition will shape up in the new beer business. To receive a subscription, please drop a line with your name and street mailing address here . Heres how things shape up in light beer: One of the biggest battles in the transformed U.S. beer business will be in the light beer aisle, as Miller Lite and Coors Light go up against the biggest beer brand in the world, Bud Light. Its going to be a hard-fought contest. Bud Light is far bigger than Miller Lite and Coors Light combined, according to beer shipment figures from Beer Marketers Insights. Bud Light moved 42 million barrels in 2007. Miller Lite and Coors Light combined for 35.8 million barrels. However, over the past five years, Miller Lite and Coors Light combined have added almost as much incremental volume as Bud Light, according to BMI. Bud Light grew by 3.9 million barrels during that period, BMI reports. Miller Lite and Coors Light grew by nearly 3.6 million barrels. A big question from pundits is whether MillerCoors can manage Miller Lite and Coors Light so they both grow and dont blur together. MillerCoors executives say the key is emphasizing the brands separate positions. Their distinct positions Rocky Mountain cold refreshment and preferred taste are two of the drivers of beer choice, Tom Long, president and chief commercial officer of MillerCoors, said at a New York launch ceremony for MillerCoors. And weve got the No. 1 brands in both of those driver sets. Competition will be just as fierce at the high end. From the latest Brew: The high end of the beer business continues to grow even as the economy slows down. And MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch InBev will be fighting to get their share. A-Bs biggest play in the high end is with InBevs European portfolio, which includes Stella Artois. A-B also has a strong presence in craft, with a stake in Craft Brewers Alliance (the recent union of Widmer Brothers Brewing Company and Redhook Ale Brewery) and a distribution deal with Goose Island Beer Company. Its also creating its own craft styles, through the ever-expanding Michelob lineup and brands such as Shock Top. But MillerCoors also has a strong hand. In craft, MillerCoors has industry phenomenon Blue Moon, along with its seasonal varieties. It also has the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company and in a sign of Leinies importance, president Jake Leinenkugel reports directly to MillerCoors CEO Leo Kiely. MillerCoors also has a portfolio of imports including Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Molson Canadian, Pilsner Urquell, Groslch, Tyskie and a variety of South American brands that are sharply differentiated. Peroni has been growing at a pace rivaling that of Stella Artois. This lineup is a collection that is about to explode, MillerCoors chief marketing officer Andy England said in a recent employee meeting. Read the whole issue here .  read more »

A couple of weeks ago my brother-in-law Dan Pikarsky showed me an amusing little application on his iPhone. Basically it was a cyber beer. When you activate the feature, the phone's screen appears to be a full glass of beer. Tip the phone toward your lips and it appears you are drinking the brew.

Created by Steve Sheraton, this bit of web fun can be downloaded -- at $2.99 a pop. That's around the cost of a real glass of mainstream domestic suds in many taverns. Now the software developer wants real beer maker Molson Coors to cough up $12.5 million. Sheraton alleges that's the tab for lost sales caused by iPint, a promotion the brewer launched for Carling Lager in the United Kingdom.

Sheraton is alleging that iPint has committed copyright infringement. He says Molson Coors use of the virtual beer to advertise Carling is hurting sales of the original iBeer. He points to sales trends that show a decline in iBeer business since iPint has been available for free to anyone willing to view a Carling commercial on the Internet. The suit alleges iPint has been downloaded 6 million times.  read more »

...or is it a beer free market?  read more »

- Molson Coors Brewing Co. (TSX:TAP) plans to eliminate up to 390 jobs in Canada, the United States and other parts of the world and outsource their duties to Hewlett-Packard Co.

The Canadian-American beer maker says the cuts will be divided about evenly among the company's three operating divisions: Coors Brewing Co. in Golden, Colo., Coors Brewers Ltd. in England and Molson Inc. in Toronto.

The cuts will be in human resources, information technology and finance.  read more »

A-B declines comment. The Wall Street Journal on Friday reported that the long-rumored combination of InBev and Anheuser-Busch is once again on the table. From the story: InBev and Anheuser already have held discussions, say people in the industry familiar with both brewers' thinking. Although reports of the talks surfaced as long as a year ago, they have become more serious, and a deal is possible this year, people in the industry say. The report came on the heels of A-B reporting fourth quarter earnings that missed Wall Street estimates. Equity income from A-Bs stake in Grupo Modelo, which long has buoyed A-Bs profits, declined during the quarter. Meanwhile, A-Bs increase in shipments and sales to retailers were driven primarily by its import portfolio the biggest part of which is the InBev European brand portfolio. Analysts say a combination between A-B and InBev makes sense. From a Bloomberg report: A merger of the two biggest beermakers by sales would make sense because they dominate different parts of the world, analysts say. It also would help them to stay in the lead as SABMiller Plc and Molson Coors Brewing Co. combine their U.S. units to compete more effectively in the country and Carlsberg A/S steps up its growth by taking over Scottish & Newcastle Plc with Heineken NV. From a strategic and geographical point of view, it would be a good move, Wim Hoste, an analyst at KBC Securities in Brussels, said by telephone. They have hardly any geographical overlaps, and merger news might be contagious. A-B has declined to comment. Beer Business Daily weighed in with this take: They may be talking, but A-B is going to drag its feet as long as possible and see if they can get their core brands growing again in 2008. Just a little growth in core brands creates a lot of profit, and the stock price goes up. Wall Street chatter like this always heats up with A-B's stock price takes a bath like it has the past few weeks and the dollar is so cheap, making it vulnerable. Let's wait and see. The Wall Street Journal story (subscription required) can be seen here . The Bloomberg story can be seen here . The Beer Business Daily home page is here .  read more »

Board members named. SABMiller plc and Molson Coors Brewing Company today announced the closing of the transaction to create MillerCoors.MillerCoors, which combines their U.S. and Puerto Rico operations, begins operating as a combined entity on July 1.As a unified company with a world-class board and leadership team in place, MillerCoors will be able to create tremendous opportunities for innovations in products and services that will allow us to drive profitable growth, Pete Coors, Chairman of MillerCoors, said in a release announcing the closing.  read more »

Substantial operations, investment in hometowns.MillerCoors announced today that it is placing its headquarters in Chicago even as it maintains substantial operations in Golden, Colo., and Milwaukee.MillerCoors picked Chicago for a variety of reasons. One of them: Picking a neutral site reflects the 50-50 governance structure agreed to by SABMiller plc and Molson Coors Brewing Company.  read more »

It's a funny thing about beer and Canada. Canadians have this relationship to beer that is based entirely around the idea - largely erroneous - that our beer is better. So much so that it becomes a principle of our national existence as this article reminds us:  read more »

Brew Blog's picks of stories from the beer business and beyond. Heres coverage of Molson Coors Brewing Companys first-quarter earnings from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg . Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse weigh in as well. Anheuser-Busch's Ascent 54 -- a beer now marketed only in Colorado -- goes national this fall as Michelob Dunkel Weisse , reports the Rocky Mountain News. Beer Business Daily (subscription required), remarking on Coors success with packaging innovation, says: Here's a prediction: A-B is fast-tracking some package innovations of its own. Should be interesting to watch whether that develops. The Greensboro (N.C.) News and Record has an interesting story about craft beer dinners hosted by Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem.  read more »

Some corporations donate dollars and others donate services. Molson Coors is donating fuel made mostly out of beer waste to the Democratic National Convention.