Food is a beer's best friend

ST. LOUIS The future of beer is food. Increasingly, the evolution of beer will be tied to food both for younger and older consumers according to the presenters at beer Anheuser-Busch's Retail Trade media symposium.

For younger consumers, preference for beer will follow lifestyle trends including fashions in food flavor and cuisine. For younger and older consumers, food and beer pairings have become increasingly popular in foodservice and that's begun to spill over as a social activity. Particularly for older consumers who like to entertain at home food and beer pairings are ideal as the basis for social occasions that indulgent in moderate fun.

A-B is bolstering the association of food and beer at retail with a new merchandising program that simplifies promotional signage and creates less intrusive satellite fixtures so that beer can be closely cross promoted with food. In a way, A-B is taking a cue from wine by making it easier for retailers to associate beer with food in the manner they have been successfully doing with the grape. The result should be incremental sales as beer drinkers are encouraged to think of brew as a common a companion to food, just as wine has become for a new generation of American vinophiles, said Dan Hoffmann, vp of corporate identity.