Budweiser handout

Budweiser cans will get "a little bit of a waistline," said Pat McGauley, the vice president of innovation at Anheuser-Busch.

Budweiser is about to get a makeover by cinching its waist and adding some heft to its cans.

Anheuser-Busch on May 6 will add a new shape to its lineup, selling its primary Budweiser beer in cans with twice the aluminum and a 10-degree indentation meant to evoke the brand’s traditional red bowtie graphic.

The cans will get “a little bit of a waistline,” Pat McGauley, the vice president of innovation at Anheuser-Busch told NBC News.

The taste of the beer will stay the same, and the traditional-shapes and sizes of the other cans are not going away. “We’re not getting rid of anything,” McGauley said.

The new cans are meant to appeal to new Budweiser drinkers. “Trend seekers are always looking for something new and they are often younger, the Millennials,” he said.

The company’s test marketing indicated it will appeal to both men and women. The cans will be more rigid and harder to crush.

The bowtie cans will be manufactured on a one-of-a-kind machine in Newbergh, N.Y., designed by Belvac Production Machinery, Inc. The empty cans will be transported to Los Angeles and Williamsburg, Va., to be filled with beer.

Sold in eight-packs, individual cans will hold 11.3 ounces of beer, amounting to about 137 calories.
 
Although this is the first time Anheuser-Busch has changed the shape of its cans, it has rolled out other sizes and packaging in recent years.

Two years ago the company started making 8 ounce cans, which have proved popular, McGauley said. In the past year it has also partnered with the NFL to introduce team-specific packaging. The next change on tap will come this summer as the West Coast will get 25- ounce cans, adding an extra-ounce option to Budweiser’s single-serve offerings.

Related: The next big thing? New beer can goes topless

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Stocking a fridge for a game-day party is all about quantity -- but it should still taste good.

By Kara Reinhardt, Cheapism.com

Some days call for a full-bodied, full-flavored beer enjoyed in long, slow sips. Super Bowl Sunday is not one of those days. Stocking a fridge for a game-day party is more about quantity than quality. Yet, you want to serve something worthy of a celebration and sufficient to dull the sting of a loss. That’s why Cheapism took on a task some might find enviable: sampling 19 brews, from low-calorie light beer to good, old American lager to so-called craft beer. The contenders were presented in that order, so more assertive flavors wouldn’t drown out subtle ones. Most of the beers were cheap (exact prices vary by location) and all were domestically produced and nationally distributed.

A panel of 13 beer fans surprised even themselves with their conclusions in the blind taste test. Here are their favorites:

• Miller Lite ($7.99 for a six-pack of 16-ounce cans) emerged victorious in the lackluster light-beer division, where the entrants were judged flat, watery and flavorless overall. This brand stood out for tasting at least vaguely of hops. It’s a decent choice for anyone trying to limit their calorie intake.
• Pabst Blue Ribbon ($4.79 for a six-pack of 16-ounce cans) beat out eight competitors -- many of them bigger names and bigger sellers -- to take the top spot among American lagers. Panelists considered this beer highly drinkable and enjoyed the mild, balanced flavor.
• Natural Ice ($16.49 for a 30-pack of 12-ounce cans) was one of the cheapest beers in the bunch, at less than a nickel an ounce. Not one panelist had ever considered buying this brand and many were stunned to find they had declared it a favorite. Aficionados who have reviewed the beer online suggest that the light body and 5.9 percent alcohol by volume might hold more appeal than the taste, providing a quick, cost-effective route to a nice buzz.
• Kirkland Signature IPA ($18.99 for a case of 24 12-ounce bottles) comes in a sampler from Costco, along with three other “handcrafted” beers. It triumphed over its compatriots, as well as a couple of brews with higher prices and more craft-beer cred, to take the top spot in that category. Like any India pale ale, this store-brand IPA put off some drinkers with its hoppy bitterness. Advocates appreciated the relatively complex, balanced flavor, which included notes of citrus.
• Kirkland Signature German-Style Lager (see above) comes from the same Costco variety pack, which lets party guests choose their preferred style of beer. This one caters to drinkers who enjoy a bready and slightly sweet malt flavor. The tasting panel described it as smooth and rich.

A couple that missed the cut:

• Miller High Life ($13.99 for 24 12-ounce bottles) was judged boring at best and resembling a certain other golden liquid at worst.
• Rolling Rock ($4.99 for a six-pack of 12-ounce bottles) displays a light, crisp sweetness ruined by an aftertaste one panelist compared to eraser shavings.

More from Cheapism:

• Cheap beer
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Many bars have seen slower traffic since the recession reduced manufacturing jobs in places such as Milwaukee, Wis., according to industry analysts.

MILWAUKEE — A tattooed man with a goatee shakes five dice in a black cup, slams it down on the bar and watches as they come to rest among half-full beer bottles and empty shot glasses.

"Nothin," he says in disgust as he quickly slaps down a $20 bill to buy another round of drinks, in a U.S. ritual of beer drinking after work that is undergoing a gradual decline.

"I used to get the third-shift Allen Bradley guys in the morning, but they have cut and cut jobs," said Terry Zadra, owner of the 177-year-old Zad's Roadhouse on the south side of Milwaukee.

The bar is just blocks from an industrial plant owned by Rockwell Automation, which bought Allen Bradley, a factory equipment company, in 1985.

One result of the 2008-2009 recession that reduced manufacturing jobs in places such as Milwaukee has been slower traffic at some bars, and sluggish beer sales nationwide over the past four years, according to industry analysts.

"Contrary to the myth that people go out and drown their sorrows, the truth is that beer drinkers are pretty responsible people and when they have to cut back, they're cutting back on their pleasures," said Chris Thorne, vice president of communications at the Beer Institute, a Washington-based trade group.

According to the institute, beer drinkers last year in the United States drank 203.4 million barrels, about 5 percent less than in 2008.

More concern about healthy living, stiffer drunk-driving laws and measures that ban smoking in places such as taverns have hit beer sales during the last couple of decades in Milwaukee and throughout the country.

"There has been a definite shift from the on-premise to the off-premise consumption," said Pete Madland, executive director of the Tavern League of Wisconsin. "The smoker, for instance, is going to the liquor store, buying a 12-pack of beer and going home."

Over the past few decades, it has become much less acceptable in the business community to have a drink during lunch or tip a few after work with colleagues.

"Society looks at that person that has a glass of beer with his burger like he has a drinking problem," Madland said.

A glimmer of hope for the industry is the high-end craft beer segment, which has seen sales increase by 14 percent during the first half of 2012 compared with the same period last year, according to the Beer Institute.

These regional and local brews are more expensive and tend to be more recession-proof than mass-consumption brands like Miller Lite and Bud Light.

"Those occupations that weathered the storm of the Great Recession and then a very weak recovery ... they were always able to afford a high-end beer," Thorne said. "We would still like to see that American pilsner part of the brewing market get back its share."

Despite the cultural and economic pressures, beer remains synonymous with Milwaukee, where brewers such as Fred Miller, Joseph Schlitz, Val Blatz and Frederick Pabst built their empires more than a century ago.

Even after heavy manufacturing of farm equipment, marine diesels and cranes became the dominant force in Milwaukee's economy, MillerCoors remains an institution, brewing about 10 million barrels of beer each year on the city's west side.

The love affair the city has for beer remains strong, evident in its Major League baseball team — the Milwaukee Brewers — paying homage to the city's beer makers while playing in Miller Park, sponsored by MillerCoors.

While beer consumption nationwide may be down, in Wisconsin it has increased a bit. In the first eight months of 2012, about 2 percent more beer was sold than the same period of 2011, the state revenue department said.

Milwaukee also remains a blue-collar town with a fair number of neighborhood taverns such as Zad's Roadhouse still serving a shot and a beer to the working class from early morning until late into the night, according to Milwaukee historian John Gurda.

"The scene is far from gone. I'm talking about saloons and bars being the communal living rooms of Milwaukee, and in many neighborhoods, that's still very much the case," Gurda said.

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If you’re drunk and at work reading this, there is the increasing likelihood you’re not the only one.

OK, that’s wildly overstating the case, but Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported recently that at least in Silicon Valley, the at-work adult beverage is on the comeback. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone who worked there during the dot-com boom of the early aughts.

At Yelp’s San Francisco headquarters, there’s a standing keg (as opposed to a keg stand) that lets employees drink as much as they want. Well, after they swipe their badge so the bosses can track how much they’re imbibing (killjoys!). Great pic of the tap and app with the story.

There is the predictable hand-wringing about this. Worries about company liability and productivity. And the predictable counter-arguments about letting adults be adults. Do you think a beer or two at your workplace would be a bad thing? Airline pilots, we don’t want to hear from you.