Photo Illustration by Damon Lee/DN
Lincoln beer drinkers aren’t following national trends. Although ice beers are popular
throughout the country, they aredecreasingly in demand locally, some Lincoln bartenders
said they thought the special brew was just a fad.
Ice beer craze thaws out in Lincoln
By Charles Isom
Staff Reporter
Ice beer is a hot item in the United
States right now, but local interest in
the brews seems to have cooled down,
according to some Lincoln bars and
liquor stores.
Ice beer is specially made by frcc/.
ing during the brewing process so
that ice crystals form. These crystals
can be left in the beverage or re
moved, causing the beer to taste dif
ferent and have different alcohol con
tent.
Ice beers were introduced in this
country from Canada almost a year
ago and have continued to grow in
national popularity ever since, said
Sandy Carson of Stroh’s Brewery in
Detroit.
The fact that there arc over 40
different brands available from al
most all the major distributors seems
to prove its popularity. Everything
from regular ice beers to malt ice
beverages to light ice beer has been
introduced.
These beers make up a good share
of the total beer shipped, 5.8 percent
nationally according to Nielsen fig
ures. This is the highest mark these
beers have held, and they show no
sign of slowing down, Carson said.
However, for some reason, sales
in the Omaha/Lincoln area have
been on the decline since April.
According to Nielsen figures pro
vided by Stroh’s, ice products hit
their peak in the Omaha/Lincoln
area in April at 5.3 percent. Since
then they have dropped dramatically
to their lowest point of 3.4 percent in
July before starting a slow growth to
the current 3.6 percent.
Carson said she didn’t under
stand the decline in the Midwest.
“I don’t know why they aren’t
selling well in some areas. It could be
the combination of distribution, me
dia exposure and which beers are
currently selling strong. Or it could
be any one of those alone," she said.
Tommy Mausbach, manager of
the Brass Rail Bar, 1406 O St., said
that he, too, wasn’t sure why the ice
brands don’t sell very well.
“Forcxamplewe’llorder 12 cases
of Miller Lite as opposed to two cases
of Miller Ice. The only ice beer that
seems to be holding its own is Ice
house,” he said. “I don’t see this (ice
beers) as being a continuous thing.”
Marcia Levering, bartcndcr/man
ager of Iguana’s, 14260 St., echoed
Mausbach’s statements.
“There was a big deal made when
these beers were introduced. We sold
a lot at the beginning, especially Bud
Ice. Then everything died off real
fast,” she said. “It’s probably just a
fad.”
It’s not just bars that have noticed
the lack of sales for the ice varieties.
The liquor stores around town have
also noticed the lack of mass sales
prom used by the breweries. Local
liquor stores have had poor sales for
the most part.
“The ice brands are not very pop
ular at ai I. Out of everything we stock
they probably make up lens than 1
Ecrccnt, if that. They sold hot at first,
ut then died,” said Daryl Bahm,
ownerof Herm’s Liquor, 1644 P. St.
“New items generally sell good
for awhile but then the newness wears
off and sales start to slack. It’s the
same thing as Miller Dry or wine
coolers,” he said.
Jim Mumgaurd, co-owner of
Mum’s Liquor, 841 N. 27th St., had
a more positive outlook dcspitccxpc
riencing similar poor results.
He said that when the ice products
first came out they d id wcl 1. especial
ly Bud Ice. But they lost some of their
popularity during the summer. He
said he was looking for sales to in
crease now that the students are com
ing back.
“I’ll wail and see before I start
calling this a trend. Sometimes it just
takes a little longer for stuff to get
going.”
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