Pour one out for 2008's best beer trends

The year saw billions in fortunes vanish, hope get all audacious on us, the well-manicured hands of bankers filled with no-questions-asked cash, home values drop somewhere below Dennis Kucinich's chin, and the phrase "You betcha" lock up first-ballot induction into the Annoying Catchphrase Hall of Fame.

Yes, 2008 was a stomach-churning roller coaster of a year, with gas prices going up and down faster than the Bucs could go from 9-3 to blech. If you didn't need a beer in the last year, you must have died in 2007.

As difficult as it can be to look back, there were some interesting stories in the world of beer in 2008. And so with hope for a better 2009, we look back at some of the notable stories in beer.

InBev buys Budweiser

Nothing presaged the slipping financial status of the United States quite like Belgian-run InBev gobbling up American icon Budweiser via its acquisition of Anhesuer-Busch. In 2008 the brewer of "the great American lager" become foreign-owned, joining Miller and Coors and leaving Yuengling, Boston Beer Company (makers of Samuel Adams) and the Pabst Brewing Company to duke it out for the title of largest American-owned brewery.

To settle the debate (at least in my mind), it's Yuengling, which has a brewery right here in Tampa in addition to the original brewery in Pottsville, Pa. Pabst doesn't own a brewery and contracts out the brewing of its brands. While Boston Beer Company does own breweries, they contract out much of their brewing to meet demand.

The popularity of craft beer continues to grow

Despite the economic downturn the first half of 2008 saw dollars sales in the craft beer category grow by 11 percent following over a decade of similar growth. Total volume grew by 6.5 percent while other beer segments saw negative growth or negligible growth.

The hops shortage

There was no shortage of panic and fear mongering in the brewing industry in 2008, but the flowering hop vine that gives aroma, flavor and bitterness to beer was in short supply. The hop shortage, while real, was also subject to a great deal of panic-driven buying which only further increased fears that hops would dry up and leave brewers without one of the essential ingredients of beer. After years of cheap hop prices, many hop growers were forced out of the business while other growers concentrated on varietals with high alpha-acid contents that yield more cash per acre. This lead to a reduction in supply caused the price of many hops to skyrocket and lead to some hop varieties being unavailable at any price. Fortunately the forecast for hops in the coming years looks a little better and brewers seem to be able to procure most of the varieties necessary to brew their wares.

Pabst Blue Ribbon continues its reign as the worst beer to be embraced ironically by folks who should know better

PBR, a beer with as much soul, flavor and depth as a Milli Vanilli reunion tour, continued to be slurped, slammed and suckled in 2008 by Castro-cap wearing "artistic" types whose taste in music is infinitely better than their taste in beer. In the pantheon of cheap American beers, PBR ranks somewhere below prison-brewed hooch.

If you want to drink a beer your grandpa has heard of and save a few bucks, look to Iron City, Miller High Life or even Schlitz. All are far better examples of the brewer's art than PBR.

Heck, even Budweiser is better, and you can't get any more nostalgic than Budweiser. In fact I remember when Budweiser was an American beer!

— Joey Redner is a Tampa resident and world beer traveler.