BOSTON BEER Co. TOUTS HIGH STANDARDS

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The Boston Beer Co. has launched a series of radio ads to defend itself from attacks by Anheuser-Busch.

"The Samuel Adams standard remains as high as ever,'' Boston Beer founder Jim Koch says in the ad. "So, fellas, don't worry. You guys at Budweiser still have that Sam Adams standard to keep reaching for.''

Koch said the new ad isn't a counterpunch to the assault from A-B, but an appeal to beer lovers. "This commercial is not intended to engage in or escalate a war with this Goliath,'' Koch said in a statement.

However, it comes just weeks after a barrage of A-B ads that ran in 14 market in the weeks around Halloween. In them, the "ghost" of Samuel Adams admonished Koch to stop tricking beer drinkers. "You don't even brew and bottle your own beer," the spirit said.

No specific A-B products were touted in the radio spots. Instead, the ads were aimed directly at what A-B calls the "deception'' of Boston Beer positioning itself as a small brewery.

Earlier, A-B ran an ad in the Boston Globe and other area newspapers that displayed a bottle of Samuel Adams next to a bottle of Michelob and asked, "Which beer is brewed and bottled in New England?''

The ad went on to point out that Samuel Adams is brewed under contract at the same breweries (outside New England) that produce cheaper brands such as Schlitz and Schaefer, yet Sam Adams is about twice as expensive for the consumer to buy.

The ad pointed out that Michelob is brewed at an A-B facility in Merrimack, N.H.

More troubles for microbrewery stocks

This has not been a good year to own microbrewery stocks, and it didn't get any better last week.

Although Boston Beer Co. registered 20 percent higher sales in the third quarter of 1996 than in 1995, the company's stock plunged to its lowest price since going public a year ago. Many other microbrewery stocks were caught in the downdraft. And when the week ended, Barron's financial weekly carried a story headlined: "Brewing Storm: New beer makers gain popularity, but trouble may bubble up."

A crumbled-up can of Budweiser was pictured on the cover of the influential Dow Jones & Co. publication. There the headline read, "Hey, Bud! With its flagship brand badly dented by feisty rivals like Boston Beer and Pete's Wicked Ale, Anheuser-Busch fights back."

First, here are some basic facts. A year ago, microbreweries across the country had heady visions of going public after Redhook Brewery, Pete's Brewing Co. and Boston Beer all floated very successful initial public offerings. Boston Beer's stock soared nearly 50 percent the day trading opened to reach $30, and later traded at $33. It closed at $12.63 on Friday.

Here's a look at some microbrewery stocks:

                   '96 high     10/25     Week change
Boston Beer Co.            33          12 5/8      -3 3/4

Pete's Brewing Co.         27 3/4       7 3/4        -3/4

Redhook Brewery            30 1/2      15 1/8      -1 1/8

Pyramid Brewery            22 1/2       5 1/4        -1/4

Nor'Wester Brewing Co.      9 1/2       4            -1/2 

These breweries' stock have not plunged because they failed to sell beer and make money. Instead, investors have begun to realize growth cannot continue unabated. Microbreweries produced 2 percent of the beer in the United States in 1995, and that share is expected to grow to 6 percent by 2000, but the market is also getting much more crowded.

So while Boston Beer reported good results for the third quarter, it also announced October/November orders were up only 5.5 percent over shipments for the same period last year. That's why its stock lost $3.50 on Wednesday, to close at an all-time low of $12.50.

ANHEUSER-BUSCH

Dale Earnhardt Jr.