Hibernating Beer Drinkers

Blaming the weather for poor results is one of the oldest tricks in the corporate playbook. And sometimes, it makes sense. Who wants to buy spring clothes when it's still unseasonably chilly out? A wet August will undoubtedly hurt theme parks. But during an exceptionally cold February, do Bud drinkers opt instead for mugs of piping hot tea?

That's the question investors are pondering after Anheuser-Busch announced that it missed quarterly expectations in part because of weather. "I'm uncomfortable saying it's only a weather story, but indeed our sales performance has correlated strongly with the weather," the company's C.F.O. told analysts during a conference call. The weather in question? A colder February and a warmer March.

Now, sales of beer might indeed correlate to the weather. After all, it's perfectly understandable how bad summer weather might hurt beer sales, if backyard BBQs and baseball games get rained out. But isn't it always cold in February? Would a colder March have helped matters? What happened to those Clydesdales pulling the sleigh?

Anheuser-Busch saw its market share slip from 50.9 percent to 50.2 percent. The King of Beers has struggled to keep apace with the fickle habits of cocktail hour connoisseurs as they increasingly go for wine and spirits.

by Megan Barnett

Photo by Goh Chai Hin/AFP/Getty Images