Pricing Pressure Up

Happy New Year, gentle reader. It's good to be back behind the platinum BBD keyboard. Let's hope we have more cause for celebration in 2006 than in 2005 in the US beer industry. The early signs are promising. First off, consumer confidence, which had cratered after the hurricanes and high gas prices, has bounced back. Recall that September's 12.2 point decline was the worst since the survey was started in 1978. The Consumer Confidence Index for December moved to 103.6,