MillerCoors -- a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors (TAP) -- last week announced that it has launched a new corporate division intended to focus on the company's craft and import beer business. This business (which is a rather solid performer) includes brews Blue Moon, Peroni Nastro Azurro, and Leinenkugel's.

The new unit is named Tenth and Blake Beer, after the streets where MillerCoors' breweries are located in Milwaukee and Denver. Tom Cardella, who was appointed president and chief executive officer of Tenth and Blake noted, "You are seeing a tremendous amount of consumers gravitating to craft beer.... Consumers are being more discerning about beer."

I saw a story in The Wall Street Journal last week discussing what is being called a "rare" slump for Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company saw volume sales fall for Bud Light for the first time in the beer's 27-year history. Dollar sales of Bud Light dropped 2.5% (compared to a year earlier) in the U.S. during the 13 weeks that ended on July 12. Volume sales were 5.5% lower.

So, what can Bud do to rev up sales? How about a new advertising campaign with more than 15 new television commercials and new retail displays. When the American football season begins, the new ads will inundate our television screens and it will further the beer's "Drinkability" campaign that began a year ago.

When I heard that the CEO of Miller Brewing Co. said Thursday he sees a trend of consumers buying cheaper beers, I was wondering whether consumers might also be switching not just from more expensive beers to cheaper ones, but from more expensive alcoholic drinks to beer, which tends to be cheaper.

Unfortunately for Miller, for which its parent SABMiller PLC reported earnings Thursday, so far the increase in sales of more economic beers has been at the expense of the more expensive ones. So my theory isn't much of one after all. I guess that food and gas still have a higher priority than beer, and we all know how much the price of these have risen lately.

In an effort to fight back against shifting consumer trends to spirits and wine, the Wall Street Journal reported that Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE: TAP) has created a new subsidiary to "introduce above-premium beers to the marketplace," according to an email sent to beer wholesalers last week.

The move comes at a time when the American beer business is facing considerable headwinds, including slower growth due to upscale "craft" beers and a strong push for market share by imports. Anheuser-Busch Cos. (NYSE: BUD), the largest American beer maker, and SABMiller PLC's (NYSE: SAB) Miller Brewing Co., the second-largest, have already introduced new beverages to combat these headwinds.

After listening to AOL's Jonathan Miller speak at Deutsche Bank's Media and Telecommunications conference, Cynthia Brumfeld of IP Democracy had some issues. Namely, that Miller was "confusing" and "vague," speaking in "buzz phrases, stream of consciousness, sentence fragments and generalities" and saying a whole lot of nothing. Her bottom-line question: "Is all this vague-talk a sign of real trouble at the online unit?"

I know how she feels -- I hate nothing more than "vague-talk" and frequently wish someone would just answer the damn question. I've had questions not-answered by any number of famous and successful CEOs, from Jeffrey Bezos to the great Meg Whitman herself, and have been frustrated listening to analyst conference call after press day after investor meeting and wondering, when is someone going to answer the question that was asked?

I don't think non-answers are a sign of trouble. The buzzwords: more worrisome. Buzzwords, in my opinion, are always a sign of desperation. I've seen smart people turn into blathering fountains of buzz-speak (notably, a Wharton professor whose catch-phrase "in this space" would tend toward the ridiculous when he wasn't at the top of his game) when they were unprepared to talk about an issue. Heck, I've done it myself.

Cynthia: don't worry about the glibness. It's the buzz you should be concerned about. Either Miller was just tired (hey, we all get that way) and ill-prepared, or there really is a problem. I'll leave the opinions on which is the truth, to you all.