In the business world, there's rarely a thing as growing too big. But unfortunately for Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer (SAM), the price of success could be higher costs and the loss of its label as an "artisan" craft beer.

That's not to say a cold bottle of Sam Adams Summer Ale will taste any different to consumers. But according to the Brewers Association, "artisan" brewers include small outfits that put out less than two million barrels of suds a year. That means the brewer that almost single-handedly sparked interest in smaller batch brews with more flavor could be pushed into the same category as the big beer vendors like Anheuser Buch Inbev (BUD) and Molson Coors (TAP).

The most recent quarter was good for Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM), which reported that its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, and not too bad for Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), which posted a narrower-than-expected loss for the first quarter.

For the quarter that ended December 29, Boston Beer's net income jumped to $6.8 million, or 46 cents per share, from $2.5 million, or 17 cents per share, in the prior year quarter. Revenue rose 26% to $92.2 million from the same period of 2006. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 35 cents per share on revenue of $88.9 million.

The company credited its performance to drinkers trading up to craft beers, as well as increasing retailer and wholesale support for the craft category and for Samuel Adams. The company noted that its Twisted Tea brand also performed well in the quarter.

For the full year, profit grew 24% from a year ago, to $22.5 million, or $1.53 per share, while revenue grew 20% to $341.6 million.

Boston Beer shares rose $2.02, or 6%, to close at $35.81, and continued to rise in after-hours trading.

Boston Beer (NYSE: SAM) reported earnings after the bell today. While it seems like the stock should be lower because the company missed EPS estimates (reported 46 cents per share vs. 58 cents per share consensus), there's much more to the story than first meets the eye.

First of all, Boston Beer didn't really miss EPS estimates if you exclude capitalized brewery costs related to the Massachusetts brewery project, which essentially serves as a write-off and thus is considered a one-time charge. These costs amounted to 14 cents per share and, when backed out, the EPS figure rises to 60 cents per share -- 2 cents better than consensus.

More importantly for Wall Street, the company raised its full year guidance to $1.42-$1.70 per share -- around the consensus estimate of $1.61 per share and above prior guidance which peaked at $1.55 per share. On all of this news, the stock is up around 2% so far in after-hours trading.

This is a very interesting company. Its primary brands Twisted Tea and Samuel Adams are becoming increasingly popular among consumers who are willing to pay up for quality beer. But at more than $45 per share, with earnings power of roughly $1.60 per share this year, I think the multiple is too high. I'd much rather pay $50 per share for Anheuser Busch (NYSE: BUD), a company that has earnings power of more than $2.80 per share for this year, in my opinion. Even if the growth rate is significantly slower, I believe the spread between the multiples will likely collapse -- either Anheuser Busch is drastically undervalued, Boston Beer is significantly overvalued, or a little bit of both.