Companies like Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD) and PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) are scrambling to find new niches for product offerings. Sometimes, though, I think they step over the line -- sometimes, way over the line. Beer and milk? Cucumber soda? Here are a few beverages to ponder on a hot summer afternoon.

Nick Perry's Trading Floor Blog this morning links to an article heralding the debut of "Bilk," a new brew introduced at a Japanese liquor store Feb. 1 that combines a low-malt beer with milk. The beverage, which is brewed with about 30 percent milk, is presumably higher in calcium and lower in alcohol than traditional brew, and can help establishments find a use for their extra milk before it spoils. A win-win? (I'm thinking the loser here might be whomever is drinking it.)

Chitoshi Nakahara, the brains behind this controversial idea, claims that "Bilk" tastes like ordinary beer -- if you can ignore the "slight milky scent." So far, the concoction is only available by mail order or at six local shops and it is currently sold out due to press attention (and morbid curiosity). Somehow I doubt that the early popularity of "Bilk" is making Anheuser-Busch Cos (NYSE:BUD) and other major brewers terribly nervous.

This brainstorm reminds me of one of Laverne & Shirley's titular characters, who liked to drink a mixture of milk and Pepsi (NYSE:PEP). Now that I think about it, Laverne De Fazio also worked at a brewery, so she was just one step away from experimenting with "Bilk" herself. Just think ... we could have had this idea stateside 30 years ago. Schlemiel! Schlemazl! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!


Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.