New malternatives drive the category, but for how long? (Special Section: Beer & Malternatives).

Malternative beverages were this year's boost to the beer segment... and its bane as well, as consumers temporarily left their beer favorites to experiment with new malt-based flavored drinks. According to Information Resources Inc., malternatives posted a 50.7 percent increase in dollar sales in the year ending Sept. 8, 2002, mostly due to new product introductions. But the end-of-summer results show that the onslaught of malt-based beverages resulted in a lackluster following at best, and it's likely the malternative phenomenon peaked this year.

This year saw the debut of Bacardi Silver, the result of a union between Anheuser-Busch and Bacardi USA. Bacardi Silver is produced, marketed and distributed by A-B, while the rum flavor and bat logo are supplied by Bacardi. Despite the rum flavor, the beverage does not contain rum as an alcohol ingredient and is termed a "flavored beer."

Miller …