Maybe I just have beer on the brain this month, but I feel like the popular alcohol beverage is everywhere I turn. For instance, when I was listening to the Crosstalk Hour on Chicago-based WMVP 1000 AM, which features the radio personalities from the Carmen and Jurko show and the Waddle and Silvy show, Tom Waddle expressed how he sometimes gets overwhelmed by the number of beers from which he can choose at bars and restaurants. Not too soon after that, an episode of “The Celebrity Apprentice” asked the remaining contestants to come up with jingle for Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light Lime Ritas portfolio.

Although beer references in pop culture are nothing new, it is exciting to see the impact they are having on the consumer marketplace as well as how consumer embracement is fueling the category. According to Chicago-based Information Resources Inc. (IRI), beer sales increased 3.7 percent totaling more than $31.7 billion dollars during the 52 weeks ending Dec. 28, 2014, in U.S. multi-outlets including supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchandisers, gas and convenience stores, military commissaries, and select club and dollar retail chains. Case sales also were up 1.2 percent during that time period, the market research firm reports.