I am not so sure if a latest trend in beer brewing will catch on. As hinted in the title, brewers are launching higher-end beer products to compete with wine as a dinner drink (not that beer does not already accompany many, many, many meals). The twist here is the gourmet target. As Bloomberg reports, Carlsberg is launching a $400 bottle of beer.

The product, costing 357 times more than Carlsberg’s main Danish lager brand, has been developed to challenge luxury wines in the gourmet restaurant market and capitalize on rising individual wealth. Denmark, a country of 5.4 million, has 16 dollar billionaires, according to a list published this month by Berlingske Nyhedsmagasin magazine. The number of billionaires worldwide rose 21 percent last year to 946, Forbes magazine said.

“We’re trying to raise the bar for what a beer can be,” Jens Eiken, the brew master at Jacobsen who developed the product, said today by phone. The beverage is “cheap” considering the amount of time the brewery spent developing it, he said.

Eiken wouldn’t disclose how long Vintage No. 1 took to develop, saying only that the amount of time spent on it was such that the company doesn’t expect the project to be profitable.

The beer contains hints of prune, caramel, vanilla and oak tree from the French and Swedish wooden casks in which it is stored, Eiken said. It has a chestnut brown color, little foam and goes well with cheeses and desserts, he said.

While no where near as expensive as Carlsberg’s new flavour, Interbrew NV has released a higher-end Stella Artois brew - Nobilis. It sells for around $10 Canadian for a 750 ml. bottle (same size as a wine bottle).

What what have here is an example of ‘premiumization‘.