Just a few days after writing up my predictions for beer in 2009, a couple of stories float by which (already) seem to be on target.

First, CNN Money has an article supporting my "beer over wine" prediction. It’s not exactly a story in the vein of "beer is the new wine", but it supports the key point.

"The gap in growth rates between beer, wine and spirits has been narrowing," said Brian Sudano, managing director at consultancy Beverage Marketing. "As economies go down, there are a lot less parties. Beer is more of a casual, affiliation with friends, watching the game at home on television" drink.

Second, John Foyston reports that Southern Oregon Brewing is starting to bottle their brew, even in the face of the down economy.

While some Southern Oregon business see this as a time to cut back, Southern Oregon Brewing, with the help of mobile bottling company Green Bottling, will begin bottling its award-winning brew today.

This of course fits up with my "Oregon brewery growth" prediction.

So two out of five ain’t bad, and it’s still the first half of January.