Only 8?

Wading into the tide of beer popularity, 24/7 Wall St. profiles eight brands that have been running out of gas over the past few years.

It seems like there should be more than eight.

But maybe that thought is just a reflection of the fact that most of these macros taste the same. (Or a bias toward stupid commercials for Coors Light and its gimmick of the can telling you when the beer is cold. Ditto for triple-hopped Miller Lite, the light beer you're told to man-up to, when that should be a contradiction of terms.)

The King of Beers' crown has lost its luster. That's not a dig at Dudweiser, er, Budweiser, just a fact of accounting: Bud's sales have tanked 30 percent over the past five years. Michelob's have skidded more than twice that.

Blame changing demographics for the turning of the tide, that and the fact that a dumbed-down lager just doesn't say much in a world where tasting what goes into making beer actually counts. And is expected by a growing contingent of craft beer enthusiasts.

Peer into things a little more and you'll notice people just turning 21 now have so many more choices of beer and swiftly gravitate to the array of flavors, ever exploring for not just what's new but what's interesting and tasty. Add them to the ranks of those who have been part of the craft beer scene over the past 20 to 30 years and you have a huge, widening crack in the wall of the big macrobrews.

There's the old beer culture joke (often seen on T-shirts) Life's too short to drink shitty beer ... Eight tanking big brands is just another way of saying that.