MILWAUKEE — Bud Light is going blue.

The nation's best-selling beer is giving its cans and bottles a makeover next year, with a focus on the color blue and the brand's new emphasis on refreshment and what the brewer calls "drinkability."

The change comes as analysts say more people are buying beer instead of higher-priced wine and spirits.

Anheuser-Busch, the St. Louis-based U.S. unit of Anheuser-Busch InBev, first introduced a series of ads in October telling drinkers the Bud Light brand has flavor and won't fill them up.

Then, it bumped up the release of the second wave of its $50 million advertising campaign for its best-selling brand to Thanksgiving, pushing that message further.

Next comes the packaging. In March, Anheuser-Busch will launch new cans and bottles dominated by a vibrant blue, pulling away from a blue and red theme. The new packaging includes an image of a splash on the side, like a wave, and words pitching Bud Light's "refreshment" and "drinkability."

Keith Levy, vice president of marketing, said Thursday the shift to blue came after extensive research showed the color helped drive home the message of refreshment.

New packaging for multipacks will also be released in March, but it hasn't yet been approved by federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau so the company couldn't disclose it, Levy said.

The market for beer could be expanding.

UBS analyst Kaumil S. Gajrawala wrote this week that industry trends are improving and beer volume outpaced spirits and wine in a recent four-week period. He said mainstay brands like Bud Light and its competitors in the light beer category will benefit the most.

"In tough economic times, we expect consumers to shift alcoholic consumption to the tried and true," he said in a note to investors.

The shift to beer comes even as prices are rising, which Gajrawala called "stunning."

He said beer prices were up nearly 5 percent according to data from the four weeks ending Nov. 2 compared with the same period in 2007.

Brewers are consolidating as one way to save. Anheuser-Busch sold itself for $52 billion to Belgium-based InBev last month; the No. 2 player in the U.S. market, MillerCoors, formed earlier this year as a joint venture between Molson Coors Brewing Co. and SABMiller's U.S. unit.