In the U.S. everything is bigger than elsewhere. Or perhaps they just know how to make the most of an award. Having won a Gold Medal at the recent World Beer Cup, Trumer Pils decided to tell it large and clear to its loyal consumers in San Francisco. At a busy street corner where the world goes by, Carlos Alvarez’ team put up a gigantic poster with the saying in German: “Das beste Pilsner Bier der Welt.” That much German everybody walking or driving by would understand. Because beer and German go together very well and can only mean one thing: quality in the widest possible sense. Carlos Alvarez, who owns the Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley, San Francisco, where Trumer is brewed, is very much pleased with the inroads the brand is making into the highly competitive San Francisco market, which also happens to be the playground of Stella Artois and Pilsner Urquell, both of whom have powerful (read cash-rich) parents.

Canada’s number three brewer, Sleeman Breweries, who has been on the block for a few months now, seems to have attracted offers from four major brewers according to reports in the Canadian media. Molson Coors, the Dutch brewer Royal Grolsch NV, Japan’s Sapporo Breweries Ltd., and Labatt, owned InBev, could all bid for Sleeman.

Just fancy that

If you have complaints about your job, read on. “While drinking a Coors beer at a bar in Greeley, Colorado, Ross Hopkins, an employee for a Budweiser distributor, was seen by the son-in-law of his boss. When the son-in-law offered to buy Hopkins a Bud instead, Hopkins declined. The following Monday he was fired. ...

InBev USA sells Rolling Rock brands to Anheuser Busch

Lo and behold: Anheuser-Busch decided to buy the Rolling Rock family of brands, thus taking a big worry off InBev’s U.S. shoulders. The purchase price, which was announced in May 2006, was USD 82 million for the U.S. and worldwide rights to Rolling Rock and Rock Green Light....

Norman, the conqueror

In a rare piece of hagiography, the U.S. business magazine BusinessWeek in a recent issue hailed Norman Adami as a Cesar-like figure: As if he had coined the phrase “veni, vidi, vici”, Norman Adami, the head of SABMiller’s U.S. division, was congratulated upon having orchestrated almost single-handedly Miller’s turnaround. Still, upon the release of SABMiller’s full-year financials until March 2006, SABMiller cautioned on severe price cutting in the U.S. hitting Miller and rising costs for aluminium and energy. ...

Fighting obesity

Former U.S. president Clinton called it an “important announcement and a bold step forward”. In May 2006, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation – a joint initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association – issued guidelines in conjunction with Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and the American Beverage Association which will cease the sale of sugared soft drinks to American schools by 2010. Under these guidelines, only lower calorie and nutritious beverages will be stacked in coolers, a move affecting close to 35 million pupils and students across the country.

For appearance’s sake

In June 2006 it was announced that the famous Chicago brewery Goose Island has signed a distribution agreement with Widmer Brothers Brewing Company of Portland, Oregon. This agreement is to be followed by Widmer taking a minority investment in Goose Island of up to 35 percent according to sources close to the action. On the face of it, the deal looks like two successful microbreweries throwing in their lot with each other. Beer Marketers’ Insights say that Widmer, founded in 1984, brewed 270,000 hl of beer last year and Goose Island, founded in 1988, brewed 64,000 hl. Sales of Goose Island grew 24 percent in 2005, led by its signature brand Honkers Ale. Reports in the local media claim that Goose Island turned over USD 4.2 million in beer up from USD 3.4 million in 2004.

Embrace the monster

At the end of March 2006 news began to filter through that Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. was in discussions to jointly release an energy drink with Hansen Natural Corp. and possibly buy the company. Hansen, the maker of Monster energy drinks, and Anheuser-Busch seem to be considering a variety of collaborations, from launching an alcoholic energy drink to adding Hansen’s non-alcoholic energy brands into Anheuser-Busch’s distribution network. An outright acquisition of Hansen by Anheuser-Busch is not completely out of the question.

No two ways about it

Following the arbitration court’s ruling in March 2006, Mexico’s Corona beer brewer Modelo has the best part of a year to find a new partner in the U.S. who can help it squeeze more profits from its already-booming exports to the East Coast states. Early in March an arbitrator ruled in Modelo’s favour in a contract dispute, saying it could terminate a deal with its long-standing U.S. importer, the Gambrinus Co., at the end of 2006. Since 2004 San Antonio-based Gambrinus Co has been trying to block the termination clause in its contract with Modelo. Modelo, half owned by Anheuser-Busch, works with another U.S. importer, Constellation Brands, in other parts of the U.S. Thanks to Gambrinus’ and Constellation’s efforts, Modelo’s exports increased 12..

On the block

Fix it, sell it, or kill it. Is that all they teach them at business schools these days? Apparently, in their quest for ever higher margins, InBev’s powers-that-be know no other way out when dealing with a brewery that is not delivering “stellar performance”. Now it’s “fix it or sell it” for Rolling Rock, InBev’s only U.S. brewery. Rumour has it that InBev is looking to sell its U.S. domestic beer brand Rolling Rock after struggling to revive the iconic brand over the last decade. InBev has decided to concentrate its U.S. sales and marketing resources on imported brands such as Bass, Brahma and Labatt Blue, as well as Stella Artois and Beck’s, which means that it might sell the Latrobe Brewery in Pennsylvania, where Rolling Rock is being brewed, and keep the brand. Alternatively, InBev might sell the whole lot, lock stock and barrel, which might fetch an estimated USD 50 million to 100 million, depending on any cost-saving synergies available to a purchaser. Pundits claim that Rolling Rock is unlikely to attract bids from the top three U.S. brewers, but might attract attention from smaller players. Rolling Rock has been brewed at Latrobe since 1939 and has a strong following among beer drinkers in the north-eastern U.S. InBev came into possession of Rolling Rock when it purchased Canada’s second-biggest brewer Labatt in 1995, but according to media reports its