Combating a stagnant market

The good news: Heineken Premium Light, which was introduced into the U.S. in March supported by 50 million USD (42 million EUR) incremental marketing budget, is likely to exceed its initial target of 400,000 hl of beer. The bad news: Heineken Premium Light, which controls just 0.5 percent of the U.S. lite market, could be cannibalizing Heineken’s Amstel Light, whose volume has slipped 6 percent this year according to industry sources.

Courage and faith

It takes a former emerging markets’ brewer like SABMiller to invest 175 million USD in the construction of a new brewery in one of the most instable countries of the world. In August SABMiller announced that its Colombian subsidiary Bavaria will build a new brewery in Yumbo, on the outskirts of Cali in western Colombia, to keep pace with growing demand in the region.

Sleeman sold to Sapporo

The last of Canada’s big brewers to fall into foreign hands, Sleeman agreed to sell its shares to Sapporo Holdings Inc, a unit Sapporo Breweries Ltd, for some 400 million CAD. The consideration includes Sapporo’s assumption of the Canadian beer maker’s debts.

Wine in PET

In August, Wolf Blass Wines, which is owned by the Foster’s Group, announced the launch of Bilyara Reserve, a new range of premium Australian wines in lightweight, shatterproof and environmentally friendly 750 ml PET bottles. This is probably the first time a wine company has attempted to put a premium wine and not just plonk into plastic bottles.

With many Latin American countries enjoying an economic recovery, the synergies from the alliance of operations between Quinsa and AmBev (part of InBev) have become apparent from Quinsa’s latest financial reports. Most recently, AmBev increased its ownership of Quinsa to 91 percent, an acquisition involving about USD 1.2 billion, and now effectively controls the company. Analysts at the investment bank Zacks believe that, ultimately, public shareholders will be bought out.

It’s one thing to go out partying and drinking, it’s quite another to drive home afterwards. Apparently, they do not have any taxis in Denver, or the Coors brewing company is running a severe cost-cutting programme that not even its executives are allowed chauffeur-driven cars. Otherwise there is no explanation as to why beer company executive and former Senate candidate Pete Coors was cited in May for driving under the influence of alcohol after leaving a friend’s wedding celebration. According to reports in the media, Pete Coors (59) was driving his car when he was pulled over by a Colorado State Patrol trooper just before midnight 29 May 2006, according to officials in the Jefferson County District Court clerk’s office.

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....