Buffalo Bill does it again

At his age, other will seriously consider retirement. Not Bill Owens, American photographer, brewer and publisher extraordinaire. When In 1983 he opened Buffalo Bill’s Brewery, his was the first brewpub in the nation. Three years later he bought a small magazine, "Home Fermenter’s Digest", merged it with "Amateur Brewer" and renamed it "American Brewer". Years later he received a phone call and was told there was another publication which used the same title, "American Brewer". Bill told the caller that this had to be a mistake as he owned the trademark. Indeed, the original "American Brewer" was published for 108 years, from 1850 until 1958.
When he bid farewell to his loyal readers last year, Bill had published more than 90 issues of "American Brewer" over the course of 17 years.

August Busch III sold US$3 million in stock

Looks like he is diversifying a bit. Or he must have been reading about the Enron 401-k plan problems! Because Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc.’s Chairman August Busch recently sold $3 million in shares of the nation’s No. 1 beer maker, and he plans to sell $3.7 million more, according to a regulatory filing. Busch sold 25,700 common shares worth $1.2 million on 11 February, then sold 37,000 shares 10 days later valued at $1.8 million, said the filing, which was publicly released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It also showed that he plans to sell an addi-tional 74,860 shares worth $3.7 million. Busch beneficially held more than 7 million shares of Anheuser-Busch, according to the company’s most recent proxy in March 2001.

Canadians drink more alcohol

Growth in consumption of alcoholic beverages continues in Canada. Foreign goods are becoming ever more popular, German producers are improving their position. Domestic producers, mostly smaller and medium-sized operations, are gear-ing up to meet the increased demand. In the 1999/2000 fiscal year (1.4 to 31.3.), beer took top spot in alcohol consumption with a per-capita figure of 85.5 l, followed by wine with 11.7 l and spirits with 6.3 l.
Overall, in fiscal 1999/2000, sales of alcoholic beverages from domestic sources amounted to 13 billion CAD, an increase of 5.8% on the previous year. Beer accounted for 51.6% of this total. Output of beer from private and listed companies destined for the domestic market is given by the Canadian Statistics Office as 20.65 million hl.5 million l..

Let’s go to Rio

Sometimes you don’t seem to be doing things right. In February when Heineken bought Russia’s third largest brewer, Bravo (4.2 million hl) for an estimated US$400 million, did you hear the markets make any noises? Certainly neither squabbles nor consenting grunts were to be heard. But was it not high time that the Dutch brewer had moved into the Russian growth market? After all, everybody else had been there for years. That may be but still the markets were quiet. When in March Heineken reached an agreement with Canadian brewer Molson as concerns the Brazilian market, commentators applauded Molson’s CEO Dan O’Neill on this gutsy move but bickered that Heineken appears to have lost out in yet another acquisition race for fear of overpaying.
Here’s the story.5 per cent, Coca Cola 10..

MBAA moved office

The MBAA international office has moved to the management firm Scientific Societies in St. Paul. The office can be reached via email or tel 001-651-454-7250, fax 001-651-454-0766.

Anheuser-Busch posts record US beer shipments for 2001

Anheuser-Busch Inc., the U.S. beer unit of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., announced that it achieved record U.S. beer sales volume in 2001, and its parent, the world’s top brewer, set a 10 percent earnings per share growth target for 2002.
Domestic beer shipments to wholesalers grew to 99.5 million barrels in 2001, up 1.2 million barrels or 1.2 per cent over 2000, Anheuser-Busch Inc. Chief Executive Patrick Stokes said in a statement. Stokes also said that Bud Light, the top-selling beer in the US, continued its strong sales performance, followed by Budweiser, which is the top-selling brand in the world. For the fourth quarter, beer shipments by Anheuser-Busch to its wholesalers grew 0. St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos..

The Skyy is the limit

Not tardy to launch new products, Miller Brewing Co. has also teamed up with Skyy Spirits LLC, a San Francisco-based marketer of the "Skyy" Vodka brand, to sell a citrus and vodka-flavoured malt beverage, beginning in March. The Skyy vodka brand is packed in a cobalt blue bottle. Similarly, the malternative, "Skyy Blue", will arrive in cobalt blue bottle and will be sold as a super-premium product at US$7 for a six-pack. According to Beer Marketers Insights, the malternative category sold almost three million barrel in 2001. Most of the growth was attributed to Smirnoff Ice which started the craze January last year. The growth of the category came at the expense of beer brands..

Me too

Anheuser-Busch and Bacardi were the first. Now Allied Domecq PLC and Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Company announced a commercial partnership to introduce a range of new alternative malt beverages, the first two of which will be based on Allied Domecq’s popular Stolichnaya vodka and Sauza tequila. The new Stolichnaya and Sauza ready-to-drink malt beverage products will be produced and distributed by Miller in the U.S. and will reach the market this spring through over 500,000 retail outlets serviced by Miller’s nation-wide distribution network. As the market develops, both parties will explore further opportunities utilising the Allied Domecq portfolio of core spirits brands..

NBC liquor ads may put a lid on "malternatives"

The TV station NBC’s decision to accept some spirits advertising may upset some viewers by opening the door to similar ads, but, potentially paradoxically, also may help quash the potentially explosive growth of "malternatives" that are so hot with younger drinkers.
The malt-beverage craze, which skyrocketed with "Smirnoff Ice", "Mike’s Hard Lemonade" and other brands, has created so much buzz and taken enough volume from light beers that traditional brewers have been considering their own products in an attempt
to recapture some volume. They’ve also spawned something of an uproar because their sweet taste has wide appeal with underage drinkers.
Smirnoff, in particular, has had an aggressive TV advertising budget..

Darling, I got you a present

No, it was not one of the usual suspects. It was Adolph Coors, the no 3 US brewer, who picked up Carling Brewers at the pre-Christmas sale. Coors is paying Interbrew £1.2 billion (US$1.7 bn) for its Carling Division, which is only US$500 million more than Coors’ market capitalisation currently at US$2.2 billion. The Carling business had an EBITDA of around £150 million, which valued Carling
at an EBITDA multiple of 8 - much lower than Beck’s, for example. Coors said it would finance the deal with about US$200 million in cash and a combination of bank and public debt. The price was in accordance with market expectations.
Still, analysts were not happy with Coors’ choice and its shares fell US$2.98 or 5.0% to US$56.29.
The deal gives Coors a market share of 19%..