Did you know ...

... that on-premise beer consumers are predominantly male (84%), with 60% under the age of 35 and 73% having over US$30,000 in annual income? Makes the barfly an almost exclusive male phenomenon. Moreover, some 53% of weekly beer sales, on premise that is, occur on Friday and Saturday with consumption fairly consistent throughout the remainder of the week.

... Control is better

Anheuser-Busch and Mexico’s tequila regulatory council (CRT) have come to an agreement, which allows representatives of the CRT to enter A-B’s breweries where Tequiza is produced in order to verify tequila flavouring quality and authenticity.

A-B appoints European boss

Anheuser-Busch International has appointed Andrew Day as Vice-President and Managing Director of its European operations. He will also be overseeing operations in Africa and the Middle East. Day replaces William McNulty who has returned to the brewer’s US headquarters in St. Louis.

Budweiser fashion

While Marlboro is still rumoured to consider extending its brand to hotels, Budweiser has signalled that it will launch a clothing range for men next year. The range called The Genuine Article will consist of three lines: Genuine, Contemporary and Basic. Budweiser’s logo will be featured discreetly on the garments. Genesee in buyout talks.

Spreading its wings

AmBev and Groupe Danone have signed an option contract to buy Salus, the second-largest brewer in Uruguay. In 1999 Salus reported sales of US$30 million.

Cadbury buys Snapple

The British company Cadbury Schweppes PLC agreed to pay just over US$1 billion plus the assumption of about US$420 million in debt for the Snapple, Mistic and Stewarts brands and Royal Crown soft drink concentrates from Triarc Cos., New York. The sale will leave Triarc effectively debt-free with about US$400 million in cash for acquisitions. Although carbonated soft drinks still claim a lion’s share of the US soft drinks market, non-carbonated drinks and water could make up as much as 50% of the overall beverage industry’s growth over the next five years according to market
observers. In the first half of 2000, juice drinks grew significantly in volume: Snapple (27%), SoBe (90.4%), and FruitWorks (100%). However, some carbonated soft drinks lost volume: Sprite (-3.5%), Pepsi-Cola (-1.

Genesee in buyout talks

After a planned sale to Platinum Holdings had come to no fruition in May, Genesee Corp., New York, which is the US’ no. 5 brewer, began negotiations with its management to sell its brewing division for US$22 million. Chief Executive Samuel Hubbard leads the management buyout group which will pay US$17.5 million in cash plus net working capital at close of sale. Another US$4.5 million will be paid by Genesee for a three-year note from the buyer for a net gain of US$5 million. Shareholders will vote on the deal at the annual general meeting in October. The brewer which began operations in Rochester, NY, in the late 19th century, sold 1.5 million hl of beer in 1999.

Sex sells

According to research published by the independent Center for Media and Public Affairs, Washington DC, Americans have developed an appetite for raunchy sitcoms. Not just "yuf" series like Will & Grace, Just Shoot Me or Ally McBeal are hotting up evening prime time viewing, 70% of all sitcoms between 7pm and 9pm deal with IT one way or another. Alas, it’s mostly talk and no action.
The reason why TV stations across the nation - and we are not referring to cable or pay TV where a glimpse of stocking, ahem, is a frequent event - are risking a run-in with the Moral Majority is, you guessed right, marketing. TV stations are trying to lure the most desired target group of all, Single Men, back to the screen.
Miller Brewing Co. It’s called "Eye Rub" and no, the title is not a euphemism.

Give me back my beer

In a bold move, Jim Koch of The Boston Beer Company, notified 450 distributors this summer that he would buy back all out-of-code (i.e. no longer brewery-fresh) Samuel Adams for the month of March. The brewer expects to fork out up to US$2 million to get back cases of Samuel Adams which have sat around too long with distributors. Until August more than two million bottles of Samuel Adams had been shipped to a recycler. According to Jim Koch, nothing was thrown into landfills or sewers. Even the beer was recycled into ethanol, an additive for petrol. The Boston Beer Company was founded in 1985 and was the 6th largest brewer in the US in 1999.

Irish ... via Canada

The Guinness Bass Import Co., USA, has decided to produce the Harp Lager brand for the US market in Canada under a licensing agreement with the Labatt Brewing Co, beginning in the autumn. The decision to brew Harp in Canada is based on, yes, financial considerations. GBIC’s president Tim Kelly was quoted saying that his goal was to bring the Harp lager brand to profitability, which would allow him to increase investments thus accelerating growth in both existing and new markets.