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3-Tier System Under Siege by AB InBev

November 6, 2014

Not only is AB InBev guzzling up craft brewers all over the country, they are also buying the related brewpubs, effectively removing the middle tier and setting themselves up as retailers as well. So much for the so-called protections of the 3-tier system.

AB InBev to Acquire Oregon Craft BrewerPurchase of 10 Barrel Brewing Is Company’s Latest Move to Tap U.S. Craft-Beer Industry

Wall Street Journal


By Mike Esterl

November 5, 2014

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV said Wednesday it is acquiring 10 Barrel Brewing Co., the latest move by the world’s largest brewer to tap the small but fast-growing U.S. craft-beer industry.

Bend, Ore.-based 10 Barrel expects to sell about 40,000 barrels of beer this year, according to AB InBev, which didn’t disclose financial details.

Annual U.S. beer consumption totals roughly 200 million barrels. Nearly half of that is brewed by Belgium’s AB InBev, whose globe-trotting brands include Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois.

But big, mainstream brands have seen volumes slip in recent years as Americans drop mild-tasting lagers to experiment with India Pale Ale and other styles sold by smaller regional craft brewers. More than 300 such breweries opened their doors last year alone.

Sales of 10 Barrel have roughly doubled in the past year, according to a person familiar with the matter. Its top-selling beer is Apocalypse IPA, accounting for nearly half of its volume.

AB InBev announced in February it was acquiring Patchogue, N.Y.-based Blue Point Brewing Co., which sold about 60,000 barrels last year. It didn’t disclose financial terms of that deal, either, although some industry observers pegged the price tag at around $25 million.

The brewing giant also acquired Goose Island, Chicago’s largest craft brewer, in 2011 for $38.8 million.

Recent M&A deals have priced some regional U.S. craft brewers at more than $1,000 a barrel, according to a person familiar with multiples. The vast majority of the country’s roughly 3,000 craft brewers remain privately or family owned.

AB InBev said it expects to close its 10 Barrel acquisition by the end of 2014. In addition to buying the company’s brewery in Bend, it will also acquire 10 Barrel’s two existing brewpubs in Bend and Boise, Idaho, and a third brewpub scheduled to open in Portland, Ore. in early 2015.

First Beverage Group acted as financial adviser to 10 Barrel.
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Read more & watch the CNN video: http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/06/news/companies/anheuser-busch-beer-10-barrel/








SF Giants: Pro Athletes or Ambassadors of Alcohol-Related Bad Behavior?

Sergio Romo Caught Restraining Girlfriend Just Hours After Locker Room Binge Celebration

By Bruce Lee Livingston, Executive Director / CEO, Alcohol Justice

Romo Chugging Beer
Professional athletes, deeply submerged in the cultural norm that is alcohol in sports, are both beneficiaries and victims of Big Alcohol’s investment. Inflated salaries and lucrative endorsement contracts mask the normalization of unhealthy drinking behaviors, in the locker rooms, and just off the fields. They are perversely glamorized and sensationalized. The take-away message for young fans is simple: celebrating your victories or easing the pain of defeat is best done with booze in both hands.

The most recent well-reported and inappropriate display of locker room excess followed the NL Pennant win. San Francisco Giant pitcher phenom, Madison Bumgarner, chugged four cans of Bud Light at once in the well-televised celebration late Thursday night. It was followed by SF Giant Sergio Romo’s abusive behavior towards his girlfriend outside a bar on Friday at 2:00 A.M. Romo’s allegedly alcohol-fueled domestic violence and disrespect to the SFPD was only reported on the following Monday.

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Sergio Romo, a spokesperson for Hennessy cognac, seems to have dodged a bullet when his incident was quickly swept under the MLB rug of invisibility and behind the SFPD cloak of “an abundance of caution.” This was done, no doubt, to spare the league from the kind of firestorm of negative PR that reigned down on the NFL over recent highly publicized incidents of player involved DUIs and alcohol-related violence against women.The fact that Romo was not hauled in to the station eerily reminds me of the Kansas City Chiefs football player Jovan Belcher who police let go drunk at 4 A.M. (caught on tape also) and then went in to kill his baby’s mother and then himself. Police in SF apparently also give a pass to athletes.

It’s time for professional sports to take a major step back from its codependent relationship with Big Alcohol. While crazy lucrative for the companies involved it is intrinsically toxic to players and fans alike, especially underage youth who see their newfound heroes guzzling bubbles, suds and spirits on TV. It’s time for Sergio to focus on pitching baseballs instead of booze (P.S. Full disclosure, I love the guy for his “I Just Look Illegal T-Shirt” and I watched the whole game with my kids).

Big Alcohol has an unquenchable thirst for new consumers and pours its biggest promo bucks into professional sports because that’s where the returns are the greatest. The industry’s egregious leader – Anheuser-Busch InBev – at half-a-billion dollars a year in ads, sponsorships, and celebrity endorsements, casts the widest net. Not only does it prompt mega sales of marginal product, but it catches 20-30 million underage youth, searing beer brands into their developing brains, and encouraging often harm-producing early consumption of alcohol.


Baseball, please don’t act like football. Grow up and lose the booze and the domestic violence. Stop the locker room champagne and Bud Light celebrations.



Speculation on Big Beer Mergers Abounds

October 7, 2014

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Industry speculation of a potential megamerger between the world's two largest beer companies, Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B InBev) and SABMiller, has gained momentum in recent months, and according to some business analysts, appears increasingly likely.

The two behemoths are the result of a decade of mergers and acquisitions, consolidating dozens of companies into a Big Beer duopoly that controls 30% of the world's beer market. U.S. antitrust regulators are not expected to block the deal, and have raised few concerns over past mergers.  A-B InBev's 2013 acquisition of Grupo Modelo (producers of Corona) raised eyebrows at the U.S. Department of Justice, but the deal was approved with only minor concessions, paving the way for A-B InBev to swallow SABMiller.

The consolidation of corporate power created by an A-B InBev/SABMiller merger would result in an unprecedented, oppressive influence over alcohol policy around the globe. In the U.S., both companies are a relentless presence, both overt and subliminal, undermining alcohol regulation. A-B InBev is one of the highest U.S. spenders on lobbying, shelling out $20.8 million since 2008. SABMiller, operating in the U.S. as MillerCoors in a joint venture with Molson Coors, has spent $13.1 million since 2008. Their efforts have sucessfully chipped away at the three-tier system that separates alcohol production, distribution and sales in the U.S., designed to protect public health and safety. The latest blatant attempt to circumvent this system is A-B InBev's move to purchase of a distributorship in Kentucky. The Duopoly has also successfully opposed any increase in the federal excise tax since 1991, costing the U.S. government millions in inflation erosion, while economic harm from excessive alcohol consumption now costs U.S. governments over $94 billion a year. Nevertheless, the beer lobby, led by A-B InBev and MillerCoors, sponsors legislation to decrease the Federal beer tax each year, under the moniker "Brewers Excise and Economic Relief Act." A-B InBev reported $43.2 billion in revenue in 2013; SABMiller reported $34.5 billion.

The merger would be disastrous for other countries as well, particularly those in the developing world. SABMiller and A-B InBev vie for domination of emerging markets in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, where their growth depends upon ever-increasing consumption, while consumption levels have nearly reached saturation in North America and Europe. According to the 2014 World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Status Report on Alcohol, countries with lower per-capita income tend to consume less alcohol; however, alcohol-attributable mortality and burden of disease and injury will generally be greater in societies with lower economic development than in more affluent societies. Over the past decade, aggressive marketing tactics by SABMiller and A-B InBev have resulted in increased per capita consumption across these developing regions, and increased alcohol-related harm has followed.

Big Beer aggressively and consistently interferes with efforts to enact evidence-based policy to reduce alcohol-related harm and resulting costs. Corporations exert pressure and influence with organizations like the the Global Alcohol Producers Group (GAPG), with goals to block reasonable, researched alcohol policy recommendations from WHO while making public statements to sound like public health support. Examples of such interference include blocking minimum pricing in Britain and a ban on alcohol advertising in South Africa. Many of the countries in developing regions targeted by SABMiller and A-B InBev have weak alcohol policies, and are particularly vulnerable to such interference because of Big Beer's political and economic clout.

The WHO position remains that all necessary measures should be taken to protect the formulation of health policies from distortion by commercial or vested interests; therefore the alcohol industry has no role in the formulation of alcohol policies. Yet Big Beer (and the rest of Big Alcohol) continues to assert its will and demand for profits over public health policy, and a combined A-B InBev/SABMiller will wield an even bigger stick against policymakers attempting to protect the public from alcohol-related harm. An A-B InBev/SABMiller merger would have an incredibly negative impact on health and safety for populations around the globe.


San Rafael, CA Mayor Calls for Reduced Access to Cheap Alcohol

October 7, 2014
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San Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips recently asked local liquor stores in this California town to stop selling cheap vodka and malt liquor, in response to complaints of intoxicated homeless persons.

Mayor Phillips has the right idea: reducing availability and access to cheap alcohol helps decrease community alcohol problems. However, he should expand his request to include alcopops: bubbly, sweet, and often high-alcohol drinks that are attractive to youth and frequently sold in single-serve, 23.5 oz cans. Popular alcopops include Four Loko, at 12.5% ABV, which is often called "binge-in-a-can" because the alcohol content in one 23.5-oz can is equivalent to almost 5 standard beers. While intoxicated homeless people may be a more visible problem than underage drinkers, Mayor Phillips admits that malt beverages are also targeted at youth. According to the California Healthy Kids Survey, 15% to 33% of Marin high schoolers report having engaged in binge drinking in the past month.

Alcohol Justice has long called for alcohol retailers to implement city- and countywide Alcopop-Free Zones. The San Rafael City Council and Marin County Board of Supervisors have both passed resolutions in support, and Colonial Liquors was one of the first retailers to voluntarily remove alcopops from its shelves. Alcohol Justice encourages Mayor Phillips to protect youth by supporting the San Rafael Alcopop-Free Zone.