Category: Uncategorized

The basic premise as to what drives volume in the beer industry is twofold:  it is either through media or through price discounting, with a combination of both being the ideal situation.  That being said, over the last 10 years, both AB and MC have lost millions of barrels and substantial market share.  The reason, […]

It was 41 years ago this March that Coors opened S. Texas.  This rollout was much anticipated by both retailers and consumers as Coors was only available in 10 states and half of Texas. Despite the limited availability, Coors was by far the largest selling beer in all markets, with market share ranging from a […]

The proliferation of Fake News, has, up until this year, left the beer industry untouched.  Sure, there was once the infamous Corona liquid fake news, which began out west and spread like wild fire.  Fortunately, however, the distributor who started the vicious rumor was quickly determined and Barton/Gambrinus immediately doused the horrible story.  Some damage […]

A number of years ago, Hofbrau, one of the six original German Munich breweries who can produce and sell Oktoberfest beer in that country, developed a unique business model.  Once they established an importing agency in the U.S., focusing on their Munich heritage, Hofbrau decided to franchise its name while using their famous Munich beer […]

The Rio Grande Valley area of Texas is considered an isolated part of the U.S. because of its location, surround on the southeast by the Gulf of Mexico, the county of Mexico to the south, and the vast expansion of the King Ranch to the north, coupled with the fact that a majority of Valley’s […]

The numbers for 2016 are now being released.  In 2016, we once again saw the industry produce similar results very similar to the last 10 years.  Since 2010, domestics have lost 16.5 million bbls. or 9% in volume, crafts have gained +13.2 million bbls., and imports +5.9 million bbls.  Therein lies the issue with wholesalers. […]

Many years ago, Diageo requested that all their U.S. beer distributors for Guinness sign a distributor contract.  At the time, less than half Diageo’s U.S. distributors had signed any document with Diageo.  With the promise from their Distributor Advisory Committee, Diageo set out to construct a contract which could, and would, be agreeable with both […]

It will be a couple of months before the final 2016 numbers on both shipments and depletions are announced, however, we do have the 11 months of import shipments to review.  While the industry buzz is about the slow-down in the grow rate for crafts, the numbers indicate that imports are surging at an increasing […]

During the year that I was the sales manager for Schlitz at Mid-State in Alexandria, LA, we were the beer sponsor for the minor league baseball team in the city.  Because this was a small-town minor league team, Mid-State did not sell much volume at the baseball park, but we did have an advantage as […]

During our lives we remember events which standout and affect us either directly or indirectly.  Events like the Kennedy assignation, the first moon landing or 9/11 which we will never forget, and in fact, were so dramatic they seem like they took place just yesterday.  Most of us can remember where we were and what […]