1st BATCH OF FILES AVAILABLE NOW!

This week in 1979, INSIGHTS wondered how Falstaff wholesalers must've felt reading recent ad in Indianapolis Star. Ad headlined: "Falstaff Believes in the Free Enterprise System," and further explained customers were welcome to purchase beer at its Fort Wayne brewery. "Although several Indiana wholesalers tried to prevent in court our selling products to you at our dock, the court disagreed with them and refused to forbid direct sales of our products to you," wrote co. This week in 2001, in all the media attention on the Super Bowl that yr, when the Baltimore Ravens easily defeated the NY Giants, a beer connection was spotted. Turned out Giants coach Jim Fassel was a beer man way back when. AB distributor Whitey Littlefield of Long Beach Calif gave Fassel his first job after he hung up his cleats 25 yrs ago. "An unbelievable salesman...one of the best we ever had," Whitey told NY paper.This week in 2005, AB and Miller scored big win when Superior Court in Los Angeles tossed remaining 3 claims of what was potentially a huge liability suit. Plaintiff attorneys, including Steve Berman, who had big win against tobacco industry, thought they were in for big payday (in $5 bil range) when they filed suit in Feb '04 seeking to establish a class of plaintiffs among underage Calif residents to sue AB and Miller for allegedly targeting underage drinkers with their ads. Judge ruled Calif law doesn't allow plaintiffs to recover damages for their own illegal activity. Suit also failed to identify "a single ad" that was false or show plaintiffs suffered any harm from beer mktg. INSIGHTS shared strong quotes from Judge: "Generally, the courts will not assist those whose suits are based on their own illegal conduct." Also, the "Court does not believe that the plaintiffs can allege any facts that will cure the defects," so he granted AB and Miller's motion to dismiss without a chance to further amend claims. It was an important win as similar attempted class actions were working thru courts in Wash DC, NC, OH and Colo at time. Almost exactly one year later, US Dist Court in Ohio tossed similar claims following CA and Colo. As part of that decision, judge ruled "it's up to state legislators to resolve 'public policy issues,'" not the courts.This week in 2007, INSIGHTS noted the increased focus on imported light beers. It was a notable theme at a recent Labatt USA meeting. Co was shifting mktg focus to Labatt Blue Light, which was up 4% in '06, but still represented only 30% of total LUSA volume, compared to much higher % for big 3 domestic brewers. Switch was unsurprising, given general mkt trends and Heineken Premium Light's success in '06. But it was only one example of increased pressure from imports on domestic premium light beers. Another was Tecate Light, which one sizable Western distrib assured INSIGHTS will be one of big stories in '07. Indeed, HUSA reportedly projected Tecate Light to sell big #s, even in same neighborhood as HPL in some mkts. And Heineken Premium Light wasn't going to turn off spigot in yr two, plus Corona Light was budgeted to grow faster than Modelo portfolio as a whole. To date, most imported light beers have not been able to sustain at initial launch levels in US, tho Constellation has retooled Premier and Oro at lower price points in attempt to get them back to growth.This week in 2011, "finally, there's action in Austin, one of biggest remaining unconsolidated MillerCoors mkts. KEG 1 LLC (a consortium of 10 distribs) has deal to acquire Centex Bev, Miller/Heineken/Diageo distrib in Austin," reported INSIGHTS. KEG 1 ceo at the time, Don Faust Jr (also ceo of Houston based Faust Dist) had long sought foothold in Austin. Note: owners of both Miller and Coors distribs in Austin had passed away in 2009 and fate of distribs in this crucial mkt was very much up-in-air and much discussed even well prior to 2011. Sometime back, MillerCoors apparently anointed KEG 1 as Austin consolidator and yet it still took a long time to get even this first piece done. Centex by far the smaller piece too. Coors distrib Capitol, at around 6 mil cases at the time, more than 2x size of Centex with stronger portfolio. Capitol prevailed as the MC consolidator, merging with Wright and purchasing Saunders and KEG 1 Austin in 2014-2025. And Reyes ultimately acquired the combined Capitol Wright entity in late 2022, by then a 16-mil-cases/yr operation.This week in 2013, INSIGHTS shared breaking news from our sibling pub Beverage Business INSIGHTS. In move that BBI called "astounding," Monster Energy was moving from Bud branch and Coke bottler in NY metro area to indie house Big Geyser for Monster Energy brands. It was hard to recall any other key brands that had moved out of major system back to indie shop like this. Plus, both AB and Coke are Monster's strategic allies, splitting distribution of brand in North America. But Big Geyser was a big player in NYC. "And don't necessarily read this as meaning trouble in ABI/Monster relationship. Monster just gave ABI big swath of South American region," noted INSIGHTS. Monster of course did end up pulling distribution from AB system in US after selling minority stake to Coke in 2014.

Flashback Friday

Publishing Info