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This week in 1999, a writer for online mag Slate contrasted increasingly tough drinking/driving laws to increasingly lax attitude toward speeding, which was #2 cause of traffic deaths. Pointed out: car ads "celebrate" reckless behavior and 49 states allow sale of radar detectors, whose "sole purpose is to help motorists break the law with impunity.... How long would legislators tolerate the sale of a device to foil a breathalyzer?" "Good question," wrote INSIGHTS. This week in 2008, INSIGHTS reported that AB added a big branch in Oregon when it bought Western Bev, approx 6-mil-case AB distrib in Eugene earlier that month. That followed AB's acquisition of nearly half of Crown in WA a few months prior. Those were on top of WEDCO operation in Miami in summer of 07, where AB's partner had 1/10 of 1% stake. What's more, INSIGHTS had heard of at least 2 other pending transactions where AB branch may be buyer. "Owning all or part of a distrib is increasingly AB's preferred option," wrote INSIGHTS. "This looks more and more like strategic shift. It's almost as if while AB's distribs become increasingly non-exclusive, AB simultaneously seeks more control of its system thru increased ownership." In recent yrs, AB has sold off a number of its branches.This week in 2009, during tough economic times, subpremiums were paying off for convenience store operators. "Some retailers have begun to promote cheaper beers harder than ever," wrote Wall Street Jnl. In ampm stores, which had ~1400 locations, sr category mgr Bob Gulley told store managers "to begin offering 30-can packages" of Busch, Keystone Light with floor displays so "he could compete better" with supermkts. "We&#39;ve never done anything like that," he added. Result: a 25-30% $$ sale gain in subpremiums so far that yr. At 7-Eleven, subpremiums $$ sales were up 9% too. MillerCoors prexy Tom Long "said in an interview that some drinkers are embracing a wider cultural shift toward thrift." AB prexy Dave Peacock "said beer is better-positioned amid the recession than other consumer goods sectors because private label brands aren&#39;t much of a factor."This week in 2010, Diageo Guinness USA prexy Pete Carr shared new initiatives with INSIGHTS at co headquarters. The basic point: after yrs of laying low, "losing our way" as Pete said, DGUSA was getting back in game, taking some risks again. Co planned to spend $11 mil on new Smirnoff mixed drinks PAB intros, including $7.5 mil on tv. It had already shipped 1 mil cases of these brands to distribs. Also planned on another $4.5 mil for tv ads for Red Stripe Light intro. Several initiatives surrounded Guinness brand and efforts to "trade off the equity of craft with the heritage of Guinness," Pete said. No large import better positioned to make that move. One initiative "to expand Guinness platform" involved encouraging bartenders to mix Guinness with non-DGUSA brands ("makes everything taste better") including Black&Blue (Blue Moon), Black Magic (Magic Hat #9), Noble Irishman (Sam Adams Noble Pilsner), etc.This week in 2013, consultant Bump Williams was highlighting to clients an enemy that was not being addressed enough. Big brewers tended to focus on "hard liquor" as well as the inroads distillers had made on- and off-premise and with millennial consumers, he noted. Then too, brewers fought fiercely to take shelf space from beer competitors. Bump offered another view: "I think we ought to be focused on taking some 'dead space' from the Wine category." Beer was being "outgunned at retail," with wine getting 6X more displays even tho beer's turn rate was 3X wine's. Beer might be missing sales oppy "because we're arguing over the crumbs we get with an extra facing or warm shelf slot from beer's enemy," Bump suggested. Then too, on heels of wine there were "500 very hot and in demand craft spirit companies" that will be vying for space too, he cautioned.This week in 2015, Miller Lite was finally headed north of the border. Now that it was separated from Molson Coors in Canada, SABMiller was rolling out Miller Lite nationwide. Lite was previously only available in Ontario and Newfoundland but "has not been sold at all here since 2010," noted The Globe and Mail. Lite launch was to be supported with "heavy rotation" of TV ads thru summer to tout Lite's history, as the "light beer that invented light beer" and also put emphasis on quality to draw craft drinkers. On heels of tough Q1 that yr, Molson Coors now had to deal with Lite competition in Canada, where light beers accounted for ~25% of mkt, per SABMiller's own research which also found "a third of those consumers" weren't loyal to any particular light beer brand, noted INSIGHTS.This week in 2016, there was an unsurprising development that still resonated as big news. Kroger dropped its untenable plan to set up Southern Wine and Spirits as category captain across beer, wine and spirits, while brewers and distributors paid for the privilege. Why was it untenable? Because the government said so, that's why. TTB had recently clarified that any type of category mgt effort beyond simple shelf schematics constituted illegal inducement (to favor one product over a competitor) by giving a retailer something of value. Both Kroger's home state OH and neighboring PA ruled the plan illegal too. Once those rulings came out, Kroger's abandonment of its plan was practically a foregone conclusion. And so Kroger put out a 2-page letter explaining plan and why it was now history. When plan intro'd in Oct 2015, Kroger said it was to "better serve our customers and more quickly bring new, innovative adult beverages to market."

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