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This week in 2000, INSIGHTS reported just how anxious distillers were to get the equivalence message out. They were "anxious enough to invite a few dozen journalists (including several big consumer mags) to one of NYC's most elite restaurants - The Four Seasons - for a DISCUS-sponsored press conference, ostensibly about 'The Role of Moderate Beverage Alcohol Consumption in the Adult American Diet,' but had each speaker miraculously advance equivalence. One of the 3 truly flogged the theme. That wasn't all. DISCUS handed out press release of a new study it did that showed Americans "Surprisingly Uninformed When It Comes to the Facts of Alcohol Equivalence." Coup de gr&acirc;ce: each table had tray with a glass of beer, a glass of wine and a mixed drink. "Little signs showed beer was 12 oz, wine was 5 oz, drink was 1.5 oz. Get it? Get it? Get it?" wrote INSIGHTS. This week in 2004, at NCSLA mtg in New Orleans, Wine Institute prexy (and brother-in-law to President George W. Bush) Bobby Koch expressed his "support for the 3-tier system." It works well for big vintners, said Bobby, but needed to be "augmented" so that small and mid-size wineries can compete. Wine Inst is not "interested in slashing, burning or blowing up" 3-tier system, he assured. But assn supported "reciprocal" state laws that allowed direct shipping to consumers.This week in 2005, the potential pitfalls of growth thru acquisition as well as all-alc-bev model was evident in blistering Aussie report on Foster's. Foster&#39;s Southcorp and Beringer wine biz buys "have effectively destroyed significant shareholder value" and produced "totally unacceptable" return on invested capital over last 5 yrs, said Merrill Lynch consumer-goods analyst David Errington. Foster&#39;s was "worst-performing Australian consumer co" for ROIC, said David. He downgraded Foster&#39;s stock to "sell" and took issue with mgt&#39;s boast that Foster&#39;s now "world&#39;s leading premium wine co," only Australian consumer co "to achieve global category leadership," and country&#39;s "leading multi-beverage business." "Being bigger counts for little" in fragmented wine biz and won&#39;t help Foster&#39;s achieve stated aim of doubling Southcorp&#39;s earnings quickly, David said. Foster&#39;s had long been biggest Oz beer biz, but over last 5 yrs its performance had been "well and truly lacking on many measures" and "historically poor," he added.This week in 2006, INSIGHTS noted that Supreme Court's ruling that opened door to direct wine shipments in a number of states hadn't led to boon for wineries many thought would come in NY. In fact, "less than a quarter" of 1,850 California wineries obtained license to ship directly to NY state, reported Crain's NY Business. Same went for exports, as just 24%, or 50 of 207 NY state wineries shipped to homes outside of NY. "It's not for everyone," Jim Tresize, prexy of NY Wine and Grape Foundation told Crain's. "It's a hassle that involves doing a lot of paperwork," he added. Besides paperwork, many wineries didn't want to pony up for expensive state permits. In NY, a max of 36 cases could be sold to one person per yr. "The change in the law was not a panacea," one NY winery owner noted. "Compliance and regulations are still a real boondoggle." Meanwhile, consumers were not so quick to change buying habits: only 175K cases of wine purchased from out of state in NY Jan-Apr, vs the "millions" purchased in local stores, noted Crain's.This week in 2009, two contested MillerCoors distrib deals closed. One had been in arbitration in CA, the other a subject of a lawsuit in IN. Allied Bevs bought Coors distrib in Santa Barbara, about a half mil cases. That followed its recent purchase of Basso. Allied was up to ~12 mil cases annually. Despite all MC difficulties in consolidating in CA (arbitrations, lawsuits, and other battles), with this deal, all of S Calif was finally consolidated. And so was all of Indiana, following sale of 3-mil-case Metro Bevs in South Bend to North Coast, operating as Indiana Beverage after deal closed. Metro lawsuit against MC and North Coast went away as did that California arbitration. Indiana Beverage and Monarch were only 2 MC distribs in Indiana going up against over 20 AB distribs.This week in 2014, INSIGHTS wrote, "Chalk another one up for states' rights to regulate alc bevs in unique ways, even if consumer's inconvenienced," as we reported recent decision out of Indiana. US Dist Ct there upheld Indiana law only allowed liquor stores and on-premise outlets to sell cold beer, barring c-stores and grocery stores from that practice. C-store assn claimed law violated constitutional rights to equal protection and was "irrational." Judge disagreed. Rather, he deemed law a "classic case of legislative line-drawing." What's more, cold beer ban "is rationally related to the legitimate goals of Indiana's alcoholic beverage laws; opening this market to others without restriction is not." Those state goals were "limiting the sale of alcohol" and "curbing the sale of immediately consumable beer to minors."This week in 2015, Financial Times ran lengthy article on ABI, interviewing ceo Carlos Brito, who offered matter-of-fact observations on ABI's culture and looked back at InBev's 2008 takeover of ABI: "In any company, there's 20 percent that lead, 70 percent that follow and 10 per cent that do nothing&hellip;. So the 10 percent that do nothing you have to get rid of&hellip;. They're always unhappy and always complaining." What about all the sr execs that left? "Some were too rich to care, some were too old to work, some wouldn't fit the culture anyway," Brito said. Meanwhile, ABI's global mgt training program got nearly 100K applications for 147 slots. To be a GMT was very much in demand. And why not? "Considerable rewards in cash and equity are available to those who hit tough targets at company, unit and individual level," wrote FT, citing Brito's approx $280 mil in options.

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