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This week in 1999, Gambrinus prexy Carlos Alvarez told INSIGHTS they were up 36% on Modelo brands in 2d qtr and 1st half of the year. Modelo expected its total US volume to be up 20-25% in ’99, ceo Carlos Fernandez Gonzalez said during meeting hosted by Salomon Smith Barney, according to analyst Jennifer Solomon. Modelo was “entirely committed” to Barton and Gambrinus, Jennifer wrote too, adding “curtailment” of relationships "far from Modelo’s mind." Elsewhere, Canandaigua (Barton’s parent co) ceo Richard Sands told Impact mag that Modelo’s export division “entirely controlled by the Mexican ownership in a separate corporation.” Said “we don’t anticipate any changes” in relationship. Later that week, Modelo reported a 42% increase in exports in first half, with 80% going to US. That was ~4 mil bbls at the time. This week in 2005, AB pricing was top of mind in industry. According to Miller (which put out a 2d long press release devoted to AB pricing!), AB had not accomplished much, other than possibly destroying the industry’s pricing architecture. Yet Miller acknowledged that AB’s premium brands were still priced higher on avg and the same or higher than Miller’s 75% of the time. AB profits had already taken a hit in first qtr before heavy discounting kicked in. Its stock was still under pressure; most of “Buffett effect” (move up from $45 to $48 per share) wiped out and it was down more than 10% since 2004, noted INSIGHTS. That week, Bear Stearns’ Carlos Laboy, almost in lockstep with SABMiller, downgraded AB to underperform “due to pricing weakness and higher go-to-market costs.” AB’s “strategy of closing the national average revenue per case gap,” according to Carlos, “will be a net negative over the short, medium and long-term if the company continues down this path.”This week in 2006, INSIGHTS pointed out how AB was quietly advancing ball on consolidation among its wholesalers, more rapidly than Miller or Coors. Marcy Dist, a 1.2 mil case Okla AB distrib, was going to be split between AB’s branch in Tulsa and Premium Beers of OK in Oklahoma City. The branch and Premium already sold most of AB volume in state. And P&E Distrib in Hopkinsville, KY (about 1 mil cases) was selling to Budweiser of Clarksville, TN, which was contiguous. Both of those deals were scheduled to close within weeks. That followed 2d qtr deal by Skeff Dist to buy House of Brews in IL.This week in 2007, INSIGHTS noted that Reyes’ appetite for acquisition wasn’t abating. Latest deal from acquisitive Reyes Holdings, which bought 3 distribs in 2006 (2 in MD, 1 in SC) and was buying their 3d of 2007 (2 in VA, 1 in CA). Reyes Holdings, thru its Premium Dist in VA, struck deal to buy PI Moffett Dist in Winchester, about 600K cases of Coors, Pabst, Corona. Earlier that yr, Reyes struck deal to buy Dearing Bev, 1-mil-case Miller distrib in Winchester. So this consolidated Winchester mkt, which was contiguous to other Premium territories.This week in 2009, State AGs were going after fast growing caffeinated malt bevs. This issue had been brewin’ for a while and no surprise in aftermath of AB and Miller dropping caffeinated beers after pressure from state attorneys general. WSJ reported AGs in NY, CT, and other states had started investigation, issued subpoenas to producers of Joose and Four Loko, the caffeinated, high-alcohol (9%+ ABV) brands that filled void when Sparks, Bud Extra and others were reformulated or pulled. AGs were looking into whether brands were deceptively marketed: i.e. by suggesting they have stimulating effects, wrote WSJ. Those brands were flyin’ according to scanner data and everything we’d heard from distribs who sold them. Suppliers were likely to fall back on argument that formulas, labels and maybe even mktg cleared thru TTB. But it was more the negative publicity/pressure that got big brewers to drop brands. Will same pressure force more marginal players out of mkt? wondered INSIGHTS. AB and Miller surely could not be happy. “If regulation is applied to the industry, it needs to be applied to the entire industry,” AB prexy Dave Peacock told WSJ. Each of MillerCoors and AB said they’re “disappointed” other cos not “compelled to remove caffeine,” reported Jnl. Under mounting pressure, Phusion Projects removed caffeine, taurine and guarana in Nov 2010.This week in 2011, MillerCoors announced it was discontinuing MGD 64 Lemonade. It didn’t come as a great surprise, since its sales results were decidedly underwhelming, less than 0.1 share in 4 weeks thru Jul 10 in Symphony IRI Group food/drug/convenience data. MGD Lemonade 64, was its biggest new brand attempt of 2011. MC told distribs that “we will buy back all MGD 64 Lemonade in their warehouses at 100 percent (where legal). Additionally, where legal, we will cover destruction costs up to $2.50 per case.” MC acknowledged: “not every innovation will succeed.” But MC was “asking distributors to redouble their efforts behind the MGD 64 base brand, as well as Miller Lite and Coors Light.” MGD 64 volume was down 20.5% yr-to-date in SIG f/d/c data, Miller Lite down 2.4% and Coors Light up 2.6%. “We remain committed to our winning with Premium Lights strategy, and we are ideally positioned to outflank the competition with these three brands,” wrote MC.This week in 2014, Boston Herald focused on challenges facing Yuengling in new Massachusetts mkt. “I’m not going to sugarcoat that [Massachusetts has] been a very competitive market, more competitive than any market we’ve seen before,” Yuengling coo Dave Casinelli told paper. Article headlined that “Yuengling suffering a Boston beer bruise.” Didn’t have much in way of hard numbers but claimed Yuengling was in “fight of its life to win over Boston beer drinkers.” INSIGHTS had noted in prior issues that competitors have thrown sharp pricing and mktg punches since Yuengling’s intro earlier that yr in attempts to prevent high mkt shares Yuengling got early on in last big intro mkt, Ohio. Herald’s evidence was mostly anecdotal: 1) Boston Beer Garden buyer sez he went from 3 kegs on day 1 to 1 per week; 2) same guy took Yuengling off draft list; 3) mgr of Baseball Tavern in Fenway said, “novelty has worn off,” dittoed by other retailers. “We’re big boys,” said Dave, “completely fine” with competition, and suggested Yuengling brought out “the best and worst of everyone” in a mkt, given its potential to be “a very big brand.”

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