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This week in 1995, Beer Institute prexy Ray McGrath flagged challenges beer faced in yrs ahead competing in a diverse beverage world. "If you had told me 10 years ago that iced tea, bottled water, and fruit juice trucks would be double parked on every city street, I might have laughed," he told BI mtg. "Competing soft drinks, coffee companies and others" have "aggressively pursued opportunities in the new advantages of marketing and technology," noted Ray. Imbalance of direct sales online was a big concern: "Government regulation has effectively foreclosed mail order sales, one of the greatest marketing" opportunities enjoyed by other industries for past decade. Ray made clear he was not endorsing direct sales in beer industry but simply pointing out other bev competitors "do not face the same legal and regulatory barriers," and they will "be aggressively exploring opportunities on the information highway." Going forward, beer industry faced "unprecedented competition from a wide range of unregulated beverages," he cautioned. Thirty years later, beer is competing against energy drinks, hemp bevs, RTD cocktails and more. This week in 1999, war of words between wine/liquor distribs and suppliers in Illinois continued. Responding to distiller UDV (United Distillers & Vintners, former spirits division of Diageo) announcement of price hikes to distribs that "shouldn't be passed on to consumers," UDV distrib Judge & Dolph sent letter to retailers calling UDV move "a vindictive, calculated and selfish decision&hellip;to undermine the health and stability of our industry while lining their own pockets." J&D said it wouldn't raise prices 'til after holidays but added: "I'm sure you would agree that their timing stinks." UDV's response: J&D "demonstrating its disregard for consumers and retailers and its belief that monopoly protection makes it immune to the movements of the marketplace." This extraordinarily public fight about pricing, as detailed in Chi Trib, even included report that distribs supposedly "settled on" 3-6% price hikes when tax went up. One Chi distrib told Trib: "This thing is getting out of control." And a retailer said: "There are price increases in life. It doesn't do any of us any good to keep airing our dirty laundry in the public arena."This week in 2001, while inevitable, it was still quite newsworthy when August Busch IV confirmed at analyst conference that Bud Light had passed Budweiser to become #1 beer brand by volume in US. It took Bud Light 20 years in market and 9 straight years of double-digit growth, but by end of that year it had grown to 34.7 mil bbls vs 33.9 mil bbls for Bud. That was a 3.7 mil swing in Bud Light's favor in one year. "Hard to believe that just 10 years ago, Bud out shipped Bud Light by 37 mil bbls," noted INSIGHTS. (We ran this item 4 yrs ago but sharing again as a reminder now that Michelob Ultra has moved ahead of Bud Light by volume, per Circana data.)This week in 2008, at NBWA convention, consultant Tim Coughlin said distribs should be considering, "Should I leave or Should I Grow?" Decision to do nothing and wait for a supplier to dictate your co's future was "baffling" to Tim. He pointed out, "consolidation works" and tho big brewers at one time "not on board," now going "overboard." Key issue for buyers was having enough money to buy as banks were not doing "stretch deals," so distribs who weren't profitable had no "war chest" to be in buyer position. Cautioned too that distribs have to be willing to "weather the storm," down road, as he reminded about 2005 when some AB distribs took profit hits of 20% or more. Most important in his view: buyers gotta be ready to "act like a consolidator" and move quickly to "get right sized."This week in 2009, a massive deal to combine Southern Wine & Spirits and Glazer's was shelved (for the time being). Amid much hoopla in Aug '08, Southern Wine & Spirits and Glazer's talked of joining to create behemoth alc bev distributorship. Companies already operated in 38 states, and venture would've had sales of approx $10 bil and 23 share of wine/spirits distribution, estimated Impact newsletter. But deal was called off that week, distribs announced. Decision "driven by the sheer complexity of the transaction," according to Glazer chairman Bennett Glazer. In Jan 2016, a deal was finally agreed upon to combine two big co's to cover 41 states plus Wash DC in US as well as territories in Canada and Caribbean.This week in 2010, Luis Duran announced he was leaving Heineken. "While Heineken made me an incredible offer to be part of their new family, I came to realize over time, that it was not the right opportunity for me," he wrote friends and colleagues. Luis was named commercial director for Americas on Jul 1 and was "a key exec Heineken had endeavored to keep following its acquisition of FEMSA," noted INSIGHTS. At FEMSA, Luis was one of architects of its US growth and played role in laying the groundwork for deal with Heineken.This week in 2013, consultant Michael Beyer detailed at CBBD meeting the dizzying amount and array of alcohol licenses in California as it seemed everyone wanted in on action. In CA, that year there were 60K stores selling alc bevs and some 80K licenses, and fully 80 different types. Whew! The list grew as Beyer explained because new types of accounts were seeking licenses including arts & crafts studios, salons, museums, movie theatres, zoos, university events and more. He had helped the first 2 Starbucks in CA get alc bev licenses and felt more would be coming. Then too, value retailers Family Dollar, Dollar General and '99 Cent Only wanted to sell beer and other alc bevs too. He also said there was increased demand for licenses for corporate kitchens and food trucks. "People are trying to push those envelopes," he advised. Certainly, made for lots more stops for distribs.

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