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This week in 1986, NY Times reported on a confidential analysis prepared for President Reagan's cabinet with a "pro-states' rights philosophy that many in beer industry would applaud," wrote INSIGHTS. Report found White House overstepped its bounds 2 yrs earlier in getting minimum drinking age upped to 21. "The national government has been behaving without legitimate constitutional warrant" in usurping state authority. Report also slammed Congress for tying federal funds to regulations "having little or no relationship to the programs being funded," including recent drinking age legislation. This week in 1989, AB execs were pushing back on notion that Budweiser, the King of Beers, was struggling. Several analysts raised issue and AdAge ran front page headline: "Budweiser's Sales Slipping," citing scanner trends. "The product is hardly in trouble," exec veep Mike Roarty told INSIGHTS. "Budweiser remains the envy of the industry because of its broad-based appeal and ability to remain contemporary with the new generation of drinkers&hellip;It's hardly sick&hellip;The deep discounting by major competitors contributed to the slowing of the entire premium segment," countered Mike. Bud was nearly 2/3 of AB biz and ~26 share of US mkt, having grown an avg of 3.4% over previous 5 yrs. It was just the year before that AB stopped talking about individual brands, switching focus to brand "families" instead. Bud ended up declining 1.2% in '89 and has continued to decline every year since in US, currently on pace to slip to ~3.5 share in 2025.This week in 1999, after a Wall St Journal article slammed the 3-tier system and Southern Wine & Spirits, the Chicago Tribune jumped in with headline: "How the Wirtzes sold liquor law." Article detailed efforts by Rocky and William Wirtz, who owned distribs in 6 states, to pass IL franchise law. Said their PR efforts and political contributions (over $120K to IL pols in mos before law considered) were "seen largely as a power grab: two tycoons throwing their weight around in the state capital." It claimed that Wirtz family really pushed bill after early '99 termination threats from 2 key suppliers, Kendall-Jackson and UDV. (UDV owned distiller who lost $17.7 mil judgment to Wirtz's in Nevada in '98 over termination.)This week in 2001, INSIGHTS reported Schenck Corp of Orlando had purchased Jim Taylor Corp. Schenck picked up Taylor's 1.3 mil cases and brought co to ~11 mil cases of Miller, Coors, Pabst, imports, specialty, etc from its brand-spankin' new 325,000-sq ft warehouse. Jim was once one of largest Old Mil distribs in country but sold both his distributorships in 2001. There was plenty of dealmaking going on in FL around that time with lots of big city distrib sales in the state over 2 yrs, including Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa, Naples, Sarasota, noted INSIGHTS. Schenck sold to Reyes about a decade later.This week in 2002, distributor Ron Fowler said prices for distributors had "stabilized" on panel at Beer INSIGHTS Seminar. (Ron was ceo of Liquid Investments, one of largest distribs, and had done dozens of deals for brands or cos). Sellers value their biz these days as "multiple of gross margin. Deals really look like they're somewhere between 1.5 and 2x (gross margin)," said Ron. And "1.5 seems to be becoming the floor in terms of most of the deals." Ron acknowledged that some AB deals above 2x and some brand deals, Corona especially, "well above 2x gross margin." On same panel, consultant Mike Mazzoni agreed that deal prices "seem to be leveling out" after "escalating" in last couple of yrs. Interestingly, Ron said that beer distrib deals were "back in fashion," because bankers "like the predictability of the earnings curve."This week in 2003, INSIGHTS wrote that at recent small brewers assn (BAA) mtg, there were few supporters of franchise laws besides distribs. BAA had an almost reflexive antipathy given that members felt franchise laws kept 'em tied up with wholesalers who ignore 'em. Wine Inst prexy Bobby Koch, who spoke to BAA, was far from a fan. Distillers Diageo and Constellation had publicly offered stinging rebukes of franchise laws. Even AB prexy August Busch IV, who again expressed unwavering commitment to 3-tier at Beer Insights Seminar, said: "We do not believe that franchise legislation is the correct answer" to adding value for retailers, calling it a "short-term action that doesn't address the core issue." A lone defender of franchise laws at BAA: Oregon distrib assn exec Paul Romain, who said that well-crafted law like one in his state doesn't "stop you from moving," it just assures that brands get bought for fair-mkt value, instead of "yanked" for nothing.This week in 2008, in a weird twist, industry critics/public health advocates at Marin Institute found a new way to criticize AB. AB/InBev "just not a good deal," Marin said in statement, because AB leadership "compromised the financial security" of employees and communities that depend on AB biz. "Loopholes" in ABI deal would allow co to close breweries (despite stated commitments to keep 'em open) in case of extraordinary events. One of those potential events is higher excise taxes, "vigorously promoted, natch, by Marin itself!" wrote INSIGHTS. "In fact, Marin audaciously points to recent nickel-a-drink proposal by Calif Gov that it backs," and sez state/fed taxes will "have to be increased." That meant InBev "will close breweries and cut costs without mercy." INSIGHTS pointed out how odd it was for Marin to pick up industry mantra that higher beer taxes would eliminate jobs. And gotta note, ABI's yet to close any of its large US brewing facilities despite continued volume losses since 2008.This week in 2013, Ohio regulators took a stand against allowing distribs to pay for brand rights. A wholesaler "who pays a manufacturer for distribution rights will direct their&hellip; (sales force) to sell that product to the detriment of other products in an effort to recoup" those dollars, said Bruce Stevenson, chief of alc bev enforcement in OH in letter to state distrib assn. He didn't refer specifically to New Belgium, which had recently entered the state, but wrote that "in other words," such a contract "by its very nature creates an implied promise to give preference to that manufacturer's product line" over others. Such an agreement runs afoul of OH law that stated any contract where distrib "promises&hellip; to give preference" to some products over others "shall to the extent of that promise be void."This week in 2014, "total beverage alcohol" was top of mind at our Beer INSIGHTS Seminar. "What's a wine guy doing talking to a bunch of beer guys?" asked Constellation Brands ceo Rob Sands. His key point: "no such thing" as a "wine guy" anymore, or a beer guy or a spirits guy, for that matter. These categories increasingly "blurring" across consumers, products and retailers, Rob stressed, and "everyone has to adapt" to this reality. We reminded that at a previous INSIGHTS Seminar, Rob made parallel point about "SKUmageddon" in beer and growing concern about SKU proliferation. He noted that wine guys lived in "post-apocalyptic world" compared to beer, with many thousands more SKUs for lots less volume. "Almost nobody" drinks just beer, wine or spirits these days, said Rob. Indeed, only 10% of beer drinkers drank only beer, and just 4% of wine drinkers, 3% of spirits drinkers were exclusive to those bevs, according to IRI panel data. "Shared buyers" between bevs accounted for 85% of alc bev growth, said IRI. Ironically, Constellation continues to move further away from a total beverage alcohol portfolio these days, selling off much of its spirits and a big chunk of its wine biz.

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