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This week in 2006, while not a surprise given recent trends, INSIGHTS noted a significant milestone as imports climbed to 20.2 share of $$ in foodstores for last 13 weeks thru Mar 19, per IRI. Up 1.7 share. Modelo was at 7.3 share of $$, up 0.7 share, while Heineken at 5.5, up 0.5 share for 13 wks. That was almost 2/3 of import $$ in those companies. Meanwhile, craft was at 5.8 share of $$, up 0.6 for 13 wks. So import/craft was up to 26 share of $$ compared to 27.2 for Miller/Coors combo. That gap narrowed to just a little more than 1 share over last 13 weeks. If those trends continued, it would be less than 1 yr before those 2 hi-end segments had higher $$ value than #2 and #3 brewer combined in supermkts nationwide. This week in 2007, AdAge chronicled drama on Madison Ave. Front pg article detailed: "When Crispin Porter & Bogusky president Jeff Hicks called Miller's cmo Randy Ransom to quit the brewer's advertising account last week, a surprised Mr. Ransom tried to talk the agency president out of resigning. 'Is there anything we can do to stop this,' he asked. Mr. Hicks replied that he'd already issued a press release." So apparently Crispin indeed resigned the big bucks account, very rare in ad biz. And it resigned by press release, criticizing co it worked for. How did relationship get to such a bad state? Ad Age cited Miller insider that a review was "inevitable" within next mo if Crispin hadn't left. "Miller nearly called a review" in Jan at "urging" of SABMiller prexy Norman Adami and Crispin "threatened to quit," so (Miller prexy) "Mr. Long backed off," wrote AdAge.This week in 2008, rumors of possible hookup between Diageo and AB created quite a tizzy, suggesting AB would sell Diageo Guinness brands in US. UK press and some analysts had a field day with possibility. Only problem was, it wasn't true. Source from 1 co said "there aren't even discussions" and a source from the other called it "all crap." What generated the frenzy? Mandatory Apr meeting for DGUSA sales force simultaneously across time zones and rampant speculation about what will be discussed in that meeting. Execs were told to change plans and make sure they were there.This week in 2009, INSIGHTS noted that "different industry tiers not always aligned when states look to change alc bev laws, but not that often that beer distribs themselves are split." Yet that was case in Texas where in-state craft brewers sought to sell product from their breweries to visitors. (Wineries could already do that in TX.) One of 2 bills in hopper would allow visitors to buy 2 cases with purchase of tour package. At hearing, only opposition came from Wholesale Beer Distribs of Tex. WBDT's prexy Mike McKinney said that "distributors are largely responsible for the microbrewers' success and that the change in the law could upset the current 3-tier system," reported Star Telegram. WBDT's atty argued change could violate interstate commerce law and hurt small brewers, paper reported. But Houston-area distribs' Beer Alliance of Tex disputed both charges and "fully" supported bill. "It's these kinds of issues that defines why there are two beer groups," BAT's Rick Donley said, "It's almost as if they are obstructionists for the sake of obstruction." In 2019, TX finally passed law allowing customers to purchase up to a case to take home, not just from brewpubs but properly licensed craft brewers as well.This week in 2011, Barron's named AB InBev ceo Brito as one of top 30 CEOs in all industries. In 6 yrs, wrote Barron's, "Brito has turned a South American brewer into the world's largest beer company, capped by" AB deal. "He's done it with a no-frills high performance corporate culture that's become a textbook example of smart management." "Not sure many AB distribs would agree, as lots of 'em find AB in US increasingly dysfunctional with local employees fearful and/or unable to make decisions, while centralized ABI mgt comes up with decisions inappropriate for local mkts," noted INSIGHTS. But it was still quite an honor for Brito. Meanwhile, the last formal ties to Busch family were cut as it turned out that former ceo August Busch IV would no longer be on Anheuser Busch InBev's board for what ABI labeled "health" and "personal" reasons. August attended just 1 of 9 board meetings in 2010.This week in 2014, INSIGHTS pointed out how serious NY was about protecting the 3-tier system, at least in wine segment. Chef/restaurateur Mario Batali and biz partners ran afoul of NY state 3-tier laws that separated manufacturers/ importers and retailers of wine. He settled with state liquor authority for hefty $500K fine and 6-mo closing of his wine market at Eataly on Fifth Ave. Turned out "the liquor authority charged that Mr. Batali lied or 'suppressed information' about the wholesale and manufacturing interests of his business partners," Crain's NY Business reported, offenses which could have led to losing the store license. Instead, they had to pay the fine, close the store for 6 mos and one partner could no longer be named on the store license.This week in 2015, Kraft and Heinz merged and 3G (whose principals were largest ABI shareholders) along with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway invested $10 bil in co with projected annual revs of $28 bil. That led to some press and analysts to believe this deal made ABI-SAB deal down the road much less likely. "This move supports our thesis that the Brazilians are focusing on expansion outside beer and will use ABI as a cash machine&hellip; we think this rules out a bid for SABMiller," said Nomura's Ian Shackleton. "We see some risk to SABMiller's share price as bid speculation is likely to unravel." Evercore ISI's Robert Ottenstein had much different view, also worth noting (recall Robert was formerly ABI veep of investor relations). "ABI and 3G are separate corporate entities," he reminded. "We see no impact on the odds of a potential ABI acquisition of SABMiller." ABI-SAB deal was struck in Oct 2016.

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