Treasury eyes beer industry 'duopoly' in urging more competition

Hopefully there is better methods to keep so much of the beer industry from being monopolized by the 2 big dogs. From distribution, to aluminum, to shelf space, to tap handles….they got their claws into controlling so many aspects of the industry for sure.

 

Distribution concentration is the bigger problem for small brewers, I would think. Unfortunately for the Feds (I know... that inconvenient Constitution thing), that is state jurisdiction.

 

Regarding the trouble with getting cans for small brewers/cideries, perhaps it is time for them to explore alternative packaging. I don’t see the world suddenly finding a surplus of aluminum as demand goes up. Plastic is a terrible choice for the environment, but if it is passable for milk, soda, juice, etc. then I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for beer/cider. How about those paper based milk/juice cartons?

 

What!? I'm shocked. This Beer Institute?

*2018-2019 Report. Current one does not list members, but to be fair, a number of well-known "craft" breweries also belong to both the B.A. and the Beer Institute.

 

re: min purchase of cans...

How about (horrors!) bottles?

It wasn't that long ago that small brewers packaged only in bombers.

 

With the "-" around "craft", are you talking about brewers that the BA still considers "independent" or those it does not? Just curious.

 

Hmm... not necessarily. In the DoJ agreement which allowed AB-InBev to buy SABMiller (even though Molson Coors wound up with the US part of the company):

 

Well, Heavy Seas as noted on the BoD, but also Sierra Nevada, Boston, Bell's, Stone, Harpoon, Matt, Spoetzl... too many to list (or copy/paste). When The BI stopped listing their membership on their website or annual reports (and WTF's the deal with that?), I went back and saved the membership at the time (2018 is the date of my word file).

From that same 2018-2019 Report pdf I quoted from above:

Pretty sure that Brooklyn's Steve Hindy was also an official with the BI at one time.

 

Thanks.

 

Yeah, but they used their leverage on approval of the merger(s), not their actual jurisdiction.

(Similar to how the Feds interfere in state jurisdiction by using their money, for example, with the DUI laws, minimum age alcohol purchase laws, etc. - pass these laws or you don't get "our" money).

They can regulate interstate commerce, but not intrastate (at least according to the oft ignored constitution).

 

Well, many distributors these days are owned by large, multistate chains like Reyes, Hand Family, Sheehan, JJ Taylor and Glazers (all among the 20 largest distributors in the US). And, of course, they all deal with AB or MC (or other out of state breweries or importers), so that alone likely makes it interstate commerce in most cases.

 

I remember when Sheehan split their craft and specialty imports into a company separate from their AB portfolio. Previously AB claimed the craft and imports diluted AB sales. Simple solution: two companies. Now AB wants it both ways by owning it all. Nothing really new at at all.....