HOT TRUB
December 6,
2000
Edited by: Peter LaFrance (peter.lafrence@beerbasics.com)
Presented by: American Brewer
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Vol.1 No.7
This newsletter will post items of special interest to brewers, members of the
brewing and distilling community, and members of the media that covers the
beverage alcohol business.
Should you wish to contribute in any way to this venture please contact Peter
LaFrance at peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com
If you wish to be dropped from this list please respond to this posting to peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com and
include the word remove in the Subject: line.
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MILLER
TO CLOSE AUSTIN BREWERY
The “Gone But Not Forgotten” alert you received last week was a prelude to the following announcement as first reported by Business Wire on December 1, 2000; “Today, Miller Brewing Company announced its decision to pursue a sale of the Celis Brewery and the Celis trademark. Miller has also informed distributors and employees that the decision has been made to close the Austin brewery, effective December 31, 2000. “
Miller called it a “strategic
direction” to focus on core brands. Miller has reportedly decided that the
older Leinenkugel and Henry Weinhard's lines have attained critical mass and
“play important regional roles within Miller's brand portfolio.”
Miller acquired its majority
interest in Celis in 1995 and, just this past April, acquired 100 percent
ownership when the Celis family elected to sell its minority interest in the
brewery.
(Does this leave the door open for
Pierre to buy Celis back?)
Mexican
brewers are pinning their hopes to the idea that other brands will follow the
path forged by Corona, which has carved out a 5 percent U.S. market. An echo of
the Canadian invasion ten years ago, Mexican beers are the fastest-growing
segment in the U.S. market concentrated in Corona sales, which represents 90
percent of Mexican beer exports.
Mexican brewers are refining strategies to take advantage of
the opening in the U.S. market. Modelo will begin selling Corona in cans in the
United States. Dos Equis Lager and Tecate will also introduce new can packages
next summer.
Driven by statistics that show a
rapidly growing Hispanic population in the United States
both
Modelo and Femsa announced multimillion-dollar investments to boost their
production capacity by close to 40 by 2005.
Reuters
reports that the British Competition Commission report on Interbrew’s purchase
of Bass for 2.3 billion pounds has
been forwarded to Trade and Industry minister Stephen Byers. Byers is likely to
publish his ruling in the week starting Tuesday, January 2 because of the
Christmas and New Year holiday break.
Interbrew agreed to buy Bass's
brewing business in June. This deal, plus Whitbread's beer unit which Interbrew
bought for 400 million pounds the previous month, would give the Belgian brewer
a leading 32 percent share of the UK beer market.
It is reported that Byers will
recommend limiting the five-year beer supply deals which Interbrew has agreed
with both the pub estates of Bass and Whitbread and force Interbrew to sell off
some of its beer brands.
Reuters
reports that the Taybeh Brewing Company has watched helplessly as sales plunged
from more than 1,000 cases a week to around 100.
Daoud Khoury and his brother left
the United States after Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
signed their historic 1993 interim peace deal. They invested about $2 million
in setting up their brewery in the mainly Christian village of Taybeh. The
brewery, which employs 12 workers, quickly established a reputation for good
quality beer brewed from natural ingredients in line with a 1516 German purity
law. Khoury even sold a franchise for the brewing of Taybeh beer -- in Germany.
Khoury said that despite the
hardships, "We feel we made history by brewing the first Palestinian beer.
… These circumstances are beyond our predictions. We now pray that everything
will go back to normal so everyone can enjoy our beer."
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