Beer Biz
Lotta beer biz to report this month. Most of it is from the Ale BrewsGram (available from ALExaminer@aol.com) which Oliver Weatherbee of First State turned me on to and which seems to be pretty accurate. Anyway - a recent report announced that while total U.S. beer sales went up 1 percent in 1996, sales of imports went up 10 percent (to encompass 6.4 percent of the totalmarket), whereas sales of domestic craftbrews went up 26 percent (to 3.1 percent of the total). The top 10 U.S. craftbrewers in 1996, with production in barrels, were:
Boston Beer - 1.2 million Widmer - 122,000 Pete's - 420,000 Anchor - 108,000 Sierra Nevada - 270,000 Full Sail - 80,000 Red Hook - 225,000 Portland - 70,000 Pyramid - 128,000 Spanish Peaks - 60,000
Locally, Frederick Brewing keeps hemorrhaging, with 1997 first quarter gross sales down more than $165,000 from 1996 and a net loss of $645,502 for the period. Its public stock sales continue to keep it in bizness. (A report by Joseph N. DiStefano in the May 26th Philly Inquirer contributed by Betsy Perse of First State reports on the long-term problems with public stockofferings. Boston and Pete's shares sold for $25 when first available in late 1995; now Boston is down to $9 and Pete's to $6. Independence of Philly has dropped from $5.50 to $1.50 since February.)
The BrewsGram also helps us keep up with Anheuser-Busch's continued attempts to influence the entire world beer biz. A-B has agreed with American Craft Brewery International (AmBrew) of Metairie, Louisiana to "work together on future brewing and marketing projects." AmBrew owns and operates the South China Brewery, a craftbrewery in Hong Kong, along with breweries in Ireland and Mexico. (And according to a Wall Street Urinal piece by Carlos Tejada dated April 30th and contributed by Betsy Perse of First State, AmBrew released 10,000 cases of a Red Dawn beer in honor of Hong Kong's return to China. Although AmBrew claims that "red" is associated with festivals and "dawn" with change in China, others associate the term with communist takeovers.)
Finally, as reported by Tim Farrand of Reuter's and published in the May 13th Wash Post, Guinness is planning to merge with Grand Metropolitan, British owners of Pillsbury, Burger King, Green Giant, Haagen Dazs and other American brands.
Other Newz
Mike Farmer of GABS contributed the following short piece from a Website called The Point Cast Network, summarized from a NY Timez report from March 31st:Ambergene Corp. was assigned a patent for technology used to recover bacteria and other organisms found in amber or other natural resins. The spore-forming organisms have been encased in the amber for millions of years. Ambergene is using the technology to find chemical shortcuts for new classes of antibiotics. The company is also introducing a microbrewery beer made from an ancient yeast.
And from the ALExaminer - The Titanic left port with 12,000 bottles of Bass India Pale Ale. Salvagers have recovered 9 bottles in "remarkably good shape," one of which will be given to the Bass museum.
