re: Southern Eagle Purchasing Glazer's Beer Portfolio

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California does have a three-tier system. Only it is the state that acts as the middleman

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it sure as hell doesnt work like the one in Texas does. They promote the craft industry, they don't actively supress it.

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If consumers were able to purchase from the brewer they wouldn't need to depend on bars and restaurants




I didn't have to depend on some shite hole bar to drive up to the front door of Green Flash and buy a pint of beer from them.. inside the brewery.. with their knowledgeable staff telling me about the beer that I was drinking for a very cheap price.

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You act as if there is a brewery in every city that is conveniently enough located where people can just stop by to buy things.

Wrong. What would end up happening is that the large breweries would open their own "liquor" stores and exclusively sell their own products. Or, they would do the same contracting with large grocery stores to exclusively carry only their products. Either way, you have less options and less variety. Or, if you are like my family, I would have to go to the miller store for my six-pack and then the bud store for my wife's six-pack.

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A company as large as Inbev (budweiser) could offer benefits to small bar owners such as free installation of draft systems, free maintenance of products, consignment sales, etc, etc, etc. All of these benefits could surely pursuade the owner to work with the breweries; but the rub is that the owner could not sale anything but inbev product. This would happen in bar after bar after bar.
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They already do this in store after store after store and with distributor after distributor after distributor.

How do you think they get their logos painted on the side of distributor trucks and so much shelf space?

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Yeah, they may be aggressive and fight for shelf space, but it's only shelf SPACE, not the entire store.

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Wrong. What would end up happening is that the large breweries would open their own "liquor" stores and exclusively sell their own products. Or, they would do the same contracting with large grocery stores to exclusively carry only their products. Either way, you have less options and less variety. Or, if you are like my family, I would have to go to the miller store for my six-pack and then the bud store for my wife's six-pack.

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I understand the concern you have about this potential, but have you not walked into a grocery store recently? 85-90% of the store's beer is InBev SABMiller products. If you want high end products you have to go to specialty stores as it is due to distributors pressuring for shelf space for the big guys. If you think that distributors are the best answer to the system and cannot be bought then why does Mockler have a giant Budweiser logo on its building and everyone of its trucks? It appears that instead of buying the store out InBev just bought the distributor.

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Anheuser-Busch InBev may have to give up more control of U.S. beer distribution or even sell a brewery to settle an antitrust lawsuit by the U.S. to block its $20.1 billion takeover of the rest of Grupo Modelo SAB

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No, they're not doing anything wrong or trying to crush competition...

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You work for a distributor or BMC dont you.

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That's been obvious.

They're not going to hurt at all from a change in distribution rights. Just make it easier for a nano or micro to get into the game.

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Look at California as one example. They allow self distribution and virtually no limitations on breweries selling as retailers. They have perhaps the widest variety and highest quality of beer on the planet.

You work for a distributor or BMC dont you

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No, my work is in no way related to the alcohol business. And once again, California uses the three-tier system (state controlled).

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If you think that distributors are the best answer to the system and cannot be bought then why does Mockler have a giant Budweiser logo on its building and everyone of its trucks? It appears that instead of buying the store out InBev just bought the distributor.

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Because Mockler is the budweiser distributor in their area. They also carry some other beers too, but if you want bud in thier market then you get it from them. But you're missing the point. The system provides safe guards from tied-houses and encourages competition. Bars, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. are not incentived to exclusively carry one product unless the market dictates they should (which it wouldn't).

If the system was not in place, then bud would not need mockler, it would just open it's own stores/bars, use its influence to sign exclusivity contracts and stiffle competition. Don't get me wrong, this currently happens to some extent even in the free market. So you can only imagine how bad it could be without the system protections.

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The point is, the market should be allowed to operate naturally (as it does with virtually every other product sold to consumers), without artificial constraints favoring those who garner the most political favor.

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It's a controlled substance. And no other controlled substances are allowed to operate naturally in the marketplace.

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It's a controlled substance. And no other controlled substances are allowed to operate naturally in the marketplace.

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Compare your argument to the wine industry or the beer in California.

They've literally got guys brewing BEER in a building in their backyard that has been inspected and approved by the state and they're allowed to bring it to a bar and sell the keg down the street and pay the taxes on what they've brewed for the year. You're telling me that that guy NEEDS to go through a distributor that doesn't care about his product and won't do a good job selling it to push the 70 or so barrels he can muster in a year? Or that a person over the age of 21 Shouldn't be allowed to walk up to his house and buy it from him?

yeah, small government...

Glad I could help. But seriously, we have facts showing how the system operated prior to the three-tier system and facts showing how it has worked since.

There are obviously numerous other factors that have come into play over the years too, but you sholdn't just ignore the data we have from pre and post prohibition.

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Glad I could help. But seriously, we have facts showing how the system operated prior to the three-tier system and facts showing how it has worked since.

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Those facts don't help your argument at all.

There were about 1,500 breweries before prohibition and about 750 breweries directly after prohibition. By 1980 there were only 100 breweries left with the three tier system. It is only now that there are again 1,500 breweries in America.

I know a lot of the growth in breweries has to do with the homebrewing act signed by Carter in the late 70s, but the three tier system absolutely has helped concentrate the production of beer to a few BIG breweries.