Month: March 2013

  • You can’t make an omlet without breaking some eggs!

        By the early 1970’s, small regional brands across the US were struggling to survive against the on-sought of the big boys, AB, Schlitz, Pabst, and Coors. Soon Miller, recently acquired by Philip Morris, was also included in this group of key players.  To make matters worse, the small breweries had made a number […]

  • The buyer always knows more than the seller…

      Back in the mid 1970’s when Coors entered South Texas, San Antonio was awarded four distributorships.  They as a group, had to compete against one Budweiser house, one Schlitz house, one Pearl house, one Lone Star house and one Falstaff house (true, still around then).  Because Coors had divided up the market into the […]

  • Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

      Over the years, I had the opportunity to address a number of college classes on the beer industry.  At the beginning, my talks were all about marketing, how marketing was used in the industry and how the industry was evolving.  Once Philip Morris bought the Miller Brewing Company, and introduced their idea of marketing from […]

  • Details of your incompetence do not interest me

        Just recently, Maker’s Mark Whiskey became the latest beverage company to misjudge its customers, or its product, and backpedal to protect its brand.  Thousands of customers told Maker’s Mark that the company had made a huge mistake when it reduced the alcohol content in its signature whiskey from 90 proof to 84 proof.  […]