Happy Anniversary,……………..year 5

.This post begins the sixth year of Beer Business Unplugged and as usual, I will comment on past posts and the industry in general.  This year’s posts did produce one blog in particular which resulted in an off-the-chart read. The one post that brought in the most responses was, ironically, November 8th’s post, We Live in a World of Denial, and We Don’t Know What the Truth is Anymore.

What is interesting about that post is not that it was the most read blog of the year, but the comparison of the volume lost and sold by ABI/MC and Schlitz, respectively.  Up to that point, the volume lost by ABI and MC, was equivalent to the volume Schlitz had sold at its peak. And still, ABI and MC continued to lose volume with these two breweries soon having lost twice as much volume as Schlitz sold during its best selling years. Schlitz, at its peak, sold 15 million bbls. which were then lost over approximately 20 years.  In 2017, we will see that ABI’s and MC’s total loss of volume will be 27 million bbl. of beer.  And ABI and MC lost that volume in only 10 years!

I always enjoy receiving and reading the responses, as most come directly to me.  Those responses that do not come to me are posted to the blog on which the comment which made.  The number of subscribers, all in the beer industry, continues to increase, now well in the thousands. This year, the blog surpassed 100,000 reads and continues to grow.  I never expect results like this.  Thank you all!

What seems like a broken record, never before has the beer industry seen such an uncertain future regarding its direction.  The recent merger of ABI and SABMiller, the return of MolsonCoors, craft beers slow down, the rise of brewery taprooms, the growth of spirits, the on-going legislative fights between craft brewers and wholesalers, Constellation, its growth and changing of its longtime leadership, all of these and other topics continue to create this division.

As always, I will continue to write weekly throughout the year.  Going forward I will cover industry topics based upon your continued interests.  Thank you for all your kind comments and feedback.  They are fun and informative.  And now, year six begins……