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Flailing Anheuser-Busch Tries New Beers, Intimidation
Newser ^ | 3/29/2012 | Kevin Spak

Posted on 03/29/2012 9:43:21 AM PDT by B Knotts

(NEWSER) – Anheuser-Busch InBev is desperate to turn its sales around. Sure, it's still the biggest beer company in the US, but shipments have fallen for three straight years, thanks to the growing popularity of small, independent craft brewers. But this year Budweiser's got a plan, president of North American operations Luiz Edmond tells the Wall Street Journal: It's going to produce more beers, while leaning on distributors not to carry the competition. Anheuser will introduce 19 new products this year, its biggest rollout since the InBev merger.

Some will aim to compete in the craft market, like additions to its Shock Top line, or boast higher alcohol content, like the 6% Bud Light Platinum, which Edmond calls a "game changer." Still others, like Bud Light Lime-a-Rita, will be malt beverages bearing little resemblance to beer. At the same time, Bud has urged 500 wholesalers to distribute fewer rival beers, warning that it will act against those who don't. An unapologetic Edmond says wholesalers must pick sides, and show "loyalty" to InBev.


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: beer; inbev
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To: Colonel_Flagg

My favorite beer is St. Pauli Girl, my wife looks like the girl on the label, at least she did 40 years ago.


21 posted on 03/29/2012 10:09:02 AM PDT by duffee (NEWT 2012)
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To: B Knotts

Do women really like that bathwater? In my part of the world, working Joe men seem to be the drinkers.


22 posted on 03/29/2012 10:09:06 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: B Knotts

the bar i work in has 20 beers on draft- 1/2 are MI crafts- bud light the only ab/inbev, and is one of my worst sellers. no one wants the swill.

we even went almost a year without it on draft, it didn’t impact sales at all.


23 posted on 03/29/2012 10:09:34 AM PDT by absolootezer0 (2x divorced tattooed pierced harley hatin meghan mccain luvin' REAL beer drinkin' smoker ..what?)
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To: B Knotts

Try some beer with real flavor. Bud Lite is like the proverbial sex in a canoe.

Budweiser tastes like it has sugar added. It’s nasty.


24 posted on 03/29/2012 10:09:41 AM PDT by Buckeye Battle Cry (Not Romney - Not ever!)
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To: B Knotts

I’ve had the Shock Top Wheat on tap a number of times and it’s pretty good. Although this is the first time I’m figuring out it’s an AB brand so I’ll see if it taints my perception in the future.


25 posted on 03/29/2012 10:10:10 AM PDT by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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To: autumnraine

I can drink a lot of beer but that platinum is some potent stuff.


26 posted on 03/29/2012 10:11:58 AM PDT by boomop1 (term limits is the only way to save this country.)
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To: Fiji Hill

You do know that Budweiser (U.S.) sued Budweiser (Czech-Pilsen) for trademark infringement, and lost. They then went to the Czech government and threatened to stop purchasing hops from the country unless the tiny brewery in Pilsen changed their product name. Under pressure from their own government, Budweiser Budvar was renamed simply Budvar.

InBev Budweiser is a loathsome bunch of charlatans, marketing a weak and piddly beer-like substance. I wish them all the calamity and doom the fates have to offer for their continual affronts to the lovers of fine beer the world over.

Rheinheitsgebot, baby. It’s not just a good idea, it’s the law!


27 posted on 03/29/2012 10:13:21 AM PDT by BrewingFrog (I brew, therefore I am!)
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To: JRandomFreeper

One of my friends from Seattle was in a restaurant here in central Kentucky and asked the waitress what beer they had. The lady said “Bud and Killian’s red”. My friend said, “Well, that’s a no brainer”. The waitress said, “Ok, two Buds”.

My friend said, “No. Two Killians.”

The selection here in Kentucky can be somewhat limited, but there is some amazing stuff here.


28 posted on 03/29/2012 10:13:25 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: duffee

Perhaps she would look like that again after 40 beers.


29 posted on 03/29/2012 10:15:34 AM PDT by Manic_Episode (Politics is fake. I think it's owned by Vince Mcmahon)
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To: B Knotts
I think the decline of the big brewers is inevitable. They are still following the postwar model which led to light, flavorless beers (in part to appeal to women).

True, at least to an extent. The first "light" beer was Gablinger's Diet Beer. Miller bought them out, and changed the name to Lite Beer from Miller. Then they brought in ex-NFL players to convince men that Miller Lite was a manly, macho brew (which is absurd). Another target of light beers is kids. It's the bland flavor that attracts them, not concern about their waistlines.

30 posted on 03/29/2012 10:16:21 AM PDT by southernnorthcarolina ("Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own." -- Aesop)
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To: Fiji Hill
I'll take these instead ...


31 posted on 03/29/2012 10:17:02 AM PDT by SengirV
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To: B Knotts

I worked with a guy whose Scottish cousin bragged about drinking “imported Budweiser.”


32 posted on 03/29/2012 10:18:37 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas (Viva Christo Rey!)
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To: duffee

I’m sure she looks the same if you look through the bottom of those bottles.


33 posted on 03/29/2012 10:20:35 AM PDT by WinMod70
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To: B Knotts
I tried Shock Top a few weeks ago and hated it. It reminded me of bud. I did not know it was A/B.

My Dad was a bud guy for 20 years til I told him they sponsered the gay Olympics and he was drinking gay beer. He fired off a letter to them and never drank another bud.

34 posted on 03/29/2012 10:23:00 AM PDT by Manic_Episode (Politics is fake. I think it's owned by Vince Mcmahon)
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To: JRandomFreeper; mylife
Shiner Bock *bump*


35 posted on 03/29/2012 10:23:55 AM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: B Knotts
They drink less beer all together, I think, but when they do drink it, they want it to be worth drinking.

That's my position. When I have a beer, I want a good beer. There are a lot of micro brews in my area and I have friends that brew. The last Bud I had was late night scavenged from someones fridge and I didn't finish it.

People no longer settle for what the large brewers produce because they don't have to settle.

36 posted on 03/29/2012 10:23:56 AM PDT by NativeSon ( Grease the floor with Crisco when I dance the Disco)
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To: JRandomFreeper
Since when did Anheuser-Busch make beer?

We call it "Sex in a Canoe"

F***ing near water.

37 posted on 03/29/2012 10:25:00 AM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys=Can't drive, can't ski, can't fly, can't skipper a boat, but they know what's best for you.)
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To: B Knotts; quantim; spinestein; 5Madman2; DTogo; Horatio Gates; Ribeye; decal; doodad; hemogoblin; ..
Pinging the Homebrewers for scathing comments.



On or off the Homebrewers Ping List, let me know.

Cheers,

knewshound

Homebrewing 1A (Homebrewing for beginners)
38 posted on 03/29/2012 10:26:24 AM PDT by knews_hound (Credo Quia Absurdium--take nothing seriously unless it is absurd. E. Clampus Vitus)
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To: B Knotts
Yeah. I'm sure that distributors are going to go with InBev over the others so they can load up on these winners.

The public is just "Clamoring" for Clamato in their already lousy Budweiser.

39 posted on 03/29/2012 10:27:29 AM PDT by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: cuban leaf
many of my friends (who drink beer) refuse the Bud / Miller..after 3 they all taste the same..
they seem to prefer the Boston stuff..more $$$$ better taste...esp. wheat beer.

40 posted on 03/29/2012 10:27:41 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass ( Kill all the terrorists, Protect all the borders, ridicule all the (surviving) Liberals :^)
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