Zip Code Beer Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest brewer in the United States, has applied for a trademark of zip codes of 15 US cities. Chicago-based brewer Goose Island, which A-B bought this year for more than $38 million, brews a wheat ale called 312 in honor of Chicago's area code. That marketing ploy could be the inspration behind it all. If it worked in Chicago why not elsewhere? The filing at the U.S. Trademark Office included the area codes of St. Louis (314), Pittsburgh (412), Miami (305), San Diego (619), Washington, D.C. (202), Phoenix (602), Charlotte, N.C. (704), Las Vegas (702), Dallas (214), San Francisco (415), Cleveland (216), Denver (303) and Houston (713). The company confirmed it had applied for the trademarks but declined to provide further informationdid when contacted by BeeerNexus. |
Beer Saves Minnesota It wasn't the shuttered state parks that prompted Minnesota’s governor and legislature to resolve a budget impasse recently. Nor was it the 22,000 furloughed state employees or the disruptions in services for the needy and the disabled. In the end, it was all about the beer. The Minnesota state government shut down July 1, after Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders failed to reach a budget deal. And for days, there was no end in sight. But on July 12, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that hundreds of bars would no longer be able to serve alcohol because state permits were set to expire. With no one on hand to issue new permits, there’d be no beer. The 10,000 places that sell liquor in the state were starting to see a depletion in stock, as inventories cannot be resupplied without a distributor tax stamp. The state had stopped issuing those. And then, the unthinkable: Brewing giant MillerCoors was told to pull 39 of its brand labels from all shops, bars, and restaurants because it did not process its registration paperwork in time. The registration was set to expire on July 13. Suddenly, Dayton and GOP lawmakers were willing to make compromises. The final budget deal, not much different from where the parties were before the shutdown, was negotiated less than 36 hours later, on July 15. Maybe members of Congress, facing a much larger budget problem, should take a breath and have a beer. And thank their lucky stars that they can still have one. |
| Feature News from beernexus.com |
Edited by Jim Attacap
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Russia Limits Beer
The slow but steady gain of beer over vodka
as the drink of choice among Russians
suffered a setback when President Medvedev
signed a law restricting beer sales outdoors and
late at night.
In the last decade, as Russians’ incomes have risen,
brewers have earned remarkable profits despite the rising
taxes on beer. The new law could particularly harm the
Carlsberg Group of Denmark, the leading beer seller in
Russia with about 40 percent of the market. Part of the
success with sales was because of the widespread
availability of beer in Russia and the police’s tolerance of
drinking in parks and on the subway.
The new law, will restrict sales from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. It
comes after similar regulations for vodka. The law also
prohibits sales from sidewalk kiosks and at train stations.
That could be a problem for brewers, as about 30 percent
of beer sales now come from these sites.
Russians still drink slightly more vodka than beer. Russian
regulators say the average consumer drank about 12.5
liters of alcohol last year, with beer accounting for about
four liters and vodka more than five liters