Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 29/30, 2016.

A bi-weekly, non-comprehensive roundup
of news of beer and other things.

Weeks 29/30
17 - 30 July 2016

• 29 July 2016
  SABMiller buys its second 'craft' brewery in as many weeks, Hop Valley Brewing, in Oregon. (On 20 July, it acquired a majority interest in Georgia-based Terrapin Beer Company.)
  —Via Brookston Beer Bulletin.



• 29 July 2016
  Goodbye, Alfred E. Newman. Jack Davis, illustrator for Mad Magazine, dies at 91.
  —Via New York Daily News.


• 29 July 2016
  In November 2015, San Diego, California-based 'craft' brewery Ballast Point was puchased by drinks conglomerate Constellation Brands. Eight months later, Ballast Point's founder Jack White Jr., its brewer/distiller/chief operating officer Yuseff Cherney, its president/chief executive officer, and its chief commercial officer all have 'resigned' during the same week. It's "business as usual," Constellation observed. —Via Brewbound.


• 29 July 2016
  

  While the number of small and independent breweries keeps climbing [a record high of 4,656 breweries were operating in the U.S. as of June 30] and the number of SKUs those breweries make continue to rise, breweries are met with a decreasing number of distributors to sell those products. [SKUs, or “stock keeping units," are the manner in which individual products are differentiated within a store.] According to the National Beer Wholesalers Association, a vertical trade organization for beer distributorships, the number of traditional beer distributors has fallen from 4,595 in 1980 to around 3,000 in 2015. In 1996, the typical distributor delivered 190 unique SKUs. In 2015, the average was 981 SKUs.

  —Via Craftbeer.


• 28 July 2016
  California-headquartered, 'craft' brewery, Stone Brewing releases its first Berlin, Germany-brewed beers.

  For generations, America was considered the laughing stock of the world when it came to beer, and while that old image is now decades out of touch, the former low opinion of American beer still survives in Europe. Stone is proud to be able to demonstrate to Europeans that American craft beer is now a proud and mighty part of our culture in the U.S., which is light years beyond the industrialized beer that Americans were subjected to for so very long.

  —Via BeerPulse.


• 27 July 2016
  After shareholders complained that they hadn't been compensated enough for the pound’s recent plunge after the U.K's vote to leave the European Union, SABMiller managers told employees to halt work knitting together the company with Anheuser-Busch Inbev, thereby threatening the proposed $207 billion merger of the the globe's two largest brewing companies.
  —Via Bloomberg.


• 26 July 2016
  As of the end of June 2016, there were 4,656 breweries operating in the United States, and 2,200 more in planning.
  —Via [U.S.] Brewers Association.



• 25 July 2016
  The gorgeous soprano voice behind the camera: Marni Nixon has died at 86.
  —Via [U.S.] New York Times.


• 25 July 2016
  Bye, bye, Yahoo! Verizon to buy most of pioneering internet 'portal' company Yahoo for $4.3 billion. Verizon to combine Yahoo's search, email, messenger, and advertising technology assets with its AOL unit, which it bought last year for $4.4 billion.
  —Via Reuters at Yahoo! News.


• 22 July 2016
  He wasn't a P.T. Barnum writing on the 'art' of the deal but a scientist who investigated the science of the deal. Howard Raiffa, economist who made a science of decision-making, dies at 92.
  —Via Washington Post.



• 20 July 2016
  Anheuser-Busch InBev NV wins U.S. antitrust approval from the Justice Department for its takeover of SABMiller Plc, after the maker of Budweiser agrees to give up ownership of the Miller brand and open the door to greater competition from craft beers.
  • —Via Bloomberg.
  • Statement from the [U.S.] Brewers Association on the ruling: trust but verify.

    While we continue to believe that the merger of the world’s two largest brewers is bad for both the beer industry and consumers, the DOJ’s significant requirements, including the termination of incentive programs such as the Voluntary Anheuser-Busch Incentive for Performance Program (VAIP), a cap on ABI’s self-distribution volume, and other measures to protect distributor independence, appear to address some of our major apprehensions with the merger. With effective enforcement of these provisions, small brewers can rely on their independent distributor partners to access the market. [...] The Brewers Association will closely examine the consent decree and compliance with its provisions, as well as monitor ABI’s actions, specifically with regard to the acquisition of independent craft brewers.

    —Via [U.S.] Brewers Association.


• 20 July 2016
  In 2014, U.S. hops acreage grew 10.2%; in 2015, 15.4%. For 2016, hop acreage is up by 18.5%, with 53,213 total acres planted, the most since 1915.
  —Via YFGF.


• 20 July 2016
  MillerCoors purchases Terrapin Brewing, a 'craft' brewery in Athens, Georgia.
  —Via The Full Pint.


• 17 July 2016
  Three police officers shot and killed by single gunman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The incident comes less than two weeks after Alton Sterling’s shooting death by Baton Rouge police officers on July 5, sparking both local and national protests.
  —Via The Atlantic.


• 17 July 2016
  Despite one-third of Austria's grape harvest in 2015 being lost to hail, its 2015 white wines are "among the best in the world in terms of value and quality."
  —Via Dave McIntyre at Washington Post.

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• Clamps and Gaskets is a bi-weekly wrap-up of stories not posted at Yours For Good Fermentables.com. Most deal with beer (or wine, or whisky); some do not.
• Today's edition of Clamps & Gaskets is yet again a week late. My editor is not pleased.
• The Clamps and Gaskets graphic was created by Mike Licht at NotionsCapital.


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