January 26, 201511 yr Saw a few things pop up on Twitter about this today and did a little research, can anyone around here elaborate about what's going on? Bill could force Anheuser-Busch to surrender Louisville distributorship « Watchdog.org From what I could tell, it looked like KY micro-breweries were trying to get the state gov't to pass a House Bill to prevent Anheuser-Busch from operating in the state?
March 7, 201511 yr Beer Bill Passes Kentucky Senate: "Anheuser-Busch Wants a Monopoly" | The River City News The Kentucky Senate passed legislation Wednesday banning breweries from owning beer distribution networks – a move expected to force Anheuser-Busch to sell its two Kentucky distributorships. The legislation, known as House Bill 168, passed with a 23-13 vote – ending what has been dubbed the “beer wars” in the General Assembly. HB 168 would affirm that the state’s three-tier system of regulating alcoholic beverage producers, distributors and retailers applies to beer. “HB 186 is about the three-tier system in regards to alcohol distribution in the state of Kentucky,” said Sen. John Schickel (R-Union). “A three-tier system specifically prevents interlocking ownership between the tiers. The three-tier system prevents monopolies, but to be effective, the tiers must be independent of one another.” Looks like it passed...AB will be forced to sell distributors that they own in Kentucky. On the up side this should open the way for some out of market beers to now be sold in Kentucky such as Yuengling.
March 7, 201511 yr I hate this . I feel for the guys at Rhinegeist, they spent 250,000K to start their own distributorship.
March 7, 201511 yr But almost all of the small breweries wanted this law passed. If it did not, AB could have dictated shelve space as well, it would have given a company like AB too much power.
March 7, 201511 yr "We're driving back to Cincinnati to have a beer." Phhhtttt....bye. Country Boy Brewery is going to get my support and money way before them fellas will. I've gotten an education in the corporate business world and the government here in the past 6 months. These Rhinegeist dudes rolled the dice and did the Anheuser-Busch thing and lost. A month ago I used to feel sorry for folks like that. Now in this cold and corporate world we live in I know now that they chose the wrong side of the aisle to invest their money in. They make beer. I'm sure they'll be fine if their beer is any good.
March 7, 201511 yr From what I could tell, it looked like KY micro-breweries were trying to get the state gov't to pass a House Bill to prevent Anheuser-Busch from operating in the state? Just to prevent Budweiser from being both the producer and the distributor of their product. The bill states that the producer, distributor and retailer of beer have to be three different parties. The little guys are saying the Budweiser is using it's distribution muscle to keep competitors, especially small brewers, off of retailers shelves. As far as the brewer up in Cincy/NKY, I wonder if they could split the distributor side of the company off and one of the owners own and run that and divest completely of the brewer part of the company? I wonder if the law would see that as not an arms length transaction?
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