Beer Wars-Documentary Review

MBA 650EV Beer Wars A accusative Table of Contents Introduction2 How the Large Got/Stay Large2 Why Light is King3 chicane Beer Facts3 The cunning Beer Way4 Spreading the News5 Large Feeling the Effects5 Political Issues6 Conclusion7 Introduction Beer Wars was a in truth eye-opening documentary. It was raise to see how the trade as household of the coarsest beer caller, Anheiser-Busch, has grown through with(predicate)out the years. In 1965, Anheiser-Busch had a meager grocery store comp sensationnt part of twelve percentage. As foodstuffing on television grew in popularity, Anheiser-Buschs merchandise shargon grew as well.By 1985, Anheiser-Buschs market sh argon had grew to thirty-s however percent. By 2005, Anheiser-Buschs market share had grown to an enormous forty-nine percent. This was very opprobrious to me that one company could control almost one-half of the market share of a $97 billion indus undertake. Also, in 1985, the other both mammothst beer makers, m iller and Coors, made up close to twenty-six percent of the market share. Thus, in 2005, major beer companies made up s slipy-five percent of the beer gross sales in the coupled States. Which tells us that machination breweries only had twenty-five percent of the market share.How the Large Got/Stay Large In the beginning, all beers were wile beers, until the hulky three companies wanted to grow, and grow they did. Unfortunately, as the three handsomest beer companies in the linked States grew, the beer-drinking public that was buying their beer were actually the people who were suffering. The reason that I say this is because of the route the mountainous beer manufacturers got to this point. The large beer manufacturers were non very concerned near the quality of their beers as such(prenominal) as they were about(predicate) the rate of sales that were created.The way that the large beer companies did this was through their advertising campaigns. The large beer compa nies were/are millions and millions of dollars during various sporting functions and on every day television. Beer Wars told us that, on average, thither is about $1. 5 billion spent on advertising by the large beer companies every single year. That number is astounding to me, considering how popular their beers are. I think if they were to cut back their advertisements by about 50%, they would lull master(prenominal)tain a stranglehold on the beer market in the United States.A nonher way that large beer companies persist to stay on top of the market is through shelf berth at different locations. The large beer companies lam to make many different varieties of beers and thus are afforded more space on the shelves and local markets and liquor stores. This leaves a very small rural area for swap beers to be displayed, especially when it is very vexed to determine if a beer is a ruse beer or made by one of the large beer companies. I will talk more about this later in the di scussion. Why Light is King The large beer companies tend to market luminosity lager beers, and for redeeming(prenominal) reason.About eighty-five percent of the beer consumed in the United States is slatternly lager. So, Miller Lite, Coors Light and Bud-Light are very good money makers for the large beer companies. I would not blame the companies for pushing and selling what the people want, or is this what people want? trickery Beer Facts Well, slyness beers shootnt in full caught on in the beer markets. NPR. org tells us that craft beers only make up about five percent of the total beer market. According to NPR. org, there are currently over two thousand breweries in the United States.Of those two thousand, about 1,950 of those breweries are considered craft beer breweries. Thats another very raise point. Ninety-five percent of the breweries in the United States are brewing about five percent of the beer that is sold in the United States. That really doesnt seem right, bu t NPR. org goes on to tell us that in distinguish to be a craft brewery, the breweries cannot brew more than 6 million barrels of beer every year. According to texaswatchdog. org, Anheiser-Busch alone brewed over one blow million barrels of beer in 2011. That is an amazingly large amount of beer for one company to sell.This also tells us that the hope is not nearly helpless for craft brewers. If all of the 1,950 craft brewers produced only ? million barrels of beer from each one year, they could easily cripple the large beer manufacturers with an influx of 975 million barrels of beer flooding the marketplace. But, the vast majority of craft brewers would never want to do that. The Craft Beer Way The craft brewers in the United States and around the world experience a completely different take on what it means to brew beer. Dogfish Head craft beer was said to only have . 0002% of the market share of beer sales in the United States.According to brewersassociation. org, Dogfish He ad craft beer be 12th in the nation in 2011, based upon the number of sales for a craft brewery. That is truly amazing, how a company ranked 12th in the whole coun try on in craft beer sales still only has . 0002% of the total market share of the beer industry. However, the owner of the company said that he would never want to grow like the large beer companies have. He is more concerned about each and every nursing bottle of beer macrocosm the best beer possible, rather than worrying too a great deal about how many cases he is able to send out the door.As a whole, craft beer makers try to capture their piece of the market through differentiation of their products and not through advertising like the large beer companies. Craft beer makers still try to do new and interesting things with beer, but they do their best not to lose focus on the most important factor, a good quality brew. Spreading the News Beer Wars told us that one event that allows craft breweries to receive their name out to the public is the great American beer festival. This is an event where brewers go to from all over the world for people to sample and try different beers that the craft brewers make.This is a great way for the small breweries to get their name out to the market. Unfortunately, Beer Wars told us that even the large beer companies are first to attend this event. Large Feeling the Effects The large beer companies have right off started feeling the effects of small craft beers in the marketplace. According to brewerassociation. org, craft brew beer sales have increased from about one percent to about six percent of market share in the chivalric fifteen years. This is the only portion of the beer industry to have any sign growth in that timeframe.Once again, the large beer companies are using their financial favor to combat this trend. Anheiser-Busch has gone out and purchased several small beer company name calling and have been selling them as craft beers, where in fac t they are mass produced at one of many Anheiser-Buschs factories. Another way that large beer companies are flexing their monetary muscles is through lawsuits. Beer Wars described how one craft brewer was being sued by Anheiser-Busch for using a name that the brewer had used for years. The problem with this is that Anheiser-Busch had not been using that name for very long.Another return key with this is that craft brewers do not have the financial means to be able to hold off many lawsuits from large beer manufacturers. The reason that this is difficult for craft beer makers is the fact that funding for craft breweries is very hard to pose by. Usually investors either invest in very large ventures or very small ventures. Most of the time, craft beer makers are somewhere in the middle as far as their funding needs go. Because of this oddity, gaining gold for the production facilities for a craft brewery is very hard to obtain through normal financing. Political IssuesSome of the other challenges for the craft beer manufacturers is found in Washington, D. C. Beer Wars tells us that beer lobbyists are one of the most powerful group of lobbyists in Washington. The main focus of these lobbyists is ensuring that the three-tier system of distribution is held intact. The three-tier distribution system basically splits up the beer manufacturers, the beer distributors and the beer retailers. This rule was put in after prohibition to make incontestable that beer sales would be fair across all persons involved. Basically, so the large beer makers couldnt prevent others from getting their product onto store shelves.Unfortunately, this is exactly what is happening. Distributors tend to lend favor to the large beer companies, because they are paid by how much beer they deliver, and as we saw from Beer Wars, the large beer manufacturers still control that volume of beer sales. So, when the distributors are putting the beer on the shelves of the retailer, they will basica lly give the large beer companies whatsoever kind of shelving presence that they desire, basically because they are getting incentivized to do so. I definitely think that the three-tier system needs to be looked at and revamped to mate the needs of todays marketplace.Conclusion Overall, this documentary was a very interesting look into the beer manufacturer marketplace. I never realized before how roundabout the large beer manufacturers are when it comes to protecting their market share. With both the lawsuits over assignment rights and the basic control of beer distributors, its amazing that any craft beer makers even stand a chance of holding any portion of market share. I believe that the large beer manufacturers are scared of what could happen very quickly if they do not do something to respond to the expanding requirements for quality beer in the marketplace.This documentary definitely made me change my mind on how I thought about craft beers. I always figured it was vindi catory some fad that would eventually fade away. I see instantly that this is not the case at all. Craft brews are just being produced to give the marketplace a much higher quality, even if they have to pay a little more. I have a much greater respect for craft beer manufacturers. I would hope to someday be able to brew my own beer just to see how fulfilling it can be. I will definitely start drinking more craft beers because of this documentary. References (Other Than Beer Wars) 1. BREWERS association RELEASES TOP 50 BREWERIES IN 2011. Brewers Association. Brewers Association, 17 Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http//www. brewersassociation. org/>. 2. Chappell, Bill. U. S. Craft Beer Brewers Thrive, in spite of Small Share Of The Market. NPR. org. NPR, 18 May 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http//www. npr. org/blogs/thesalt/2012/05/17/152958268/u-s-craft-beer-brewers-thrive-despite-small-share-of-the-market>. 3. Lisheron, Mark. Anheuser-Busch InBev Roars against Craft Breweries Bill in Texas Legislature. Texas Watchdog Investigating Government Waste, Fraud