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Control State News
NH: Students learn dangers of alcohol during hands-on programs
ME: New law lets farmers markets hold taste-testings of Maine alcoholic beverages
License State News
KY: New law allows Kentucky visitors to ship Bourbon home
International News
Russia Releases Beer Recommendations Ahead of World Cup
Japan Is Drinking Less, So Brewers Are Upping Alcohol Content
Nigeria: Govt Approves New Excise Duty Rates for Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco
Industry News
Fever-Tree takes over direct control of US operations
Daily News
TTB Levies Largest Fine Ever
Most in U.S. Say Consuming Alcohol, Marijuana Morally OK
June 4, 2018
SAVE THE DATE
JULY 18-20, 2018 8th Biennial Northwest Alcohol & Substance Abuse Conference Riverside Hotel, Boise Idaho
The Pre-Conference Sessions are on Wednesday. The official conference kicks off Thursday morning. Visit NorthwestAlcoholConference.org for more information.
NABCA HIGHLIGHTS
The Public Health Considerations of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (White Paper)
Native American Nations & State Alcohol Policies: An Analysis (White Paper)
Alcohol Technology in the World of Tomorrow - (White Paper)
The Control State Agency Info Sheets. Please view website for more information.
NABCA Survey Database (members only)
Upcoming NABCA Meetings
Statistical Data Reports
www.NABCA.org
NABCA Daily News Update (6/4/2018)
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CONTROL STATE NEWS
NH: Students learn dangers of alcohol during hands-on programs
WCAX CBS 3 June 3, 2018
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) The New Hampshire Liquor Commission is visiting schools across the state to educate students on alcohol safety issues during prom and graduation season.
The school visits include hands-on training, informational sessions and an opportunity for students to engage in a dialogue with enforcement officers on the consequences of underage drinking.
The commission works with school administrators to determine which programs are best suited for their student groups. A number of simulated driving trainings provide first-hand experience on the dangers of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
The commission's Division of Enforcement and Licensing says 12 percent of New Hampshire's youth reported taking their first drink by age 12 or younger. More than 50 percent took their first drink before turning 17.
ME: New law lets farmers markets hold taste-testings of Maine alcoholic beverages
Journal Tribune By Mary Pols, Portland Press Herald June 4, 2018
BRUNSWICK — Caitlin Mance and Jacob Georgeson approached the Norumbega Cidery booth at the Crystal Spring farmers market on a late May morning, wearing the telltale expressions of uncertain but curious shoppers. Noah Fralich, the owner of the New Gloucester hard cider house, had the perfect icebreaker. “Would you like to try some cider?” Fralich asked.
That might seem like an obvious sales pitch for a market vendor to make to a potential customer, but it’s a brand-new phenomenon in Maine. A new law that went into effect in November 2017 made it legal for vendors of Maine-made alcoholic beverages to offer samples at farmers markets.
Fralich started doing tastings over the winter at Brunswick’s Winter Market, but most vendors of wine, beer, hard cider and distilled spirits are just starting to feel their way into the new program, which is not only overseen by Maine’s Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations but had its origins in that department.
“We initiated a change in the law at the bureau,” said Tim Poulin, deputy director of the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations. It was a matter of fairness, he said. Before the passage of the law, which was sponsored by Rep. Craig Hickman (D-Windham), vendors of Maine-made wine, cider and beer could sell at approved farmers markets, but distillers of hard alcohol (spirits), even the ones who specialized in Maine-grown ingredients, like grains or potatoes, weren’t allowed. “Spirits are often maligned,” Poulin said. “Alcohol is alcohol is our opinion.”
No one had been allowed to do tastings. “Now everyone could sell and everyone can taste,” Poulin added.
Hickman said the bureau asked him to propose the legislation, and he was happy to oblige. “They knew I was a farmer,” Hickman said. “People can’t taste the wine or the beer, that is not good for the vendors.”
When Leigh Hallett, the executive director of the Maine Federation of Farmers Markets, heard about the proposed legislation, she wrote to her board of directors, none of them vintners or distillers. “They wrote back, ‘Oh my God, yes.’ They were overwhelmingly in favor.”
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They too wanted to level the playing field. A farmer can hand a prospective customer a carrot. “And then they can see how wonderful it is and become lifelong customers,” Hallett said. Why not allow the same opportunity to a maker of a homegrown whiskey?
WANT A TASTE?
Norumbega is one of only seven wineries to have already been approved in the state for tastings at farmers markets. (There are roughly two dozen total in Maine, and hard cider is included in the winery category.) One brewery has also been approved as well as two distilleries. Poulin said eight more applications are pending approval.
So far, being able to offer a taste has definitely been good for Fralich. Witness his dwindling stock. With Mance and Georgeson at his booth, Fralich gestured to the few options on the table, apologetically. “We are down to it a little.”
The market was in its last half-hour and he had only three four-packs left, including one assorted, with cans of his “Classic” hard cider, “Berry Medley” (made with Wyman’s fruit, including blueberry) and a honey hard cider called “Cyser.” Mance wanted to try the Cyser, but Fralich didn’t have an extra can left to sample. He offered the Classic instead.
He poured the liquid into clear plastic cups with a green line on them to mark an ounce pour. Mance and Georgeson, who were up from Watertown, Massachusetts, for the weekend, sipped, nodded and quickly opted to buy a four-pack. She held up the cup. “Recycling?” Fralich told her the cups are biodegradable – he puts them in his Garbage to Garden bin – and off the couple went, equipped for their Maine getaway with some hard cider made in nearby New Gloucester.
Scenes like this are still unusual as the law makes its way through the permitting process. Only eight of Maine’s 135 markets have been approved as hosts for alcohol vendors for the 2018 season. The state requires the market to get approval from the municipality where it is located, then submit an application to the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages to host the vendor. At least six other vendors must sell farm or food products at the market. Only after that process can an alcohol vendor make his or her own application to the bureau.
“We’ve gotten off to a slow start,” said Colin Kolmar, the sales manager for Wiggly Bridge, a distiller in York. “There have been quite a few bureaucratic hurdles to jump over.” Kolmar started the process of applying to farmers markets in January, something he now says he wished he’d started even earlier. Using a list from the Maine Federation of Farmers Markets of markets that had been permitted to sell alcohol, he thought it would be easy to create a list of potential markets. “But 100 percent of those permits had either lapsed or were about to expire,” he said. (Farmers markets have to apply annually to the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages.)
Part of the bureaucracy has to do with the way farmers markets are administered individually within municipalities. There’s no set way to run a farmers market. Some of the markets he wanted to apply to were already full. Others weren’t interested; Falmouth vetoed his request based on sales of hard spirits not being directly referenced in the town bylaws, he said. “When we suggested amending to include hard spirits, they said it was a process that would take months,” he said.
Ultimately, Wiggly Bridges settled on four markets: York, close to the distillery; Waldoboro, for its Midcoast location; Cumberland; and Boothbay, for its dense concentration of tourists. “We missed the first two weeks at Cumberland because of paperwork,” Kolmar said. He’s still waiting for permits to do tastings at the markets in Waldoboro and York.
“It just seems needlessly complicated,” Kolmar said.
TWO TIMES A MONTH
The law has another complication. When Hickman first proposed it, vendors were allowed only six tastings a year. The bill was rewritten to allow vendors to offer tastings at two markets a month.
“They also want all the dates upfront,” Fralich said. “Which is a little weird. I just went for the second and fourth Saturday of the month.”
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The twice-a-month provision can be confusing for customers. “There is no rationale for it,” Fralich said. “On weeks we are not sampling, you have people say, ‘Can I try one?’ ” If customers are from out of state, as Mance and Georgeson were, they may not be able to come back the next week. Already Fralich has found “if people are able to taste it, there is much more likelihood that they will buy it.”
Kolmar doesn’t have much to go on, but in the two markets in Boothbay he’s done already, he saw a marked difference in sales between the market where he could offer tastings (“pretty good sales”) and the one where he couldn’t. “We did not break even.”
“I think it did owe to the ability to taste before you buy,” Kolmar said, “because it is a fairly significant price commitment.”
The smaller bottles of Wiggly Bridge spirits, including whiskey, vodka and rum, are 375 ml and cost about $25. “Our most expensive is 750 ml of bourbon, which is $53,” Kolmar said.
One of the owners of Wiggly Bridge, David Woods, said his original vision after the law passed was to have a van that roamed the state’s markets five days a week. As they’ve traveled the steep learning curve to land permits for markets, he’s put that plan aside. “We’ve had to jump through more hoops than they had at Toys R Us,” he said.
But Wiggly Bridge is committed to the market tasting program for the 2018 season. “Then we will evaluate it,” Woods said. “Until we do a white paper on it, I am not going to know what to suggest to the state.”
Ian Michaud of Portland-based distiller and beer maker Liquid Riot Bottling Co. testified on behalf of Hickman’s bill. He and his brother Eric are from Yarmouth and have a booth at the Yarmouth Farmers’ Market, which opens for the season on June 7. This will be their third summer at the market. In the past, they’ve sold out products like the Herbie, a dry hops session ale – named for the famed Yarmouth elm that was cut down in 2010 – taste unseen, as it were. But, Michaud said, customers “constantly request to try the beer.” Craft beers exhibit so much variety that being able to sample them is key, he said.
He argued against the limitations of the original bill. “The initial six times a year was crazy,” Michaud said. Twice a month is better, but “our ultimate push is to change it.”
Hickman said he’s open to revisiting the twice a month limit. “It was a start,” Hickman said. “I am a small business owner, and I want Maine small businesses to thrive.”
EARLY BIRD GETS THE (TEQUILA) WORM?
For now though, customers are still adjusting to getting their first taste of alcohol at Maine farmers markets. A woman who picked up a sample of Norumbega cider from Fralich started to wander off with it, and he asked her to stay close by (tasters are allowed to walk around the market with their cups, but not to leave). “Otherwise somebody might get mad at me,” he told her.
“Oh, is there alcohol in it?” she asked. “I was thinking because you were here?”
It’s true that morning market might not seem like exactly the spot for a tipple. Fralich said it usually takes until 9 a.m., a half-hour after the market in Brunswick opens, for anyone to ask for a sample. (Customers are limited to six samples per market.) Kolmar is already used to the jokes about it being “a little early for me.”
“Almost everybody says that,” Kolmar said. “Even the people who do partake eventually. Then they say, ‘When in Rome!’ ”
But the samples are small. David Woods said Wiggly Bridge is pouring “a smidgen” (about a quarter-ounce). But, he added, “If you like spirits, I don’t know of a time of day that it is not enjoyable.”
NABCA Daily News Update (6/4/2018)
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LICENSE STATE NEWS
KY: New law allows Kentucky visitors to ship Bourbon home
The Spirits Business By Nicola Carruthers June 4, 2018
The whiskey industry is celebrating a new Kentucky law that will allow visitors to have bottles shipped from distilleries to their homes. The new law allows visitors to ship up to 4.5 litres of spirits and four cases of wine per person when they visit a Kentucky distillery or winery.
Governor Matt Bevin signed the new law on Friday (1 June) at an event at the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Welcome Center.
Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association (KDA), welcomed the move, adding that the growth of Kentucky Bourbon Trail will increase thanks to the new law.
He noted that more than 70% of distillery visitors are from outside Kentucky, and 86% purchase a souvenir bottle during their trip.
“Ever since the KDA created the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour, visitors have demanded the right to ship bottles home and to friends around the world.
“We’re confident the impact will increase with visitors purchasing more bottles to ship home, which will boost tourism and add valuable tax dollars to local and state coffers.
“It’s only a matter of time before more states allow reciprocity with Kentucky and embrace the shipping of spirits, just like they have wine.”
Rob Samuels, chief operating officer of Maker’s Mark and chairman of the KDA board of directors, added: “This is an important piece of legislation for distillers across Kentucky, allowing us a benefit that wineries in California have had for many years.
“We appreciate Governor Bevin’s support of this welcome reform that also proves the Commonwealth is serious about Bourbon tourism.”
According to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, Bourbon is an US$8.5 billion industry that generates 17,500 jobs and US$800 million in payroll in the state.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Russia Releases Beer Recommendations Ahead of World Cup The Moscow Times June 4, 2018
Russia’s standards watchdog has issued a set of recommendations for beer quality as it plans to test domestic and foreign lagers ahead of the World Cup this month.
Beer producers have reportedly appealed to local and federal officials to not restrict alcohol sales during the tournament that kicks off in 11 Russian cities in 10 days. Breweries have warned that footballs fans could be forced to purchase illegal hard liquor if the bans stay in place.
“Experts recommend paying attention to the foam: If it remains for less than three minutes, it means the beer is not of the highest quality,” Russia’s Roskachestvo standards watchdog said in a statement Monday.
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Roskachestvo said it will test more than 40 domestic and imported brands for taste, quality, alcohol content, as well as whether harmful chemical components migrate from beer cans and bottles into the lager.
“In addition, Roskachestvo will set up an experiment to compare two identical beers of the same brand made in Russia and abroad, testing the myth that the quality of beer depends critically on its origin,” it said.
Japan Is Drinking Less, So Brewers Are Upping Alcohol Content
Bloomberg By Lisa Du and Maiko Takahashi June 3, 2018
Japanese brewers are discovering a new way to tap the lucrative market of working adults: Get them tipsy more quickly and efficiently.
This domestic segment is becoming more important to beer makers Kirin Holdings Co. and Sapporo Holdings Co. as Japan’s famously aging population -- the oldest in the world -- drinks less. They have released canned drinks with up to 9 percent alcohol by volume, which is the highest it can be without being pushed into another tax bracket.
The brewers are promoting the ready-to-drink (RTD) segment in Japan, looking for ways to expand sales as demographic changes and a trend of consumers diversifying their drinking habits has led domestic beer consumption to fall two years in a row.
“It’s because consumers are getting more value for their money. They can get drunk without spending too much, I think that is the products’ biggest appeal,” said Euromonitor analyst Akari Utsunomiya. “There’s a deep-rooted tendency to save money among Japanese consumers."
The companies are going after consumers such as salarymen, as businessmen are known in Japan, and working women short on time. Executives say there is a desire among some drinkers to get more bang for their buck when imbibing. As a result, the high-alcohol segment is growing almost twice as fast as the ready-to-drink canned mixed alcohol business overall.
Beer Sales Decline
Japan’s domestic beer doldrums echo the picture globally, with beer sales falling as wine and spirits revenue grows. That’s led beverage companies to come up with products targeted to specific demographic groups. Brewing giant Molson Coors Brewing Co. in the U.S. has released fruity-tasting beers targeted to 21- to 24-year-olds in a bid to attract young drinkers. In Japan, companies are focused on a slightly older demographic, as the population dwindles and fewer people turn 20 -- the legal drinking age -- every year.
RTD beverages have typically been the less expensive choice for drinkers in Japan as they are subject to a lower tax rate than beer. The drinks in the segment mostly consist of canned Chu-Hi, made with flavored mixer, and shochu -- a spirit distilled from potatoes, grains or other food bases. In the past these drinks typically contained 4 percent to 6 percent alcohol by volume compared with the now more prevalent 9 percent drinks.
The value of the market for RTD drinks with 8 percent to 9 percent alcohol content has nearly doubled to 125 billion yen ($1.14 billion) from 2013-2017, according to market research firm Intage SRI. Comparatively, the RTD market grew by about 31 percent in value.
Stronger Mix
Value of high-alcohol market in Japan growing faster than ready-to-drink
Soon-to-be retiree Shiro Abe is part of the consumer base fueling that growth. The value of the higher alcohol drinks resonates with him. “For an old man, getting drunk cheaply and quickly is very nice," Abe, 58, said in Tokyo after drinks to celebrate his retirement.
The appeal of high-alcohol drinks is rooted in other factors in Japan, such as high stress related to work and continued economic unease among consumers. Alcoholism remains an under-reported issue in reputation-
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conscious Japan, according to health officials. A Ministry of Health survey showed that in 2013 there were 580,000 alcoholism patients in Japan.
Beer companies said they’re careful to promote responsible drinking.
These drinks contain significantly more alcohol by volume than other products. A half-liter can of a mixed drink with 8 percent alcohol is equivalent to about three tequila shots, according to an industry group.
Ryosuke Den, a physician in charge of the alcoholic treatment department at Komagino Hospital near Tokyo, said the stronger drinks can lead to alcohol abuse. “High-alcoholic RTD is easy to drink, so it makes you drink excessively,” he said.
Japanese Market
Global drinks makers see Japan as a good market to test concepts. Coca-Cola Co. last month started sales of a lemon-flavored Chu-Hi drink, the first for the giant. Kirin intends to build a new domestic factory to increase production for canned mixed drinks. Beermakers say they have been pushing high alcohol drinks recently because they’ve adapted the taste to better suit consumers -- less sugary and without the burning bite of some spirits.
Japan’s largest brewers all have begun marketing an 8 percent or 9 percent Chu-Hi product. Among them are Suntory Holdings Co.’s Zero Strong, Asahi Group Holdings Ltd.’s Mogitate -- which has shochu mixed with fresh fruit juice -- and Sapporo’s Relax, which is flavored with fruit vinegar. The companies also have been marketing pre-mixed cocktail drinks such as whisky-and-soda highballs.
“We’re increasing our variety of offerings within ready-to-drink. These types of products are gaining traction in the market,” said Sapporo Beer President Hideya Takashima in April.
The value of RTD products makes up about 7 percent of the Japanese alcohol market, according to Euromonitor. Brewers still generate a majority of revenue from beer in Japan, though with falling sales they are seeking markets overseas and reaching into areas such as craft beer. The companies’ market performances have been mixed, with Asahi and Kirin shares climbing more than 24 percent over the past 12 months, while Sapporo’s have slumped 14 percent.
Long-term prospects for the value-driven strategy are unclear. The focus on higher-alcohol content drinks as a way to get drunk less expensively also highlights an issue among Japanese beermakers -- they’re not focusing enough on producing premium brews to improve sales and margins, said Bernstein analyst Euan McLeish.
“They’ve been very innovative in many ways, but they’re innovating in the wrong way -- they need to innovate upwards instead of downwards," he said.
Nigeria: Govt Approves New Excise Duty Rates for Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco
AllAfrica By Emmanuel Elebeke June 3, 2018
President Muhammadu Buhari at the weekend approved an amendment to the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco with effect from today, Monday, 4th June, 2018.
The President has also granted a grace period of 90 days (three months) to all manufacturers before the commencement of the new excise duty regime.
There is however no increase in excise duty of other locally excisable products.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who disclosed this in Abuja, stated that the new excise duty rates were spread over a three-year period from 2018 to 2020 in order to moderate the impact on prices of the products.
The Minister disclosed that the new excise duty regimes followed all-inclusive stakeholder engagements by the Tariff Technical Committee of the Federal Ministry of Finance with key industry stakeholders.
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According to her, the upward review of the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco was to achieve a dual benefit of raising the Government's fiscal revenues and reducing the health hazards associated with tobacco-related diseases and alcohol abuse.
"The Tariff Technical Committee (TCC) recommended the slight adjustment in the excise duty charges after cautious considerations of the Government's Fiscal Policy Measures for 2018 and the reports of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Technical Assistance Mission on Nigeria's Fiscal Policy.
"The effect of the excise duty rates adjustment on trade and investment was also assessed by the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment and it adopted the recommendations of the TTC. Furthermore, peer country comparisons were also carried out showing Nigeria as being behind the curve in the review of excise duty rates on alcoholic beverages and tobacco" she said.
Following the President's approval, the minister explained that the new excise duty rate on tobacco was now a combination of the existing ad-valorem base rate and specific rate while the ad-valorem rate was replaced with a specific rate for alcoholic beverages.
"For Alcoholic Beverages, the current ad-valorem rate will be replaced with specific rates and spread over three years to moderate the impact on prices. This will curb the discretion in the Unit Cost Analysis (UCA) for determining the ad-valorem rate and prevent revenue leakages.
"The Government will maintain the current ad-valorem rate of 20 per cent on tobacco and introduce additional specific rates with the implementation to be spread over a three-year period to also reasonably reduce the impact on prices."
Under the newly approved excise duty rates for tobacco in addition to the 20 per cent ad-valorem rate, each stick of cigarette will attract a N1 specific rate per stick (N20 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2018, N2 specific rate per stick (N40 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2019 and N2.90k specific rate per stick (N58 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2020.
Adeosun informed that Nigeria's cumulative specific excise duty rate for tobacco was 23.2 per cent of the price of the most sold brand, as against 38.14 per cent in Algeria, 36.52 per cent in South Africa and 30 per cent in Gambia.
The new specific excise duty rate for alcoholic beverages cuts across Beer and Stout, Wines and Spirits for the three years 2018 to 2020.
Under the new regime, Beer and Stout would attract N0.30k per centiliter (Cl) in 2018 and N0.35k per Cl each in 2019 and 2020. Wines would attract N1.25k per Cl in 2018 and N1.50k per Cl each in 2019 and 2020, while N1.50k per Cl was approved for Spirits in 2018, N1.75k per Cl in 2019 and N2.00k per Cl in 2020.
She added that the new excise duty regimes are in line with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) directive on the harmonisation of member-states' legislations on excise duties.
It would be recalled that the ECOWAS Council of Ministers had at its 62nd and 79th Ordinary Sessions in Abuja in May 2009 and December 2017, respectively, issued directives on the harmonisation of the ECOWAS Member States' Legislations on Excise Duties.
The directives seek to harmonise member-states' legislations on excise duties of non-oil products and also stipulate the scope of application, rate of taxation, taxable event and amount.
Recall that a coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) consisting of the Business Renaissance Group (BRG) and Sustained Development Collective (SDC) had on 22 May taken its protest to the national Assembly over what they called Killer Taxes on alcohic beverages.
The group during the protest appealed to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki to urgently intervene on the planned increase in excise duty on alcoholic beverages and tobacco products by the Federal Government.
The group maintained that the astronomical increase in excise duty was bound to endanger the sector if not reviewed and reversed.
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They displayed various placards with inscriptions such as "Support Local Industries: No To Killer Taxes"; "Save #Made In Nigeria Wines & Spirits. No Killer Taxes"; "Senate Save us from Killer Taxes"; "FG Please Don't Kill Our Local Businesses"; "President Buhari please save our jobs, #No To The Tax Hike" among others.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Fever-Tree takes over direct control of US operations
Drinks Business Review June 4, 2018
Fever-Tree, a producer of premium drink mixers, has taken control over its US operations via its subsidiary, Fever-Tree USA.
Headquartered in Brooklyn, Fever-Tree USA will be responsible for all aspects of the Group's North American business including importation, warehousing, distribution, marketing, sales and direct customer relationships.
Established in 2005 by Charles Rolls and Tim Warrillow, Fever-Tree has been the pioneer of the global premium mixer category, putting quality, choice and excitement back into a long-neglected category.
Recognizing the growth in premium spirits was not being matched by the accompanying mixers, Charles and Tim set out to change this, going back into the history books and travelling to some of the world's most remote, beautiful and dangerous places in their quest to source the highest quality ingredients to create their range of premium tonics, ginger beers, and ginger ales.
Since first entering the US market in 2007, this pioneering approach to taste and quality has seen Fever-Tree become the fastest growing and No. 1 premium mixer brand in the US, endorsed by the country's leading taste makers and spirits brands, helping to transform the perception and quality of the wider mixer category within both on-premise and off-premise.
Today marks the next step forward, signaling Fever-Tree's commitment to and focus on the North American market. The US premium mixer sector represents a significant opportunity given the existence of the dynamic trends of premiumization, authenticity and mixability that exist in the market today.
As the Market leader already, Fever-Tree USA intends to expand further driving innovation with new products and formats to enhance the drinking experience.
Fever-Tree USA is spearheaded by Fever-Tree's North American CEO Charles Gibb, a beverage industry leader with nearly three decades experience at Moët Hennessy, Diageo and Bacardi, latterly as President and CEO of Belvedere Vodka. Charles will lead a team of over 30 full time Fever-Tree employees across sales, based in key metropolitan areas, marketing, finance and supply chain.
Resources as aimed to scale the growing business, broaden awareness of the portfolio, and reinforce the simple concept the brand has held since inception: "If ¾ of your drink is the mixer, mix with the best."
Fever-Tree USA, Charles Gibb said: "The last 11 years has seen Fever-Tree establish a great platform in the US and this move to a directly controlled structure underscores our belief in the tremendous opportunity that exists in the market."
"Thanks to Fever-Tree's entrepreneurial culture, we have rapidly built an exceptionally talented team and infrastructure in less than five months and we are set to hit the ground running."
"With the same trends of premiumization across the wider spirits category and a move to simple long mixed drinks as witnessed by the growing popularity of the Mule and other simple cocktails, the US represents an incredibly exciting opportunity for Fever-Tree.
“With a designated team in place and ample resources, Fever-Tree USA looks forward to working closely with our key customers and distributor partners as we continue to innovate and disrupt the wider mixer category."
Source: Company Press Release
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DAILY NEWS
TTB Levies Largest Fine Ever The US enforcement agency has collected almost $1 million from a beer company.
Wine-Searcher By Liza B. Zimmerman June 4, 2018
It's been a big year already for federal agencies when it comes to dishing out fines – and a painful one for the recipients.
In the past year, US enforcement agencies – such as the Washington DC-based Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) – have had a field day tracking down and fining major suppliers and importers that have violated the well-entrenched laws of the American three-tier, drinks sales system.
The agency's renewed focus is thanks to additional funding and the TTB's continued desire to root out illegal activity. In the past few years some major suppliers have been fined for a variety of illegal activity. One of the biggest busts included a $1.9 million payment received from six industry members – including Bacardi, Diageo, Gallo, Future Brands, Moët Hennessy and Pernod Ricard – for a multi-level, pay-to-play arrangement with Harrah's, a Las Vegas casino in 2011.
Since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, a number of seemingly archaic – yet legally fair – laws have been in place to prevent suppliers from bribing operators for preferential shelf or bar space or otherwise incentivizing them to buy their specific product.
There is, unfortunately, a long history of well-funded suppliers "donating" funds, at times personnel and sometimes marketing assets – which could at times be construed as a "great night out at a lovely restaurant" – to key on- and off-premise operators that has long been tolerated, and stacks the cards unfavorably against smaller wine industry players with limited budgets.
Last month, Warsteiner, a German-owned brewery based in the Sauerland region in the German state of Westphalia with a greater Cincinnati-based American importer – the Warsteiner Importers Agency – was fined a record $900K for violations of Tied House Laws (which restrict entities from doing business on multiple levels of the sales system); commercial bribery; consignment (which entails selling back product not moved on a retail floor); and exclusive outlet, a situation in which a supplier forces a retailer to buy its products. Both the German beer company and its American importer declined to comment for this story.
Specific accusations, according to Thomas Hogue, director of congressional and public affairs at the TTB, include Warsteiner Importers having "paid for or provided equipment for dedicated draft lines [or tap handles] in retail establishments … and Warsteiner Importers Agency Inc. paid for or sponsored events in exchange for exclusivity arrangement".
This is all part of a series of new laser-focused enforcements that a newly revitalized TTB is undertaking, a comment that Hogue shared in a recent story on Wine-Searcher.
"The emphasis on trade practice investigations declined over the years at ATF," Hogue says, talking about when it was part of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The bureau was later reorganized to become part of the Department of the Treasury – because of its tax-collecting functions – and the TTB was officially created in 2003.
What is unusual about the Warsteiner case is that there were no straight-forward pay-to-play implications leveled against the beer company – which is generally part of the accusation – according to Virginia-based legal consultant Rob Tobiassen, who worked as chief legal counsel at the TTB for many years. "It is not entirely clear what is going on here," he adds. A pay-to-play legal violation is one of the most common, can include a number of different legal infractions, and has long been on the TTB's radar as they fine more companies for what can be a less-than-ethical sales approach to the US wine market.
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To date there have been 51 trade practice investigations initiated by the TTB since May of last year, according to Hogue. That is an impressive number, given what seemed to be the somewhat recent tolerance of many recent infractions of the three-tier system.
As the largest players – be they importers, major corporate marketers or wholesalers – get bigger, the entities that legislate them in Washington DC are ramping up their forces to ensure that they continue to do business in the proper ways. Whether the current American system of drinks sales is effective – or logical – is grist for another story or two, but as long as it is in effect legal kudos to the TTB for not allowing the big boys to impose their products – and sales goals – on operators.
Warsteiner, as a large beer manufacturer, has a long history of market violations in several countries. The German parent company was "one of five or six brewers that were fined over 100 million euros in 2014 for price fixing in Germany", adds Jon Moramarco, a Napa-based partner of wine data analyst Gomberg & Fredrikson.
Given the current fine, "it is only speculation but the level of the offer in compromise could be due to the size of the parent [company] and past compliance issues internationally". He adds that the TTB might be trying to make a serious statement given the company's prior violations and its renewed focus on setting the slates strait.
In the end the goal of such investigations and fines, according to Hogue, is to "ensure a level playing field, so any action we take to resolve alleged trade-practice violations is going to have to be more than just the cost of doing business".
Hopefully, going forward US marketers will respect the existing laws before they try to change them.
Most in U.S. Say Consuming Alcohol, Marijuana Morally OK
Gallup By Jeffrey M. Jones June 4, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Large majorities of Americans believe that using substances like alcohol and marijuana are morally permissible. Specifically, 78% say drinking alcohol is morally acceptable and 65% say smoking marijuana is.
Attitudes about the morality of alcohol and marijuana items were measured for the first time in Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs survey, conducted May 1-10. The survey asked Americans to indicate whether they believe each of 22 different behaviors and practices are morally acceptable or morally wrong.
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Alcohol and marijuana rank near the top of the list of practices Americans consider morally acceptable. Only birth control, at 91%, gets a higher percentage sanctioning it than drinking alcohol does. Smoking marijuana trails birth control, drinking alcohol and divorce (76%), but is on par with widely accepted acts including gambling, sex between an unmarried man and woman, gay or lesbian relations, stem cell research, and having a baby outside of marriage.
Americans are least likely to regard married men and women having an affair, cloning humans, polygamy and suicide as morally OK. Their opinions are most closely divided on morality of abortion -- 43% believe it is morally acceptable and 48% believe it is not.
Drinking Alcohol, Smoking Marijuana Among Practices Americans Find Most Morally Acceptable
Next, I'm going to read you a list of issues. Regardless of whether or not you think it should be legal, for each one, please tell me whether you personally believe that in general it is morally acceptable or morally wrong.
Drinking Alcohol, Smoking Marijuana Among Practices Americans Find Most Morally Acceptable
Next, I'm going to read you a list of issues. Regardless of whether or not you think it should be legal, for each one, please tell me whether you personally believe that in general it is morally acceptable or morally wrong.
Morally
acceptable
Morally
wrong
% %
Birth control 91 6
Drinking alcohol ^ 78 19
Divorce 76 20
Sex between an unmarried man and woman 69 28
Gambling 69 28
Gay or lesbian relations 67 30
Medical research using stem cells obtained from human embryos 66 29
Smoking marijuana ^ 65 31
Having a baby outside of marriage 65 32
The death penalty 62 33
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Morally
acceptable
Morally
wrong
% %
Buying and wearing clothing made of animal fur 60 37
Medical testing on animals 54 43
Doctor assisted suicide 54 42
Abortion 43 48
Pornography 43 55
Sex between teenagers 42 54
Cloning animals 40 51
Suicide 20 75
Polygamy, when a married person has more than one spouse at the
same time
19 78
Cloning humans 16 81
Married men and women having an affair 10 88
May 1-10, 2018; ^ Asked of a half sample
GALLU P
Gallup's trends on many of these items date back to 2001. On most, Americans have adopted more permissive views over time. Presumably, this also applies to the new item on smoking marijuana, given the surge over the past two decades in the percentage who say that smoking the drug should be legal. In fact, the 64% who last fall said marijuana should be legal nearly matches the 65% who say smoking it is morally acceptable.
Religiosity Is Key Determinant in Views of Drinking, Smoking Marijuana
Majorities of key subgroups of Americans regard both drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana as morally acceptable, but highly religious Americans, as measured by the frequency with which they attend church, are less likely to do so. Whereas 88% of those who seldom or never attend religious services find drinking alcohol to be morally acceptable, 60% of those who attend weekly hold that view. And while three-quarters of non-attenders say smoking marijuana is OK, less than half of regular churchgoers, 41%, agree.
Other subgroup differences, including those by gender, age, race and political ideology, appear to reflect differences in church attendance among those groups. For example, nonwhites, women, older Americans and conservatives are more likely to attend church but less likely to say smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol are OK.
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Religiosity a Key Factor in Views of Morality of Drinking Alcohol, Smoking Marijuana Drinking Alcohol Smoking Marijuana
% Acceptable % Wrong % Acceptable % Wrong
U.S. adults 78 19 65 31
Gender
Men 84 15 70 26
Women 73 23 59 36
Age
18 to 34 years 81 18 77 21
35 to 54 years 78 17 61 36
55+ years 77 21 58 37
Race
White 82 15 68 29
Nonwhite 67 29 59 35
College graduate
Yes 87 9 72 24
No 73 25 61 34
How often attend church
Every week 60 37 41 59
Monthly 71 22 63 31
Seldom/Never 88 11 75 20
Ideology
Liberal 84 11 81 19
Moderate 77 20 75 21
Conservative 75 25 47 49
May 1-10, 2018
GALLU P
In nearly every key subgroup, a greater percentage say drinking alcohol is morally acceptable than says the same about smoking marijuana. Young adults, ideological liberals and moderates are notable exceptions, as these three groups are about equally likely to find the two practices morally acceptable. In contrast to liberals and moderates, ideological conservatives are far more likely to view drinking alcohol (75%) than smoking marijuana (47%) as acceptable moral behavior.
Bottom Line
Most Americans do not object on moral grounds to people drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana. Of the two, they are more likely to see drinking alcohol as an acceptable behavior, perhaps because it is legal in all states while smoking marijuana is not. Some states have recently legalized marijuana and many others are considering doing so, perhaps removing some of the stigma associated with the drug. But with roughly two-thirds of the public
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saying marijuana use is morally acceptable, it seems there will not be sufficient opposition to thwart attempts to make it legal.
Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted May 1-10, 2018, with a random sample of 1,024 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
The results for the drinking alcohol item are based on a random sample of 542 adults and the results for the smoking marijuana item are based on a random sample of 482 adults. For results based on these samples, the margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.
Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 70% cellphone respondents and 30% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.
View survey methodology, complete question responses and trends.
Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.
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