An Exercise in Contrasts: Beer Edition

While it is certainly possible to get farther apart in the United States than Edmonds, Washington and Jacksonville, Florida, we must admit it to be some distance. And, perhaps, miles apart is metaphorically apt. Or something about a room a thousand years wide. Never mind.

First up, Edmonds, Washington:

For the price of a pint of Breakaway IPA at American Brewing Co. in Edmonds, you could soon buy eight shares in the microbrewer itself.

The little company and some current shareholders are preparing to sell shares in an initial public offering of stock, the first since the mid 1990s by a brewery here.

The 3-year-old company will use proceeds to fund expanded brewing and distribution of its four main beers, including Flying Monkey Dogfight Pale Ale and Caboose Oatmeal Stout.

(Grunbaum)

To the other, while the brewery is said to “have more ambition than your average brewery”, the IPO aims for all of $285,000, cut into fifty-cent shares.

Thus, there are all sorts of caveats, as this seems almost a novelty sale, but still the company finds itself at a crossroads:

With revenues of nearly $1 million, American Brewing reported a $330,000 loss for 2013, according to its prospectus.

Last year it ranked 20th among the state’s roughly 200 craft or microbreweries, producing 3,119 barrels or nearly 100,000 gallons, according to data from the Washington State Liquor Control Board. Top dog Redhook brewed 149,000 barrels, while the 10th largest, Silver City Brewery in Bremerton, produced 7,615 barrels.

Fueled by about $700,000 already raised in a private placement, American Brewing has been adding bigger boilers and fermenting tanks, remodeling its tasting room and readying 56,000 empty 12-ounce cans to be filled with one or two of its beers, the regulatory filing says. The expansion should yield physical capacity to handle 10,000 barrels or more, though “current funding will achieve 5,000-7,000 barrels per year.”

Competition for space in grocery stores is tough, Kaiser says. “The key is you’ve got to be able to continually supply what stores like QFC want.”

While it is a critical time for the brewery, it is hardly the worst of situations. The situation looks much different in Florida.

Something About Beer

Ah, political correctness. Jason Dick of Roll Call can give you directions to the P&C Market, where they have been so insensitive and exclusionary as to limit their sidewalk sign to only twenty-five languages. Or, if you’re a pint-half-full kind of person, well, they really want you to know they have beer.

The Great Brazilian Beer Conundrum

Oh, the problems you’ll find ….

The next FIFA World Cup is not until 2014, but early battles off the field are already drawing attention. Host nation Brazil banned the sale of beer at fútbol matches since 2003, but FIFA officials insist that alcohol sales are a must at World Cup events. Via BBC:

Beer must be sold at all venues hosting matches in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, football’s world governing body, Fifa, has insisted.

Fifa General Secretary, Jerome Valcke, said the right to sell beer must be enshrined in a World Cup law the Brazilian Congress is considering.

Alcoholic drinks are currently banned at Brazilian stadiums and the country’s health minister has urged Congress to maintain the ban in the new law.

Brewer Budweiser is a big Fifa sponsor ….

…. Fifa has become frustrated, because voting on the legislation has been held up in Congress by the dispute over alcohol sales ….

…. “Alcoholic drinks are part of the Fifa World Cup, so we’re going to have them. Excuse me if I sound a bit arrogant but that’s something we won’t negotiate,” he said.

Valcke criticised the pace of construction at Brazil’s world cup venues
“The fact that we have the right to sell beer has to be a part of the law.”

There are, of course, other issues dragging down World Cup ’14. Discount ticket issues are still up in the air, as are trademark protections for World Cup sonsors. Valcke noted that negotiations have gone slowly, asserting that this is the first time FIFA and a host nation had failed to resolve such issues five years after assigning the tournament location.