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Find us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterVolume 86: December 16, 2011  

The Upland Brewing Company Is NOT Sold on Sunday Sales Proposal

After interviewing our sales manager, Danny Henrich, for a TV story on legislation proposed to allow Indiana-brewed beer to be sold cold in grocery, drug and convenience stores, the WTHR reporter asked him why he was not more strongly in favor of the legislation. But once his interview had been edited and cut into the story that aired on Wednesday evening, you'd think Danny had been unequivocal in the interview. In the words of the reporter, "Henrich is sold on [the ARAR proposal]."

 

We'll admit that we are not very well trained in the art of retail politics and that Danny did not manage his words such that they could not be taken out of context. But the way his comments were chosen and placed within the editorial slant of the story did not represent his opinion nor the thoughts of Upland or the rest of Indiana's brewing community.

 

Upland's position on the proposed legislation:

  • We are thrilled that locally brewed beer has gained sufficient prominence such that retailers would want to focus on Indiana beers in their stores, bars and restaurants. We are brewing a broad range of full-flavored, unique beers that represent both traditional recipes and new innovations in beer styles, which are exciting consumers about beer (and consumers had clearly lost interest in factory-produced domestic and import beers, whose sales have been falling for the past ten years).
  • In the grand scheme of the beer world, however, Indiana brewers and the entire craft beer community are small fish, representing less than 2% of the Indiana beer market (and less than 1% of the overall alcoholic beverage market). We have always advocated on behalf of other locally owned businesses and entrepreneurs. With the rise of mass-market, big-box retailers and their centralized purchasing and merchandising decisions, consumers have lost out on product choice.       Without a strong and viable independent liquor store segment, the breadth and depth of craft beer offering would likely be reduced, and that is not a good outcome.
  • Since last summer Indiana breweries have enjoyed the right to sell our beer cold and for carryout on Sundays, and those in-house sales have been critically important to our own financial health because craft brewing is such a capital- and labor-intensive industry. This special selling provision has also encouraged brewery tourism via beer trails and provided a reason for us to give tours, host tastings, and otherwise celebrate Hoosiers helping Hoosiers. Those benefits are all at risk if convenience-based outlets are granted the provisions in the proposed ARAR legislation.
  • Selling beer at gas stations, whether warm or cold, sends the wrong message about drinking and driving. One of the major consequences of promoting a craft beer culture is the appreciation of beer as a food, responsible consumption, and brewpubs as civil drinking establishments.

 Source: The Upland Brewing Company 

 Underage drinking hits a record low   

The Monitoring the Future survey is one of the leading annual studies of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. Today, they announced their 2011 survey results, which showed marked decreases in almost all categories of underage drinking. The survey, a representative sample of students in 8th, 10th and 12th grade levels in the US, reported historic lows of alcohol consumption, indicating that the majority of high school students are not drinking.

 

Annual alcohol consumption among students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grade has decreased at all three grade levels; statistically significantly decreases were recorded among 8th and 10th graders from 2010 to 2011 (down 2.4 and 2.3 percent, respectively) and down almost two percent (1.7) among high school seniors. The number of students who report being drunk in the past year declined over the past year among students in all three grade levels.

 

From 1991 to 2011 the proportion of students reporting past month consumption has declined nearly in half among 8th graders, by more than one third among 10th graders, and about one quarter among HS Seniors over the past 20 years. The lead researcher, Dr. Lloyd Johnson, attributed this decline to a decline in perceived availability of alcohol among 8th graders, proving that our efforts to reduce underage drinking sales and social hosting have been working!


To view the full story, click on this link:
http://www.centurycouncil.org/blog/2011/underage-drinking-hits-record-low 

 

Source: The Century Council


UK Doctors Call for 'Minimum Pricing' on Alcoholic Drinks to Save Lives

Doctors in the UK have called for "minimum pricing" of alcoholic drinks which are sold over supermarkets and restaurants to save thousands of lives from alcohol-related diseases.

 

According to a team of doctors and medical experts, "the pocket money prices" of the alcoholic beverages available in the super market are responsible for the loss of thousands of lives related to alcohol consumption.

 

According to the health experts, alcohol consumption is linked to about 13,000 new cases of cancer in each year. It was also the reason for one in four cases of deaths among the young population in the 15 to 24 age group.

 

To view the full story, click on this link: http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/266962/20111214/uk-doctors-minimum-pricing-alcoholic-drinks-save.htm 

 

Source: International Business Times

    

Heineken Says Sunrise Belongs to Moderate Drinkers

Christmas season is the time when most people not only exchange gifts and send greetings, but also drink and say cheers. For some of us the second goes above the first, and here the problems begin. To address this, global brands, both alcohol and beverage ones, launch campaigns to promote moderate drinking. Recently, the soft-drink giant Coca-Cola rolled out the new round of its 'Designated Driver' initiative, and HEINEKEN started its new promotion of responsible alcohol consumption by launching a new extension of the 'Open Your World' global campaign of its flagship beer, Heineken. Under the new theme 'Sunrise belongs to moderate drinkers' unveiled this Christmas season, the brand is spreading the message of moderate drinking primarily on the web, via a range of platforms, including Heineken's YouTube channel, Facebook fan page, Heineken.com and broadcast.

 

The program was launched last month, on November 28, in select cities across the globe with teaser elements. In London, Ho Chi Minh, Rio de Janiero and San Francisco the brand placed sofas featuring the hashtag #MYSUNRISE in certain locations, from where people might watch the sunrise in the best possible conditions. To share the joy and happiness of seeing the sun rising, people could post photos of their best sunrise moments, tag them #MYSUNRISE and then send the stills to the Heineken fan page on Facebook.

 

As part of the campaign, Heineken has launched a 85 second film entitled 'The Sunrise' to demonstrate that you really can have a good time in a club without drinking much. The spot, which is shot quite in style of 'The Entrance' ad by the brand, features a guy who celebrates the night to the fullest without too much alcohol (he even says 'no' to a bartender who gives him another bottle of Heineken, and takes water instead), while others are drinking heavily. In the end, at the exit of the club, he sees a girl and leaves the venue with her to meet the sunrise together.

 

To view the full story and video, click on this link: http://popsop.com/51936 

 

Source: POPSOP

 

Grafton (Mass.) Police Department Opinion: Have Fun, But Not Too Much, at Holiday Party 

Hosts should be gracious and cautious, the police chief says.

 

With the increase in parties and events to help celebrate the holiday season, the Grafton Police Department would like to remind everyone that drinking and driving is a dangerous combination. To ensure everyone's safety, the Grafton Police Department would once again like to offer these tips on hosting safe holiday parties.

 

Responsible hosts know that part of showing guests a great time is making sure they get home safely.  Here are some suggestions to help you throw a memorable party without tossing caution to the wind.

 

Plan activities like party games or door prize drawings. Planned activities engage people, make for less active consumption of alcohol and ensure that your friends remember the great event long after the last piece of confetti has settled.

 

As guests RSVP, confirm that at least one person in each group is prepared to be the non-drinking designated driver.

 

To view the full story, click on this link: http://grafton.patch.com/articles/have-fun-but-not-too-much-at-holiday-party 

 

Source: GraftonPatch


 PhillyNow Blog: Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Responds to Offensive Date-Rape Ad

By now, you've probably seen the controversial Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board ads. You know, the ones that feature photos of what appear to be a young girl's legs splayed on a tiled bathroom floor with underwear around her ankles.

 

The ads send the message that women are not only at fault for getting themselves raped-a societal bias reflected in and re-enforced by too many court decisions-it's your fault if your friend gets raped, too.

Last night, after receiving hundreds of phone calls and hundreds of email complaints, the PLCB has yanked the ads.

 

"We feel very strong, and still do, that when we entered the initial discussion about doing a campaign like this it was important to bring the most difficult conversations about over-consumption of alcohol to the forefront and all of the dangers associated with it-date rape being one of these things," says PLCB spokesperson Stacey Witalec. "That being said, due to the number of concerns that we heard about that specific ad, and the victims especially that we heard from talking about how the image ... made them feel victimized all over again, we felt it was prudent to pull it."

 

The campaign, developed with Philadelphia-based ad agency Neiman Group, has been in the works since 2009.

 

PW recently spoke with Dr. Veronique Valliere, a therapist, member of Pennsylvania's Sexual Offenders Assessment Board and nationally renowned expert on alcohol and rape.

 

"Alcohol is a very accessible date-rape drug, and there's a couple of ways it's used by offenders," says Valliere, speaking on the phone from her office in Foglesville, Pa.

 

Valliere says excessive drinking won't create the desire to assault someone in a person who doesn't already have it, but if the urge is lurking in there somewhere, alcohol will minimize the effect of the factors that usually prevent a person from acting on it. "[Alcohol] doesn't create deviance, but it facilitates the expression of it," she says.

 

Valliere adds that offenders consciously introduce or exploit the presence of alcohol in a situation knowing full well it will increase the odds that society-and juries, and sometimes even the victim-will blame the victim.

 

To view the full story, click on this link: http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/phillynow/2011/12/08/plcb-yanks-offensive-date-rape-ad/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=plcb-yanks-offensive-date-rape-ad 

 

Source: PhillyNow Blogs


Binge Drinking Linked To Sexual Assault Risk For College Freshmen

A new study, to be published in the January issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, has linked binge drinking with the risk of sexual assault among women in their first year of college.

 

The study, lead by scientists at the University of Buffalo, followed 437 young women from their high school graduation through their freshman year at a college or university.

 

According to a press release from the school, the researchers discovered that of women who did not drink heavily during high school, nearly half of them said that they had engaged in "heavy episodic drinking - commonly called binge drinking - at least once by the end of their first college semester."

 

Those who were already binge drinkers in high school continued drinking at a similar rate during their freshman year of university, and of those young women who engaged in binge drinking of at least four to six drinks, 25% of them said that they had been sexually victimized during the fall semester - which could entail anything from unwanted sexual contact to rape, they added.

 

"The more alcohol those binges involved, the greater the likelihood of sexual assault," they added. "Of women who'd ever consumed 10 or more drinks in a sitting since starting college, 59 percent were sexually victimized by the end of their first semester."

 

To view the full story, click on this link: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112437181/binge-drinking-linked-to-sexual-assault-risk-for-college-freshmen 

 

Source: redOrbit


New alcoholic drink Blast may appeal to teens

Rockford Health and Human Services officials today issued an advisory telling parents and the community about a new malt liquor beverage that is packaged colorfully and could appeal to teenagers.

 

Blast by Colt 45 is made by the Pabst Brewing Company. It contains 12 percent alcohol and packaged in single 23-ounce cans, according to the release.

 

"The brightly-colored product with flavors such as blueberry pomegranate, strawberry lemonade, grape and raspberry watermelon are targeted toward younger consumers," the release states. "The rapper Snoop Dogg promotes the drink which has been nicknamed 'binge in a can' on Internet ads."

 

A 2010 Illinois Youth Survey indicated that 39 percent of Rockford high school seniors reported using alcohol in the past 30 days. Additionally, 20 percent of them reported driving while drinking alcohol and more than a quarter of them reported "binge" drinking in the past two weeks.

 

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan urged Pabst Brewing Company to decrease the alcohol content in Blast.

 

"Alcohol abuse among young people is a serious and alarming epidemic," Madigan said in a news release. "A product like this only serves to glamorize alcohol abuse and promote binge drinking, threatening the safety of those consuming it."

 

Source: RRSTAR.COM


Starbucks introducing beer and wine concept to Chicago cafes next year  

Starbucks will add beer, wine and small plates like almonds and bread with olive oil dip at five to seven stores in Chicago next year.

After selling wine and beer in a handful of Northwest stores for the past couple years, Starbucks is taking the concept to Chicago.

 

It will add beer, wine and small plates like almonds and bread with olive oil dip at five to seven stores in Chicago next year.

 

The idea started at a Starbucks location on Capitol Hill in Seattle, which the chain remodeled and opened in 2009 as 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.

 

The store has reverted to the Starbucks name, but wine and beer remain on the menu there and at Starbucks cafes at Broadway East and East Roy Street, in Madison Park near CEO Howard Schultz's house and in Issaquah. There's also a Starbucks selling beer and wine in Portland.

 

And Starbucks plans to eventually sell wine and beer at a cafe that will open in January in one of Amazon.com's new headquarters buildings in South Lake Union.

 

They start selling wine and beer at 2 p.m. and have posted double-digit sales growth after 4 p.m., said spokesman Alan Hilowitz.

 

"It's something our customers have really been responding to," he said. "They want to sit and relax, and maybe one person wants to have coffee and the other wants beer or wine. People also can go out after work without having to go to a bar, and people who are underage can go and have a cup of coffee instead."

 

The coffee chain will roll the concept out selectively, but does not plan to offer beer and wine in all its stores. "It's got to fit the neighborhood," Hilowitz said.

 

Source: Seattle Times


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