Free Beer
California beer drinkers are in for a treat.
A new state law, allowing beer sampling in restaurants, took effect on Jan. 1. And brewers are rushing to take advantage of it.
For example, Heineken plans to hand out samples for its Premium Light, a beer that it launched in the U.S. last year with a $50 million campaign, according to Heineken spokesperson Dan Tearno. And Anheuser-Busch, which lobbied for the bill, plans to hand out samples in the state.
What can consumers expect?
During the Premium Light launch, more than 400,000 people received a taste of the brew at thousands of events over a five-month period.
The success of the sampling program, the largest Heineken USA has ever done, prompted the firm to increase its forecast for the brew from 5 million cases to more than 7 million in 2006, Tearno says.
“We expect to have a very robust sampling program expanding into California,” Tearno says. “To be able to sample on-premise is a great way to introduce consumers to new products.”
Brewers have long conducted sampling in states where it is allowed. But regulations vary widely. Some states ignore sampling, others try to limit or prohibit it.
California banned beer sampling, but allowed it for wine and distilled spirits. Anheuser-Busch pointed out this imbalance during lobbying for the bill (SB2548), according to Andrew Baldonado, western region vice president of government affairs for the firm.
The issue is crucial because U.S. beer consumption has fallen in recent years. The $9 billion industry is fighting a consumer shift to spirits like vodka and rum.
“We had wanted to get that marketing opportunity available to our folks,” Baldonado adds.
Despite those arguments, the bill was opposed by the California Small Brewer’s Association. The group worried that firms with large marketing budgets would conduct regular sampling events, leaving small brewers unable to keep up.
“Our thought was that this would create an uneven playing field in the marketplace,” says Tom McCormick, executive director of the association.
Another worry was that the large brewers would forget their responsiblity to educate the public.
The result is that language in the bill was toughened. Beer marketers face tighter restrictions on sampling than their counterparts in the wine and spirits industries.
For example, they are now limited to six sampling promotions at an on-premise account per year, Baldonado says.
In addition, beer-sampling events can only last for one hour with one eight-ounce sample served per customer per day in a separate vessel to avoid brewers passing out branded bottles or cans of beer. The original language called for a 12-ounce sample in its original container.
McCormick said the California Small Brewer’s Association plans to monitor sampling events as marketing gets underway this year.
“We have some concerns about how it will be implemented in the marketplace and we will be watching that and making sure it is not abused by large or small brewers,” he says.
Anheuser-Busch will continue its efforts to convert non-sampling states.
Next on the agenda? Washington. The beer maker is now working with legislators there to introduce a bill.
“Washington State is a very restrictive state,” Baldonado says.
“We would like to see some form of sampling.”
