Beer Sales Research Articles

COURAGE V. CREHAN: JUDICIAL ACTIVISM OR CONSISTENT APPROACH?

IN Case C-453/99 Courage Ltd. v. Crehan (judgment of 20 September 2001, not yet reported), the European Court of Justice has been confronted once more with the difficult task of reconciling the effectiveness of Community rights with national rules on remedies. By virtue of a series of agreements between Inntrepreneur Estates Ltd. (IEL), a company which owned public house estates, and Courage Ltd., a brewery with a 19% share of the United Kingdom market in sales of beer, all IEL tenants were required to purchase the whole of their beer requirements exclusively from Courage Ltd. In 1993, Courage Ltd. brought an action for the recovery from Mr. Crehan, a tenant of IEL, of a sum of more than £15,000 for unpaid deliveries of beer. Mr. Crehan contended that the exclusive purchasing obligation was anti-competitive because Courage Ltd. sold its beers to independent tenants of public houses at substantially lower prices than those imposed on IEL tenants. He claimed that the beer tie was therefore contrary to Article 81(1) EC and sought damages for loss caused to him by the imposition of the beer tie. Carnwath J. dismissed the counter-claim and found in favour of Courage Ltd. (Courage Ltd. v. Crehan [1998] E.G.C.S. 171). Mr. Crehan appealed.

Play Hard Drink Safe: a pilot project to promote responsible alcohol consumption in sporting clubs in Western Australia

Issue addressed: The Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation (Healthway) established a pilot sponsorship project in five sporting clubs to promote responsible alcohol consumption. In exchange for sponsorship funds, clubs introduced safe alcohol policies, displayed health messages promoting responsible drinking, promoted reduced-alcohol beers and trained bar staff in safe serving practices. Method: The project was evaluated using pre- and post-intervention methods, including structured interviews with bar managers in each club and interviewer-administered surveys of club members, Each club was visited twice unannounced during the intervention and independent observers noted the implementation and visibility of the sponsorship strategies. Results: Approximately one third of club members surveyed spontaneously recalled the sponsorship message post-intervention. At the end of the project, the majority of respondents recognised either the sponsorship message or a related message when prompted. Both pre- and post-intervention, more than 50% of respondents reported consuming more than the recommended safe alcohol limits in their club. Sales of reduced strength beers did not increase and price incentives did not have an impact on beer sales. Conclusions: The sponsorship achieved reasonable awareness, given the poor visibility of the promotional strategies, and demonstrated the feasibility of a small grants approach in promoting safe alcohol messages. So what?: The high levels of alcohol consumption reported in the study underline the importance of interventions addressing this issue in sports settings. (author abstract)

サントリー・中国事業の史的展開

The purpose of this paper is to show the reason why Suntory was able to innovate on a distribution channel in the Shanghai Beer industry. Suntory has had strong marketing skills and high technology in beer production in Japan. From 1984, Suntory's Chinese Business began in earnest. China Jiangsu Suntory Foods became the number one beer maker of Jiangsu Province, and Suntory developed skills in the management of a Chinese beer company. These Chinese business skill work as the core competence of Suntory's business in China. In 1996, Suntory established Shanghai Suntory Brewing and started a beer business in Shanghai. Though the Chinese business skills worked well, they were not good enough to make Suntory Shanghai's top beer maker. The marketing skills and knowledge of the beer market's competence, which were obtained in Japan, were needed. From 1997, Chinese business skills combined with marketing skills helped the rapid increase in Suntory beer sales. Suntory has been the number one beer maker in Shanghai since 1999. Suntory's technology and management skills have been adjusted to the Chinese market and work well in China. The adjustment process distinguishes Suntory from others and contributed to Suntory's to success in distribution innovation.

Slippery when wet: the effects of local alcohol access laws on highway safety

Using detailed panel data on local alcohol policy changes in Texas, this paper tests whether the effect of these changes on alcohol-related accidents depends on whether the policy change involves where the alcohol is consumed and the type of alcohol consumed. After controlling for both county and year fixed effects, we find evidence that: (i) the sale of beer and wine may actually decrease expected accidents; and (ii) the sale of higher alcohol-content liquor may present greater risk to highway safety than the sale of just beer and wine.

Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book Forum: Disorders of Appetite and Reward SystemsFull AccessBeyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating AlcoholismWILLIAM R. FLYNN, M.D., WILLIAM R. FLYNNSearch for more papers by this author, M.D., Napa, Calif.Published Online:1 Oct 2001https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.158.10.1754-aAboutSectionsView EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail The authors of this book are a professional writer of nonfiction, a journalist, an alcoholism activist, and a clinical psychologist, respectively. They wrote this book for the general public as a sequel to Under the Influence, co-authored by Ms. Ketcham and James R. Milam, Ph.D., and first published in 1981.The authors of Beyond the Influence vigorously argue that alcoholism is a disease, not a behavior problem. They contend that theories explaining alcohol addiction as a consequence of personality flaws or stress have impeded effective prevention and treatment. They freely discuss their personal experiences or those of loved ones. Former Senator George McGovern, who lost an adult daughter to the disease, wrote the foreword. The authors also try to put to rest the notion that an alcoholic can drink at all. I thought that their discussion of the distinction among social drinking, problem drinking, and alcoholism was particularly well done.This is not a volume for the psychiatrist’s library. We should already know what is in it. We should, however, recommend this book for reading by anyone who drinks or who will drink alcoholic beverages. It is easy to read. It is not a scientific work but one of investigative journalism, filled with vignettes, brief case histories, and quotations from wise men and women through the ages. The work of prominent psychiatric experts such as George Vaillant and Marc Schuckit is freely cited. The text is made easier to read by the fact that references are given at the end of the book and cited by chapter and page.The authors take on the “booze merchants” and the advertising industry for encouraging everyone to enjoy alcohol even though they know very well that there are people who should never do so. Individuals who are destined to become alcoholics are physiologically different from the rest of the population. Business interests perpetuate the idea that alcohol addiction is the result of foolishness and abuse of drinking. The fact is that there are legions of people who are powerless over their alcohol use.The book is divided into three sections: The Problem, The Solution, and The Future. The authors contend that physicians who rely strictly on DSM-IV criteria woefully underdiagnose the disease. One of the co-authors presents his drinking history to illustrate that point. The chapter on the solution, i.e., prevention and treatment, reminded me of a 1997 book by a psychiatrist, Robert L. Dupont, titled The Selfish Brain(1, 2). Dupont advocated reliance on 12-step, abstinence-based programs as the sine qua non for the solution to any addiction.The authors are not optimistic about the future in view of the profits to be made in the sale of beer, wine, and spirits. This book is about the early education of those at risk for addiction and out-of-control drinking.By Katherine Ketcham and William F. Asbury, with Mel Schulstad and Arthur P. Ciaramicoli, Ed.D., Ph.D. New York, Bantam Books, 2000, 355 pp., $13.95 (paper).

Righteousness or the right to drink? The debate on the ration book in Sweden and Finland during the 1950s

Sweden and Finland reviewed their alcohol control policies in the 1950s at more or less the same time. Sweden abolished its ration book system and lifted restrictions on the sale of medium strength beer, Finland in turn revised its mechanisms for controlling the purchase of alcohol, a version of the Bratt system. In Sweden, alcohol consumption increased sharply and the number of drunkenness offences doubled. In Finland, by contrast, nothing happened. Why? History provides one possible source of explanation. The Swedish version of the Bratt system was much stricter (with monthly rations allocated on the basis of social class and sex) and therefore there was greater pressure towards a liberalisation of alcohol policy than was the case in Finland. During the war and in the post-war years Finland had a strong labour movement, which was keen to underline and demonstrate that the working class were in every respect decent and upright people. The debate that was touched off by the General Strike in 1956 is particularly interesting. On the political right, workers were frequently portrayed as heavy drinkers; the political left worked hard to fend off this propaganda attack. In this kind of atmosphere it was impossible to seriously call for a liberalisation of alcohol control policy in Finland.

“THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE ARE IN A BEASTLY STATE”: THE BEER ACT OF 1830 AND VICTORIAN DISCOURSE ON WORKING-CLASS DRUNKENNESS

ION JULY 23, 1830, Parliament passed “An Act to permit the general Sale of Beer and Cyder by Retail in England.” Commonly known as the Beer Act of 1830, this law called for a major overhaul of the way beer was taxed and distributed in England and Wales. In place of a sixteenth-century statute that had given local magistrates complete control over the licensing of brewers and publicans, the Beer Act stipulated that a new type of drinking establishment, the beer shop, or beer house, could now be opened by any rate-paying householder in England or Wales (Scotland and Ireland had their own drink laws). For the modest annual licensing fee of two guineas, rate-payers in England could now purchase a license to brew and vend from their own residence.1

Alcohol and homicide: a cross‐cultural comparison of the relationship in 14 European countries

Aims. To assess an empirical basis for cross‐national and cross‐cultural comparisons of four aspects of the association between alcohol consumption and homicide: the relative strength of the association, the fraction of homicide rates attributable to alcohol consumption, possible gender differences in the association between consumption and victim rates and possible variations in beverage‐specific effects on homicide rates. Design, setting and participants. Time series analyses on differenced series of annual aggregate‐level data on alcohol sales and homicide rates for the period 1950‐95 were performed for each individual country. Estimates were pooled across countries within three regions of alleged differences in drinking pattern: southern Europe, central Europe and northern Europe. Findings. Total alcohol sales were positively and statistically significantly associated with homicide rates in five countries. Beer sales were positively and statistically significantly associated with homicide rates in four countries, wine sales in another two countries, and spirits sales in two countries. The effect of alcohol sales was stronger for male homicide rates than for female homicide rates, and the estimated fraction of homicides that could be attributed to alcohol consumption appeared to be of the same magnitude in the three regions. When estimates were pooled across countries, the strongest association between total sales and homicides was found in the northern European countries and the weakest, but still statistically significant, in the southern European countries. Pooled estimates showed that beer sales were positively and significantly associated with homicide rates in all three European regions, whereas wine sales were positively and moderately associated with homicide rates only in the traditional wine drinking cultures in southern Europe. Conclusion. The findings support the hypothesis that homicide rates are influenced by alcohol sales and more so in the northern European countries where the drinking culture is, to a larger extent, characterized by heavy drinking episodes. Moreover, the findings are suggestive of beverage‐specific effects on violent behaviour being contingent upon characteristics of the drinking culture.

Handgun Sales, Beer Sales, and Youth Homicide, California, 1972-1993

Whether regulating access to firearms and alcohol will reduce violent injuries is an important policy question. Empirical answers are difficult to obtain because only observational data are available. The present study estimated the association of firearm sales and alcohol sales with subsequent homicides, after adjusting statistically for potential confounders (e.g., unemployment rates) using California data from 1972 through 1993. Handgun sales and beer sales were lagged one year and used to explain variation in the homicides of Californians (e.g., 1990 sales were used to explain 1991 homicides). Differences across population groups were investigated, with a focus on 15- to 34-year-olds, the highest risk age group. Even when taking potential confounders in the base population into account, beer sales and handgun sales generally are associated positively one year later with homicide, particularly among young men. Reducing beer sales may reduce homicides. And, although they represent a small fraction of existing firearms, regulating the number of handguns sold may reduce the number of homicides.

Slippery When Wet: The Effects of Local Alcohol Access Laws on Highway Safety

Using detailed panel data on local alcohol policy changes in Texas, this paper tests whether the effect of these changes on alcohol-related accidents depends on whether the policy change involves where the alcohol is consumed and the type of alcohol consumed. After controlling for both county and year fixed effects, we find evidence that: (i) the sale of beer and wine may actually decrease expected accidents; and (ii) the sale of higher alcohol-content liquor may present greater risk to highway safety than the sale of just beer and wine.

Alcohol Content of Beer and Malt Beverages: Forensic Considerations

Beer consumption is commonly an issue in a medico-legal setting, requiring estimates either of a likely blood alcohol concentration (BAC) for a given pattern of consumption or vice versa. Four hundred and four beers and malt beverages available for sale in the State of Washington were tested by gas chromatography for their alcohol content. Considerable variability in the alcoholic strength was found, even within the same class. Overall the range of concentrations was 2.92%v/v to 15.66%v/v. The mean alcohol concentration for ales was 5.51%v/v (SD 1.23%v/v), and for lagers, 5.32% (SD 1.43%v/v). Some specialty brews had characteristically higher or lower mean concentrations: ice beers 6.07%v/v, malt liquor 7.23%v/v, light beer 4.13%v/v, seasonal ales 6.30%v/v. Six brands of lager and four light beers account for the majority of all beer sales in the United States, and the mean alcohol concentration for these products was measured as 4.73%v/v and 4.10%v/v respectively. Few of the beers (17%) were labeled with respect to alcohol content, and in some cases, there was a significant disparity between the concentration listed on the label, and the measured alcohol concentration. Toxicologists need to exercise caution when performing Widmark type calculations, using all available information to select the most appropriate estimate for alcoholic strength of a beer or malt beverage.

Patterns of alcohol consumption in the Seychelles Islands (Indian Ocean).

Self-reported drinking habits were examined in a random sample of 1067 persons aged 25-64 years in the Seychelles, a country in epidemiological transition where consumption of home-brewed, mostly unregistered beverages has been traditionally high. Alcohol consumption was calculated from respondents reporting at least one drink per week ('regular drinkers'). Among men, 51.1% were regular drinkers and had average intake of 112.1 ml alcohol a day. Among women, 5.9% were regular drinkers and had 49.7 ml alcohol a day. Frequency of drinking, but not amount per drinker, was slightly less in the 25-34-year than older-age categories. Home-brews (mostly palm toddy and fermented sugar cane juice) were consumed by 52% of regular drinkers and accounted for 54% of the total alcohol intake reported by all regular drinkers. Based on the reported consumption by regular drinkers only, the average annual alcohol consumption amounted respectively to 20.7 litres and 1.2 litres per man and woman aged 25-64 years, or, using extrapolation, 13.2 litres and 0.8 litres per man and woman respectively of the total population. These values may underestimate the true figures by half, since reported beer consumption accounted for 53% of beer sales. Socio-economic status was associated strongly and inversely with home-brew consumption, but slightly and positively with consumption of commercially marketed beverages. Alcohol intake was associated with smoking, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, carbohydrate-deficient transferrin and blood pressure, but not with age and body mass index. In conclusion, these data show high alcohol consumption in the Seychelles with an important gender difference, a large proportion of alcohol derived from home-brews, and opposite tendencies for the relationships between socio-economic status and home-made or commercially marketed beverages.

Trading on inequality: gender and the drinks trade in southern Tanzania

AbstractThis article explores the economic logic of the domestic drinks market and its place in the subsistence strategies of men and women in a rural district of Ulanga in southern Tanzania, where women's brewing coexists with men's monopolisation of the sap alcohol market. The seasonal availability of sap alcohols, combined with the district's integration into national grain markets, creates a short-lived opportunity for some women to supplement their income from the production and sale of maize beer, an opportunity made possible oy the unequal economic interdependence of men and women and of different regions of Tanzania. The seasonal expansion of the market in maize beer occurs at a time when maize prices are high and household grain stocks are low. Brewers must choose between their immediate consumption needs and investing their small reserves of cash or grain in beer production in the hope that it will generate longer-term profit. As in other parts of Tanzania, the choice is idiomatically expressed through the contrast between ‘eating’ (kulia) and ‘generation’ (zalisha) through which grain, and the money to which it is explicitly compared, can be made to reproduce itself through careful investment.

Beverage specific effects on suicide

Thor Norström & Ingeborg Rossow: Beverage specific effects on suicide The authors analyze the relationship between suicide and beverage specific indicators of alcohol sales in Norway and Sweden. The data comprised aggregate time series for Norway (1918–1994) and Sweden (1948–1994). The suicide indicator was the number of male suicides per 100,000 inhabitants (15+). The beverage specific indicators were sales of beer, spirits and wine (liters 100 % ethanol per inhabitant, 15+). The beverage specific effects on suicide were estimated by means of ARIMA-models. For Norway as well as Sweden, there was a statistically significant relationship between suicide on the one hand, and sales of beer (in Sweden retail sales only) and spirits on the other. A common finding in the two countries was the absence of any effect of wine sales. A tentative interpretation of the findings is that spirits and beer sales are markers of the prevalence of an important risk group for suicide, i.e., heavy drinkers. The fact that beer seems to be of greater importance in this context in Norway – which might be attributable to differences between the two countries in the availability of this beverage – is a reminder of how culturally bounded the findings are.

Beer Joints and Badasses: An Aggregate-Level Assessment of Alcohol Availability and Violent Crime

This study examines the effects of alcohol availability on the level of violent crime across census tracts within the unincorporated areas of Hillsborough County, Florida. We use Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression techniques to test for the influence of the total number and the number of specific forms of liquor licenses on the level of criminal homicides, sexual assaults, aggravated assaults, and robberies per census tract while controlling for the effects of socio-demographic and economic compositional variables. We find positive relationships between the number of liquor licenses which permit the retail sale of beer (either package stores or for on-premises consumption) and the level of violent crimes. These effects were strongest for the crimes of aggravated and sexual assaults to the extent that each additional liquor establishment per census tract adds 2–3 sexual assaults per year and 8–10 aggravated assaults. Among the compositional and contextual variables, percent of households in poverty was found to have the strongest effect across all violent crime categories. Policy implications are discussed regarding high-risk areas and high-risk establishments.

Beverage sales and drinking and driving: the role of on-premise drinking places.

The relationships between on-premise drinking places, beverage specific alcohol sales and drinking and driving were examined in a time series cross-sectional study of place-of-last-drink data from Perth, Western Australia. At arrest, 2,411 drinking drivers reported their last location of consumption. Tabulated by 57 premises over 4 years, the rates at which individual premises were referenced as the place-of-last-drink were taken to reflect the relative distributions of numbers of drinking drivers coming from different premise types (hotels, taverns and nightclubs). The data were then statistically related to measures of premise types and characteristics and beverage specific alcohol sales. Significant cross-sectional relationships were obtained between measures of premise types, alcohol sales and drinking and driving. Greatest numbers of drinking drivers came from taverns and from places selling greater amounts of beer and spirits. Significant longitudinal effects were obtained for sales of beer, proportions of high alcohol beer sold and sales of spirits. As a whole, the results suggest that, at least for Western Australia, outlets selling greater amounts of beer and spirits, and greater amounts of high alcohol beer, will produce larger numbers of drinking drivers.

Liberalisation of Finnish Alcohol Legislation in the Reform of 1994

The article looks at the preparation of the new Alcohol Act as well as the parliamentary proceedings. The attention is focused on the internal dynamics of the process and on the way it was subordinate to other political considerations. Even though the preparation of the legislation was begun in 1991 to alleviate growing internal pressure in the country, it became a part of the government's tug-of-war even before parliamentary proceedings. The preparation of the new Act and the parliamentary proceedings also became intermingled with Finland's EU membership negotiations and the pressures arising from the EEA agreement, effective from the beginning of 1994. The focal point is whether or not the decisions made can be traced back to the interests of commerce and industry. It is argued that the Parliament, and particularly the Social Affairs and Health Committee, assumed an active role in the process, and that the decisions cannot fully be traced back to the interests of commerce and industry. In the Parliament, the new legislation became remarkably more liberal than the government's proposal would have entailed. In this respect, the central issues were the sanctioning of retail sale of viticulturists' products and table beer, partial removal of restrictions to alcohol advertising and equating all alcoholic beverages, with an alcoholic strength by volume of less than 4.7 per cent, with beer in retail. With the decision made in the Parliament, the Alcohol Act begins to take on ideological qualities. In particular, the interests of commerce and industry alone simply cannot explain the sanctioning of retail sale of viticulturists' products or table beer. The decision on alcohol advertising also involves ideological considerations. In the light of all the above, the alcohol legislation has taken a huge step towards liberalisation. The interests of commerce and industry also strengthened their position in the field.

Changes in Young People's Alcohol Consumption with Improved Availability of Medium Strength Beer. The Case of Pietarsaari

After a lengthy battle, Pietarsaari finally sanctioned the retail sale of medium strength beer in 1993. Since then, medium strength beer has been available not only at the State retail shops selling wines and spirits but also at various grocery shops in the area. This article explores changes in the alcohol consumption of 13–17 year-olds within one year of the liberalisation. A control group from the city of Porvoo was included in the study in order to discern the changes actually resulting from the sanctioning of retail sale from changes that were caused by more general social change. The Pietarsaari sample included all the young people attending schools: some 1,300 pupils both at the beginning of the study and in the final survey. As feared by those who had opposed the liberalisation, age limits were observed less strictly: more and more minors were able to purchase alcohol from the grocery shops. The year also saw a notable rise (from 30 % to 44 %) in the consumption of medium strength beer. The overall alcohol consumption in Finland did not increase, however; the change was purely structural in nature. Medium strength beer became the alcoholic beverage of choice for both girls and boys, even though girls had previously shown a preference for wines.

Effects on criminal violence of different beverage types and private and public drinking.

The purpose of the study is to analyse the relationship between homicide and assault rates on one hand, and various indicators of alcohol consumption on the other. The latter include private and public drinking with a further disaggregation into beverage-specific drinking. The data comprise aggregate time series for Sweden during the period 1956-94. The assault rate is measured as the number of police reported assaults (at all degrees of aggravation) per 100,000 inhabitants (15+). The homicide rate is measured as the number of homicides (where the victim was at least one year old) per 100,000 inhabitants (15+). Private consumption is gauged as retail sales of alcohol, and public consumption as on -premise sales (litres 100% per inhabitant, 15+). These two measures are disaggregated further into beverage specific sales (beer, spirits and wine). According to the findings, there is a statistically significant relationship between the assault rate and a combined measure of on-premise sales of beer and spirits. The estimated relationship corresponds to an attributable fraction of about 40%. The homicide rate is significantly associated with retail sales of spirits; the attributable fraction is estimated at about 50%. Wine sales are not related to any of the two violence indicators. The findings suggest that the assault rate is related to consumption of beer and spirits in bars and restaurants, while the homicide rate is linked to consumption of spirits in private contexts. The findings, notably specific to Sweden during a certain time period, can be interpreted as the outcome of the interplay of a number of factors, including opportunity structure, social control and context of drinking, drinking patterns associated with the different beverage types and characteristics of the drinkers.

EU-Membership and the Border Trade in Alcohol in Southern Sweden

When Sweden joined the European Union on January 1, 1995, the personal import quotas for wine and strong beer were raised. This meant increased possibilities for Swedish consumers to buy alcohol at a lower price, mainly in Denmark and on the Continent. In this article the effects of the higher quotas on retail trade in the southern part of Sweden have been studied. These effects are considered to reflect the minimum increase in cross-border shopping for alcohol in the southern part of the country after the EU-membership. The decrease in retail sales, affected by the increased cross-border shopping, between 1994 and 1996 was equivalent to 2.7% of the total sales of alcohol officially registered in Sweden. Between 1995 and 1996, cross-border shopping seems to have increased to the same extent as it did between 1994 and 1995. The increase in cross-border shopping mainly affected the sale of strong beer, followed by sales of ordinary-strength beer, wine and spirits, in this order. Even citizens living 300–400 kilometres from the southernmost tip of Sweden seem to have increased their purchase of alcohol in Denmark and on the Continent. This article also gives estimates of the consumers' reaction to price changes in alcoholic beverages sold by the state-owned monopoly stores during 1986–1995, both in Sweden as a whole and in the southern regions. It appears that consumers will buy more wine and strong beer if the prices are reduced. Considering the fact that the higher import quotas at least to some extent can be viewed as a price reduction in the southern part of the country, it is very likely that cross-border consumers will buy more alcohol abroad than they will if they stay in Sweden. Against this background it is safe to assume that since Sweden joined the EU, cross-border shopping has increased by more than an amount equivalent to 2.7% of the total, officially registered alcohol sales in Sweden.