Diageo

[cowdery]

Although I haven't tried it, we have also seen good comments in this forum about their Ezra Brooks.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://cowdery.home.netcom.com>--Chuck Cowdery</A>

[porgymcnasty]

I was dismayed by the following, which involves Diageo

http://classes.seattleu.edu/business...rmarketing.htm

also referred to on:
http://www.webtender.com/iforum/mess...=new&sort=date

the webtender forum involves a poster called Angus, who works in the same daigeo department mentioned in the article.

here is an article specifically on Angus:
http://www.city.reuters.com/global/f...844/?version=1

if anyone has any questions on Diageo, and its weird stratergies, ask Angus!


http://us.geocities.com/sidecar_sid/front_page.html

[kitzg]

I wondered why this dismayed you.

>>"I was dismayed by the following, which involves Diageo"
>> http://classes.seattleu.edu/business...rmarketing.htm
>>"The Diageo team is studying how bars can be redesigned and bartenders retrained to encourage more people to splurge on a premium cocktail, containing a Diageo brand. The Jose Cuervo margarita dispenser"
---
Beer companies have been using 'in your face' on-site promotion with neon, tap-handles, free bar stools, free pool table lights, free mirrors, free coasters, free mats,.... for years. I've been in bars since the 1980s that found it easy to have margaritas on-tap (Chi-Chi's chain, for one).

I would not be a bit put off if I walked into a pub and saw a Knob Creek neon, or T-shirt, or Mirror. I DO prefer my whiskey to be poured from a bottle (so I can see I am getting the right pour) but many chains use dispensing units for at least the volume brands.

Thanks for the info, though.

-- Greg
kitzg

[johnrobe]

Ugh! A margarita slurpee machine. Having personally honed my margarita making skills in Texas and knowing the fierce margarita competition between bars there, I bet the slurpee machine never makes it into Texas.

I guess the most we can expect from Diageo is Dickel & RC cola in a 2 liter bottle.

JR

[porgymcnasty]

they do not use slurpee machines, and draught cocktails in quality establishments.

Diageo (and others) seem to copy 'proper' cocktails, then repackage them with inferior ingredients.

Cocktails only taste at their best when made fresh, otherwise they are just alcoholic soda.

George!

actually one new bar I worked had a slushy cocktail machine,
I left. I have got standards!!!

http://us.geocities.com/sidecar_sid/front_page.html

[cowdery]

I keep returning to this thread as people add new comments about new topics, but since I keep seeing Linn's original question, it occurred to me that it was never fully answered. Greg's answer covered the Grand Met side pretty much. I don't know a lot about Guinness itself, except what we all know. What I can contribute is a little bit about United Distillers, which was the spirits side of Guinness.

In Europe, Johnny Walker was driving the UD bus. In the US, the name to know was Schenley, which was assembled during Prohibition by Lewis Rosentiel, starting with a small Pennsylvania rye producer of that name. After acquiring several other Pennsylvania distilleries he bought his first Kentucky plant, George T. Stagg, which is today's Buffalo Trace. Many other distilleries all over the U.S. were subsequently acquired, including Bernheim in Louisville. Schenley even briefly owned the Blatz Brewing Company.

In addition to the U.S. spirits products it made and sold, Schenley was an importer, with Dewars Scotch as its biggest import brand. Schenley was sold in 1968, then sold several more times in subsequent years, until Guinness bought it in the 1980s. In swift succession, Guinness also bought Stitzel-Weller and Glenmore (which had itself bought Flieshmann and Medley) and merged them all together under the United Distillers name.

This left the combined company with a lot of brands, many of which it immediately sold off, mostly to Heaven Hill, Sazerac and David Sherman. Sound familiar? Those were the buyers in 1997 when Guinness merged with Grand Met to form Diageo, prompting another brand sell-off. The same thing is being repeated now, with Diageo's acquisition of Seagrams.

It's easy to look at a story like this and see it as a huge consolidation, leaving many smaller companies in the dust. It is that, but it is also the story of smaller companies finding niches and picking up the pieces. Brands that weren't viable for a giant like Diageo can be viable for smaller companies like Heaven Hill, David Sherman and Sazerac.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://cowdery.home.netcom.com>--Chuck Cowdery</A>

[kitzg]

well stated Chuck. I was hoping you'd comment on the UD side.

-- Greg

[kitzg]

I do agree with your point. I can't imagine a premixed martini! But hang out here in a college town and you'll see how much money can be made selling to drinkers who don't know and don't care....

-- Greg

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Thanks for your input Chuck. The results of the Seagram's deal will be very instructive as to the final dispositions of the distilleries they acquire.

I seem to have misplaced my research into the Dickel/Diageo situation. But one interesting item was a northern vodka plant that they recently shutdown throwing over three hundred people out of work. Given the current recession this may have been unavoidable.

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. Will Travel.