75-05-B2
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Cold Beer[edit]
Transcript[edit]The judge said, "Roll out the barrel!" and the brewer was faced with a dilemma. I'll be right back. If you made a product that could only be shipped long distances under refrigeration, but refrigeration wasn't always available, thus risking spoilage and the disappointment or even ire of your customers, you might want to restrict the sale of your product to an area where you could be sure it would be delivered in top condition, right? Wrong, said a federal district judge recently in ruling that the Adolf Coors Company of Colorado could no longer limit the geographical territory in which its beer is distributed. Now keep in mind that beer is a perishable commodity. It has a shelf life of about three months before the flavor begins to deteriorate in the bottle and its quality goes downhill. Most brewers mark the shelf life dates of their product in one way or another on six packs and on cases. Some even send their salesmen around to the stores to remove outdated beer from time to time to make sure the customers get what they're paying for, fresh beer. The Coors people told the court that they had a special problem. It seems theirs is the only beer in America that is unpasteurized, it's made by the so-called aseptic process this gives it a particular flavor. The trouble is that the unpasteurized product must be transported only under refrigeration or it'll begin to deteriorate well before the normal shelf life limit. To complicate the problem Coors has only one brewery and it's in the Rocky Mountains. They claim that refrigerated transportation isn't always available for hauling their beer nearly 2,000 miles to the East Coast. So for many years they've restricted themselves to being a regional brand, selling only in 11 western states where they felt they could be sure of delivering their product under the proper conditions. Thirsty Easterners meanwhile were paying about four times as much as westerners for the occasional deliveries of the brewery's suds that somehow found their way eastward. The judge was unmoved by the brewery's argument. His ruling was that the Coors firm was engaged in what were called illegal anti-competitive business practices. That's a little odd when you consider that this firm is operating in a highly competitive field in which all the competing companies clamor vigorously for the public's attention. And its favor in fact it's precisely because they have been successfully competitive that Coors has risen to become the nation's fourth largest brewer even though it's regional rather than national in scope. Presumably the court case will be appealed so the final outcome can't be predicted. Meanwhile those thirsty Easterners may get that Rocky Mountain brew they've been wanting, but will the brewer be able to deliver it in the condition in which they'll want to drink it? You know the judge didn't offer any suggestions about that. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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