An announcement on Tuesday has left the beer market in an interesting situation. The makers of Coors and Miller beer are about to join forces in a merger that’s said to be created in order to compete with Anheuser-Busch, the makers of Budweiser.
As of last year, Anheuser-Busch had about half of the market share of mainstream beer with 48 percent. The Miller company (SABMiller PLC) and Coors company (Molson Coors Brewing Co.) only have about 30 percent of the market share combined, but it’ll definitely be more of a force to be reckoned with.
The question is whether this is good thing for beer or a bad thing? Prices for these mainstream beers could very possible increasde or decrease depending on how the market reacts to this new information. And this kind of beer is already ridiculously cheap, so it’s hard to believe that prices will go down.
Miller and Coors don’t have to compete with each other anymore. This means that there can be no kind of price war between the two companies. They’ll still be competing with the Budweiser brand, but less competitors in the field usually means less competition in the price.
Beers drinkers should keep their eyes open as we proceed into this new era of mainstream beer. Pay attention to what happens with prices as the merger is completed and Anheuser-Busch responds in some way.
People should also pay attention to the taste of the products after the merger. The companies will likely shut down some of their operations to cut costs and that could include breweries. If you enjoyed the taste of one of the brands owned by these companies, then you should be careful to make sure the taste hasn’t changed. Different breweries and different ingredients from different parts of the world could affect what the beers will become.
I grew out of these bad-tasting brands years ago, but I know that their price still attracts a lot of people, especially on a college campus like CSUN. Even if these brands aren’t something you drink on a regular basis, it’s good to know what’s going on with them. You never know when you’ll have to throw a raging party and need a bunch a cheap beer in a hurry, and one of these brands could help you out with that. By taking a look at how these brands are evolving, it can help in your decision by allowing you to know what is the cheapest and most drinkable.
If drinking carbonated piss water is not your cup of tea, there’ll always be delicious regional microbreweries with which you can experiment, and you can always pick up an imported beer.
There are some other countries out there in the world that know how to make a decent beer.
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