Flying Dog rep alleges MillerCoors is guilty of DC bar tap line payola

Stone has alleged this as well. Does this really happen? If so why isn’t this prosecuted?

This is the note at BeerNews followed by Flying Dog tweets alleging criminal behavior.

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(Washington, D.C.) – Rumors about side deals for tap lines, one of those common back room conversation topics across the beer industry, rarely surface in the public eye. Today, one Flying Dog Brewery rep has apparently had enough and is fed up with it…



http://beernews.org/2012/02/flying-dog-rep-alleges-millercoors-is-guilty-of-dc-bar-tap-line-payola/

Pilsner Urquell is better than a good few of Flying Dog’s beers

It’s pretty pathetic, but you’ll find that most large corporate businesses use underhand tactics to control distribution of their products and shut out smaller competitors. Supermarkets sell shelf space, so it’s no surprise that corporate brewers bribe bars to shut out their competitors. However, I remember when Hagaan Daz used to shut out little ’hippy’ ’ethical’ Ben & Jerry’s out of the ice cream distribution chain in North America. When Ben & Jerry’s got big they did exactly the same thing.

So if there were punishment for this behavior and little guys stood to benefit, why wouldn’t they rat out the big guys?

I just don’t understand why there’s a disconnect between the allegation and adjudication. It doesn’t seem like anyone should be complaining about this if there are proper channels to get this kind of cheating fixed.

If there are loopholes or whatnot, what are they?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Snitchin

http://beernews.org/2012/02/industry-weighs-in-on-draft-line-payola-issue-on-twitter/

Just curious- what DC beer bar are they talking about? Why wouldn’t they just come out and say it if they are already trying to stir things up? Maybe they aren’t 100% confident.

Payola has been going on in the beer industry as well as the recording industry since the beginnings of both. It’s currently illegal...but so is speeding. Enforcement is the issue.

I’m not sure what the legal status of this scheme is in my geography but I was told upon suggesting the introduction of a beer from Amager Bryghus in my local four star hotel skybar (Comwell Bella Sky for anyone interested) that they had a special flagship agreement with Carlsberg that meant they could only carry beer from Carlsberg’s product line.. I guess this special agreement means they get a favourable price on the beer or special attention from Carlsberg marketing events but whether it’s legal or not in Denmark I’m not certain about..

As a matter of curiousity, has there been anything posted to substantiate this tweet? So far all I have seen is the allegation of a clearly upset rep who lost a handle. Can he back it up or is it just an assumption since he lost the handle? Not necessarily doubting it, just wondering.

Originally posted by flabeer
Payola has been going on in the beer industry as well as the recording industry since the beginnings of both. It’s currently illegal...but so is speeding. Enforcement is the issue.