I know nearly nothing about brewing beer. But I’ve been thinking lately about “how all the major brewers responded to the influx of microbrews. They simply brewed up their own small-label brands or bought existing ones, and kept their own brand in very tiny print deep in the label where most beer drinkers can’t be bothered to look“.

Obviously, while these brands may “conceal the parent’s branding, they still benefit from its distribution network“.

So, knowing nothing about brewing beer, I turned my thoughts to the beer distribution network. Of which I also know nothing.

But one can imagine that these beer bottles are packaged into boxes, which are then loaded into trucks, which then distribute them to big and small retailers that deliver them to the end-users consumers.

Now, for the sake of the beer industry, I am hoping that these trucks that pick up the boxes and deliver them down the chain are reliable. Knowing nothing of beer distribution networks, I imagine that these trucks are owned and operated by the beer company itself, or by another reliable company with which they have a solid business relationship.

I mean, I am guessing they wouldn’t allow just anyone with a truck to just stop by the factory entrance, pick up a few boxes of beer and drive off with a vague promise to deliver them to their destination. That would’t make sense. If a beer company was to use such unreliable delivery mechanism, they might find that these truck owners went out of business, or their trucks broke down, or decided to keep the beer for themselves, or were taken over by the mafia!

I really know nothing about beer distribution. But I am guessing that if I was in the business of premium beer (or Coke?), setting up my own reliable distribution network, run by my trusted op folks, connected to my BI systems, leveraging my business relationships and assets, etc, would be high on my list.

But then, I really know nothing about brewing beer or beer distribution networks.