Booze redux in bad times really makes people mad
Lewis DiuguidPeople will shrug off containers for groceries being reduced so fewer ounces or pounds end up in packages listed at the same old price.
But don’t think of watering down folks’ liquor and charging them as if nothing has changed. Maker’s Mark had to backtrack on its plan to lessen the alcohol content of its bourbon to 84 proof from 90 proof. People who drink readily know the difference and become mightily pissed off.
It’s no wonder that Anheuser-Busch InBev now is accused in $5 million class-action lawsuits of diluting its key brands — Budweiser and Michelob. Beer drinkers filed the lawsuits in Pennsylvania and California and other states, saying they’d been hosed out of getting the 5 percent alcohol content. Dude? Where’s the buzz?
It will be a fun case to follow to see how it turns out. If the beer-maker loses, will it have to buy a round for the country on the house? That could hurt.
Matt Henry
3 months, 3 weeks agoSo what you are saying is that the free market worked? How did that taste coming out? Bile-ish?