January Sucks Wind

The Beer Institute's illustrious Lester Jones estimates that January 2005 shipments were down almost -5% from 2004 levels, confirming our earlier beliefs that this has been on the of the worst Januaries on record in the beer industry. The BI forecasts that we shipped 13,100,000 barrels, compared to 13,750,000 last year, or down -4.7%.WHAT HAPPENED? We maintain that we entered the new year with heavy distributor and retailer inventories, a hangover from worse-than-expected holiday sales. Sell through was sluggish at