The crisis for the ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages, or 'malternatives', is beginning to become apparent, as Miller Brewing Co. has decided to cut back production on its RTD drinks Stolichnaya Citrona and Sauza Diablo, the Albany Herald and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel write. The extent of the crisis is shown by the fact that most of the USD 10-12m the cutback will cost will be expenses for buying back-unsold cases from wholesale distributors.

A spokesman for the company said the brands only constituted one per cent of its total production, adding that the brands were launched without the standard test marketing, simply to see what happened. As many brewers, Miller jumped the RTD bandwagon in co-operation with a distiller, in this case Allied Domecq, which will now also share the cutback costs.

No details were given on how the losses would be shared.

20 January, 2003