A year after Molson Inc. snapped up Brazil's second-biggest brewer, president Dan O'Neill is bringing a piece of South America back to Canada -- and hoping it will give a much-needed boost to the company's market share. Molson's new weapon in the beer wars is A Marca Bavaria, a 4.5-per-cent Brazilian import in a clear bottle.

It will compete in the increasingly crowded "super-premium" import segment, which is growing at a 20% annual clip while domestic brands languish at the back of the fridge. "We seem to be losing share to a lot of these other imports who come in," Mr. O'Neill said at the Bavaria launch in Toronto.

The brand will have to elbow aside plenty of other premium imports -- 400, at last count -- to become a contender in Canada. And there is a danger it could hurt Molson's other products, notably Corona, a Mexican import for which Molson has the rights in Ontario and parts east.

"Molson's single biggest problem is that in all the growth segments of the beer market, they are representing a partner -- and that partner is a big chunk of their volume," O'Neill said.

14 March, 2003