Miller moves into soft drinks
t MILWAUKEE (AP) - Miller
Brewing Co. is shaking up its bever
age lineup with the beer maker’s
planned entrance in the gourmet soft
f drink market.
( Miller is assuming control of
< three gourmet sodas - root beer,
\ vanilla cream and orange cream -
produced under the Henry
Weinhard’s brand name. The
_ Milwaukee-based company acquired
the sodas in April through its pur
chase of beer brands from Stroh
Brewery Co.
It marks the first time Miller has
produced non-alcoholic beverages -
except for Sharp’s, its non-alcoholic
beer - since the repeal of Prohibition.
Miller’s two largest rivals -
Anheuser-Busch Inc. and Adolph
Coors Co. - do not produce sodas.
“We view it as an opportunity,”
Miller spokeswoman Susan
Henderson said Friday. She added
that the Weinhard sodas had double
digit sales growth in 1998, with sales
continuing to grow in the first half of
1999.
The Weinhard sodas are higher
priced specialty products sold pri
marily in Oregon, Washington and
California, Henderson said. Miller
plans to continue that market focus,
although there will be limited distrib
ution in other states, Henderson said.
In the three-way April deal, Stroh
sold its brands to Pabst Brewing Co.
and Miller.
In addition to the sodas, the Stroh
brands sold to Miller were Henry
Weinhard’s beer and Mickey’s malt
liquor. ,fo
The Weinhard soda and beer
brands both are produced at Stroh’s
brewery in Portland, Ore., which is
scheduled to close soon.
. When that happens, Miller plans
to transfer production of both the
Weinhard’s beer and soda brands to
its Tumwater, Wash., brewery,
Henderson said.
Pabst has sold the Tumwater
brewery to Miller, and Miller is to
assume control of that site on Sept. 1.
4.
clearar
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a
highly unusual move, the CIA
pulled the security clearances for
former Director John Deutch,
unwilling to excuse his violation
of agency rules by keeping secret
files on an unsecured home com
puter.
Central Intelligence Agency
spokesman William Harlow said
Friday he knew of no precedent for
the action taken against Deutch, a
former deputy defense secretary
who spent 38 years in public ser
vice before leaving the CIA in
December 1996.
The decision ta suspend
Deutch’s security clearances was
made by CIA Director George
Tenet, Deutch’s successor. Tenet
acted after reviewing an inspector
general’s report on Deutch’s
improper handling of classified
materials.