{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"The Beer Industry\u2019s New Era of Competition","description":" The decade-long consent decree that allowed Anheuser-Busch InBev\u2019s (A-B) MegaBrew merger with SABMiller to go forward expired in July, removing guardrails that had been placed on the world\u2019s largest beer manufacturer by the Department of Justice to ensure competition in the marketplace.    Chris Jones, managing director of Central Market Strategies, joins this week\u2019s Brewbound Podcast to explore what competition looks like in a post-consent decree beer industry.   Jones argues the consent decree did its job, creating a competitive environment that allowed new brands over the last decade such as Athletic Brewing, Mark Anthony Brands\u2019 White Claw and Boston Beer\u2019s Truly Hard Seltzer to become category leaders in non-alcoholic (NA) beer and hard seltzer, respectively, while also preventing A-B \u201cfrom using its massive size as the world\u2019s largest brewer to disrupt the market.\u201d    WIth the consent decree\u2019s guardrails down, including the removal of an independent monitor who maintained compliance by handling claims of interference and coercion, there now exists \u201ca lot more risk in the system of this market power and abuses of market power that could result from the size and scale of the largest brewer,\u201d Jones said.   Going forward, it will be important to track national market share in an already \u201chighly concentrated market\u201d and middle-tier consolidation in the years ahead, he added.   Listen to the full conversation with Brewbound managing editor Jessica Infante here.    Before the conversation, Brewbound editor Justin Kendall and senior reporter Zoe Licata join Jess to run through the latest news, including Lawson\u2019s Finest Liquids\u2019 first NA beer, what distributors say is on their cut lists, a distributor territory swap in the Northeast and \u201cwarm beer takes\u201d on the latest NFL beer marketing. ","author_name":"Brewbound Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/brewbound.libsyn.com\/website","html":"