Pubdate: Sun, 13 Jul 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Thad Moore
Page: 1K

IT SEEMS BUDS, BUD CAN BE TASTE BUDDIES

Concerns About Any Effect Legal Pot May Have on Booze Biz Appear Unfounded.

Recreational marijuana's legalization sparked some corporate worries 
about softer sales of beer, wine and hard liquor, but so far, the 
booze business hasn't been dented.

In fact, many say, alcohol sales are on the rise in Colorado, and 
experts say legal weed has appealed to tourists and black-market 
buyers instead of bringing newusers to the drug.

Bars and liquor stores in Denver logged $7.8 million in sales taxes 
from January to April, a year-over-year increase of 6.7 percent, 
according to figures provided by the city. By comparison, they grew 
by 0.3 percent in the same period of 2012 and by 3.9 percent in 2011.

Seven breweries and distilleries in Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins and 
Breckenridge said their sales growth - both in state and out-has held 
steady or increased since legalization.

Statewide, the Beer Institute said sales from January to April were 
up 2 percent this year, compared with 0.6 percent nationwide. 
Spokesman Chris Thorne said the Washington, D.C.-based trade group is 
"neutral" on the potential spread of legalization.

"It has not hurt us a bit," Boulder Beer Co. spokesman DanWeitz said.

But that hasn't kept concern about legalization's effects from 
trickling into parts of the alcohol industry.

Brown-FormanCorp., which owns Jack Daniel's, said last month in its 
annual report to investors that the spread of legalization could hurt 
its sales. It's the largest publicly traded company to list legal pot 
as a business risk.

Recreational sale and use of cannabis are legal in Colorado and 
Washington state. Medical pot is legal in 23 states and the District 
of Columbia.

Brown-Forman is particularly conservative, but more companies may 
well follow its lead in listing legal weed as a business risk, 
SunTrust analyst Bill Chappell said, especially if bigger states, 
such as California, move toward legalization of recreational pot. The 
concern was shared late last year by some in the industry in 
Colorado, said Breckenridge Distillery's master distiller Jordan Via.

Daniel Rees, an economics professor at the University of Colorado 
Denver who studies legalization, said his research shows that access 
to legal medical marijuana leads to a drop in how much alcohol people 
drink, especially beer.

New Belgium spokesman Bryan Simpson conceded that markets for the two 
overlap some.

"They're smart to worry about it," Rees said of officials at 
Brown-Forman. "The best they can hope for is no impact."

A separate study, by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta, 
found that medical marijuana was tied to more binge drinking, 
suggesting that people drink less often but consume more when they do.

But as for how that research translates to recreational marijuana?

"That's the $64million question," said Jason Hockenberry, a health 
policy professor at Emory who co-wrote the study.

Rees said whatever effect legalization had on Colorado's alcohol 
industry - known for its abundance of craft breweries - probably 
happened before recreational pot went on the market Jan. 1. Medical 
marijuana, he said, served as de facto legalization for recreational use.

"I think there's just going to be a little ripple," Rees said. "I 
don't think we're going to see much."

Great Divide founder Brian Dunn said the markets for marijuana and 
beer aren't mutually exclusive - and that legalization isn't creating 
new weed consumers.

A study released Wednesday by the state Department of Revenue agreed, 
finding that recreational pot consumers are mostly tourists and 
former black-market buyers. Purchases by visitors made up 44 percent 
of sales in the metro area and 90 percent in mountain towns and other 
tourist areas.

Marijuana tourism could end up working to Colorado alcohol companies' 
advantage. Like many breweries and distilleries, Leopold Bros. in 
Denver and Breckenridge Distillery are set up in industrial 
districts, where nearby dispensaries may have led visitors to have a drink too.

"If they're curious enough to come to Colorado (and) take advantage 
of the weed industry," said Taryn Kapronica of Leopold Bros., 
"chances are they're exploring beer options (and) spirits options."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom