beer bits

[J2jurado]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/today/101200_News11.html

Village brewers show off their skill in defiance of excise police Law
biased against traditional product

Vasana Chinvarakorn, Bangkok Post December 10, 2000

Villagers demanding the legal right to make traditional liquor showed
off their skills in Muang district yesterday, in defiance of a
government ban.

About 50 villagers from northeastern provinces took part in Thailand's
first public demonstration of liquor brewing, held at the Maha Sarakham
campus of the Rajabhat Institute.

They called on the government to relax bans on local liquor production,
saying the law was biased in favour of big business.

The Local Wisdom for Self-Sufficiency meeting was organised by a network
of 12 non-governmental organisations representing northeastern farmers'
groups, academics from the University of Maha Sarakham and Assumption
University, and Forum Asia. It was due to end today.

Booths displayed traditional liquors from different parts of the
Northeast region, and there was a panel discussion comparing laws in
Thailand and foreign countries.

The meeting was initially planned at the University of Maha Sarakham,
but was moved after the Excise Department asked organisers to cancel the
programme.

Oraphin Bunnag, the department's deputy director-general, said in a
letter to the university that the meeting contravened the Liquor Act of
1950-which effectively bans all forms of traditional brewing.

The organisers' next choice of location, in front of the provincial
hall, was also cancelled at the last minute for similar reasons.

Praphat Kumpitak, one of the organisers, said the brewing demonstration
was simply an academic exercise.

However, reports about the Excise Department's intervention had
discouraged a large number of people from attending. "One villager
promised to procure for us a couple of hundred jars of local moonshine,
but showed up with only 20 because he was afraid of being arrested," he
said.

Mr Praphat said a cabinet resolution on Nov 7 which supposedly relaxed
the law concealed a number of constraints on local brewers. The
resolution stated villagers could form co-operatives and apply for
brewing licences without the former requirement for minimum capital
investment.

However, the resolution still required compliance with liquor industry
standards stipulated by the Excise Department and the National Factory
Act, Mr Praphat said.

In practice, brewing had to be a large-scale business and villagers were
unlikely to have the money.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com:80/news-story.asp?date=121000&ID=s891646

The suds stop flowing as brewery closes doors
Fort Spokane regulars will have to find another purveyor of microbrews

Kristy MacDonald - The Spokesman-Review December 10, 2000

"It's my 'Cheers.' I know everyone's name," Fort Spokane Brewery
bartender Tom Barrett said Saturday, listing the beers still available
for customer Brook Strang.

Kristen Kromer - Staff writer

Spokane _ The site of countless bachelorette parties, bleary-eyed
21st-birthday bashes and local band debuts, the Fort Spokane Brewery
poured its last microbrew early this morning.

It had provided a destination for live music and beer lovers since 1989.

"It's a sad day. One of the saddest days in Spokane as far am I'm
concerned," said regular patron Kevin Devitt, who's been frequenting the
brewery for lunch and after-work beers a few times a week since it
opened. "This is a place where the average, everyday person can come for
a beer ... It has a homey atmosphere. It's not a yuppie bar."

Devitt stopped by Saturday afternoon for a few farewell brews at "his"
table -- the one second from the door. Like many, it was the microbrews
that drew him to the bar in the first place.

"I grew up with microbrews -- my mom used to make them," said North Side
resident Al Parker, who's been a frequent customer for about 10 years.
"I drink for flavor, and this beer is better than the others in town.
It's such a neat place. It will be sorely missed."

Though Fort Spokane had its share of regulars, they were not enough to
keep the bar in business. General manager Ryan Hopkins gave a list of
reasons the brewery was forced to close its doors.

"It's been a struggle the whole time," he said.

The old, 30-by-130-foot building was not the most ideal space for
brewing beer, presenting live music and running a bar and restaurant.
For lunch, its location at 401 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. was a block too
far out of the downtown core. The music room was too small, there's no
parking, and the brewing equipment is old and tired, Hopkins said.

"Sure, we're busy from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, but
it's a struggle on weeknights," he said.

Despite its troubles, the Fort Spokane Brewery did have its moments.

"It was a place for beer lovers to meet, drink, talk and create their
own memories," head brewer Jeb Wilson said.

"It's my `Cheers.' I know everyone's name," added bartender Tom Barrett.
"This is where I'd come to hang out and listen to music. Now there's
nothing. The diversity of music -- no other place in town has it."

Hopkins said he always tried to book a mishmash of music types.

"Nowhere else in town consistently books live music that appeals to the
masses," he said.

The brewery's stage also gave new bands a chance to shine.

"Some of the best times were when we had three local bands. The band
members' friends all came and the place was packed. You can feel a vibe
in here when it all comes together," Hopkins said. "Those nights were
pretty cool."

As Devitt sipped a beer, smoked and watched the slate sky darken to
gray, he wondered out loud about where he'd go next.

"I don't know," he sighed. "It'll be tough to find a place like this."

http://www.foxnews.com:80/etcetera/120900/car_wash.sml

Booze and Cruise - Car wash may serve brew while customers wait

Saturday, December 9, 2000 OMAHA, Neb. — Finally, a car wash where both
car and driver can enjoy some suds.

The owner of Stacy's Wash & Shine has received tentative approval from
the city council for a liquor license. But Dan Pankow said he has no
plans to turn the establishment into a bar.

He wants to offer keno and lottery games to customers while they wait
for their cars to get soaped up. The law requires him to have a liquor
license to do that.

The catch is, if he has a liquor license the law also requires him to
sell liquor. So Pankow plans to keep a keg handy for adult customers who
want a glass of beer.

The idea has already drawn criticism from the local chapter of Mothers
Against Drunk Driving.

Pankow says if public opinion seems to be against his plans, he'll drop
the entire concept. He said he will not risk the successful car wash for
a few games of keno and beer.

http://www.express.co.uk/00/12/07/city/c0500.shtml

Brewer wants more pubs

Dec. 7, 2000 - East Anglian brewer Greene King wants to buy another round - of
pubs,
not beer. Chief executive Tim Bridge said yesterday that he would like
to add another hundred or two to the group's present 500 houses.

Bass, Whitbread and Scottish & Newcastle all want to unload smaller
outlets and as many as 3,000 may be on the market. "We could easily
afford to spend upwards of £100million," said Bridge.

Last year Greene King bought 165 former Marstons pubs for £72million and
has just finished weaving them into its own fabric. Bridge also wants
new outlets for his 120-strong Hungry Horse chain of pub restaurants.

"We are ready to roll the brand out nationwide," said Bridge.

Greene King's profits in the half-year to mid-October rose by a quarter
to £28.7million. Underlying growth was around 4 per cent.
"The sustained advertising behind Greene King IPA, Abbot Ale, Old
Speckled Hen and Ruddles has caught the public's imagination. Who says
this market is dead?" Roger Nuttall

http://www.pressplus.com/lifestyle/976109687.html

The rules of beer

- December 6, 2000 - By MICHAEL PRITCHARD ,Staff Writer, (609) 272-7256

Most people have heard "the rules" for matching wine with food - red
with meat, white with fish and so on. Those who take it a little more
seriously also know how to be even more selective, picking between wines
that complement some dishes and contrast others.

But beer drinkers have it easy, right? Just pop the top on a cold one,
order up a mess of cheese fries and you're good to go.

Not so fast, six-pack boy, say the brewers at Blue Collar Brewing Co.,
located in Vineland. People have been drinking beer with food just as
long as wine, and matching the taste of a particular beer to a specific
course can be just as rewarding as any wine and food tandem.
To prove it, the year-old microbrewery recently teamed up with Nicoles
Fine Cuisine in Avalon to host a beer dinner, which matched the
company's different brews with the restaurant's five-course dinner.
"The average beer drinker has no comprehension that there are different
flavors of beer," said Gary Monterosso, a beer expert who helped run the
event. "But there actually is a wide range of different beers that can
be chosen from to fit a meal."

Normally, beer tastings involve a buffet and a selection of a brewery's
beers. But Nicoles, as it does with wine tastings, asked the brewery to
match a beer to each course. Five of the brewery's beers made the cut.
Basically, two tastes dominate beer - hops and malt. A strong hops brew
has the type of bitter, full flavor associated with dark brews (though
the color has little to do with the taste). A maltier beer is sweeter
tasting and less over-powering.

For the meal, the first course was a hearty, though not heavy, mushroom
barley soup. The brewery selected its own light beer to start.
"When we started our brewery, there were a few things we promised
ourselves we'd never do," said Rich Falasco, one of the owners of the
brewery. "One was that we'd never make a light beer. But there was just
too much demand. Wherever we went, people asked about a light beer, so
we gave in."

The beer was nicely bodied and carried more hops flavor than most
mass-produced light beers.

The second course featured a salad of field greens, Washington apples,
bleu cheese and pecans laced with apple cider vinaigrette. With so much
taste on the plate, the beer chosen was a maltier Irish red, which
complemented the sweetness of the apples without overpowering the food.
Next came an intermezzo with a sweet seasonal beer, the brewery's
Oktoberfest brew. You may be noticing a trend. The early selections
played down the hops.

"If you're drinking a few different beers, you almost have to go from
the lighter tastes to the heavier hops," Monterosso said. "If you start
with a stronger beer, you simply drown out the others."

The hops was evident, however, in the brewery's staple Hopalong American
Pale Ale, a full-flavored beer dominated by Northwestern hops. A full
flavorful beer, it made an impression the other brews couldn't touch.
"This is the beer we formed this brewery to make," Falasco said.
Chef Joshua Miragliotta offset the beer with a dish of perfectly
prepared New York sirloin strips, served with portobello mushrooms and
seasoned mashed potatoes. It was beef and brew at its finest as the
beer's taste stood up nicely to the meat.

Then came the tricky part, picking a dessert beer.

Pastry chef Abby Sara Jarin of Linwood served a sinfully rich chocolate
wedge (cake doesn't quite cover it). To face off against such a powerful
taste, Monterosso chose the brewery's porter, a heavy dark beer that has
a creamy smooth taste with a sweet finish. In this case, the beer didn't
battle the dessert taste; instead, it blended with it.

The evening was a success for the fledgling microbrewery, the only one
located in the southern New Jersey shore area, and Nicoles has another
"event" dinner to make a tradition.

"We thought it would be a good match," said Jill Lombardo, part-owner of
the restaurant. "We're a bring-your-own restaurant and our patrons who
bring beer always bring microbrews. We hope to do a lot more of these."

http://news.excite.com/news/uw/001207/health-109

UC-Davis food science researchers conduct consumer tests on campus

December 7, 2000 By Courtney Hendricks, The California Aggie, U.
California-Davis

(U-WIRE) DAVIS, Calif. -- Some University of California-Davis students
who participated in consumer tests at the Memorial Union last week are
concerned they may have eaten chocolate-covered beetles, according to
Soo-Yeun Lee, a graduate student in the food science and technology
department.

Lee is investigating the use of alternative films and coatings as a way
to enhance the quality and safety of foods. She, alongside UCD professor
John Krochta, is researching the benefits of using whey coating --
instead of the common shellac -- on food products.

The taste tests on campus were an important phase in the investigation,
in which Lee and Kirsten Dangaran, another graduate student in food
science, tested the consumer reaction to these two coatings on
chocolate-covered almonds.

Edible shellac, also known as confectioner's glaze, is currently used as
a glazing agent in food products such as jelly beans and chocolate
candies and even on some fruits and nuts to provide a glossy appearance
and moisture protection.

According to Krochta, one of the problems with shellac is that it is
imported from China, Thailand and other Asian countries, which can be
quite expensive.

"The shellac is an exudate of an insect, which means literally that the
insect leaves its exudate on the branches of trees and then people come
and scrape it off," Krochta said. "It then goes through a purification
process, but edible shellac is the same shellac used to coat floors."

Lee said that the coating has other disadvantages.

"Because (shellac) is an alcohol-based coating agent, it can give off
flavors in the case that alcohol is absorbed into the chocolate or it
can produce volatile organic compounds which are harmful to the
environment," Lee said. "It may also cause an explosion during the
process, so it has to be monitored carefully."

Dangaran said there is also the danger of workers inhaling damaging
vapors because shellac is submerged in ethanol alcohol. In order to
prevent any accidents, special precautions have to be taken in
chocolate-producing plants, which increases the cost of shellac even
more.

Whey protein, on the other hand, is a by-product of the
cheese-manufacturing process.

Krochta said that cheese manufacturers used to view whey as a low value
material, and in many cases it was fed to animals.

He described the current project as a "win-win situation" in which food
producers, the dairy industry and consumers alike would benefit from
using whey protein as an edible-coating agent.

Krochta explained that whey is similar to that of shellac from an
instrumental point of view, but that "the true test is always with the
consumers."

UCD participants rated taste, texture and appearance of the chocolate
covered almonds. However, they were not given any actual guidelines on
what to consider in evaluating the products.

After comparing the whey-coated and shellac-coated chocolates,
participants were asked if their intent to purchase the candy would be
affected had they been informed about the role of beetles in the
chocolate's production process.

Some students responded that they would never eat chocolate again,
although Lee said she questioned the likelihood of such vows.

"Our hypothesis was that the whey protein-coated chocolates will not
differ in the consumer acceptance when compared to the shellac-coated
chocolates," Lee said. "We have not finished our data analysis, so we
can not conclude anything yet. However, our preliminary analysis of the
results indicate that consumers actually favored some of the whey
protein-coated chocolates over the shellac-coated ones."

Lee noted that this study is the first of many that will follow in this
area of optimizing whey protein-coating formulas for the chocolate
glaze. (C) 2000 The California Aggie via U-WIRE

http://www.ftyourmoney.com/news/DisplayArticle.jsp?ID=NewsAndCommentArticl
e&ArticleID=13455&Category=4

Brewer leaves a bitter taste

by Steve Johnson 05 December 2000

SHARES in brewing and pub giant Scottish & Newcastle plummeted following
release of its interim figures today.

And the markdown could not have come on a worse day for S&N. The brewer
was a hot favourite to return to the blue chip FTSE 100 index in the
Stock Exchange's latest quarterly review.

But with the promotion and relegation places being decided on today's
close of play figures, today's fall could rob S&N of a FTSE 100 place -
and the boost in its share price that could bring.

At 2.30pm, S&N was down 45p at 451p, making it the biggest faller
amongst the UK's top 350 stocks.

The fall occurred despite S&N revealing a rise in pre-tax profits before
exceptionals from £222.3m to £241m.

However, this turned into a loss of £95.6m when one-off items, such as a
£72m hit from the sale of its Pontin's holiday camps, are factored in.

The UK's largest brewer, which includes Newcastle Brown Ale, John
Smith's and Foster's in its stable, is confident its takeover of
Kronenbourg will deliver big cost-savings.

And it felt strong enough to increase dividends by 4 per cent from 9.13p
to 9.5p.

But beer sales across the UK are down by 2.8 per cent this year, and
analysts are worried by the future of its pubs operations.

Clare Memmory, investment analyst at Barclays Stockbrokers, says: "The
results were at the lower end of market forecasts, which is quite
disappointing.

"Pub retailing is facing a lot of cost pressures, such as the minimum
wage, rising property costs and over-capacity in the pubs market.

"The markets wanted to hear news of disposals of smaller pubs, but there
will be no details until January now."

Investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston, which has a 'hold' rating on
S&N adds: "We continue to have reservations about the efficacy of the
group's business model.

"Further commitment to the pub sector is holding back the company and
the rating."

Rationalisation the key

Scottish & Newcastle appears to be in freefall today, although if it
does still make its way into the FTSE 100 it may see a short-term boost.

The key news for investors will come in January. S&N said back in
October that it would dispose of many of its smaller pubs and
concentrate on four areas: Premier Lodges, Chef & Brewer, 'large pubs'
and 'quality traditional pubs'.

How it manages this change, and what price it gets for its disposals,
will be crucial factors.

http://news.excite.com/news/r/001205/10/health-life-men

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology 2000;152:983-991.

Satisfied Men Live Longe

December 5, 2000 By Suzanne Rostler

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Keeping your chin up and rolling with the
punches may sound like cliches, but according to a team of Finnish
researchers, this advice could save your life.

In a study of more than 22,000 adults in Finland, investigators found
that men who reported high levels of satisfaction with their lives were
more likely to be alive 20 years later. There was no association between
life satisfaction and mortality for women, however.

"It seems to me that the coping abilities of women with distress and
dissatisfaction may be better than in men," the study's lead author, Dr.
Heli Koivumaa-Honkanen, from the University of Turku in Finland, told
Reuters Health.

For example, men who feel dissatisfied might cope with their feelings by
abusing alcohol, smoking and not exercising while women might talk to
friends or seek professional help, she added.

Life satisfaction refers to a sense of general well-being and takes into
account a person's interest in life and their feelings of happiness and
loneliness, the authors explain.

Dissatisfied men were more than twice as likely to die of all causes
than those who were satisfied with life, and more than three times as
likely to die of a disease, the report indicates. Men who drank heavily
were at even higher risk.

Marriage, exercise, high social class, not smoking, and drinking
moderate amounts of alcohol diminished the risks somewhat, but the
association between feeling satisfied and living longer remained.

"Perhaps the coping capacity...is not adequate in those men who are less
able to create a stable intimate partnership or earn their living,"
Koivumma-Honkanen suggested.

She added that it is not clear if these men had risky health behaviors
already or whether they developed these behaviors later in life.

The team also found that men were less satisfied than women overall. And
men were more likely to smoke and drink alcohol, according to the report
published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Koivumma-Honkanen said the study findings underscore the importance of
feeling satisfied--particularly for men.

"It is not enough for a human being to earn money and be in physically
good condition. One should respect mental health as well," she said.

http://live.altavista.com/scripts/editorial.dll?ei=2332029&ern=y

Keeping the Faith(s)

Anneli Rufus 12/08/00

Remember all those old jokes in which a priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist
monk are waiting side by side for a bus, sharing a lifeboat, or jumping
off a cliff? Well, they aren't funny anymore.

At least not so funny.

Tradition has it that leaders of different religions keep to themselves
and their flocks follow suit. Yet, and not a minute too soon, a
worldwide movement is afoot to get them together and keep them together
— at least long enough to talk.

And talk, at interfaith clubs and conventions around the globe, leads to
shared worship services, softball games and social outreach, not to
mention peace, love and understanding.

"It's all about networking," says Donald Frew, who recently returned
from an interfaith parliament in Cape Town, South Africa. "But in a good
way."

The parliament, Cape Town's largest confab ever, occupied two university
campuses and City Hall. Thousands of attendees representing dozens of
different religions — gurus, nuns, rinpoches, shamans, reverends and
more — cruised from lecture to service to workshop, sampling Zen
meditation and Mass and everything in between. Together they made plans
for hundreds of ambitious interfaith projects including, for instance, a
drive to rescue "lost and endangered religions."

"The question," Frew says, "was: How can we work together to save the
world?"

His own participation was a bit miraculous. A California witch, Frew has
been welcomed warmly into more and more interfaith circles over the last
few years. Nobody bats an eye when they read the affiliation written on
his nametag. An international organization called the United Religions
Initiative has a logo incorporating 15 different symbols including not
only Judaism's six-pointed star but also witchcraft's five-pointed one.

"That would never have happened 15 years ago," Frew says.

A lot has changed since the Inquisition.

Keeping an open mind about other religions isn't a betrayal of your own,
as more and more people are realizing. On the contrary: Increasing your
spiritual knowledge and making friends of would-be enemies can make you
feel like a better person all around. Fear flies out the window,
allowing more time for faith, hope and charity — and for learning new
ways of worship without ever straying off your chosen path.

At home, Frew hosts annual Thanksgiving programs with his local
interfaith council. Watching yogis take the stage after a rabbi and
robed neopagans offering their own versions of a Thanksgiving prayer,
audiences see how concepts like gratitude and grace are not the
exclusive property of any single denomination. Some sing; some chant;
some sip wine, sway and dance — but it all says the same thing, and it's
all good. And that's the point, Frew says. If, as Rodney King suggested,
we should try to "all just get along," this is a pretty profound way to
start.

The Three Stages of Interfaith Work

Those who take the plunge go through three stages, says Donald Frew, who
joined his first local interfaith council 15 years ago. At that first
meeting, he sipped coffee with silver-haired ministers and turbaned
Sikhs and is now on the staff of an interfaith organization whose office
and chapel are on a former army base in San Francisco.

At the first stage, he says, "you're simply being there. You're looking
at all these other religions and thinking, 'I have to make sure that
mine gets represented.' " At this stage, he says, "you're wary,
suspicious — almost competitive."

At the second stage, "which is where most groups function, since the
first stage won't get you anywhere," Frew says a realization dawns that
"for the sake of the world" there must be "tolerance and peace between
religions." That's when projects get launched and work begins in
earnest. But it's usually social-outreach or environmental work, such as
tree planting, because at this stage individuals still avoid discussions
of theology.

"You wouldn't want to find out anything that would make you dislike each
other," Frew laughs dryly.

The third stage, he says, "is a relatively new phenomenon in which
people say, `We're different! Isn't that great? Tell me all about your
religion! Show me how you do things!' " This is when the interfaith
rituals kick in. "At that point you find out how much tremendous value
there is in sharing, even if your doctrines are different."

[J2jurado]

Sun Interbrew 9-Month Net EU0.11-Share vs Net EU0.05 (Table)

Moscow, Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Sun Interbrew Limited said it earned 10.60
million euros, or 0.11 euros a share, for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2000,
compared with earnings of 2.94 million euros, or 0.05 euros a share, in the
same period a year earlier. Revenue was 213.84 million euros, compared
with 70.49 million euros. (All figures in thousands except
per-share amounts) 9 Months Ended
Percent 9/30/00 9/30/99
Change Net sales 213,839 70,491
203.36 Net income (loss) 10,599 2,936
261.00 EPS aft XO items 0.11 0.05
120.00

Sinapore Brewer Sees `Double-Digit' Profit Growth as Chinese Unit Recovers

Singapore, Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd., Singapore's
biggest brewer, said it expects ``double-digit'' growth in profit in the year
ending September as its China unit losses narrow and sales rise in Vietnam and
Cambodia.

The maker of Tiger and Anchor beer, which saw the beginnings of a recovery in
its business in China in the year just ended, expects ``further reduction of
China losses, further profit growth in Indochina powered by increased sales and
perhaps increased shareholdings and continuation of cost reduction and
efficiency program,'' said Koh Poh Tiong, chief executive.

The rebound in the company's China operations shows that its reorganization
there, which included the sale of a 40 percent stake in a loss-making brewery
in Fuzhou, has begun to pay off.

Asia Pacific breweries, which is 38 percent owned by one of Singapore's biggest
diversified companies, Fraser & Neave Ltd., said that profit for the year ended
September rose 26 percent to S$50.2 million ($29 million), or 19.8 cents a
share, from S$40 million, or 15.8 cents, a year earlier. Pre-tax losses in
China narrowed to S$25.4 million from S$39.7 million a year ago as sales rose
by more than a third to S$43.6 million.

The company's shares have fallen 10 percent this year. They have, however,
fared better than the benchmark Straits Times Index, which has declined 20
percent.

China

A further improvement in the business in China, which accounts for 4 percent of
Asia Pacific Breweries' total sales, will depend on a ``turn around in Shanghai
and Hainan,'' Koh said.

The company, which bought the ``Aoke'' and ``Kronen'' beer brands in Hainan
earlier in August, said its Hainan operations may break even and perhaps make a
small profit in the current year. It declined to give a timeframe for profits
at its Shanghai operations, citing ``difficult'' market conditions.

``China is very much more competitive,'' said Koh. ``Shanghai would take a
longer gestation period'' than Hainan.

Asia Pacific Breweries sells Reeb, the No. 2 beer in Shanghai, and competes
with brewers such as Carlsberg A/S, Australia's Foster's Brewing Group Ltd. and
Tsingtao Brewery Co.

``We want to remain in China because it is a mega market,'' said Koh.

Asia Pacific Breweries said it would focus on increasing its share of each of
its markets. The company said it has 6 percent of Thailand's overall beer
market, 15 percent of Vietnam's, 20 percent of Shanghai's, and 55 percent of
Malaysia's.

Also, it said it may consider raising stakes in existing joint-ventures, when
partners are agreeable, to grow within a market.

``We've rekindled our interest in India'' and other markets in the region, said
Koh, declining to give details.

Bulmer profits dip, shares turn flat

By David Jones

LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest cider maker H.P. Bulmer Plc on
Monday reported a 2.1 percent slide in half-year profits and its shares went
flat as the group warned of "challenging" trading conditions in its second
half.

The drinks group, which makes Strongbow, Woodpecker and Scrumpy Jack ciders,
suffered from a cool and wet UK summer especially in the so-called on-trade to
pubs and bars, and then major disruptions to trading in a crisis-hit autumn.

"The UK on-trade was difficult and soft suffering from the summer that never
was while the autumn saw floods, a fuel crisis and train disruptions," said
group Chief Executive Mike Hughes in an interview following results.

Bulmer, which controls two-thirds of the UK cider market and is also a beer
distributor, reported pre-tax profits before exceptionals at 16.5 million
pounds ($23.92 million) for the 26 weeks to October 27, on sales up 51.7
percent at 257 million.

The shares, where the Bulmer family still controls a 51 percent stake, took
fright and lost four percent, or 20 pence, to 477-1/2p by 0905 GMT. The shares
have outperformed the UK market over the last 12 months by around 15 percent.

"Clearly trading is poor, but the company is ploughing money back into the
business and the long-term case for holding the stock is still there. We are
buyers long-term," said industry analyst Nigel Popham at Teather and Greenwood.

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT

Hughes said that after a poor November, hit by continuing disruptions in the
pubs trade, the early day of December were showing some signs of improvements.

He continued to see Bulmer well placed to benefit from changes in the UK
brewing industry with the UK government due to rule on Interbrew's takeover of
the beer businesses of Bass and Whitbread by January 4.

Analysts believe Heineken and Grolsch will be looking at alternative
arrangements to distribute their beers in the UK.

Bulmer already distributes Heineken's Amstel brand and also Red Stripe and San
Miguel beers in Britain.

The pre-tax profit decline came largely from the recent acquisition of its Beer
Seller drinks distribution business and purchases in the U.S. cider market
which pushed up debts. Underlying operating profits were nearly 13 percent
ahead.

In Britain, its branded cider volumes rose four percent in an overall beer
market down three percent in volume terms. Its leading brand, Strongbow,
accounting for almost one third of cider consumed in the UK, was up eight
percent, although Scrumpy Jack was down one percent and Woodpecker off three
percent.

It posted a dividend up 3.4 percent to 5.9 pence a share. ($1-.6898 Pound)

6 Malaysians get 10-year jail for treason, attacking brewery and temple

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 7 (Kyodo) - Six members of a Malaysian Muslim cult that
pulled off an arms heist in an attempt to overthrow the government were
sentenced by the High Court to ten years in jail after pleading guilty to
treason, the official news agency Bernama reported Thursday.

Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin passed sentence on Megat
Mohamed Hanafi Ilias, 25, Muhamad Nukhshah Bandi Che Mansor, 26, Riduan
Berahim, 36, Azlan Abdul Ghani, 24, Shahidi Ali, 30 and Khairul Anuar Mohamed
Ariffin, 24, after they pleaded guilty Monday to the lesser charge.

They were originally charged with waging war against the King, an offense that
carries the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Instead, the charge was reduced to preparing to wage war against the King,
which refers to collecting or attempting to collect men, arms or ammunition
with the intention of waging war.

Under the reduced charge, those found guilty are liable to life imprisonment or
to a maximum of 20 years jail and a fine.

The six were among 29 members of the Brotherhood of the Al Maunah's Inner Power
sect who were arrested by police after robbing two army camps of a huge cache
of powerful weapons and communication equipment in July.

Later, 27 of them hid themselves in the jungle in Perak State but were trapped
after thousands of police and army personnel barricaded the area.

During a four-day stand-off, three people were killed before the group finally
surrendered.

According to the prosecution, in a radio communication with the authorities,
the group stated their intention to cordon off Kuala Lumpur if their demand for
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to resign in 24 hours was unmet.

The prosecution charged the group planned a ''coup d'etat and were ready to
attack Kuala Lumpur.''

Shahidi and Khairul Anuar admitted to attacking the Carlsberg brewery on the
outskirts of Kuala Lumpur with grenade launchers stolen from the army camps.
Shahidi also admitted to throwing grenades at a prominent Hindu temple in the
city.

The jail sentence for the six Al-Maunah members takes effect from the date of
arrest, July 7 for Khairul Anuar, and July 6 for the other five.

Hearings on the remaining 23 members charged with waging war against the King
will resume Jan. 15.

S.Africa plans $52 mln tourist advertising campaign

CAPE TOWN, Dec 11 (Reuters) - South Africa will spend 400 million rand ($52.20
million) over the next 18 months on an international advertising campaign to
lure tourists, South African Tourism (Satour) marketing manager Owen Leed said
on Monday.

"South Africa is the biggest unknown travel destination in the world. By
international standards this is not much money, but it is the most we have ever
had to spend," he told Reuters. The campaign, mostly focussed on Europe, will
kick off in London on January 12 with a massive street party in Covent Garden
where Satour, the government's tourism marketing arm, will be offering beer and
wine at South African prices.

"Where in England can you get a bottle of wine for one pound or a pint of beer
for 70 pence?" he asked. "This is going to be a real in your face campaign."

Tourism is already South Africa's biggest source of foreign exchange after
mining, and the industry is seen as key to reversing unemployment in the
country. ($1-7.663 Rand)

German has no stomach for suicide, so blows up apartment block instead

12-11-00 (Reuters) BERLIN - A lovesick German who had second thoughts over a
suicide attempt nearly died minutes later when he accidentally blew his
apartment block up, police in the western town of Moenchengladbach said.

Left by his girlfriend, the 35-year-old man decided to end his life by causing
a gas explosion in the block he shared with two other families.

However after turning on all the gas taps in the cellar of the building he had
second thoughts and turned them off again.

The explosion happened as he went back to his apartment and lit a cigarette,
unaware the block was still full of gas. Police said the blast destroyed the
building's roof and several walls.

Nobody was seriously injured but police said a child belonging to one of the
families suffered mild gas poisoning. The man was taken into custody for
further questioning.

[J2jurado]

Montana Independent Directors Reject Lion, Masfen Offers

Wellington, Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Montana Group NZ Ltd.'s independent
directors have rejected two separate bids for shares in the nation's largest
wine maker, citing the low price offered. Lion Nathan Ltd., Australia's No.2
brewer, and Masfen Holdings Ltd., a private company owned by Montana Chairman
Peter Masfen, both filed notices of intention to buy up to 51 percent of
Montana at prices ranging from NZ$3.20 to NZ$3.80 a share.

Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a report that fair value of
Montana is between NZ$4.16 and NZ$4.64 a share. Details of the report weren't
immediately available.

The independent directors said, citing the report, they don't intend selling
their own shares and recommended other shareholders also don't sell.

Montana, the top performer this year in the benchmark Top 40 index, rose 8
cents to NZ$3.88 before the report was released.

Bulmer's 1st-Half Profit Held Back by Investment

Hereford, England, Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- H.P. Bulmer Holdings Plc, the largest
U.K. cider maker, said first-half profit stagnated after increased investment
in Australia, South Africa and China squeezed margins.

The maker of Strongbow and Scrumpy Jack brands said net income slipped to 11.63
million pounds ($16.8 million), or 20.34 pence a share, in the six months ended
Oct. 27, from 11.67 million pounds, or 20.49p, in the same period a year
earlier.

``The figures are slightly disappointing,'' said Nigel Popham, an analyst at
Teather & Greenwood, who said he may change his rating to a ``near-term hold''
from ``buy.'' ``The marketing investment has been greater than people
perceived.''

Bulmer is growing outside Britain, where the alcoholic-drinks market declined 3
percent in 1999, in a drive to generate half of operating profit overseas. Last
year, it bought American Hard Cider Co. and linked up with San Kong Brewery in
China.

The company's shares fell 24.5 pence, or 4.9 percent, to 473p. The stock has
risen 6.9 percent in the past 12 months.

Sales rose 52 percent to 257 million pounds even as a wet summer held back
gains in Europe. Operating profit before goodwill and exceptional items rose 13
percent to 20.9 million pounds.

The Hereford, central England-based company is on track to spend 33 million
pounds this year on marketing and promotions in the U.K. and abroad, an
increase of 15 percent from last year, Finance Director Alan Flockhart told a
news conference.

`The Big Focus'

``The big focus is overseas,'' Chief Executive Mike Hughes said. ``Europe has
been blighted by the same bad weather as the U.K. but the highlight is for
future growth. We have increased investment in our brands in domestic and
international markets.''

In Australia, intense competition, growth of the ready-to- drink spirit mixer
segment and changes in excise duties also helped depress operating profit by 34
percent, the company said. Bulmer said it remains optimistic after an October
relaunch of Strongbow, the company's best-selling brand.

Woodpecker cider was ``successfully'' launched in test markets in China. And in
South Africa, Bulmer invested in building its sales capacity before a planned
launch of Strongbow in the next six months, Hughes said.

``South Africa is taking longer to get going than planned,'' Hughes said. ``We
didn't crack distribution until the last few months.''

In the U.S., after fully integrating American Hard Cider, operating margins
widened to 17.4 percent from 12.1 percent. That's not expected to improve as
the company expends some 1 million pounds on advertising, including television,
across 27 U.S. test markets, Hughes said.

The company will pay a first-half dividend of 5.9p, compared with 5.7p a year
ago.

Philip Morris Closes On Acquisition of Nabisco

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 11, 2000--Philip Morris Companies Inc. (NYSE:
<A HREF="aol://4785:MO">MO</A>) announced today that it closed on its
acquisition of Nabisco Holdings Corp. (NYSE: <A HREF="aol://4785:NA">NA</A>)
for $55.00 per share in cash and the assumption of approximately $4.0 billion
of Nabisco's debt, for a purchase price of $18.9 billion.

With 1999 operating revenues of more than $78 billion, the Philip Morris family
of companies is the world's largest producer and marketer of consumer packaged
goods. Philip Morris Companies Inc. has five principal operating companies:
Kraft Foods, Inc. (comprising Kraft Foods North America and Kraft Foods
International), Miller Brewing Company, Philip Morris International Inc.,
Philip Morris Incorporated (PM USA) and Philip Morris Capital Corporation.

For more information about Philip Morris Companies Inc. and its operating
companies, please visit the following web sites: www.philipmorris.com,
www.kraftfoods.com, www.kraftinternational.com, www.millerbrewing.com,
www.pmintl.com, www.philipmorrisusa.com.

Philippine Stocks Decline, Led by San Miguel

Manila, Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Philippine stocks fell, led by Ayala Corp. and
San Miguel Corp. on concern the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada
may last longer than expected, sidetracking the government's focus on the
economy.

``There's no fundamental change in outlook,'' said Gonzalo Bongolan, head of
research at PCCI Securities Brokers Corp.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Composite Index fell 6.65 points, 0.5 percent, to
1393.71. The All Shares index fell 2.67 points, 0.4 percent, to 744.20.
Decliners outnumbered advancers 36 to 22, with 44 unchanged.

Class B shares of San Miguel Corp. (SMCB PM <Equity>) fell 50 centavos, or 1
percent, to 50.5 pesos after the government said it would still sell bonds
convertible into 27 percent of the country's biggest food and beverage company
despite a court order blocking the sale of the shares.

Portugal's Grupo Cintra Plans $265 Mln Brazil Beer Investments

Rio de Janeiro, Dec. 11(Bloomberg) -- Portugal's Grupo Cintra plans to invest
$265 million in two new Brazilian breweries, hoping to more than double its
market share in Latin America's largest beer market by 2008.

Lisbon-based Cintra, a brewing, beverage, real estate, fuels and lubricants
group, plans to spend 227 million reais ($115 million) in a 300 million-liter
(80 million-gallon) brewery in Rio de Janeiro state and $150 million in a new
plant in Mato Grosso state.

Jose Cintra, president of Grupo Cintra, said the Rio de Janeiro factory should
be up and running in July. No date was given for completion of the Mato Grosso
brewery.

``To invest in this highly competitive sector demonstrates the potential of the
Brazilian market,'' said Francisco Gros, president of Brazil's state control
development bank, BNDES, at a loan-signing ceremony with the brewer.

Grupo Cintra, which has been active in Brazil since 1997, has one 125
million-liter brewery in Mogi Mirim in Sao Paulo-state. Its ``Cintra'' brand
beer has about 1.6 percent of the Brazilian market, the company said. The
company wants the brand to have 3.6 percent by 2008.

In addition to sales in Brazil, the company exports from its Sao Paolo state
factory to Argentina, Uruguay, Africa and the United States. To finance the new
Rio de Janeiro brewery, which will also produce mineral water and soft drinks,
the company received a 147 million-real loan from BNDES and a group of six
Brazilian banks, including Unibanco-Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros SA and Banco do
Brasil SA.

Cintra says he hopes to conquer the Brazilian market by producing a
higher-quality beer than such competitors as Cia. Bebidas das Americas, the
world's No. 4 brewer. Cintra will be a much larger company in Brazil than it is
in Portugal, Cintra said, adding that he ``eventually'' hopes to have as much
as 10 percent of the Brazilian beer market.

As part of the loan agreement, Cintra plans to improve the water and sewer
services in Pirai, Rio de Janeiro state, which is located on the main highway
between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil's two largest cities.

Seagram<VO.TO> winner may come later this week

By David Jones

LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The winner of the $7 billion-plus Seagram wines and
spirits auction may come as early as this week with final bids due late on
Monday and the Diageo/Pernod-Ricard camp seen as favourite, industry sources
said on Monday. Auction organiser Morgan Stanley has set 5.00 pm this
afternoon New York time (2200 GMT) for the three potential bidders to submit
their final bids for the Chivas Regal Scotch to Martell cognac empire, but all
three are coy on their involvement.

Industry sources believe that the bidders will be slimmed down to two by
Wednesday and a winner could be decided by the end of the week, although a more
likely timetable would be to announce the lucky winning party on Monday
December 18.

The bid from Britain's Diageo <DGE.L> and France's Pernod-Ricard <PERP.PA>
appears favourite as the group has the cash to move quickly, and also its deal
to split up the Seagram brands could avoid any anti-trust problems, sources
added.

"This is the deal of a lifetime in the drinks world and Diageo and Pernod
appear to have been working very confidently towards victory," said one source
close to the auction.

Of the other two bidders, Allied Domecq <ALLD.L> appears to be dithering and
turning cautious, while Bacardi and Brown-Forman <<A
HREF="aol://4785:BFa">BFa.N</A>> are still talking finance and hope Chase
Manhattan will lead a syndicated loan to back up their bid.

The Seagram business, the world's third-largest spirits empire after Diageo and
Allied, was officially put on the auction block in September as part of the
media merger between Seagram and France's Vivendi <EAUG.PA>, and Morgan Stanley
hopes to wrap up the deal before Christmas.

Diageo, famed for its Johnnie Walker Scotch and Smirnoff vodka, and Pernod with
its aniseed-based drinks and Jameson's Irish whiskey are keen to expand in
spirits industry, and have agreed to divide up the spoils on victory.

Diageo is believed to want Captain Morgan dark rum, Crown Royal Canadian whisky
and Seagram's Californian wine business which would be added to its own Napa
Valley wines, while Pernod would pick up Chivas Regal and Glenlivet Scotch
whisky, and Martell is expected to be sold off.

Allied, which was the early favourite for Seagram's drinks, having nearly
formed a joint venture with it two years ago, has never signed a
confidentiality clause in the Seagram auction which would give it access to the
detailed Seagram dataroom.

Allied could not be reached for comment, but appeared to be trying to content
itself with picking up the U.S. distribution rights to Stolichnaya vodka and
securing ownership of Seagram's Captain Morgan in what is developing into a
legal wrangle.

In the third bidder camp, privately-owned Bacardi admitted it was part of the
auction process, and sources said it was in partnership with Brown-Forman and
also Sweden's Absolut vodka owner, the government-controlled Vin & Sprit.

But success for Bacardi would probably force it into a partial flotation to pay
for the deal, an option the secretive group had ruled out earlier this year.

The prize would be top global brands to add to a portfolio of its eponymous rum
and Dewar's Scotch, and also it would be well positioned to gain distribution
of Absolut, the world's top premium vodka and one of the top six spirits around
the globe.

Seagram had a 10-year deal with Vin & Sprit until 2004 to distribute Absolut
outside Sweden, but this is assumed to come up for grabs with the change of
control at Seagram.

Maryland town hot on the trail of public smokers

By Christina Ling

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Smokers beware.

A tiny Maryland enclave bordering Washington, D.C., may soon boast the toughest
anti-smoking laws in the nation if a plan is approved on Tuesday to impose a
$100 fine on anyone caught smoking in publicly maintained areas.

The proposal by the local council of the 32 acre (13 hectare) high-rise
community of Friendship Heights, pop. 5,000, would ban smokers from lighting up
while strolling in its two parks or walking down the street.

"The public areas are not intended for the public to do anything they want.
They are built for the public to do certain things," said Friendship Heights
Mayor Alfred Muller, who says he wants to protect citizens from harmful
second-hand smoke.

"They're not allowed to sit there in the park and have a glass of wine or beer,
which wouldn't hurt anyone really but that's the law. You can't run through the
park naked. That's not going to hurt anyone, but you're not allowed to do it."

Maryland's nine-member Montgomery County Council was scheduled to rule on the
measure on Tuesday.

While more and more states and local governments have passed laws in recent
years banning smoking in offices, restaurants and other indoor spaces, one
activist group said only 75 municipalities have tried to regulate outdoor
puffing.

"There have been places that have done it indoors and places that have done it
outdoors," said Tim Filler, a program manager at Americans for Non-Smokers'
Rights.

"But I don't think it's been to the extent or degree that Friendship Heights
has yet," Filler added.

Muller, a practicing doctor, says the time at last could be right for his
proposal, passed by the village council four years ago and left dormant until
now.

"The political climate was overwhelmingly against it then. I can't tell you
what's going to happen tomorrow but I can assure you (the climate in the county
council) is a lot more favorable," he said.

Under the regulation, the 10-block area's single security officer, now mainly
responsible for patrolling the area on a scooter to ticket traffic violators,
would issue first-time offenders with a warning rather than imposing the fine.

Muller says his proposal is not draconian, merely consistent with protecting
non-smokers in all public areas and discouraging a harmful practice as a matter
of public policy.

But the National Smokers' Alliance disagreed saying Muller's position was based
on "junk science."

"It's absolutely disingenuous to argue that passive smoke outdoors has a
negative effect on passersby. I think you can't show one study that would show
the dangerous effect of smoking outdoors," said alliance president Eric
Schippers.

Illinois To Ban 'Bidi' Cigarettes

By DENNIS CONRAD Decemeber 11, 2000

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - There they are in colorful packets of 20 tucked away
in little boxes on a bottom shelf in the tiny ``Discount Tobacco'' shop.

``All Bidis 99 cents,'' reads a scrawled sign posted over a rich choice of
potent, imported cigarettes that come in almond, cinnamon, clove, root beer,
strawberry and vanilla flavors.

It's a bargain price - well-under half their usual $2.29 - for the cigarettes
that have the look of marijuana joints and are filled with tobacco flakes,
hand-rolled with a greenish-brown leaf, tapered at both ends and tied with a
tiny thread.

``We're trying to get rid of them. They don't sell,'' explained a clerk, who
declined to give his name. ``In the six months I've been here, I've sold just
one.''

Come Jan. 1, he better not sell any more. The sale of bidis (pronounced
BEE-deez) in Illinois will be banned, with violators fined $100 to $1,000.

Under the sweeping new law, no one will even be allowed to give away the
product that became a 1990's teen fad after being known for centuries in India
as ``the poor man's cigarette.''

Illinois becomes one of the first to take on bidis and follows in the footsteps
of Chicago, which in the past year became the first city in the nation to ban
bidi sales.

``It's been prominent on the West and East coast,'' said the Rev. Michael
Pfleger, a Catholic priest from Chicago who helped in the fight. ``Our desire
was to hit it here before it takes roots.''

Illinois' move comes just months after the federal Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention called the use of tobacco products such as bidis an ``emerging
public health problem'' among U.S. youth.

The 1999 U.S. National Youth Tobacco Survey concluded 5 percent of high school
and 2.4 percent of middle school students smoke bidis. Some state attorney
generals - including Illinois' - also found minors could easily order bidis on
the Internet.

``Part of the appeal to youth is it's a seemingly underground product. (They
think) 'It looks like a joint, tastes good. My parents don't know what it is.
So, wow, is this appealing!''' said Diana Hackbarth, a professor at Loyola
University's School of Nursing in Chicago.

Illinois' action came even though - like in other states - the sale of tobacco
products to minors is already against the law. But sponsoring lawmakers say the
sweeping bidi ban was appropriate.

``It's a deceptive product,'' said Sen. Kathleen Parker, R-Northbrook. ``It
something they're claiming is going to help a person stop smoking. Actually,
it's more addictive.''

Regulators note than one study has found a bidi produces more than three times
the amount of nicotine and more than five times the tar of a typical American
cigarette.

The Specialty Tobacco Council has denied that bidis target children or that
they are more of a health hazard. And the Tobacco Merchants Association says
only 78.4 million bidis - worth under $1 million - were legally sold in the
United States last year.

``There's been a lot of scare tactics used against bidis over the last year,''
said Garry Avram, executive director of the Specialty Tobacco Council. ``The
market is so infinitesimal and affects so few people. There's not a big enough
populace using it to pressure a legislature or enough business to warrant
litigation'' contesting a bidi ban.

The Legislature easily passed the ban and Gov. George Ryan signed it last
spring.

Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan and his counterparts in 49 other states last
year unsuccessfully urged the federal government to ban all bidi imports. Ryan,
however, did not back Illinois' bidi ban.

``The attorney general remains committed to reducing youth access to
cigarettes, but these things here are cigarettes essentially, and there are
certain adult segments of the population who prefer these cigarettes and should
have the right to use them,'' Ryan spokesman Dan Curry said. ``He doesn't think
these are good products but these are (or have been) lawful products.''

Northwest Airlines Fails to Stop Flight-Attendant Smoking Suit

Washington, Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Northwest Airlines Corp. lost a U.S. Supreme
Court bid to stop a class-action lawsuit by a flight attendant who claims the
No. 4 U.S. airline created an unhealthy work environment when it permitted
smoking on flights between American and Asian cities.

The justices let stand an opinion by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals permitting the lawsuit to proceed. Three justices, Chief
Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Clarence Thomas,
voted to hear the case.

In urging the nation's highest court to get involved, Northwest and other
airlines contended the ruling could open them to a range of new lawsuits and
conflicting state rules centering on the service they provide passengers. The
9th Circuit governs nine western states.

``In the 9th Circuit, state regulation of airline policies related to smoking,
service of alcohol, overbooking, boarding of passengers and other matters not
directly involving prices or routes may proceed unfettered,'' Northwest argued
in its appeal.

Because federal law no longer permits smoking on any domestic- carrier flight
that starts or end in the U.S., Julie Duncan's lawsuit centers on Northwest's
past policies. Until recently, the Eagan, Minnesota-based company permitted
cigarette smoking on some Asian flights.

The airline says the policy helped it compete with foreign carriers that
allowed smoking on the same routes. At the time the lawsuit was filed, every
other U.S. airline had banned cigarettes on international flights, Duncan's
lawyers contended in court papers.

State Authority Limited

The 1978 law that deregulated the industry doesn't give states authority to
regulate the ``price, route or service of an air carrier,'' either through a
formal rule or by permitting lawsuits. The 9th Circuit concluded the question
of smoking doesn't fall within that provision.

Northwest, joined by the industry-run Air Transport Association, argued that a
suit over smoking amounts to a regulation on airline ``service.''

Duncan's lawyers, who sued under Washington state tort law, told the justices
the dispute wasn't worthy of their attention. The flight attendant said courts
have consistently permitted personal-injury suits against airlines.

``A tort award in a case involving personal physical injury is simply too
tenuously related to any `service,' '' her lawyers argued.

The case is Northwest Airlines v. Duncan, 00-404.

Clinton wants to purge N.Ireland of "past demons"

By Brian Williams

DUBLIN, Dec 12 (Reuters) - President Bill Clinton starts a three-day visit to
Ireland and Britain on Tuesday during which his words to people standing in the
rain are likely to be more important than talks with political leaders.

Clinton said on Monday that he hoped to purge what he called some of the
lingering demons of the past from the troubled British province of Northern
Ireland.

Disputes over disarming Northern Ireland's guerrilla groups and establishing a
new police force were two issues that could undermine the province's 1998 Good
Friday peace accord, Clinton told reporters at the White House.

"Both issues...reflect the lingering demons of the past and we just have get
over and try to purge a few more," said Clinton, a key behind-the-scenes player
in the peace process.

"Those are the two things that could still threaten the progress that we are
making. If there is something I can do before I leave to make one more shot to
resolve this, I will do it."

On what is likely to be his last official foreign trip, Clinton has chosen two
countries where he is guaranteed an open arms welcome.

A White House adviser, underlining just how strongly Clinton feels about
Northern Ireland, said the president would consider taking on a further role in
the peace process after his term ends next month.

He first visits Dublin and then goes to the border town of Dundalk before
spending Tuesday night in the Northern Ireland capital Belfast. He travels to
London on Wednesday.

PEOPLE WILL DEFINE TRIP

"It will be the people standing in the rain listening to his speeches who will
define the success of his trip," said one resident of Dundalk, which like the
rest of Ireland has been swept by downpours for weeks.

"Whoever inherits the White House (from Clinton), he'll seem like greyness
personified," the Dublin Evening Herald said in an article hours before
Clinton's arrival.

Although Clinton's power is waning towards the end of his presidency on January
20, both Ireland and Britain hope he can weave some magic with his words to
inject much needed momentum into the Northern Ireland peace process.

All sides, including Clinton, accept his visit cannot bring about a dramatic
breakthrough in deadlocked peace talks between politicians from Northern
Ireland's Protestant majority and Roman Catholic minority.

"What he'll be doing is showing the peace pact has a future," said Jim Smith,
deputy editor of a Dundalk newspaper.

Some say Dundalk is home to republican extremists responsible for the worst
single guerrilla attack in neighbouring Northern Ireland -- the death of 29
people in a bomb blast in the town of Omagh.

The Real IRA, a splinter guerrilla group which broke away from the Irish
Republican Army, claimed responsibility for the 1998 attack. No one has ever
been convicted.

LITTLE SIGN OF RAPPROCHEMENT

Comments by Northern Ireland's Protestant First Minister David Trimble and
Gerry Adams, head of the Catholic-backed Sinn Fein party -- the IRA's political
ally, showed little ground for hopes of a sudden rapprochement.

"The British government must go back to the drawing board," Adams said of a
police reform package that has riled not just Sinn Fein, but also the moderate
Catholic Social Democratic and Labour Party, an influential force in Northern
Irish politics.

"The terrorist organisations have not kept their side of the deal," said
Trimble, turning up the heat on the IRA and pro-British Protestant militias
over a refusal to disarm.

White House National Security spokesman P.J. Crowley signalled on BBC radio
that Clinton could be prepared to play a role in the peace process after he
leaves office.

"President Clinton values the help he has been able to render and it wouldn't
surprise me if he is willing to remain active after he leaves office, if that
is something the parties wanted to consider," said Crowley.

When he visits London, Clinton will meet Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.
He returns to Washington on Thursday.

Apart from meetings with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Irish Prime
Minister Bertie Ahern and the leaders of Northern Ireland's parties, Clinton's
trip is laced with the type of town hall meetings and street walkabouts for
which he is famed.

His meeting with Irish politicians in Dublin will be at the flagship Guinness
brewery in Dublin.

[J2jurado]

Soccer-Norwegian turned off by English drinking

LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Norwegian defender Ragnvald Soma turned down a move
to premier league West Ham because players in England drink too much, the
Evening Standard newspaper reported on Tuesday.

"All the drinking of warm, flat beer at the English clubs doesn't tempt me,"
the under 21-international was quoted as saying.

"I'm not a teetotaller...but when players are getting drunk and smelling of
alcohol in training the next day, the whole team suffers."

Soma said he now wanted to go to Italy.

West Ham, who sold Rio Ferdinand to Leeds for 18 million pounds ($26 million)
in November, are currently seventh in the premier league with 25 points from 17
games. The team denies having warm, flat ale as a staple beverage.

Austria's BBAG Pays EU164.4 Million for Three Romanian Brewers

Vienna, Dec. 12 (Bloomberg)-- Oesterreichische Brau- Beteiligungs AG, Austria's
largest drinks maker, said it will pay 164.6 million euros ($144.5 million) for
three breweries in Romania as it expands in Eastern Europe to boost earnings.

The Linz-Austria based company, known as BBAG, got permission from Romania's
antitrust authorities to buy the three beer makers from Brewery Holdings Ltd.
last week, it said in a statement to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange's official
newswire. BBAG, the maker of Kaiser and Goesser beers, is trying to benefit
from higher consumption in neighboring countries such as Hungary and the Czech
Republic. The company is purchasing the Romanian breweries as part of a bid to
overtake South African Breweries Plc as the largest brewer in Eastern Europe.

``We have taken another important step toward our goal,'' BBAG Chief Executive
Karl Bueche said in the statement. ``We think beer consumption in Romania could
go up at an annual rate of 4 percent.''

Beer consumption is currently about 50 liters per capita in the country, BBAG
said.

BBAG will combine its Brau-Union Romania unit with the Miercurea-Ciuc, Grivita
International and Haber International breweries to save about 10 million euros
a year in costs, it said.

Brau-Beteiligungs shares rose as much as 1.5 euros, or 3.3 percent, to 47
euros, while its brewing unit Brau-Union AG fell as much as 1.1 euro, or 2.5
percent, to 42.25 euros.

Nov. 'happoshu' shipments up 7.1% on year, beer down 3.1%

TOKYO, Dec. 12 (Kyodo) - Domestic shipments of happoshu, a low-malt beer-like
beverage, rose 7.1% in November from a year earlier to 120,518 kiloliters,
while beer shipments fell 3.1% to 437,626 kl, according to data released
Tuesday by Japan's four major brewers.

Happoshu, which is priced less than beer and attracts a growing number of
consumers, accounted for 21.6% of the total market in November, down from 25.3%
the previous month.

The share of happoshu fell primarily because brewers increased shipments of
beer in anticipation of the year-end gift-giving season. Happoshu's image as a
cheap alternative to beer makes it unsuitable for giving.

Combined shipments of beer and happoshu fell 1.1% in November from a year
earlier to 558,144 kl.

By brewer, Kirin Brewery Co.'s overall shipments dropped 0.8% in November,
although sales of its popular Ichiban Shibori-brand beer were strong.

Shipments by Asahi Breweries Ltd., Sapporo Breweries Ltd. and Suntory Ltd. fell
0.9%, 0.6% and 3.1%, respectively.

Japan brewers' diversification needed but hazardous: Moody's

TOKYO, Dec. 12 (Kyodo) - While Japanese brewers will diversify into other
beverage products to cope with the new dynamics of the domestic market,
numerous obstacles to becoming comprehensive drink providers could undermine
this reorientation and hurt credit quality, Moody's Investors Service Inc. said
Tuesday in a special report.

''We believe that the shift to being comprehensive drink providers will give
the beer companies business opportunities in the broader categories and
therefore increase sales, considering the only limited growth expected in the
domestic beer market,'' said Moody's analyst Chieko Matsuda, author of the
report.

''Profitability, however, will decrease over the intermediate term, unless
companies can cope with numerous factors.''

The numerous factors include the time-consuming process of developing
attractive products, implementing successful brand strategies, building
necessary economies of scale and achieving acceptable profit margins in
diversified programs, according to the major U.S. credit-rating agency.

''Only companies that allocate management resources efficiently and with a
clear strategy will be able to attain the growth opportunities product
diversification offers,'' Matsuda said.

In order to finance the necessary investment and to preserve overall
profitability during the buildup period, brewers will need to reduce the cost
base of their core beer operations and restructure noncore businesses, Moody's
said. Otherwise, overall margins and cash generation will suffer.

SA Breweries Falls on Concern About Earnings Outlook

London, Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- South African Breweries Plc, the world's
fifth-largest brewer, declined 6.8 percent on concern a recent rise in the
company's share price wasn't justified by its earnings potential.

South African Breweries fell 3.7 rand to 51 rand, after dropping as low as 50.4
rand. The company' shares had risen 20 percent since Nov. 29, when it said
first-half profit dropped 5.1 percent, beating analyst expectations as improved
overseas revenue offset a decline in beer sales in South Africa, its biggest
market.

``We were pleasantly surprised by the results and the market took a second look
at the share, but when it rose to 55, it had probably gone too far,'' said
Julian Veron, an analyst at Standard Equities.

London-based South African Breweries generates more than half its sales in
South Africa, where beer consumption is falling. The company has countered with
international expansion and now has brewing operations in 18 countries in
Africa, China and Europe.

S.Africa platinums shine, beer worries hit SAB

By Ellis Mnyandu

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 12 (Reuters) - South African platinum shares provided the
only solace in the market on Tuesday, ending up nearly 2.0 percent as concern
over Russian palladium supplies continued to boost global platinum group metal
(PGM) prices.

The Johannesburg bourse's platinum index <.JPLT> ended near its record highs,
but off its session's best levels. It closed up 1.74 percent, or 457.4 points,
at 26,711.8, slipping from an record high of 27,203.4.

Earlier on Tuesday palladium fixed at an all-time high in London of $940 a troy
ounce, exceeding $915 set on Monday.

The benchmark all share index <.JSAI> ends off 5.3 percent at 8,338, hurt by
some profit-taking after Monday's strong gains.

"Platinum has been the sole feature while the rest of the market lacked
direction," said one equities dealer.

"Our market was poised for a rally but Monday's strong gains could not be
sustained amid lingering concerns about the U.S. presidential impasse," Andile
Mazwai, a trader at Barnard Jacobs Mellet, said.

Impala Platinum <IMPJ.J> -- the world's second largest platinum group -- closed
up 80 cents at 395 rand after earlier hitting a fresh record high of 408 rand.

But drinks maker SAB <SABJ.J><SAB.L> dropped 6.76 percent to end at 51 rand as
investors dump its share on concerns about the group's South African beer sales
and as expectations of a merger or takeover bid fizzle out.

RUMOURS OUT

Merger or takeover talk has seen SAB -- the world's fifth-largest brewer --
surging near three-month highs in the past two weeks.

"The rumours about a merger are dissipating and investors are focusing now on
its sales problems in South Africa," one beverage sector analyst said.

Resources group Iscor <ISCJ.J> also ended down, losing 9.84 percent, or 120
cents, to 11 rand on news of a minority shareholder revolt over its plans to
sell titanium assets to an Australian associate company Ticor <TOR.AX>.

Fuels firm Sasol <SOLJ.J> dropped 3.90 percent as a German acquisition bid
rattled the rand.

Traders said investors were still seeking assurances that Sasol would be able
to turn Condea's <RWEG.F> speciality chemicals unit into a viable operation.

"It's the biggest deal for Sasol, but the market does not know if management
could bear down the acquisition," Mazwai said.

Traders said the market was also capped by the pending ruling over the U.S.
presidential election debacle and fears Wall Street and the Nasdaq could
reverse their recent gains on the uncertainty.

Wesdnesday's session was seen hinging on how the U.S. markets fared overnight.

Losers led gainers 184-173, with overall traded turnover reported at around 2.9
billion rand worth of shares.

Accounting software developer Softline <SFTJ.J> was among the most active
issues, with 4.9 million shares changing hands.

Softline jumped 17.65 percent or 27 cents to 180 cents, as investors saw value
in the stock which crashed to a record 125 cent low on November 30, from
February's 12.80 rand high, after coming under pressure from its loss-making
U.S. unit SVI.

"I think the bad news on SVI is out, and the share offers value at these
levels," said one trader, adding he expected it to move back to levels above
400 cents seen in mid-October.

Austrian Stocks Fall: Austrian Airlines, Brau-Union Lead Movers

Vienna, Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Austrian stocks fell. Semperit AG Holding slid
on analyst concern the company that owns one of the biggest makers of rubber
gloves will drop out of the main stock index as its shares aren't traded often
enough.

The board of the Vienna Stock Exchange will meet tomorrow to decide which
companies will be part of the benchmark ATX Index in 2001, Wiener Boerse AG
said. The benchmark ATX index fell 11.56 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1080.56,
its first decline in three sessions. Sixteen stocks fell and eight rose. The
ATX has dropped 9.8 percent this year. Stock symbols are in parentheses after
the company names.

Austrian Airlines AG (AAIR AV) advanced 0.11 euro, or 1 percent, to 11.55
euros. Austrian Airlines Group, which also includes affiliate Lauda Air AG and
unit Tyrolean Airways AG, said yesterday it expects to post a profit this year
as cost cuts compensate for an expected 14.5 million-euro ($12.7 million)
fiscal 2000 loss at Lauda Air.

Brau-Union AG (BRAU AV) declined 1.25 euros, or 2.9 percent, to 42.10. The
brewing unit of drinksmaker Oesterreichische Brau- Beteiligungs AG, or BBAG,
fell after its parent reported today it paid 164.6 million euros for three
Romanian breweries. BBAG first announced the purchase in August but couldn't
disclose the price until it received approval for the acquisition from Romanian
antitrust authorities last week. BBAG rose 0.95 euro, or 2.1 percent, to 46.45
euros.

JoWood Productions Software AG (JWD AV) rose 0.80 euro, or 5.9 percent, to
14.30 euros. The distributor a Star Trek-based computer game in German-speaking
countries said it bought software maker Massive Development GmbH for an
undisclosed sum to improve the graphics for its games.

Whiskey essential to N. Irish peace process

LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam recalled
on Tuesday how she developed a fondness for whiskey during her time in the
troubled province.

"Whiskey for me became an essential part of the peace process in Northern
Ireland," she told ABCtales.com, a new Internet magazine launched by Big Issue
founder John Bird.

"Every night when I came home, usually after a tiring round of negotiations, my
husband would hand me a large glass of whiskey and ice."

Mowlam, who once admitted to dabbling with cannabis while she was a student,
added: "We only get one life, so enjoy it. If you don't do anything to excess,
you won't go far wrong."

The Cabinet Office minister said the smell of Black Bush whiskey, which she
described as "the best in the world," still brings back memories of peace and
sanctuary after a hard day.

Mowlam, whose father was an alcoholic, said she had no fear of developing the
trait.

"I drink to relax and add to enjoyment of life," she said.

Earlier this year Mowlam announced that she was standing down as an MP at the
next election, which is widely predicted to be in the spring or summer of next
year. At the time she dismissed reports that she was quitting because she was
being hounded out by colleagues, saying she had simply decided to try her hand
at something else.

She was sidelined to the relative obscurity of the Cabinet Office last year
from her high profile role as Northern Ireland Secretary.

Popular with voters, a newspaper poll in September revealed that one in three
voters wanted her to replace Tony Blair as Prime Minister, if he were to stand
down.

Absolut sees slower sales, mum on distribution

By Will Hardie

STOCKHOLM, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The president of vodka maker Absolut said on
Tuesday sales growth would slow slightly in 2000 and remain strong going
forward -- but would not say which new distributor it would choose.

Goran Lundqvist told Reuters in an interview sales growth at the world's fifth
largest premium spirits brand would dip to nine percent this year from 14
percent in 1999 as it tips its sales balance away from the United States. But
he let nothing slip about who might get its distribution rights when an auction
of the drinks unit of its present partner, Canada's Seagram, forces the
contract to be renegotiated.

"The only thing I will say is we will see to it that it fits our needs,"
Lundqvist said, declining to comment also on reports later confirmed by
industry sources that state-owned drinks company Vin & Sprit, which owns
Absolut, had joined the auction.

Lundqvist said sales in western Europe were growing at an annual rate of more
than 30 percent, having achieved critical mass in key markets such as Britain,
Spain and Germany.

"Right now although the United States is very important and accounts for more
than half of sales, the rest of the world is growing at a much more rapid pace.

"I think in five or six years there will be a healthy balance between the U.S.
and the rest of the world," he said, but did not elaborate on what would
constitute a healthy balance.

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS IN BALANCE

The future distribution of Absolut has hung in the balance since Seagram put
its drinks unit up for sale in September as part of its media merger with
France's Vivendi. Though Absolut does not figure directly in the auction,
Seagram's distribution rights can be renegotiated when its ownership changes.
Industry sources said Vin & Sprit had partnered privately owned rum maker
Bacardi and U.S. group Brown-Forman Corp in a bid for Seagram's drinks unit.
Others have said Bacardi was interested in the Absolut distribution contract.

Media have also speculated that Absolut might instead choose several
distributors for different geographical areas rather than a single global
partner. Brown-Forman has distributed Finlandia vodka in the United States
since 1996.

A source close to the deal said on Tuesday Britain's Diageo and France's
Pernod-Ricard have bid between $8.0 and $8.5 billion for the Seagram unit,
while other sources said the Vin & Sprit, Bacardi and Brown Forman consortium
had a rival bid fully underwritten by debt.

The ownership of Absolut itself is also a moot point as political pressure
grows for the Swedish government to at least cut its stake in Vin & Sprit. But
Lundqvist said that was not an issue for the brand.

"That is a political problem and it needs to be solved politically," he said.
"It does not really affect us."

BRAND GROOMING CRUCIAL

Fertile markets for Absolut are those where drinkers appreciate high quality
vodka and are willing to pay for it, Lundqvist said -- such as the traditional
"vodka belt" northern European countries, plus Britain, Spain and Germany.

"We will definitely focus on markets where people are willing to pay for
premium. Where vodka is small, it tends to be "just vodka." Where vodka is a
large part of total spirits consumption you have much more discriminating
customers," Lundqvist said.

Absolut depends heavily on its fashionable brand, supported by a well known and
chic marketing campaign that has drawn on artists as celebrated as Andy Warhol
since its launch in 1979.

"The biggest challenge in brand building is to stick to your strategy. It is
very dangerous when you are not true to your true values. Certain brands change
advertising strategy like shirts," Lundqvist said.

"People say, why don't you launch an Absolut gin or an Absolut cognac? That is
when you really skid," Lundqvist said. "The main reason people fail in branding
is they don't stick to their original strategy.

Absolut will also benefit from a steady drop in temperance as cultural
attitudes to alcohol soften, Lundqvist said.

"The good thing is that in Europe and the United States the drinks tradition is
really coming back. And what is the most versatile ingredient?"

"Vodka."

Wine Industry Urges Interstate Flow

By LINDA ASHTON Decemeber 12,2000

YAKIMA, Wash, (AP) - Wine lovers be warned: Shipping your favorite cabernet to
a cousin in Kentucky is a crime.

It is a felony in six other states to directly ship wine across their borders.
All but 13 states have significant restrictions that make it difficult to send
Oregon pinot gris to a friend or business associate on the East Coast.

Advocates for free and easy interstate wine shipments liken it to Prohibition
and call it restraint of trade. Supporters of the laws contend it's a health
issue for minors, a tax issue for state government and a competitive issue for
distributors.

Based on litigation pending in several states, the battle over direct wine
shipments has shaped up as a conflict between 21st Amendment rights - state
authority to regulate alcohol - and constitutional guarantees covering the
rights of interstate commerce.

Throw in the complexities of doing business on the freewheeling Internet, and
the dispute becomes as murky as wine sediment in the bottom of an oak barrel.

At McCarthy & Schiering Wine Merchants in Seattle, owner Daniel McCarthy keeps
a shippers' pamphlet handy to remind him which states have which rules, and
where he could face criminal charges for sending a case of chardonnay.

``I would say it probably affects our sales by about 25 percent,'' McCarthy
says of the restrictive state laws.

McCarthy, who did about $3 million in business last year, would like to offer
more direct shipments as a convenience to customers interested in Northwest
wines.

``I could also do more rare and fine wines if I were to use an Internet site,''
he said. ``I don't do that right now because of this whole shipping situation.
I don't want people dropping an order for wine and then not being able to fill
it.''

Several Internet sites have been set up to lobby for direct shipments,
including one group called Free the Grapes in Napa, Calif., with a
fierce-looking grape mascot named ``Shackles.''

The biggest problem falls on new, small wineries trying to break into the
market, says Chris Figgins, a board member for the Washington Wine Institute
whose family owns the Leonetti Cellars winery in Walla Walla. New wineries can
have difficulty finding an interstate distributor, so the other option would be
to ship directly to consumers.

John De Luca, president of the Wine Institute in San Francisco, a public policy
association representing more than 500 California wineries, says much of the
direct shipment reform movement is driven by consumers who try wines while
traveling or read about them in the wine press, and then want access to
vintages not handled by their state's distributors.

Of course, there are businesses that skirt the laws.

``A lot of people have taken a policy of `We'll ship anywhere,''' McCarthy
said.

Recently passed federal legislation gives state attorneys general the authority
to go outside their own borders to prosecute such offenders.

Many in the wine industry blame big distributors or wholesalers for tying up
the interstate market with what they call protectionist legislation in their
home states under the guise of concern for minors.

But Phil Wayt, director of the Washington Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association
in Olympia, says distributors have legitimate worries - unfair competition and
the possibility of direct shipments expanding to beer and spirits.

``The concern of our distributors is not so much we want a piece of the pie,''
he said. ``It's that the unchecked, unregulated and unreported distribution of
product into the state has an unfair advantage over all the other systems.''

De Luca says the new year will bring a renewed push on a state-by-state basis
to facilitate direct shipment.

From 1985 to the present, the institute's lobbyists have been able to change
interstate commerce laws for wine in 20 states and intrastate laws in 30
states, De Luca says.

``We'd like to continue that,'' he says. ``Hopefully, wholesalers will work
with us at the state level to craft creative solutions.''

On the Net:
Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America: www.wswa.org
www.freethegrapes.org
www.wineinstitute.org

Pernod/Diageo bid $8-8.5 bln for Seagram-source

PARIS, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Diageo <DGE.L> and Pernod Ricard <PERP.PA> have bid
between $8 and $8.5 billion for Seagram's <VUE.TO><<A
HREF="aol://4785:V">V.N</A>> wine and spirits empire, which is being sold by
Vivendi Universal <EAUG.PA>, a source close to the deal said.

"That is the sort of figure that we are talking about. Between eight and $8.5
billion is about right," the source said on Tuesday.

The Anglo-French duo, which expect a decision on their bid before Christmas,
plan to split the costs roughly 50-50, the source said, but added that this
split may change subject to the final distribution of brands and their price.

"The percentage will be a function of the final bid -- they have allocated
values to the brands, so...it may not necessarily be 50-50," the source said,
adding final prices per brand could determine the final weighting for each
party.

Bankers say Pernod Ricard has already lined up a loan of around 4.0 billion
euros ($3.6 billion) to fund its part in the offer, although the loan will only
be signed off if the Pernod/Diageo bid succeeds.

Diageo's <DGE.L> financing plans have not yet been made clear but its
cash-raising powers are seen as strong enough to fund its part, bankers said.

The Diageo/Pernod bid appears to have moved into the driving seat in the
high-profile auction but is still up against at least one rival bid. Vivendi
Universal <EAUG.PA> said earlier that it had received two solid competitive
offers for Seagram's drinks business. Rival bids may include offers from
Britain's Allied Domecq <ALLD.L> and a combination of Bacardi and Brown-Forman
<<A HREF="aol://4785:BFa">BFa.N</A>>.

Bronfman father and son are study in contrasts

By Robert Melnbardis

MONTREAL, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Seagram Co.'s (<A HREF="aol://4785:V">V.N</A>)
Edgar M. Bronfman and his son Edgar Bronfman Jr. are a study in contrasts, the
former raised in the tradition of the family's 76-year-old drinks business, the
latter preoccupied with Hollywood and new media.

When he was running Seagram, chairman Edgar M. Bronfman, 70, broadened the
company's global reach in the multibillion dollar booze business, marketing
such brands as Chivas Regal whiskey, Martell cognac and Captain Morgan rum.

The vision of his 45-year-old son Edgar Jr., however, has been fixed on mega
media mergers and that vision has resulted in the Bronfmans finally severing
ties with the spirits business on which they built an empire.

In swallowing Seagram in a $24 billion merger, France's Vivendi Universal
(EAUG.PA) is auctioning off the Montreal-based company's wine and spirits
operations. The Bronfman family, which held a 24-percent stake in Seagram, is
now the biggest single shareholder in Vivendi, with a 7.5 percent holding.

In contributing to the creation of a global media giant, the Bronfmans have
relinquished their long-held title as Canada's dukes of drinks, presiding over
a vast domain of brands.

At Seagram's last annual meeting of shareholders last week, Edgar Bronfman Jr.,
now vice-chairman at Vivendi, acknowledged it was not easy to let go of the
family's past in wine and spirits, a business rooted in the U.S. Prohibition
era of the 1920s and 30s. But some longtime shareholders wondered why Bronfman
did not at least propose a farewell toast to a company that made his family
immensely wealthy.

Although he addressed the meeting, Bronfman's father also did not reflect on
the company's storied past, which began in 1924 when his own father, Sam,
started a distillery in Canada.

Edgar M. Bronfman grew up immersed in Seagram's whiskey business. In a 1998
autobiographical book, Bronfman fondly remembered tramping around the family's
distillery in Ville LaSalle, just outside Montreal, learning how to make and
blend whiskey. He worked the head office switchboard at 16 and began working
full-time for Seagram at age 21.

When Edgar M. Bronfman was made president of the drinks business in 1957, one
out of every three alcoholic beverage drinks sold in the United States was a
Seagram brand. With downmarket brands making inroads in the early 1960s,
Bronfman began upgrading and revitalizing Seagram's brands such as Calvert
Reserve and Chivas Regal.

Despite his apparent management skills, Bronfman was held back by his aging and
imperious father Sam, who refused to cede full control of the parent company.
It was only on Sam's death in 1971 that Edgar M. Bronfman took Seagram's reins,
promptly expanding its international reach.

Edgar Bronfman Jr. got his start in the family business at age 35 in 1982,
first as an assistant to his father, then as president of Seagram Europe and
head of marketing in the United States. But Edgar Jr.'s fondness for Hollywood
was evident earlier, when he produced two small movies and tried his hand at
songwriting.

It came as little surprise to many in 1995, when, after just one year as
president and chief executive, Edgar Jr. sold Seagram's 24 percent stake in
Dupont Co. for $9 billion to finance the $7 billion purchase of Universal
Studios parent MCA Inc.

In his book, Edgar M. Bronfman admitted that the sale of the Dupont stake
nearly provoked a Bronfman family feud. But he backed Edgar Jr., helping to
sway other family members such as brother and Seagram co-chairman, Charles
Bronfman.

"I had so much second-guessing from my own father, I didn't want to do that to
him," Edgar M. Bronfman told Reuters in 1998.

Bronfman has quietly supported his son's subsequent forays into mass
entertainment, including his decision to buy recording company PolyGram for $10
billion and now his bold move to fold Seagram's entertainment assets into
Vivendi.

That support has helped legitimize the break with Seagram's drinks business,
something Edgar M. Bronfman presaged in 1998 when he noted: "The tail--the
entertainment world--will eventually wag the dog. We will be known more as an
entertainment company than a whisky company."

Guinness, shopping, round off Clinton Dublin visit

By Tony Roddam

DUBLIN, Dec 12 (Reuters) - It had to be done and the Irish will love him even
more for doing it.

U.S. President Bill Clinton rounded off a whirlwind tour of the Irish capital
on Tuesday with the obligatory pint of Guinness and a beer in a smoky pub in
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern's beloved north Dublin.

He even managed some Christmas shopping with his wife Hillary and daughter
Chelsea,

To loud cheers from regulars and bar staff at the packed Fagans pub in
Drumcondra, Clinton supped a half pint of light ale with Ahern, a confirmed fan
of the English beer Bass, before heading north to the border town of Dundalk.

Earlier in the day, Clinton had swept into the historic flagship Guinness
Brewery in central Dublin to sample a pint of the black stout, as famous a
symbol of Ireland as the shamrock.

The president was ushered up to the Gravity Bar, an elevated, glass-walled
enclosure at the Guinness Storehouse visitor centre, to pay homage to the stout
and lay to rest scurrilous rumours he had avoided Guinness on earlier visits.

And Clinton, master of the common touch, did not disappoint, downing the
hallowed pint with gusto, Guinness officials said.

Clinton, regarded as a hero for his work in bringing a form of peace to
Northern Ireland, was cheered to the rafters at the brewery by assembled
dignitaries and on the streets by thousands of people who braved pouring rain
and wintry darkness to see him.

Ever the populist, Clinton halted outside the Blarney Woollen Mills gift shop
opposite historic Trinity College for a spot of Christmas shopping.

As traffic backed up in central Dublin, Clinton's anxious security men fought
to keep back an enthusiastic crowd from mobbing him.

"Get back, get back on the sidewalk. Back on the sidewalk," one guard shouted,
only to be swiftly corrected by a good-natured horde of Dubliners exercising
their traditional right to undermine authority.

"What the hell is a sidewalk? It's a pavement, a pavement. We're only getting
back on the pavement. And only if you ask us nicely," one shouted. The guard
obliged with a grin.

Clinton and his family disappeared into the shop, followed by a crowd of
security men, while a restless crowd clutched umbrellas in a largely futile bid
to fend off pelting rain.

"I wonder, has his credit card been rejected? He's been a good while now,"
quipped Andrew Blay, an insurance official trapped by the ad-hoc Clinton
shopping trip and resulting melee as he waited for his bus home.

But Blay, despite being late for his wife's birthday dinner -- "I'm going to
have to be real politic now myself" -- said he admired the U.S. leader and his
peacemaking role.

"I think he's done a good job. Just ignore his private life, that's all," Blay
said, in a neat summary of the generally-held view of Clinton throughout
Ireland.

Clinton emerged 75 minutes later, waving to a euphoric crowd, his aides bearing
heavy-knit Irish winter sweaters.

El Cajon Resident Wins $164,000 Jackpot at Barona Casino on a Ten-Cent Machine

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- When Rosa Maria Valenzuela, a retired
schoolteacher, first saw the number 16 flash on the video slot machine she was
playing at Barona Casino, she was excited -- she had won $1,600! Upon closer
inspection, she and her daughter grew even more excited. Wait, they had
actually won $16,000!

It wasn't until the Barona Casino video technician came to verify her jackpot
that Rosa realized the truth: she had won a $164,000 jackpot on a ten-cent
machine!

Rosa had been at Barona Casino for about two hours on Saturday, December 10
before she began play on her "lucky" machine. And she hit the jackpot on the
first $20 bill she bet on the game. After Rosa's big winnings, she continued
to play her lucky machine and proceeded to win another $500, which she promptly
gave out to all those who had been helping cheer her on.

Rosa, a seven-year resident of the San Diego region, said she still can't
believe her good fortune, even after receiving her check.

Barona Casino is one of the most successful casinos in California, with 115,000
square feet of alcohol-free gaming and hospitality space. The casino is owned
and operated by the Barona Band of Mission Indians, which is recognized by the
United States government as a sovereign nation. Barona is in the process of an
expansion project in excess of $225 million, which will include a world-class,
18-hole championship golf course, and a new casino and a 400-room resort hotel
scheduled to break ground in 2001.

*www.barona.com

[J2jurado]

http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-001422.html

A devilish Christmas in Austria

Published: DEC 11, 2000

Grotesquely masked as monsters and devils, and
accompanied by the red-robed figure of St
Nicholas (otherwise known as Santa Claus), a
huge, arched, beer halls of the Augustiner brewery
- not the famous one in Munich, Germany, but the
very imposing namesake in the city of Salzburg,
Austria. Both of these breweries were founded by
Augustine abbeys, and the one in Austria is still
part-owned by monks, albeit of the Benedictine order.

The presence of the masked children was
intended to frighten away any evil spirits before
Christmas. Like many "Christian" rituals, this
Austrian custom surely has pagan origins.

One "devil" cosied up to Augustiner's head brewer Christian Spatzenegger, a
hefty man in the midst of enjoying a half litre of his sweetly malty Bock. He
smiled indulgently, gave the child a small donation, and was rewarded with
sweets and nuts.

Enter Samichlaus

The devil departed, and Christian offered more beer to those of us at his
table. Instead of an answer, he received another gift, from a "rival" brewer.
A case of the world's strongest lager, the 14 per centChristmas beer Samichlaus
(also otherwise known as Santa Claus) was brought to the table by Karl Stöhr
junior, whose family own the Eggenberg brewery, in the country countryside
50-60 miles east, about half way to Linz, second city of Austria. Brewers like
to give each other such gifts, and they are invariably appreciated, but the
case of Samichlaus was especially well received. Its revival after four years
is clearly a matter of great pride to the Stöhr family and their brewery.

"We have been working on the beer for the past year. We kept quiet about it
because we were not sure how it would turn out," confesses Karl. "Fortunately,
we think we have got it right. I find it a little estery in comparison with
past vintages but it is difficult to judge a fresh beer against one that has
been evolving in the bottle for several years. As it happens, I like that
estery fruitiness. I wonder how it will develop.

Meanwhile on December 6, the Samichlaus for next year was brewed. It is
produced from an original gravity of 27-30 Plato, largely from Pilsner malt,
with a some Munich 25 EBC. The brewery already uses a decoction mash for some
of its products; the density of Samichlaus has in these early efforts called
for double decoction. With such a high density, there must be some
caramelisation in the kettle, and that will influence both color and flavor.
There are two additions of hops from the Hallertau, first
Magnum, then Perle, and a third with the Saazer variety.

It's not the brewing itself, or the primary fermentation, that takes the time.
Among the key features of the production are a secondary fermentation with a
highly alcohol-tolerant yeast bred by the beer's original brewers, the
now-defunct Hürlimann brewery. This is followed by many months of lagering.

I have already reviewed the revived Samichlaus in my tasting notes (6 November,
2000). That sampling followed my story (4 October, 2000) breaking the news of
the beer's revival. It sounds over-dramatic to say that this story was a world
exclusive, but subsequent response indicates just how much interest there is in
this product. The last vintage of Samichlaus was the 1996. I first wrote in
detail about this beer in 1986, after a visit to the Hürlimann brewery, where
it was then made.

Both Eggenberg and Hürlimann have been commendably open about their procedures
in making this extraordinary beer but, understandably, neither wishes to reveal
every last detail. In my 1986 story, I hazarded a guess that the brew was
transferred between tanks during maturation to aereate the wort and rouse the
yeast. I still feel that there is an element of slow, controlled, "positive"
oxidation, and that this contributes to aroma and flavor, as it does with some
great Champagnes and malt whiskies.

My own enthusiasm for Samichlaus has always rested not only on its strength but
also on the care with which it has been made. Many very strong lagers,
especially those produced farther north in Scandinavia, have an unpleasantly
candy-like raw sweetness, suggesting an inadequate maturation. Samichlaus is
much more complex, rounded and long in flavours. I wanted to be sure that
Eggenberg were treating it with the same care, and not just being opportunistic
in picking up the product. "This has been very exciting for us, very emotional,
but even we did not realise the depth of feeling about this beer," Karl jr told
me.

The chapel and the brewhouse

On my visit to Austria this month, it quickly became clear to me that the
release of the new Samichlaus was one of the year's highlights for Eggenberg.
Another came when the capacity of their copper brewhouse was expanded by the
addition of (unfortunately, rather ugly) new stainless steel vessels. A third
was the refurbishment of the brewery's chapel, with icon-like paintings,
(compensatory?) copper sculptures on the altar, and stained glass windows, all
created by family members. All three events were solemnised at a service in the
chapel.

The brewhouse and the chapel sit to either side of a shared entrance hall
decorated with family portraits, framed documents and photographs on the
history of the brewery.

When the kettle is boiling, the steam curls round the little spire of the
chapel, and obscures the gilded figures on the clockface. Not every brewery has
its own chapel. This one might, I suppose, be equally regarded as the family's
own church. It has eight small pews, each with room for four people. The next
service there could be the Christening of Charles V. In his own language, he
will be known as Karl. That is to assume that a boy will be born to Ines, wife
of Karl Junior. She is expecting a child, but does not yet know whether she
will have a first son or second daughter.

The brewery, its former maltings, the chapel, the brewmaster's apartment, and
the owners' home, form a square of buildings painted in the "imperial yellow"
of the old Austrian empire. They enclose a courtyard 70 or 80 yards square.
Most of the structure was rebuilt 120 years ago, after a fire, but the site and
brewery were acquired by the Stöhr family near 200 years ago. Parts of the
structure are thought to be 800 years old.

Karl junior's father, who has the same Christian name, showed me several
family heirlooms. One was a certificate confirming the qualification of an
earlier Karl as a brewmaster in 1813. There was also a "wander book", signed
by various brewers for whom this earlier Karl had worked as an intern.

I have seen such passport-like documents before, but it was an affecting
experience to peep into the youth of someone long-gone. He had internshipsnot
only in Austria and Germany, but also in the Belgian brewing cities of Liège
and Leuven. The book pre-dated photographs, so his identity was affirmed by a
verbal description: Tall; oval face; brown hair; high forehead; blue eyes;
good teeth; small mouth. The must have lost height over the generations, but
the facial features were evident in the two Karls as they scrutinised the
description of their forebear in the dense Gothic handwriting of the
Wanderbuch.

There has been commercial brewing at Eggenberg since 1681, and beer has
probably been made there since at least the 1100s. At one stage, the site
accommodated the castle of a knight. A moat survives vestigially as a pond and
a swimming pool. In another period, Eggenberg belonged to a Benedictine
monastery. It was on the border of the domains of the rich and powerful
archbishops of Salzburg and Passau.

Berg means hill. This small hill was a defensible position on the river Alm.
Like many brewing sites, it has a Celtic history. There was salt-mining here
800 years before Christ. The hill overlooks the village, or perhaps market town
of Vorchdorf, in the county of Salzkammergut.

A short walk from the brewery, I tasted unfiltered versions of Eggenberg's
perfumy Hopfen Ksnig Pils and crisply malty Festbock (7.3 per cent alcohol by
volume) at the Gasthof Hinterreitner. My lunch, pork tenderloin, was cooked in
Eggenberg's Urbock (9.6 per cent alcohol, from 23 degrees Plato).

White Lightning

There was also a dinner at Gasthof Grünberg, an Alpine-style hotel in the town
of Gmunden, the county seat. This time, I was taken through a range of
Eggenberg's principal beers: Hopfen König with a trout-like fish called
Reinanke; the whisky-malt Nessie (not as smoky as I would have liked) with wild
boar; the spicy Urbock with a clove-tinged nut soufflé in a beer sabayon; and
Samichlaus as a digestif.

An impressive meal, I thought, but there was one more element to come. With the
petit fours, camethe peppery Eggenberger Bockbierbrand. Yes, as if their range
of strong brews were not strong enough, they actually distill the Bock into a
white lightning.

http://www.ireland.com:80/newspaper/ireland/2000/1212/clinton2.htm

Clinton visit should aid 'digital district' plan

By Joe Humphreys, Dec. 12

The Government hopes its plans for a high-tech "digital district" centred on
the St James's Gate area will be boosted by today's visit to the Guinness
Storehouse by President Clinton.

The Clinton visit is undoubtedly a publicity coup for the brewer and its new
hospitality venue, which will host almost 2,000 guests for today's buffet
lunch. For the Guinness marketing team, it should wipe away the unhappy
memories of 1995 when President Clinton was photographed in a Dublin pub
drinking a pint of Murphys.

But the stout rivalry will seem small beer compared to the drive now beginning
to turn the district around the brewery into a centre for the most modern
industries.

In his address at the Storehouse, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is expected to draw
a parallel between the entrepreneurship of Arthur Guinness and his foundation
of the brewery, and the entrepreneurs leading today's technology firms. The
Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is now being
installed in the Hopstore - the former Guinness visitors' centre at the
brewery - and it is hoped it will act as a magnet for computer and media firms
and other investors which could lead to several thousand jobs in the area.

President Clinton will also address those gathered at the Storehouse today and
Irish officials hope he will find a way to draw a tangible link between Stout,
his presidency, and the Government's plans for the area.

The Government believes up to 25 multinationals might be persuaded to locate in
the area and it will offer tax breaks and other grants for investment, modelled
on the IFSC and the Temple Bar schemes.

A number of universities are being canvassed and, in addition to high-tech
firms, there will be a stress on music and the arts.

A spokeswoman for the Taoiseach noted the final decision to go with the
Storehouse as the centre for the visit was a joint one between the Irish and
American delegations, both of which, she said, were "very impressed" by the
venue.

One of the alternative locations considered was Dublin Castle.

But it is understood it was ruled out by Guinness because many of its rooms
were already committed to other functions. There will be a free lunch today
for the Guinness guests - but not for Guinness. One factor which will not have
hindered the decision to go to the Storehouse was the brewer's willingness to
pick up most of the tab.

Guinness's corporate affairs spokesman, Mr Pat Barry, would not disclose how
much the company had to spend on staging the event but he said the costs were
"fairly significant".

The money is expected to be well spent, however. While Mr Barry said it was
impossible to quantify the benefits of such an event he noted, in something of
an understatement, "it's a very exciting opportunity".

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com:80/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/disp
lay?slug=sweden10&date=20001210

Sunday, December 10, 2000

Liquor taxes under assault in Sweden since joining EU

by Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Sweden's 150-year-old temperance movement has been so
successful in wresting this country from the Vodka Belt, people like to say
that more Swedes live from alcohol now than die from it.

With Europe's highest taxes on tipples, the welfare state's coffers get an
annualinfusion of $1.3 billion from drink sales - and the resulting high prices
have depressed consumption and alcohol-related deaths and illnesses to one of
the lowest levels in the developed world.

But those enviable achievements are under assault in the name of consumer
harmony on the continent. The European Union's trade policies have forced
Sweden to ease restrictions on alcohol imports, which drastically could cut
domestic revenue from state-monopoly wine, beer and spirits sales unless the
government agrees to lower taxes to make purchases here competitive with
neighboring countries.

The changes imposed by EU membership also coincide with an emerging sentiment
among the responsible-drinking majority in this nation of 8.9 million that it
is their own business - not the government's - how much they consume in the
safety and privacy of their own homes.

"The voices speaking against the 'Big Brother' issue have become stronger since
we joined the Union," Bjoern Hibell, director of the Swedish Council for
Information on Alcohol and Narcotics, says of the changing public attitudes
since Sweden became an EU member in 1995.

Inspired by a history of massive alcohol abuse in the 19th century, the Swedish
government has long assumed the role of moral judge and has used taxes and
import restrictions to discourage Swedes from drinking.

But Hibell and others charged with analyzing Swedish drinking behavior contend
that many Swedes are tolerant of the alcohol tax because they recognize the
hidden costs of health care for abusers as well as lost labor efficiency and
drinking's contribution to violent crime.

"If you want to be an alcoholic, that's your business, of course. But most
people think alcohol problems are not just a problem for the individual but for
the whole society," says Bjoern Rydberg, spokesman for the state-owned
Systembolage monopoly on alcohol sales and distribution.

Officials are weighing an alcohol-tax cut in the face of slumping revenues in
southern Sweden since July, when the new import quotas kicked in and a bridge
to Denmark opened allowing consumers to save mightily by doing their booze
shopping abroad and taking advantage of more liberal personal import volumes.
Without tax relief, Swedes will spend their liquor kroner elsewhere, depriving
the country of income that might be used to combat drinking's related health
problems.

An Alcohol Action Plan submitted this fall to the Riksdag, Sweden's parliament,
puts off the divisive tax issue until spring but earmarks about $45 million
for local public-awareness projects and self-help groups for abusers.

Research across Europe, however, consistently testifies that pricing policies,
monopoly control, a higher minimum drinking age and low blood-alcohol driving
limits are vastly more effective in reducing consumption than information
campaigns, says Sven-Olov Carlsson, president of Sweden's chapter of the
International Order of Good Templars.

"The sad thing is that all the discussion now is about Sweden moving toward the
EU position, while it would make more sense for other European countries to
take steps toward Sweden," Carlsson says.

He predicts that EU enlargement to include the heavy-drinking populations of
Eastern Europe will force the alliance to put public-health concerns above
those of trade and agriculture now driving the drinking debate.

"Taxation has proved to be the most effective means of reducing consumption,
especially together with the monopoly sales system," says Gerd Knutsson, the
Ministry of Health and Social Issues' chief adviser on alcohol problems.

Sweden's blood-alcohol limit for drivers is also among the lowest in the
developed world at 0.02 percent - one-fourth the level allowed in much of the
United States. The low threshold for defining drunken driving, coupled with
staggering fines and risks of jailing, has been successful in keeping
alcohol-related traffic accidents the lowest in Europe, Knutsson says.

One persistent problem cited by both those for and against lower alcohol taxes
is the Swedish predilection for binge drinking. Only in the past 20 years has
consumption of beer and wine been rising to reflect a shift from total
inebriation to social drinking. Sales of the high-proof aquavit infusions for
which Sweden is renowned remain strong, and health researchers report that
less than 10 percent of the population accounts for more than half of the
total alcohol consumption.

"Particularly in rural areas, a lot of Swedes still drink to get drunk, not to
enhance food or to be social," says Hibell, whose state-run institute
forecasts an accelerated rise in what are growing consumption levels.

Since July, the more liberal EU import allowances permit Swedes returning from
trips abroad to bring back up to 20 liters of wine and 24 liters of beer, a 20-
and 12-fold increase, respectively. Beginning in 2004, the limit on spirits
also will rise tenfold, to 10 liters per trip, and the wine and beer
allowances to 110 liters


The same bottle of whiskey selling for $11 in Germany retails in Sweden for
$25. Wine averages about twice the price here as elsewhere in the EU, and beer
costs about 40 percent more. The 2004 quantities allow travelers to bring in
2.6 gallons of hard liquor, 157 bottles of wine and 333 12-ounce cans of beer.


Researchers at Agren's institute predict a 10 percent increase in consumption
from the relaxed import allowances, with a simultaneous loss of revenue from
the state liquor monopoly as Swedes dodge the tax burden by buying more
abroad. Per capita consumption of pure spirits by Swedes over age 15 is about
8.2 liters per year, compared with the EU average of 12 liters. But that will
rise to 9 liters with the more liberal import quotas and to as much as 11
liters if the Riksdag decides to lower taxes to put Swedish prices at the
Danish level, Agren says, basing his prediction on the institute's extensive
consumer research.

http://www.montrealgazette.com:80/news/pages/001211/5025024.html

Bar robber killed as customers turn nasty

DARREN BECKER The Gazette; 11 December 2000

A would-be robber is dead and his accomplice seriously injured after being set
on by a group of angry customers at a bar on St. Laurent Blvd. early
yesterday. The two men, both brandishing firearms, entered Bailey's Bar at 1:15
a.m, police said. One had a sawed-off shotgun and the other a pistol.

"Some customers reacted and tried to subdue the two men," said Constable Robert
Mansueto of the Montreal Urban Community police.

There were about 20 customers in the bar at 8387 St. Laurent Blvd near Liege
St., at the time.

One of the robbers, age 40, suffered a fractured skull and died in the
afternoon. His accomplice has multiple injuries.

"We picked up some blunt objects at the back of the bar that they may have been
hit with and we'll see if we can get any fingerprints," said Det.-Lt. Steve
Roberts of the homicide squad.

The dead man's 42-year-old accomplice is expected to live, police said. He was
charged yesterday with armed robbery and having a weapon. The bar was closed
last night, with beer bottles and coffee mugs still on tables from the time of
the fight. As of last night, 12 witnesses had been interviewed but police have
no suspects, Roberts said.

It was the 49th homicide in the MUC this year. There were 48 in the
corresponding period last year.

- Eighteen-year-old Patrick Levesque died on Saturday after being hit on the
head in the Babylon night club in Aylmer, near Ottawa, by a billiard ball swung
in a sock by another customer. Club co-owner Jean Hanna said Levesque was on
the dance floor with about 100 people around him when he was hit once. "There
was no fight."

"We brought him into the kitchen area behind the bar and put some ice on his
head. There was a little bump on his forehead. He said his vision was a bit
blurry but heseemed OK and wanted to go home.

"The doormen escorted the guy who hit him out of the bar and told him to never
come back here." It was hard to say if it was Levesque the man intended to hit,
he said.

Levesque went home and to bed but could not be roused later that morning.

http://news.excite.com:80/news/uw/001211/university-14

Transatlantic yobbery leaves trouble brewing in Britain

December 11, 2000, By Benjamin Abel, The Daily Aztec, San Diego State U.

(U-WIRE) SAN DIEGO -- It happens as soon as the sun sets over England.

Expensive tractors disappear from fields.
Pubs are burglarized minutes after they close.
The darker side of girl power is unleashed.

And across the channel, Parisian gangsters run amok, wielding super-wicked
monkeys.

Just another yob's night out. What the bloody hell is a yob?

A yob, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is a rowdy, destructive
youth, also a hooligan or ruffian. Yobs are a big problem in Britain, and a
vinegar and newsprint shortage can't even compare. Yobs are driving Tony
Blair's Labour Party batty, and Labour has responded with tough anti-yob
legislation. This is designed to curb anti-social behaviors, such as drinking,
vandalism, loutish behavior and hit-and-run driving.

It appears yobbery has become so bad that, the Times of London laments,
pensioners are afraid to go out and single mothers avoid shopping. Major
British newspapers sport frequent headlines questioning whether Britain is a
nation of yobs. Yobbery has made it onto late-night British comedy shows. It's
a true British invasion -- of Britain.

It's not fair that San Diego State University's frat packs get expelled while
their English counterparts get so much attention, is it? What to do? Give it a
few more years, boys.

Yobbery comes in different shapes. Some are more criminally sophisticated than
others. Some are American, some are French. They do
their dastardly deeds sober or drunken, young or very old. Like missing Al Gore
ballots in Florida, yobs are everywhere.

Perhaps England's worst yobs are the tractor thieves. These are often
internationally linked, and, the Times warns, extremely nasty and violent
people. The title of the article reads, "Things that go west in the night," so
one would guess, correctly, that they go to Ireland. From there, they travel
the globe.

Police are often hard-pressed to identify stolen tractors because a "suspicious
tractor" driving down the road is, well, not very suspicious.

The dictionary notes that yob is an alteration of "boy" spelled backward, but
we mustn't exclude girl yobs -- even sophomore ones.

The Times has a lengthy feature starring royally misbehaved and violent young
girls who are in prison. When I saw the article's title, "The dark side of girl
power," I knew I had to use it.

Some of the girls in prison were murderers, while others made the slammer for
lighting other girls' hair on fire. The prison had an anger-management program
the author was investigating. "They are very damaged, difficult women,"
explained a prison guard. "It is precisely because they are young that they are
very difficult to deal with. They just don't listen to reason. You get a lot of
girls being very aggressive in their demeanor ... swearing and throwing their
arms about."

Perhaps now is the time for me to keep my thoughts to myself. But listening to
reason is a killer, isn't it?

"We know that there is something going on," explains the prison's assistant
director. She notes the frequency and the level of violence of
these attacks have increased. But here's the jackpot: "Youth experts say one of
the biggest causes for the explosion in female violence appears to be confusion
over identity. They are fed 'girl power' by pop heroines, such as the Spice
Girls and Billie; they are encouraged to be assertive and told that they are
empowered.

"What if you can't get what you really, really want? These girls are being
taught to be more assertive; they get the girl power message, but it can be
confusing for them. You don't always get what you want, and they lack the
skills to cope with that. Their frustration can spill over into anger." No
comment.

Parisian gangs have always been famous, but they're about to become immortal.
How? It's easy; they've found the ultimate hit-men -- attack monkeys. But
these aren't just any monkeys, said the Guardian Unlimited. These monkeys are
Barbary apes, and are known for their powerful limbs, sharp teeth, rapid
analytical skills and short tempers. Removed from their natural environment,
they become ultra-aggressive; they commonly attack by throwing themselves at
people's heads.

The modern-day frondeurs who own these monkeys use them to intimidate their
rivals, but sometimes fight them against other monkeys. Monkeys make perfect
sense as these gangsters' new weapons of choice, as authorities have cracked
down on last year's favorite weapons -- pit bulls.

But authorities have it a little easier this time. When being attacked by a
monkey, they must say "Il y a un singe sur ma tete!", whereas the pit-bull
required the slightly harder "Il y a un grand chien mechant rongeant ma jambe!"
That's a real mouthful.

YOBS REVISITED

Yobs can also be quite old, which is what makes them so dangerous. After all,
they're everywhere. The Times of London recently exposed this covert group of
malefactors in an article titled "America's elderly fill sunset days with
crime." That's right, America.

Yobs are here, too.

The article was a bit disturbing. That man walking down the street or that nice
lady sitting on the porch could one day do you in.

Some of these elderly yobs include:

A 72-year-old man, armed, was shot and killed breaking into a 68-year-old man's
home.

An 80-year-old man was jailed for 13 years after robbing a Florida bank; he
left with the aid of his walker.

A 74-year-old man shot his 69-year-old sister with a handgun because he
believed she cast a voodoo spell on him.

A 91-year-old man shot his grandson, and then kept 100 police at bay for 32
hours without falling asleep or giving in to tear gas.

A 95-year-old Florida man pulled a gun on a forestry worker who came to cut
down a diseased tree in the man's garden.

The list goes on and on.

So yobs have attack monkeys, English tractors, plenty of beer from the pubs
they've sacked, old age and girl power -- and right now I'm sure some of them
have finals.

http://inq.philly.com:80/content/inquirer/2000/12/07/city/PTRUCK07.htm

11 accused of trading drugs and sex for truckers' cargo

By Joseph A. Slobodzian INQUIRER STAFF WRITER, December 7, 2000

For some people, stopping for a strong cup of coffee as a break during a long
drive is not enough.

At the Walt Whitman Truck Stop in South Philadelphia, federal prosecutors say,
a local gang provided interstate truckers with something stronger: crack
cocaine and prostitutes in exchange for their cargo.

Yesterday, U.S. Attorney Michael R. Stiles announced the indictment of 11
Philadelphia residents who allegedly stole $338,931 worth of interstate
shipments of beef, beer, frozen shrimp and canned foods after truck drivers
received drugs or sex.

The defendants face charges related to drug distribution and maximum prison
terms of 40 years under a federal statute that carries tough penalties for
selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a truck stop or roadside safety and rest
area.

Robert S. Conforti, head of the FBI's Philadelphia office, said the stolen
cargo caused "a loss that hurt so many hardworking individuals. It also put
truck drivers on the road under the influence of crack cocaine."

Stiles praised the cooperation of the Philadelphia police for letting "what
might have been a single, local theft or drug casebecome a significant
multi-count federal indictment."

Conforti said five of those charged in the 25-count indictment already were in
custody on unrelated charges. They are Joanne Borelli, 32, of the 2400 block of
South Marshall Street; Henry Dixon, 41, of the 900 block of East Haines Street;
Anthony Hoskins, 33, of the first block of Thelma Street; James Mebame, 39, of
the 1800 block of North 25th Street; and Shama Wade, 32, of the 1200 block of
North Broad Street.

Two others were arrested yesterday morning at the truck stop at 3540 S.
Lawrence St. Conforti said Charles "Corleone" Pierson, 38, surrendered without
incident but was hospitalized after complaining of chest pains. Michelle Scott,
38, of the 7700 block of Fayette Street, surrendered after a brief standoff in
which she locked herself in the cab of a truck, Conforti
added.

Four defendants are considered fugitives, Conforti said, including the alleged
leader of the group: Tillis "Goldie" Davis, 44,of the 5100 block of Thompson
Street. Also being sought were Kenneth Brown, 37, of the 3100 block of North
24th Street; Charisse Valez, 25, of the 800 block of Pierce Street; and Pamela
"Buttercup" Scarlata, 29, of the 400 block of South Broad Street.

Each defendant was charged with at least one count of drug distribution, and
all but Scarlata also were charged with at least one count of interstate
theft.The indictment outlines six incidents between May 1999 and April
involving seven interstate truck drivers who worked for companies based in
New Jersey, Ohio, California, South Dakota, Florida, North Carolina, Minnesota,
Indiana and Texas.

The thefts ranged from a low of $1,146 in canned soup and vegetables on Sept.
29, 1999, from a driver delivering goods from Pennsauken to Allentown, to the
Dec. 27-28, 1999, theft of $249,539 in frozen shrimp and avocados hauled by an
Indiana driver from Texas to Philadelphia.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William B. Carr Jr. said all seven truck drivers
already had pleaded guilty to charges of theft frominterstate motor truck
shipments and were cooperating with the government.

The indictment apparently resulted from a false police report of a hijacking at
gunpoint filed by trucker Calvin Perry, who stopped at the Walt Whitman Truck
Stop from May 23 to 25, 1999, after picking up a load of meat products in
Philadelphia to drive to Canton, Mich.

Perry later recanted his story, authorities said, and admitted that after
stopping to have the truck weighed, he was approached by a prostitute who
offered him crack cocaine, oral sex, and a Gameboy. Perry and the prostitute
were joined by another prostitute, and the trio stayed in the truck using
crack, authorities said. After getting high on the crack, authorities said,
Perry was approached by several men and agreed to give up $27,391 worth of his
cargo.

Prosecutors said Perry then identified several people from a photo lineup. The
indictment alleges that six of the 11 defendants, including Davis and Brown,
were involved in the theft.

[J2jurado]

Suntory to expedite expansion of beer production in China

OSAKA, Dec. 13 (Kyodo) - Suntory Ltd. will expedite its plan to expand beer
production in China by two years from the original goal of 2004, now planning
to increase the local annual production to 350,000 kiloliters by 2002, company
officials said Wednesday.

Suntory expects to produce a total of 220,000 kl of beer in 2001 at its plant
in Shanghai and another plant in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, which will begin
operations next year.

The company had planned to expand production facilities at the two plants in
2004 to add an annual total of 130,000 kl.

With the aim of expanding beer sales to the entire Chinese market, the company
will increase the number of sales people by around 100 in the 2001 business
year, bringing the total workforce to about 500, they added.

Brau und Brunnen CEO Quits Over Strategy Disagreement

Dortmund, Germany, Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Brau und Brunnen AG, Germany's
second-largest brewer, said its Chief Executive, Rainer Verstynen, resigned
amid disagreements over strategy.

``Verstynen has resigned over differences of opinion about the future strategy
of the company,'' Brau und Brunnen said in a statement to the German stock
market newswire. The company declined to elaborate what the differences
entailed. The announcement comes amid losses and a sinking share price. Brau
und Brunnen shares have 64 percent from a June high of 46.80 euros ($41.11),
while the Dortmund-based company posted a nine- month net loss of 37.8 million
deutsche marks ($16 million).

``Investors had hoped Verstynen could change things around at the company,''
said Volker Hergert, an analyst at Bankgesellschaft Berlin. ``At the end of the
day, he wasn't very successful.''

The maker of Jever beer said last month it plans to cut as many as 400 jobs at
the beer unit within three years to reduce costs. Brau und Brunnen intends to
sell real estate and cut benefits for workers to reduce costs after the
proposed merger with smaller rival Bayerische BrauHolding AG failed in
September.

HypoVereinsbank AG, Germany's second-biggest bank, is Brau und Brunnen's
biggest shareholder.

Heineken Acquires Majority in Nigerian Breweries

AMSTERDAM/LAGOS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 13, 2000--Heineken N.V., the leading
international brewer, yesterday notified Nigerian Breweries Plc. that it will
exercise the option of converting its loan to Nigerian Breweries into equity on
December 15. This will bring the stake from 43.3% to 54.2% after the
conversion.

The convertible loan stock, which was open to all shareholders, was approved by
the Annual General Shareholders Meeting of Nigerian Breweries in June 2000.
Heineken subscribed for EUR 71 million ($62 million(a)), that will now be
converted into newly issued shares based on the average trading price of the
previous fifteen days which ended on December 11. The aim of the convertible
loan is to partially finance the current planned extensive investment program.
Modernizing and extending the capacity of the breweries is required in order to
meet growing demand.

Since the foundation of Nigerian Breweries in 1946, Heineken has rendered
technical support and other management services. The management of Nigerian
Breweries decided in 1996 to redesign all departments and business processes
according to Heineken standards. With reference to the distribution power of
Nigerian Breweries, further growth of the Heineken and Amstel brands in the
coming years is foreseen. The results of Nigerian Breweries will be
consolidated as from January 1, 2001 and will contribute directly to the net
profit of the Heineken Group.

Note: (a) Currency conversions are provided for reader convenience at the Dec.
12, 2000 exchange rate of 1 EUR = US$0.8797.

Nigeria, with 6.3 million hectolitres, is the second largest beer market in
Africa. With a production amounting to 3.3 million hectolitres of beer in 1999,
Nigerian Breweries had a market share of 52%, which has grown in the current
year. Besides beer, Nigerian Breweries sells 300,000 hectolitres of soft
drinks. Production takes place in five breweries all over the country. In 1999,
the net profit amounted to EUR 36 million. Its lager beers, Star and Gulder,
are the leading brands in Nigeria. Shares of Nigerian Breweries are traded on
the Lagos Stock Exchange.

Heineken N.V. is the world's most international brewing group with production
in more than 110 breweries in over 50 countries. The Heineken brand is sold in
more than 170 countries. Heineken is the largest brewer in Europe and is, with
7.7 million hectolitres, the second largest brewer in Africa. The total Group
Volume of Heineken amounted to 90.9 million hectolitres, ensuring the Group's
second place in the world ranking. The net turnover amounted to EUR 7.1 billion
with a net profit of EUR 516 million. The Heineken Group employs around 37,000
persons (1999 figures).

Heineken N.V. and Heineken Holding N.V. shares are listed on the Amsterdam
stock exchange. Prices for the ordinary shares may be accessed on Bloomberg
under the symbols HEIN NA and HEHN NA, on the Reuter Equities 2000 Service
under HEIN.AS and HEHN.AS and on Quotron under HEINN.EU and HKAN.EU. Additional
information is available on Heineken's home page: http://www.heinekencorp.com.

just-drinks.com:International Brewers Strategic Review the Future of TheGlobal
Beer Giants

LONDON, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- http://www.just-drinks.com -- The world's beer
industry has experienced unprecedented activity during the last three years as
the global beer giants turn their attention from flat domestic markets to the
international scene.

In a special feature at http://just-drinks.com/features-detail.asp?art=336,
Chris Brook-Carter reviews leading research company Canadean's latest report on
the world's top beer companies, which looks at the recent flurry of merger and
acquisition activity, and asks what the future holds for the industry giants.

Canadean explains that the trend towards consolidation has emerged because
companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Carlsberg, Guinness, Heineken, Interbrew and
South African Breweries (all covered in the report) "facing mature markets at
home [have] cast their net wide to find profitable growth".

The likelihood is that in the future, the beer market will revolve around two
or three global players, almost certain to be amongst Canadean's 'big six'
companies. "There are still opportunities for brewers to acquire and/or
develop profitable business in developing markets", it states.

To read the full story and access Canadean's report, click here:
http://just-drinks.com/features-detail.asp?art=336

Sweden conditionally OKs Carlsberg-Orkla merger

By Per Bech Thomsen

COPENHAGEN, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Sweden's competition watchdog on Wednesday
cleared another obstacle for Danish Carlsberg and Norway's Orkla to create the
world's fifth-biggest brewery by conditionally approving the merger.

The move left only the Finnish authorities' approval outstanding for the
pan-Nordic beverage deal to be completed. Finland is expected to make its
ruling in early January, Carlsberg said in a statement.

The merger of Sweden's two biggest breweries, Pripps and Falcon, owned by Orkla
and Carlsberg respectively, was approved on condition that the joint company
reduce its beer market share in the country to 45 percent from 56 percent.

"We had expected to have to divest some brands and 11 percent is a big chunk of
the market to shed," Carlsberg spokeswoman, Margrethe Skov told Reuters.

"But we have managed to hold on to several strong brand names and are basically
satisfied with the ruling," she said.

At 1220 GMT Carlsberg shares were up 10 crowns or 2.5 percent at 405 crowns,
five crowns higher than before the Swedish announcement. Carlsberg shares have
risen strongly since an April year low of 216 crowns, touching a year high of
435 crowns last week.

Copenhagen bourse's top-20 KFX index, of which Carlsberg is a constituent, was
0.8 percent higher, while the Dow Jones EuroStoxx food and beverages index was
0.9 percent up.

Orkla shares were up 0.50 euros at 168 euros, a little below their September
184.5 euros high and well above their year low of 112 euros hit in April.

The reduced market share would be achieved by selling the following seven beer
brands: Three Towns, Fat, Arboga, Eagle, Bayerbrau, Starkbock and Sailor.

In addition, Falcon and Pripps are to give up their rights to distribute five
imported brands, Lapin Kulta, Warsteiner, Caffrey's, Bass and Staropramen.

Carlsberg also has to sell off its indirect ownership of Coca-Cola Sweden and
Falcon has to end its distribution agreement with Coca-Cola Sweden.

Earlier on Wednesday Norway's competition authorities said Carlsberg must sell
its interest in the country's Coca-Cola subsidiary.

Carlsberg announced in May it planned to merge with Orkla's beverage activities
to form a new company, Carlsberg Breweries, in which the Danish beer maker
would hold a 60 percent stake and Orkla 40 percent.

Carlsberg to Sell Swedish Coca-Cola Rights Under Orkla Merger

Stockholm, Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Carlsberg A/S, the world's sixth-biggest
brewer, agreed to stop selling Coca-Cola Co. products in Sweden to win
antitrust approval for its purchase of Orkla ASA's breweries, the Swedish
Competition Authority said.

Carlsberg and Orkla will also sell seven of their beer brands - Three Towns,
Fat, Arboga, Eagle, Bayerbrau, Starkbock and Sailor - and give up rights to
five imported beers, Konkurrensverket said in a faxed statement. The companies'
combined share of the Swedish market will fall 11 percentage points to 45
percent.

``It's definitely sad to lose brands that are appreciated by customers and
consumers,'' said Mikael Hellberg, who will head Carlsberg Breweries' Swedish
unit. Still ``we will have Sweden's two most popular beer brands, Pripps and
Falcon, as well as the two internationally established brands, Carlsberg and
Tuborg.''

Carlsberg agreed in May to buy the breweries of Norway's Orkla to boost its
share of the Nordic beer market and expand into Eastern Europe. The purchase,
valued at as much as $1.5 billion, will be paid for with shares in Carlsberg
Breweries A/S, a new company created from the combined businesses. Orkla will
own 40 percent of the new Carlsberg unit.

The transaction, which will make Carlsberg the biggest brewer in Russia, still
requires approval from Finland's competition authority, the companies said.

Spendrups Benefits

The Swedish ruling paved the way for Spendrups AB, a Swedish rival brewer that
recently lost a license to bottle and sell PepsiCo Inc.'s beverages in Sweden,
to snap up the rights to sell Coca-Cola to Swedish restaurants. Spendrups
shares rose 1.2 kronor, or 4.1 percent, to 30.2.

``This wouldn't have been possible without the ruling,'' said Spendrups Chief
Executive Jens Spendrup, in an interview. ``We're mainly interested in products
we can bottle ourselves and we aren't going to buy Carlsberg's half of
Coca-Cola Sweden.''

Spendrup is betting Virgin Cola, a U.K. drink that it will start selling next
year, and sales of Coca-Cola to restaurants, will compensate for the loss of
the Pepsi rights.

Next year, though, ``sales of soft drinks will probably fall and we'll sell
more beer and water,'' Spendrup said.

Austrian Stocks Mixed: Brau-Union

Vienna, Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Austrian stocks were mixed. The benchmark ATX
index rose 2.71 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1083.37. Fourteen stocks fell, nine
rose and one was unchanged. The ATX has dropped 9.6 percent this year.

The board of the Vienna Stock Exchange is meeting to decide which companies
will be part of the benchmark ATX Index in 2001, Wiener Boerse AG spokesman
Johann Schmit said. The company that manages the Vienna Stock Exchange may
release details of a revised membership list tonight, Schmit said.

Brau-Union AG (BRAU AV) rose 0.15 euro, or 0.4 percent, to 42.25. The parent of
the brewer, Oesterreichische Brau- Beteiligungs AG, or BBAG, said yesterday it

paid 164.6 million euros for three Romanian breweries. BBAG first announced the

purchase in August, though didn't disclose the price until it received approval
for the acquisitions from Romanian antitrust authorities last week. BBAG fell
0.21 euro, or 0.5 percent, to 46.24 euros.

San Miguel Profit in 2001 May Rise 10%, Chairman Cojuangco Says

Manila, Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- San Miguel Corp., which sells nine out of 10
beers consumed in the Philippines, may see profit rising 10 percent next year
because of stronger sales and better- managed operations, Chairman Eduardo
Cojuangco said.

Net income of the nation's biggest food and beverage company rose 20 percent to
5.4 billion pesos ($108 million) in the ten months ending Oct. 30, compared
with 4.5 billion pesos in the same period last year, boosted by improved sales
locally and abroad.

Cojuangco said his company plans to build seaports throughout the Philippine
archipelago of over 7,000 islands next year to improve distribution.

``The establishment of the ports would make us more competitive,'' Cojuangco
told reporters at an informal gathering last evening.

Cojuangco also said he is not interested in buying part or all of the 27
percent stake in San Miguel which the government is trying to sell to raise
funds for a coconut industry fund. He already owns 20 percent of the company.

``I have no plans of adding to my stake in San Miguel,'' he said. ``Whatever
happens, 20 percent is enough for me.''

Cojuangco said he was only speaking for himself. San Miguel may opt to buy the
shares, he said.

``I don't know about San Miguel,'' Cojuangco said. ``If you're asking me
personally, I have no plans of increasing my stake.''

The government of former President Corazon Aquino in 1986 seized San Miguel
shares on suspicion they were bought using funds from a levy imposed on coconut
farmers and millers in 1970.

Aquino alleged the shares were part of the wealth illegally acquired by former
President Ferdinand Marcos and some of his associates, including Cojuangco.
Ownership of the shares has been disputed ever since.

San Miguel was unchanged yesterday at 48.50 pesos a share. It is down 14.9
percent on the year, compared with a 35 percent decline in the benchmark stock
market index.

Kirin Brewery Likely to Miss Earnings Forecast, Nikkei Reports

Tokyo, Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Kirin Brewery Co. will probably report
consolidated operating profit of 95 billion ($852 million) this year, up 23
percent from last year, as sales of green tea offset a decline in beer sales,
the Nihon Keizai newspaper said, without citing sources.

That's 5 percent less than the 100 billion yen forecast for Japan's biggest
brewery by Toyo Keizai, a financial information services. Kirin is likely to
see domestic beer sales fall 3 percent, while overall sales will increase 8
percent to 1.6 trillion yen, the paper said.

Japanese shipments of beer and low-malt brews in November fell 1.1 percent on
the year, the country's four major breweries said yesterday.

Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst to Sell Mumm and Perrier-Jouet Champagne Brands to
Allied Domecq

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 13, 2000--Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst

("Hicks Muse"), a leading private investment firm, today announced that it has
reached an agreement to sell G.H. Mumm & Cie. ("Mumm") and Champagne
Perrier-Jouet ("Perrier-Jouet") to Allied Domecq PLC

("Allied Domecq") for Euro 575 million (approximately $506 million) in cash.
The businesses will be acquired debt free. It is expected that the transaction
will be completed by the end of January 2001.

Hicks Muse acquired Mumm and Perrier-Jouet in July 1999, in one of the first
transactions to be made through Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Europe Fund, L.P. The
companies were originally acquired by Hicks Muse for a consideration of Euro
293.5 million (approximately $310 million), funded with approximately Euro 185
million (approximately $163 million) of debt. Under Hicks Muse's ownership, the
companies have significantly improved their operating performance and have
generated cash flows that have been used to repay more than Euro 60 million
(approximately $53 million) of that debt.

Mumm and Perrier-Jouet are two of the most prestigious international champagne
brands. Mumm, the third-largest champagne house in the world, is best known for
its Cordon Rouge label. Perrier-Jouet's key brands include the distinctive and
luxurious Fleur de Champagne (Belle Epoque in Europe) vintage. In the fiscal
year ended June 30, 2000, Mumm and Perrier-Jouet generated EBITDA of Euro 47.7
million (approximately $42 million) on revenues of Euro 158.5 million
(approximately $139 million).

For Allied Domecq, the acquisition adds two world-class champagne brands to its
portfolio and supports its objective of continuing to build a global wine
business.

John Muse, a Partner of Hicks Muse, said: "When we acquired Mumm and
Perrier-Jouet last year, we saw an opportunity to invest behind two strong
brands that would benefit from a more focused and targeted marketing strategy.
We have been successful in implementing that strategy in partnership with the
management team and believe that these brands are now two of the strongest in
Champagne. We have also been successful in creating significant value for
investors in our Europe Fund, who will realize a very attractive return on this
investment."

Since its formation in 1989, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst has completed or
currently has pending more than 380 transactions with an aggregate capital
value of approximately $44 billion. Headquartered in Dallas, the firm also has
offices in New York, London and Buenos Aires.

Note: The sale of Mumm and Perrier-Jouet was a euro-based transaction. Dollar
amounts shown are based on the exchange rate on December 12, 2000.

Irish republic basks in glow of Clinton farewell

By Kevin Smith

DUBLIN, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The Irish media pulled out all the stops on
Wednesday in paying tribute to U.S. President Bill Clinton after his farewell
tour of Ireland on Tuesday.

"Blessed is Bill the peacemaker," "Close encounters of the charismatic kind,"
"Jedi master of peace," "God's Gift to Mankind," were just a few of the
headlines lavished on a man the Irish like to consider one of their own.

Bill making a speech, Bill buying a chunky-knit Irish sweater, Bill drinking a
beer in Prime Minister Bertie Ahern's local pub... All were lovingly
photographed and analysed, and it was unanimously agreed -- Bill would be
missed.

Clinton's commitment to Irish affairs, his contribution to the Northern Ireland
peace process, and not least, his family roots in the Irish border county of
Fermanagh, have endeared him to people on both sides of this divided island,
allowing them to rise above the more controversial aspects of his presidency.

There was clear recognition too that Ireland was not just saying goodbye to a
dear friend, it was also marking the end of a special relationship with the
most powerful country on earth.

"If there was a slightly elegiac air about the proceedings, it was in
recognition of the end of an era...(of) withdrawal pains from the stimulation
afforded by the unique entree to the White House, and the feeling this was
unlikely to continue under the next holder of the presidency," the Irish
Independent said.

Clinton's attention to Ireland has been hugely helpful in drawing the U.S.
investment which has fuelled the country's unprecedented recent prosperity, it
noted.

But Clinton's most lasting contribution lay in helping to craft the landmark
Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which set out a blueprint for peace in
British-ruled Northern Ireland after 30 years of bloody sectarian conflict.

This is "the Clinton legacy" and Ireland has a responsibility to see it
through, the Irish Examiner said in an editorial.

"Besides consigning violence to the past, President Clinton's legacy has been
to foster a climate where equality of opportunity will give the divided people
of (Northern Ireland) the chance of a decent life," it said.

"Ireland owes him a big debt of gratitude," it added.

Clinton Drawn to Ireland Conflict

By DEB RIECHMANN December 13, 2000

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - President Clinton paused, scratched his head and
wondered aloud Tuesday how he got mixed up in the thorny Northern Ireland peace
process. It might have been something at the White House or something in his
genes, the president said.

Clinton speculated that he was been influenced by the spirit of an Irish
architect named James Hoban, who designed the White House. Or maybe it's that
ivy plant on a mantel in the Oval Office - a gift a former Irish ambassador to
the United States gave to President Kennedy.

``Maybe I got the political equivalent of poison ivy,'' he told a crowd of
supporters during a stop at the Guinness brewery in Dublin where the famous
black stout is made.

It's also possible that he was destined to help broker peace in Northern
Ireland because he has traced his family's roots to the region, he said. The
oldest-known homestead of his mother's family, the Cassidys, is a mid-18th
century farmhouse in Fermanagh County, Northern Ireland, he said. ``It's
literally right on the border.''

Of course, it could be because all the Catholics and Protestants intermarried
in his family, he said. ``Maybe I was somehow genetically prepared for the work
I had to do,'' Clinton said.

It's even possible that it didn't have anything to with the Irish island at
all, the president admitted. ``Maybe it's because there are 45 million
Irish-Americans and I was trying to make a few votes at home,'' Clinton said.

President Clinton may have a weighty presence at the peace talks table in
Ireland, but at the pub, he's a bit of a lightweight.

Clinton and Prime Minister Bertie Ahern bellied up to the bar on Tuesday at a
pub called Fagan's on the outskirts of Dublin. Clinton waved at the bartender
to stop pouring when his glass was half-full.

He took a sip of a golden-colored ale and raised his glass to recognize the
people packed, wall-to-wall, in the establishment. Ahern, on the other hand,
took long swigs of a dark beer with a foamy head.

Clinton took another sip. He waved. He shook hands with the barkeeps. Then he
set the glass back on the wooden bar.

Two sips, more handshaking, then out the door.

Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern took a little jab at President Clinton on
Tuesday when he let it be known that he's been keeping track of their visits to
his country.

Clinton has been here three times, but first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is
making her fifth visit to the nation.

``She's been here so many times ... more than you,'' Ahern joked during a stop
at the Guinness brewery.

Then he wished her well in her new job as Sen.-elect from New York.

``Give 'em hell!'' Ahern told her.

Welcome back to Dublin, big bro!

That was Alan Powers' summation of President Clinton's visit to Ireland and
Northern Ireland to nudge the peace process forward.

``Clinton's like a big brother,'' said Powers, a 42-year-old who works in
telecommunications industry. ``And like a big brother or big sister he can give
advice. He can listen, tell them what to do, tell them what not to do. He's
listened to and respected.''

Powers said he thought it would be good for Clinton to continue in a peace
negotiator role after he leaves the White House. ``I don't think he's going to
get too used to it being the senator and Mr. Clinton,'' he said.

New toilets receive some cheers, jeers

12-13-00 BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) - Thai soldiers have given a lukewarm
reaction to the removal of squat toilets from Bangkok's barracks, with some
welcoming the new sit-down toilets but others going out of their way to avoid
using the facilities.

The Bangkok Post daily Wednesday quoted a barrack source as saying some
conscripts had avoided using the new toilets because of fears they would
contract diseases.

"They don't want their bodies to touch the seats. They don't know if any of the
people here are carriers of serious diseases," the source said.

But one soldier, Pvt. Chalor Saengon, told Reuters the new facilities made life
easier for him and many of his friends.

"Some of my fat friends couldn't squat on the old-style bowls," he said.

"With the installation of the shower, soldiers now can shower, shave, shite
and brush their teeth at the same time. It means we have more time for
training."

It's 100 and out for uncle Bob

12-13-00 LONDON (Reuters) - Briton Bob Talley reached his 100th birthday, read
a congratulatory telegram from Queen Elizabeth, uttered a proud "Yes, I made
it" -- and promptly died.

But his sudden departure did little to dampen the celebration -- family,
friends and staff at his nursing home in southeast London went ahead with the
party as he lay in his bed, British newspapers reported on Wednesday.

"It was a bit of a shock when we were told that Uncle Bob had died on the
morning of his birthday," Talley's niece Barbara Barwell told the Daily
Telegraph.

"But everyone was turning up to the party... It was great. (Everyone was)
dancing with each other and reading his cards with him lying there dead,"
Barwell said.

"He knew he had reached 100 and I think he relaxed and just let go," she said.

Buckingham Palace was quoted as saying it was glad Talley had received the
telegram.

"Of course it is very sad to learn that he died so shortly afterwards," a
palace official said.

[J2jurado]

Dec 13 2000

New Direction for the Siebel Institute of Technology - 2001

The Siebel Institute of Technology, America‚s oldest brewing school, is
proud to announce an initiative to chart new directions in the fields of
Brewing technology and education. Now a proud member of the Lallemand Group,
one of the largest yeast manufacturing and research companies in the world, the
Siebel Institute has begun a complete redesign of their course materials,
presentation technologies, and research initiatives.

In education, Siebel will enhance the core of resident faculty by employing the
talents of some of the best instructors from breweries and brewing educational
institutes located around the globe. Our recently completed 11-week Diploma
Course in Brewing Technology featured such educators as:
- Dr. Graham Walker, reader at the University of Abertay-Dundee,
Scotland, author of the book „Yeast Physiology and Biotechnology
- Dr. Fritz Briem, Technology Director of Doemens, Germany, one
of Europe's most recognized brewing academies
- Mike Barney, Principal Research Scientist in the Process
Microbiology and Fermentation group at Miller Brewing Company, Wisconsin, USA
- Josef Englmann, Consulting Engineer at the Technical University
of Munich- Weihenstephan, Germany
- Chris Mulder, Vice-President and Chief Quality Officer of
Froedtert Malting, Wisconsin, USA, malt supplier to many of America's largest
breweries
- Dr. ˆIng. Eberhard Geiger, Chair of Brewing Technology II,
Technical University of Munich ˆ Weihenstephan, Germany, one of the most
prestigious brewing universities in the world
- Debbie Parker, Senior Scientist, Sensory Program, Brewing
Research International, Surrey, United Kingdom

As we enrich our core curriculum to encompass emerging techniques
and technologies, we will utilize information gathered through extensive
surveying of our Diploma Course graduates and their employers to redirect our
content. Siebel will work to refine our already accelerated learning
environment that will allow students to more easily learn advanced concepts in
brewing, and to be able to take the concepts learned at Siebel and apply them
to real-world brewing situations.
While we are best known as an educational institute, since our
creation in 1872 we have also proudly maintained a tradition as a leader in
brewingindustry research. As we enter our 130th year of operation, Siebel will
renew its focus on research that will improve both the art and the science of
brewing. Through both independent and cooperative programs, the Siebel
Institute of Technology will retain its place as America's most progressive
investigative resource for issues that affect malting and brewing science.
Throughout 130 years of history the Siebel Institute has been an
integral part of the International brewing community and it‚s evolution as
the modern brewing industry. Please join us as we chart a new direction in
education and information for the next generation of brewing artists and
scientists.

Sincerely,

Lyn Kruger , President, Siebel Institute of Technology
For further information contact:
Siebel Institute of Technology
4055 west Peterson Avenue
Chicago, IL, USA
60646-6001

Phone 773-279-0966
Fax 773-463-7688

http://siebelinstitute.com
E-mail: in...@siebelinstitute.com

Brazil Brewer Ambev to Buy Back 10% of Common, Preferred Shares

Sao Paulo, Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's Cia. de Bebidas das Americas, the
world's No. 4 brewer, said it plans to spend up to 400 million reais ($204
million) to buy back common and preferred shares.

Ambev plans to use reserve cash to buy back 396,368,782 common shares, or 10
percent of the float, and 2,107,031,690 preferred shares, or 9.8 percent of the
total shares traded, the company said in a statement.

Ambev didn't explain the reason behind the buyback, which will take place over
a 90-day period. One explanation could be that the company wants to take shares
out of circulation as a means of increasing the value of dividend payments to
shareholders, said Marilia da Costa, an analyst at Indosuez W.I. Carr
Securities in Sao Paulo.

``It's a bit of mystery because Ambev shares don't look particularly cheap,''
she said. ``It could be a way of increasing the dividend value.''

In another announcement, Ambev said that Brazil's antitrust agency, known as
CADE, gave the go-ahead for the company to sell its Bavaria beer brand to the
Canadian brewer Molson Inc.

The sale of the Bavaria brand was imposed by CADE in exchange for approval of
last year's takeover of Cia. Antarctica Paulista by Cia. Cervejaria Brahma to
form Ambev in a transaction valued by the company at the time at $3.9 billion
in stock and debt.

Montreal-based Molson said last month that it will make a one- time payment of
$98 million to AmBev, the world's No. 4 brewer. The amount could more than
double to $205 million if certain conditions are met.

AmBev's preferred shares fell 0.5 percent to close at 440.8 reais on the Sao
Paulo Stock Exchange yesterday.

East African Breweries FY00 Net KS12.91 -Share vs KS11.49

Nairobi, Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) - East African Breweries Limited said it
earned 1.23 billion shillings or 12.91 shillings a share, for the fiscal year
ended June 30, 2000, compared with earnings of 1.08 billion shillings or 11.49
shillings a share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue was 12.91
billion shillings, compared with 12.84 billion shillings. (All
figures in millions, except per-share amounts)
Year Ended Percent 6/30/00 6/30/99
Change Net Sales 12,914.02 12,839.73 0.58
Net income (loss) 1,234.06 1,075.74 14.72 EPS aft XO
items 12.91 11.49 12.36 Avg shares for EPS
95.50 93.60 2.03 - Amy Walshe in the London Newsroom +44 20
7673 2324 -

SA Breweries Falls on Concern About Earnings

London, Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- South African Breweries Plc, the world's

fifth-largest brewer, declined 6.8 percent on concern a recent rise in the
company's share price wasn't justified by its earnings potential.

South African Breweries fell 3.7 rand to 51 rand, after dropping as low as 50.4
rand. The company' shares had risen 20 percent since Nov. 29, when it said
first-half profit dropped 5.1 percent, beating analyst expectations as improved
overseas revenue offset a decline in beer sales in South Africa, its biggest
market.

``We were pleasantly surprised by the results and the market took a second look
at the share, but when it rose to 55, it had probably gone too far,'' said
Julian Veron, an analyst at Standard Equities.

London-based South African Breweries generates more than half its sales in
South Africa, where beer consumption is falling. The company has countered with
international expansion and now has brewing operations in 18 countries in
Africa, China and Europe.

Remy confirms interest in Seagram spin-offs

PARIS, Dec 14 (Reuters) - France's Remy Cointreau <RCOP.PA> confirmed in an
interview it was interested in any brands that may be spun off by the winners
bidding for Seagram's <VUE.TO> <<A HREF="aol://4785:V">V.N</A>> drinks empire.

Chairwoman Dominique Heriard Dubreuil told Reuters the company's acquisition in
August of the Netherlands' leading spirits company Bols added firepower to its
future growth strategy.

"An acquisition like Bols strengthens us even more, enabling us to complete our
distribution network and our portfolio in the future," Heriard Dubreuil said.
"It is in that context that we will try to obtain, on good financial terms,
brands that might become available and might make a good fit."

She made the comments as the beverage sector awaits news of who has won bidding
for the drinks business being sold off by Canada's Seagram as part of its
merger with France's Vivendi to form communications giant Vivendi Universal
<EAUG.PA>.

The winners may decide to put a number of smaller brands up for sale once the
deal is signed.

France's Pernod Ricard <PERP.PA> and Britain's Diageo <DGE.L> have mounted a
joint bid, as have Jack Daniel's whiskey maker Brown-Forman <<A
HREF="aol://4785:BFa">BFa.N</A>> with privately owned rum producer Bacardi.

Asked whether Remy Cointreau, famed for its eponymous orange liqueur, might be
interested in Seagram's Martell cognac should it come up for subsequent sale,
Heriard Dubreuil said an eventual decision would depend on the conditions.

"Martell is a good brand but I think that today we have a good position in the
cognac market," she said. "That said, we are not ruling out anything since we
are naturally interested in those sectors where we already have a presence. It
would have to be on acceptable conditions."

She said Remy Cointreau's Maxxium distribution network, set up with whisky
producers Highland Distillers and JBB, "remains an opportunity for our brands'
future development, particularly given the industry's consolidation," she said.

The company wishes to concentrate on its strategy of reinforcing its
distribution network and its brand range in a coherent manner, Heriard Dubrueil
added.

She confirmed the group's ambition to develop in the United States and Asia
where, in contrast to Europe, she saw considerable potential for development.

Remy Says First-Half Profit More Than Doubles on Cognac Demand

Paris, Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Remy Cointreau SA, the world's sixth-largest
liquor company, said first-half profit more than doubled, driven by demand for
Remy Martin cognacs.

Profit before exceptional items rose to 37 million euros ($33 million) in the
six months ended Sept. 30, from 14 million euros in the year-earlier period,
the company said in a faxed statement. Sales gained 9.8 percent to 419 million
euros.

Remy benefited from a revival in cognac demand spurred by Asia's economic
recovery and the rising popularity of luxury drinks in the U.S. The cognac
division's operating profit climbed 85 percent in the first half.

``Americans are drinking more cognac again and that's a very good trend for
Remy,'' Cedric Louboutin, an analyst at Wargny brokers, said before the report.

The company's shares, which rose 0.95 euros to 36.65 yesterday, are up 64
percent this year.

Chairwoman Dominique Heriard-Dubreuil took advantage of the share and sales
gains to buy Bols in August, giving Paris-based Remy new brands as the liquor
industry consolidates. The acquisition didn't have an impact in the first half,
Remy said.

Vivendi Universal SA said this week it has received two bids for its Seagram
wine and spirits unit, which analyst say could fetch $8 billion.

Remy also said operating profit rose to 83 million euros from 54 million in the
first half.

The company booked no exceptional items in the period, though it did have a
one-time gain of 95 million euros a year ago. Including that, Remy's net income
was 109 million euros in the first half.

Earnings per share were 0.95 euros in the most recent half- year, compared with
2.85 euros.

Allied Domecq ducks out of Seagram race

By Mike Elliott and David Jones

LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - British drinks group Allied Domecq Plc <ALLD.L>
confirmed on Wednesday it had pulled out of the race for the $8 billion-plus
Seagram's <EAUG.PA> <VUE.TO> <<A HREF="aol://4785:V">V.N</A>> spirits business,
leaving the auction open to just two parties.

Allied, the early favourite for the Seagram brands back in the summer, said in
a statement it did not submit a bid "as it would not have been in the interests
of its shareholders."

The British group, which recently secured the U.S. rights to Stolichnaya vodka
and has a deal that puts it in a position to acquire Captain Morgan rum, also
on Wednesday said it bought two French champagne houses for 575 million euros
($515.2 million).

"Through the champagne, rum and vodka transactions, we have substantially
achieved the strategic and commercial objectives that might have been obtained
through the sale of the whole of the Seagram wines and spirits business,"
Allied Chief Executive Philip Bowman said in a statement.

He added that the group had achieved its aims without the risk involved in
integrating a large and disparate brand portfolio, although Allied and Seagram
came within a whisker of merging their spirits interests two year ago.

Analysts said the confirmation came as a blow for Allied, which has tried and
failed to find a partner to bid for Seagram, while its rum and vodka deals are
still surrounded by doubts and the champagne deal is seen as small
compensation.

"Allied is looking to paper over the cracks, it has clearly handed the
initiative in the spirits market over to Diageo," said one industry source
close to the auction process.

Allied shares were down 6-3/4 pence at 409-1/4p by 1330 GMT after an 11-1/2p
fall on Tuesday, on disappointment it would not be able to close the gap on
spirits industry leader Diageo and it was giving up the opportunity to reap
savings from synergies.

French broker Natexis Capital lowered its rating on Allied to 'underperform'
from 'outperform' on those synergy grounds, while WestLB Panmure also
downgraded its recommendation.

France's new media giant Vivendi Universal now has just two bids for its
Seagram drinks empire -- being sold off after the meger of Vivendi and
Seagram's media interests -- with an Anglo-French alliance between Diageo
<DGE.L> and Pernod Ricard <PERP.PA> seen as clear favourite to win.

The other bid is from privately owned Bacardi, the Jack Daniel's whiskey maker
Brown-Forman <<A HREF="aol://4785:BFa">BFa.N</A>> and Sweden's Vin & Sprit for
the porfolio of Seagram brands which include Chivas Regal Scotch, Captain
Morgan rum and Martell cognac.

Industry sources said a winner was likely to be announced either later this
week or, more likely, early next week.

ALLIED BUYS CHAMPAGNE HOUSES

Allied said it had acquired G.H. Mumm and Champagne Perrier-Jouet from U.S.
private equity company Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, in a cash deal that it
expected to enhance its earnings in the first full year of ownership.

Ironically, these two brands were part of Seagram last year before being
acquired by Hicks in July 1999 for 293.5 million euros, and are still being
distributed by Seagram.

Perrier-Jouet and Mumm -- famous for their Belle Epoque and Cordon Rouge brands
-- reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation
(EBITDA) of 47.7 million euros on revenues of 158.5 million in the year to June
30, 2000. At that date the businesses had net assets of 172 million euros.

"When we acquired Mumm and Perrier-Jouet last year, we saw an opportunity to
invest behind two strong brands that would benefit from a more focused and

targeted marketing strategy," John Muse, a founding partner of the equity
company said.

We don't make rum, say Brazil cachaca distillers

By Andrei Khalip

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Brazil, eager to make its national tipple
cachaca a major export item along the lines of Mexican tequila or Russian
vodka, is fighting to win world recognition and prove that the fiery drink is
NOT rum.

The liquor's immense popularity at home makes Brazil one of the world's leading
distillers, and cachaca is one of the few areas uniting rich and poor in this
economically polarized country where people from all walks of life can happily
knock back the same brand of the relatively cheap booze.

Brazil's cachaca distillers say the time has come for foreigners to learn to
love their national drink too, just as they have done with carnival and samba
music, and they are eager to squash the "rum question" once and for all.

The problem arose last month when the United States labeled cachaca (pronounced
ka-sha-sa) imports as a rum. Brazilian producers say this just confuses
consumers about the drink's identity and harms its international reputation and
sales.

"We have to defend the origin rights of our typical drink. It is not rum, it is
a completely different product," said Maria Cavalcante, head of the
government-sponsored Program for Cachaca Development and a director of leading
distillers Pitu.

The government pledged help in talks with the United States and Cavalcante
hoped it would soon stamp cachaca as the "typical liquor" of Brazil. "This
would help us to promote cachaca in other countries using the denomination of
origin principle."

Cachaca, 39-to-45 percent alcohol, is made from sugar cane, as is its
better-known cousin, rum, which hails from the Caribbean. Outside Brazil, it is
mainly consumed in the exotic "caipirinha" cocktail, a mix of crushed lime,
sugar and ice with a generous dose of cachaca, which is becoming increasingly
popular in stylish bars from Hamburg to Manhattan.

A caipirinha is on any tourist's must-do list in Brazil.

The fermentation, distillation and aging methods for cachaca are completely
different from those of rum, to say nothing of its distinctive flavor, which
some have likened to olives.

Also unlike rum, cachaca can be consumed or bottled right from the distillery
tap, without maturing. When aged in oak barrels, it stays there normally for no
more than four years, while rum is considered ripe only starting at age 3 or
more.

"Cachaca is so tasty by itself that it should not have too much wood taste,
which comes with aging," said one distiller.

Brazil produces between 1.3 and 1.5 billion liters of cachaca a year, including
an estimated 500-700 million liters of "moonshine," or about 9 liters per
Brazilian.

In comparison, Russian data, which does not include illegal output, shows that
the "land of vodka" churns out only some 130 million liters a year. But cachaca
exports are still only a drop in the bucket -- 6.5 million liters in 1999,
mainly to European countries such as Germany, France and Portugal.

MICRO-DISTILLERIES SAY THEIR CACHACA IS BEST

Industrial distillers, such as top cachaca producer "51" and No. 2 Pitu,
provide the bulk of exports. The product is cheap by world standards, rarely
exceeding $5 per bottle. In Brazil it costs about 80 U.S. cents.

But a large group of small producers making vintage cachaca at
micro-distilleries, or "alambiques," say the industrial product hardly
represents "the best of Brazil" abroad. "We follow the whole process more
closely, put soul into it," said Joao Luiz de Faria, head of the Magnifica
distillery and also of the Rio de Janeiro Cachaca Distillers Association.

Micro-distillers slam the industrial producers for burning sugar cane and using
chemicals during fermentation to speed up the process. Big distillers bite back
by saying that alambiques cannot maintain the rigid standards needed for
exports.

But alambique cachaca is most valued by connoisseurs in Brazil. Some brands,
like Havana from central Minas Gerais state -- famous for its food and cachaca
-- can fetch as much as $100 for a small bottle with a homemade label. Brands
costing $2 to $4 also attract fans in droves.

Minas Gerais is home to several hundred alambiques; around 180 are dotted
around Rio de Janeiro state. Many distilleries' machinery dates to the 19th
century and works on steam produced by burning "bagasse," leftovers from
crushed sugar cane.

Smaller producers also hope to get recognition abroad and point to the high
quality of the best of Brazil's cachaca.

"The trend now is to make caipirinha with good cachaca and not just any
cachaca," said de Faria, who already has a deal with a French restaurant to
provide several hundred bottles of fine cachaca and hopes to sell thousands to
Europe soon.

But for others such as Tania Vaz, who runs Soberana da Boa Vista
micro-distillery in the hills outside Rio de Janeiro -- built around a copper
distilling tank that she inherited from her grandfather -- exports are still a
pipe dream.

"Big producers may have a grip on the market, but our cachaca is better and our
dream is to export," she said.

Only six people, including cane cutters, work at her distillery on a sugar cane
plantation. Licensed to bottle only a year ago, Soberana is now waiting for its
first authorized cachaca to mature in oak barrels.

"This business used to be part of the shadow economy but we are becoming
all-legal now," said Vaz, whose distillery makes some 20,000 liters a year, as
do many similar in size.

But de Faria said he planned to raise output at his Magnifica operation to
1-to-2 million liters from the current 120,000 by joining neighboring
distillers under his brand name.

"We are joining the official economy more and more, although it's difficult
from the point of view of government bureaucracy and taxes. But those who don't
get registered will never sell outside their own 20-mile neighborhood," he
said.

As each weekend comes, car-borne city dwellers on the way to their country
villas can be seen lining up with farmers in mud-stained boots to buy huge
bottles of cachaca in the same small rural shop, or right at the gate of a
local alambique.

They rarely care whether the alambique has a license as it is taste and
reputation that count. And distillers say about 95 percent of small alambiques
are still unregistered, which can lead to health hazards for drinkers.

Clinton has tea with Queen Elizabeth and then a quick beer

By Adam Entous

LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Bill Clinton had morning tea with
Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Thursday then washed it down with
half a pint of beer at a blacked out pub.

With five weeks left in office, Clinton was on the last day of a three-day trip
to Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain where he made a final push for peace
in Northern Ireland and urged his successor George W. Bush to preserve a U.S.
role in the process.

However the troubles of Northern Ireland were far from his mind when Clinton,
with his wife Hillary and 20-year-old daughter Chelsea flew to London by
helicopter after spending the night with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at
his country estate, Chequers.

Over their cups of tea, Clinton and Mrs. Clinton chatted for 20 minutes with
the queen in her ornate audience room while Chelsea joined White House aides on
a tour of the palace. Hundreds of people were outside the main gate of
Buckingham Palace as the president's motorcade pulled inside on a crisp, sunny
morning.

After the audience with the queen, the Clintons went to famed shopping area
Portobello Road to do some window shopping.

Inside a pub, the barman offered Clinton a menu and poured him a half pint of
lager. Clinton asked him to pour only "a little bit, not much," because "I have
to stay awake to give a speech today."

The lights were out in the pub because the electricity had inexplicably gone
out in the area that Clinton visited. A blazing fire provided the only light.

"Feel free to blame me," Clinton told those in the pub, according to White
House spokesman Jake Siewert. "Back home people try sometimes to blame the
weather on me."

White House officials have called Clinton's visit to Ireland a success, saying
the parties were committed to settling their differences and implementing the
1998 Good Friday accord.

"The challenge now is to find the way to do that," National Security Adviser
Sandy Berger told reporters in Belfast after Clinton held talks with leaders at
Stormont, the building where North Ireland's once-warring groups now openly
debate their differences in a power-sharing government.

U.S. officials made little progress on the thorniest issues -- disarmament and
policing reforms -- which have put the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement in
peril. The visit was also marred by doubts over the future of the peace
process once Clinton leaves office on January 20. Clinton sought to reassure
leaders in Northern Ireland that Washington would continue to play a leadership
role in the push for lasting peace. But Berger conceded that the parties felt a
"sense of urgency."

Some diplomats doubt that a Republican administration led by President-elect
George W. Bush would play as active a role in the process as that of the
Democratic Clinton, whose intervention was critical to Northern Ireland's
difficult journey away from communal violence and toward an uneasy peace.

When he learned of Bush's win, Clinton had pledged to get the president-elect
off to a good start, saying Americans wanted their politicians to set aside
rancor and personal attacks.

But Clinton, in the aftermath of a bitter post-election contest in which Bush
ultimately defeated Clinton's Vice President Al Gore, made clear he disagreed
with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that cleared the way for Bush's victory.
He said Gore, in his concession speech on Wednesday night in Washington, had
put into words "the feelings of all of us who disagreed with the Supreme
Court's decision, but accepted it."

Clinton, speaking hours after Gore's concession, said America was stronger when
politicians of all stripes reached across party lines to forge a "vital
center."

"The American people, however divided they were in this election,
overwhelmingly want us to build on that vital center, without rancor or
personal attack," he said.

He said "I wish President-elect Bush well" and also thanked Americans "for
their patience, passion and patriotism throughout this extended election
season."

Researchers Find No Link Between Problem Drinking and on the Job Injuries:
Workplace Hazards Stronger Predictors of Risk

BALTIMORE, Md., Dec. 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Researchers at the Johns Hopkins
School of Public Health have found no evidence for a strong link between
problem drinking and on-the-job injuries. In fact, for young workers in the
United States, common occupational injuries (excluding sprains and strains) do
not appear to be strongly associated with alcohol dependence. The report can be
found in the December 2000 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental
Research.

"Heavy drinking and alcohol dependence are already established as important
risk factors for injuries outside the workplace and so it has often been
assumed that problem drinking is responsible for many workplace injuries," said
study co-author Gordon Smith, MD, MPH, associate professor, Epidemiology and
Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. "In the
study, we were looking to see if the same strong connection between the two did
in fact exist."

Researchers examined the relationship between heavy drinking, alcohol
dependence, and injuries at work by using data from the National Longitudinal
Survey of Youth (NLSY), an ongoing panel study funded by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Compared with previous studies, the current work took a more
precise approach to analyzing data, ensuring that more accurate information was
gathered, including estimating workplace hazard exposure.

Researchers, working on this study, based their findings on interviews taken
with 8,569 subjects in 1989 who had originally been part of an ongoing study
conducted by NLSY since 1979. The main requirement for these study subjects was
that they needed to have worked for any length of time within six months of
their interview.

Current drinkers were subdivided into categories: heavy (or binge) drinkers,
those who were alcohol-dependant, and other drinkers. A study subject was
defined as a current drinker if he or she had consumed alcohol within 30 days
prior to the interview. A drink was defined as a can of beer, a glass of wine,
or a shot of hard liquor, all of which have approximately the same alcohol
content.

The study's statistical analyses were unable to provide consistent evidence
that reported heavy drinking or alcohol dependence strongly increased the risk
of injury at work among young workers in the U.S. labor force. Although the raw
data initially showed those reporting one or more episodes of heavy drinking
within the previous month to be approximately twice as likely to be injured on
the job as those who were not currently drinking, this result became
statistically insignificant once the danger of one's job and education the job
requires were taken to consideration.

The researchers concluded that the importance of such confounding factors made
it impossible at this time to make a direct link between being a heavy drinker
or being alcohol dependent and job-related injuries. While alcohol is clearly
an important factor in most off the job injuries the hazards of the workplace
appear to be the most important factors for on the job injuries. More research
needs to be done, they said, before any definitive conclusions can be made.

This study was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and
Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For a complete list of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health press releases, go
to www.jhsph.edu/pubaffairs/pr(underscore)list.htm

Art Show 'Bomb' Invite Goes Awry

Dec. 13, 2000

OSLO, Norway (AP) - A package that exploded in Norway's parliament and caused
fears of a terrorist attack turned out to be a friendly - if poorly conceived -
invitation to an art exhibition, local news media said Wednesday.

The package was a bottle of homemade beer that apparently had not stopped
fermenting, art professor Michael O'Donnell was quoted as saying. It exploded
Monday, hours before South Korean President Kim Dae-jung visited parliament as
part of his visit to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.

Police feared the package contained a chemical bomb, and reports began to
stream in of similar packages being received by other people, including leading
newspaper editors.

They were mailed by a 29-year-old art student hoping to draw celebrities to his
exhibition, said O'Donnell, his professor. O'Donnell could not immediately be
reached at the National Art Academy.

The student glued labels on about 20 soft-drink bottles filled with chocolate
milk or his homemade beer and mailed them as invitations, O'Donnell said.

O'Donnell said the beer apparently continued to ferment in one bottle, causing
it to explode early Monday and splatter the parliament mail room with
foul-smelling liquid.

``He came to my office at about 10 a.m. and blurted, `Professor, I've become a
terrorist,''' O'Donnell was quoted as saying in the Verdens Gang newspaper.
``He may have done something foolish, but there was no ill intent.''

The student, whose name was not revealed, called the police to turn himself in,
O'Donnell said.

Inspector Gunnar Larsen of the Oslo police confirmed that a male suspect had
been questioned and released, but said he would not give additional details
until the investigation was completed.

Yeltsin's Drinking Worried Aides

By ANNA DOLGOV, Dec. 14, 2000

MOSCOW (AP) - Former President Boris Yeltsin's aides worried that the leader
was completely losing control after he got drunk and conducted a Berlin
military orchestra in 1994, according to a letter published Wednesday.

The letter, signed by seven presidential aides, urged Yeltsin to cut back on
his ``unhealthy habits'' and chided him for ``the well-known Russian
overindulgence,'' a euphemism for drinking.

Among those who signed the letter was Mikhail Barsukov, former head of the
Federal Security Service, who told the weekly newspaper Moskovskiye Novosti
that Yeltsin roared with anger when he read the letter. He later forgave his
advisers.

Yeltsin led Russia during the tumultuous years after the 1991 Soviet breakup
until his resignation Dec. 31. He was succeeded by Vladimir Putin, elected in
March.

Yeltsin had a number of erratic moments in his later years in office, but his
shenanigans in Berlin - considered an important diplomatic trip - caused his
staff to worry that he could lose the presidency.

``His work has acquired an irregular character, with rises and sharp falls of
activity,'' read the letter, published Wednesday.

``It is becoming obvious that contacts with the public, journalists, newspaper
and television audiences are becoming increasingly difficult for the
president,'' the letter said.

In his memoirs, ``Midnight Diaries,'' published in October, Yeltsin conceded
that he was drunk when he grabbed the baton in Berlin. The visit marked the
withdrawal of the last Russian troops from Germany and was viewed as
particularly significant in Moscow.

But trouble began just after Yeltsin's arrival; suffering insomnia, he summoned
then-Defense Minister Pavel Grachev to his suite, and the two drank until early
morning, former aides told the newspaper.

The next day, Yeltsin floundered through speeches, made awkward impromptu
comments, and ultimately moved to conduct the orchestra.

Calculating that the mercurial president would be more receptive to criticism
while on vacation, aides handed the letter to Yeltsin on a plane to the Black
Sea resort of Sochi, the newspaper reported.

Initially, the president was furious, but he forgave his advisers and agreed to
make changes - a decision he recalled in his memoirs.

``I walked along the beach in Sochi and realized that I had to go on living. I
thought that I didn't drink much, only to excess, but I had to regain my
strength,'' Yeltsin wrote.

Yeltsin, who had heart bypass surgery in 1996, said that on the advice of his
doctors, he now limits himself to a glass of wine a day.

[J2jurado]

FEMSA Expects Lower Than Anticipated Operating Income for 2000

MONTERREY, Mexico--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 14, 2000--Fomento Economico Mexicano,
S.A. de C.V. ("FEMSA" or the "Company") (BMV:FEMSA UBD) (BMV:FEMSA UB)
announced today that it expects consolidated operating income growth of
approximately 9%-11% for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2000, lower than
previously expected, as a result of lower than expected fourth quarter 2000
operating income for its subsidiary FEMSA Cerveza.

FEMSA Cerveza expects its operating income for the fourth quarter of 2000 to
decline by approximately 17%-19% relative to the fourth quarter of last year,
due primarily to an anticipated 5%-7% decline in domestic beer shipments in the
fourth quarter of 2000 as compared to the fourth quarter of 1999.

Management believes that this relative decrease in beer shipments has resulted
from:

-- The continuing effect of FEMSA Cerveza's streamlined
commercial practices vis-a-vis retailers and third party
distributors, which include stricter payment terms that,
although more favorable to FEMSA Cerveza, have resulted in
leaner inventory levels at the point of sale;

-- Unusually cold and wet weather during October and November in
northern Mexico (where FEMSA Cerveza sells over 60% of its
domestic volume), which negatively affected consumer demand
for beer; and

-- The non-recurring, extraordinarily high demand for beer
witnessed in December 1999, which reflected the anticipation
of the beer price increase implemented in January 2000.

For the fourth quarter 2000, FEMSA expects consolidated total revenue to
increase by approximately 7%-9% and consolidated operating income to decrease
by approximately 8%-10%, in both cases relative to the fourth quarter of 1999.

The percentage increases or decreases discussed in this press release are
expressed in real terms.

FEMSA is Mexico's largest and one of Latin America's leading beverage companies
with exports to the United States, Canada and numerous countries in Latin
America, Europe and the Far East. Founded in 1890 and with headquarters in
Monterrey, Mexico, FEMSA operates through the following subsidiaries: FEMSA
Cerveza, which produces and distributes name brands of beer such as Tecate,
Carta Blanca, Superior, Sol, XX Lager, Dos Equis and Bohemia; Coca-Cola FEMSA,
one of two "Anchor Bottlers" for The Coca-Cola Company in Latin America, which
produces and distributes soft drinks including Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light,
Sprite, Fanta and Quatro; FEMSA Empaques, which supports the beverage
operations by producing beverage cans, glass bottles, crown caps, labels,
commercial refrigerators, and serves third party clients throughout the
Americas; FEMSA Comercio, which operates OXXO, Mexico's most extensive chain of
convenience stores; Desarrollo Comercial FEMSA, which operates OXXO Express, a
chain of convenience stores adjacent to gasoline stations; Logistica CCM, which
provides logistic management services to FEMSA Cerveza; and FEMSA Logistica,
which provides logistics management services to Coca-Cola FEMSA, FEMSA
Empaques, and, recently, to third party clients.

Anheuser-Busch Sells $200 Mln of 30-Year Bonds Yielding 6.845%

St. Louis Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The following issue went on sale today:

Issuer: Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. Manager(s): UBS Warburg
Amount: $200 Million Coupon: 6.8 percent Issue Price:
99.42 Maturity: Jan. 15, 2031 Settlement: Dec. 19, 2000 Early
Redemption: Make-whole call plus 25 basis points Spread: 137 basis
points more than comparable Treasuries

East African Breweries FY00 Net KS12.91 -Share vs KS11.49 (Tbl)

Nairobi, Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) - East African Breweries Limited said it
earned 1.23 billion shillings or 12.91 shillings a share, for the fiscal year
ended June 30, 2000, compared with earnings of 1.08 billion shillings or 11.49
shillings a share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue was 12.91
billion shillings, compared with 12.84 billion shillings. (All
figures in millions, except per-share amounts)
Year Ended Percent 6/30/00 6/30/99
Change Net Sales 12,914.02 12,839.73 0.58
Net income (loss) 1,234.06 1,075.74 14.72 EPS aft XO
items 12.91 11.49 12.36 Avg shares for EPS
95.50 93.60 2.03 - Amy Walshe in the London Newsroom +44 20
7673 2324 -

Brazil Brewer Ambev to Buy Back 10% of Common, Preferred Shares

U.S. specialty coffee market in 30-year renaissance

By Bruce Kamich

NEW YORK, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. specialty coffee business is booming,
with a 1960s downturn long forgotten, and its popularity evident in a Starbucks
shop even in China's Forbidden City.

But the gourmet coffee industry's own success over the last three decades could
also restrain its growth down the road, experts said.

While overall coffee consumption is flat, specialty coffee is still a growth
sector, driven by the younger drinkers.

"Witness Starbucks' <<A HREF="aol://4785:SBUX">SBUX.O</A>> plans to expand in
Europe. There is still a lot of room for specialty coffee. Things are still in
an uptrend but a limiting factor may be how much specialty coffee can be
produced," said James A. Reynolds, vice president of Peet's Coffee & Tea, a
Starbucks competitor based in Emeryville, California.

STARBUCKS SHAPES HISTORY

Prominent figures in the renaissance, Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev
Siegl founded Starbucks in Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1971.

Their start has become a legend in coffee circles.

Howard Schultz, now the chairman and chief global strategist, joined Starbucks
in 1982. After a trip to Italy where he was taken with espresso bars, Schultz
convinced the founders to test the coffee bar concept in 1984. The rest is
history.

Starbucks' 3,600 outlets now include one in Beijing's Forbidden City, and the
company announced at the end of October that it plans to have 10,000 stores
open by 2005.

FROM THE STREET INTO THE HOME

Almost like subliminal advertising, coffee bars are scenic backdrops in the
popular U.S. television situation comedies "Frasier" and "Friends."

This illustrates the popularity of expensive brews among 18 to 24 year olds,
which has been the key to the growth in specialty coffee. Some of this age
group have not been deterred by prices of $12 per pound or more for whole bean
coffee.

In its 2000 survey of coffee trends, the National Coffee Association (NCA)
found that 45 percent of this segment had drunk cappuccino in the past year, 24
percent had drunk espresso, 21 percent latte, 29 percent cafe mocha and 36
percent iced and ice-blended coffees.

"These numbers are up significantly from recent years," Gary Goldstein,
director of public relations and communications for the NCA, pointed out.

WHAT IS SPECIALTY COFFEE?

In his book "Uncommon Grounds," author Mark Pendergast identified Erna Knutsen
as the first lady of the business, who coined the term "specialty coffees" in
1974.

"The definition is simple. It tastes great and has no defects," added Ted
Lingle, executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America
(SCAA).

"By tastes great, we are referring to taste, acidity, body and aroma. By no
defects we mean no sour, black or unripe beans," Lingle explained.

Donald M. Schoenholt, CEO of Gillies Coffee Co. in Brooklyn, New York, said
that in the 1930s, '40s and '50s consumers counted pennies and coffee was
widely considered a non-necessity food item.

"This depressed the value of coffee. The little guy dried up. In the early '60s
I counted 114 wholesalers in New York. In the '70s you could only count 14," he
said.

"By the 1980s people saw the value of good coffee and this changed the
business," added Schoenholt, who is also the gourmet editor of the Tea & Coffee
Trade Journal.

The SCAA was founded in 1982 by 42 charter members. As of November it boasted
nearly 2,600 member companies, demonstrating the turnaround and growth of the
business.

"In 1997 there were 80 million occasional coffee drinkers and seven million
daily gourmet coffee drinkers. In 2000 there were 110 million occasional coffee
drinkers and 20 million daily gourmet drinkers," said NCA's Goldstein.

LOOKING AHEAD--CAN FUTURES HELP SPECIALTY COFFEE?

The idea of specialty coffee futures has been circulating in the industry, but
there is some debate as to the feasibility of launching exchange-traded
contracts for a boutique market.

"I'm not sure a specialty contract can work, it's so fragmented and subject to
weather," said Matt Gordon, senior vice president of market development at the
New York Board of Trade, the main arena for trading arabica coffee futures.

Gordon said NYBOT was in talks with Internet commodities marketplace
InterCommercial Markets Corp. (www.intercommercial.com) about the grading and
certification of coffee, which could lend itself to the specialty market.

He also said a smaller size contract like the so-called "mini contract" being
contemplated by the exchange for arabicas might also help specialty roasters
and producers by providing a vehicle to offset their market risk and lock in
prices.

In the meantime, the following coffees are considered benchmarks for the
specialty market. Prices are quoted for a container load in-store New York.
Specialty coffees are quoted as a differential to the NYBOT's Coffee Sugar &
Cocoa Exchange "C" contract and on a "flat" basis.

Colombian Supremo full 18 screen 22 cents over "C"

Costa Rica shb Tarrazu 25 cents over "C"

Sumatra grade 1 35 cents over "C"

Guatemala shb Coban 15 cents over "C"

shb Antiqua 50 cents over "C"

Kenya AA 50-150 cents over "C"

AB 20-50 cents over "C"

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe 65 cents over "C"

Java estates 50 cents over "C"

Tanzania Peaberry 35 cents over "C"

On Thursday, the March CSCE coffee contract settled down 2.45 cents at 65.55
cents a lb, in the low end of its 67.70 to 65.50 trading range. The
life-of-contract high is 153.85 cents and the new lifetime low, which was set
today, is 65.50 cents.

Analysts said futures prices fell sharply today in the wake of beneficial rains
in Brazil, the world's biggest coffee producer, indicating more supply would
eventually come to market. The analysts also cited selling by funds and trade
houses.

Skiing Europe's Champagne Resorts on a Beer Budget

BOSTON, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- A ski fling in the Alps is one of this winter's
best travel bargains, thanks to a strong U.S. dollar and stable trans-Atlantic
air fares. But a great deal can become even better if you know where and when
to book your vacation, according to veteran European tour operator Leo
Demelbauer, who is the co-founder and president of Adventures on Skis.

For example, you can ski Les Trois Vallees in France -- site of the 1992 Winter
Olympics -- the expensive way, by staying in trendy Courchevel 1850. Here,
packages with accommodations at the three-star Les Sherpas start at $1,595 per
person, including round-trip air (East Coast), ground transfers, seven nights'
lodging and breakfast and dinner daily.

Or, you can save hundreds of dollars by locating at nearby Brides Les Bains, a
19th Century spa town, and taking a 25-minute gondola ride to Meribel, the
heart of the three-valley, interconnected ski complex. The difference in
price: $550 less for a room at the three-star Grand Hotel des Thermes, where
the package ranges from $1,045 per person. Brides Les Bains is a quaint
village with a thermal hot springs, 10 bars, a casino and plenty of alternative
winter sports.

Moreover, while hotel rates in Courchevel go up dramatically in the high-season
months of February and March, they stay the same in Brides Les Bains. "This
means that you can come to Les Trois Vallees in the very peak of the season --
in February and early March -- without paying premium prices," says Demelbauer.

France isn't the only country where values abound. "Right now, Austria has
some of the most attractive rates in years, an average of 10 percent below last
season," he says. In general, four- and five-star hotels at popular Austrian
destinations are going for the cost of three-star hotels in Switzerland and
France.

Among the bargain resorts is Zell Am See, which is close to the historic cities
of Munich, Salzburg and Innsbruck. The area is famous for its prime ski slopes
in winter, its superb glacier skiing in summer, and its lively shopping and
dining district. Here, you can stay at the five-star-rated Salzburgerhof in
January or March for as little as $1,295 per person, including round-trip air,
seven nights' lodging, daily buffet breakfast and gourmet dinner. The hotel is
300 yards from the lifts and includes a luxurious spa as well as a bar and
lounge with nighttime dancing.

One of the liveliest resorts in Austria this year is Solden-Otztal, where an
outstanding lift network that includes new gondolas has opened up the
Rettenbach and Tiefenbach glaciers to winter skiing, thus assuring prime snow
conditions early and late in the season. In Solden, the Alpina, a four-star
hotel, is included in a package that goes for as little as $1,095 per person,
including daily breakfast and dinner, in January and February.

Also a bargain this year is much of Italy, where you can book a week-long
package in the world-class resort of Cortina D'Ampezzo for less than $1,000 per
person. For example, the four-star Parkhotel Victoria, located at the edge of
the colorful shopping district, can be part of a January or March tour that is
priced from $980 per person, including roundtrip air, ground transfer to the
resort, seven nights' lodging, and daily breakfast and dinner. Cortina is
particularly well-suited for non-skiers, who can make on-the-spot arrangements
for escorted, day-long sightseeing trips to Venice, Salzburg, Florence and
Innsbruck. Or they can indulge in alternative winter activities such as
sled-dog rides, snowshoeing and snowmobiling.

In Switzerland, known for its traditionally high prices, strategic planning can
put you in some excellent hotels without breaking your piggy bank. For
example, to ski Grindelwald and the famous Jungfrau region, you could stay at
the Belvedere, a four-star property, and pay $1,425 per person for a superior
room, with breakfast and dinner, as part of a January land/air package. But if
you locate at Interlaken and take a 35-minute bus- or train- ride to the
slopes, you can get a room at the four-star National for $1,095 per person, a
$330 savings. And at Interlaken, you are well situated for sightseeing
excursions to the castles and colorful towns nearby and easily reached by
train.

While the packages offered by Adventures on Skis do not include lift tickets,
Americans might be surprised to discover that the price of skiing in Europe is
less than half of what it is at the premier U.S. resorts. Examples: a six-day
ski pass is $25 a day at Zell Am See, $29 at Grindlwald and Les Trois Vallees,
and $31 at Zermatt. In Italy, a six-day Super Dolomiti Pass, which covers 456
lifts in places such as Cortina D'Ampezzo and Val Gardena, is just $27 a day in
high season.

Celebrating 23 years in business, Adventures on Skis is a specialist in
arranging both escorted and independent ski tours to Europe. The company
serves all of North America. Founders Leo Demelbauer and his wife,
Mary-Claire, are natives of Austria & Switzerland , respectively, and are fully
certified ski instructors.

This year, Adventures on Skis became a division of Lynx Vacation LLC, which is
owned by East West Resorts. The Western division, Lynx Ski and Golf Vacations,
specializes in U.S. and Canadian destinations. For more information, call
800-628-9655, send an e-mail to to...@advonskis.com, or book on-line at
www.AdventuresOnSkis.com.

[J2jurado]

Modelo doubles beer output at northern Mexico plant

MEXICO CITY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Leading Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo
<GMODELOC.MX> said on Friday it had completed expansion of its plant in Sonora
state, doubling annual production capacity there to 3 million hectoliters.

"This new capacity will allow the company to have major presence in the north
of Mexico and continue with its export strategy," Modelo said in a press
release.

At the plant in the city of Obregon, Modelo produces the Corona Extra, Modelo
Especial, Pacifico and Light Modelo brands for domestic and export markets.

Last April the company said it was investing $300 million this year to expand
production capacity and strengthen distribution and sales networks.

Total production capacity at eight breweries in Mexico is 41 million
hectoliters. A hectoliter equals 100 liters.

Carlsberg in joint venture with Chang

COPENHAGEN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Danish brewery group Carlsberg said on Friday it
signed a joint venture agreement with Singapore-based Chang Beverage Company to
form Carlsberg Asia Ltd, a 50-50 joint venture.

"The joint venture will administrate and develop the two companies' marketing
and brewing activities in the Asia region," Carlsberg said.

Chang Brewery Company is an investor in breweries and distilleries in Asia and
the Danish brewer is to funnel all its Asian activities into the new joint
venture operation.

Carlsberg Asia is expected to have net turnover of approximately $770 million
in its first year operation, with net profit seen at around $100 million in
2001, it said.

Through its own breweries and licensed operations, Carlsberg Asia plans to brew
17 million hectolitres of beer in its first year of operation, with Carlsberg
beer accounting for two million litres of the total.

"Carlsberg has a long tradition of involvement in the region," Carlsberg group
managing director Michael Iuul said.

"Historically there have been only a few Asian markets with significant beer
consumption but today the situation is changing. Asia is the fastest growing
beer market in the world."

Carlsberg Asia's two biggest markets are seen as Thailand and South Korea.
Carlsberg beers are brewed by company breweries or licensees in 12 countries in
Far-East Asia.

The new company is to be established on January 1, 2001 with head office in
Singapore and nominal share capital of $400 million.

Carlsberg and Chang intend to float Carlsberg Asia within three to four years.

In connection with the formation of Carlsberg Asia, Carlsberg is to sell its 10
percent interest in Thai Breweries for $147 million.

Carlsberg Forms Asian Joint Beer Venture With Chang Beverage

Stockholm, Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Carlsberg A/S, the No. 6 brewer, said it will
form a joint venture with Singapore's Chang Beverage Co. to develop marketing
and brewing activities in Asia and tap into growing demand for beer in the
region. Each company will own half of Carlsberg Asia Ltd., which will have
sales of $770 million in the first year of operation and profit after tax of
$100 million in 2001. The companies plan an initial public offering for
Carlsberg Asia on a ``major'' stock exchange in three to four years.

Carlsberg is focusing on expansion in Eastern Europe and Asia after Belgium's
Interbrew NV won the bidding for the beer units of Bass Plc and Whitbread Plc
in the U.K. and Scottish & Newcastle Plc secured control of France's
Kronenbourg from Danone SA.

``Asia is the fastest growing market for beer in the world,'' Carlsberg said in
a statement. ``Carlsberg Asia will seriously strengthen our presence in the
region.''

Carlsberg will bring all of its Asian interests including shareholdings and
licensed activities to the joint venture, while Chang, an investor in breweries
and distilleries in Asia, will contribute its 49 percent interest in Carlsberg
Brewery Thailand Co. Ltd. Carlsberg also plans to sell its 10 percent stake in
Thai breweries for $147 million.

Carlsberg Asia's biggest markets will be Thailand and South Korea, which will
represent 85 percent of expected volume. Carlsberg shares rose 20 kroner, or
4.9 percent, to 430.

Clinton forgets small matter of the bill

LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Bill Clinton enjoyed a pub lunch in
London's trendy Notting Hill area -- and then left without paying the bill,
British newspapers reported on Friday.

"They bloody well did not pay the bill and should have gobne to McDonald's or
Wendy," pub owner Mike Bell was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

"But I have got the address of someone in America I can send the bill to," Bell
said.

Clinton chatted to staff and customers at the Portobello Gold pub on Thursday
as he and his entourage tucked into a menu that included prawns (shrimp),
smoked trout and pecan nut pate, the newspapers said.

He washed down his meal with half a pint of organic beer before leaving without
paying the check -- which came to 24.70 pounds ($36.22).

But the U.S. leader needn't worry.

Britain's mass circulation Mirror tabloid said it had stepped in and covered
his tab.

The Mirror quoted a happier sounding Bell as saying: "I wouldn't quite say he
did a runner. I just don't think it occurred to him to pay."

Clinton, who was in London as part of a visit to Britain and the Irish
Republic, dropped into the pub after spending the morning having tea with Queen
Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.

Orkla pays $190 mln for full control of Danish publisher

OSLO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Norwegian industrial company Orkla

said on Friday it will pay 1.58 billion Danish crowns ($190 million) to take
full control of Det Berlingske Officin (DBO), Denmark's top newspaper
publisher.

Orkla said late in November that its media unit would acquire 87 percent of
DBO, whose publications include Berlingske Tidende, the tabloid BT and the
weekly Weekendavisen, to create the fifth-largest media group in the Nordic
area.

Orkla, which already holds a 13.5-percent stake in DBO, has estimated its 100
percent ownership in DBO to be worth around 1.86 billion crowns, the company
said in a statement.

Orkla, whose other businesses include food and beer, said the purchase of the
Danish media group will "generate a minor negative result after goodwill,
amortisation and interest on the purchase sum for the next 2-3 years."

It said, however, the acquisition was expected to contribute positively in
subsequent years.

The deal needs approval from Danish anti-trust authorities, which is expected
by the turn of the year. DBO will be consolidated as a subsidiary of Orkla
Media from January 1, 2001, it said.

Orkla's media unit runs newspapers, magazines and marketing operations in
northern and eastern Europe.

Brick Brewing Co Ltd - Nine Month Results

12/15/2000 

Toronto, Ontario, Dec. 15, 2000 (Market News Publishing via COMTEX) -- Brick
Brewing Co. Limited of Waterloo, Ontario announced its nine month financial
results for the period ending October 31, 2000. Operating income before
interest and amortization, more than doubled to $1,327,000 from $658,000 during
the same period last year. Net earnings for the nine months were $32,000
compared to a loss of $574,000 the previous year based on sales of $17.1
million compared to $19.3 million the previous year.
"I am pleased to report that many of the corrective measures taken earlier in
the year, are starting to show meaningful results," said Jim Brickman, Founder
and President of Brick Brewery. "Also, with the help of our radio campaign,
we're seeing our sales mix on higher margin brands, representing a greater
percentage of our total sales such as; Brick Premium, Brick Amber Dry, and
Waterloo Dark," he added.

Established in 1984, The Brick Brewing Co. Limited of Waterloo, Ontario was the
first craft brewery of its kind to start up in North America in recent decades
and is credited as being one of the pioneers of the present day craft beer
renaissance in Canada. Brick is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the
symbol "BRB".

Nomination of Two New Members to Executive Board of Heineken N.V.

12/15/2000  AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, Dec 15, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The
Supervisory Board of Heineken N.V., the leading international brewer, today
announced that it will propose to the Annual General Shareholders Meeting, the
appointment of Mr. M.J. Bolland (41) and Mr. J.F.M.L. van Boxmeer (39) to the
Executive Board, as from May 1, 2001. The Annual General Shareholders Meeting
will be held on April 26, 2001.

Marc Bolland, currently Director of Export, has already worked fourteen years
within the Heineken Group, in various commercial and management functions. He
has been active with, among others, Vrumona (the Dutch soft drink company),
Heineken Netherlands and in Slovakia. Mr. Bolland has Dutch nationality.

Jean Francois van Boxmeer, currently General Manager of Heineken Italia, has
worked with Heineken for the past sixteen years, also in various commercial and
management functions. Some of his previous posts have been in Rwanda, the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Poland. Mr. Van Boxmeer has Belgian
nationality.
The appointment of Mr. Bolland and Mr. Van Boxmeer represents a reinforcement
of the Executive Board and is of importance to the further international
expansion of the company.

Photos of the gentlemen are available in the Press Office at
www.heinekencorp.com

Heineken N.V. is the world's most international brewing group with production
in more than 110 breweries in over 50 countries. The Heineken brand is sold in

more than 170 countries. With a total Group Volume of 90.9 million hectoliters,
Heineken occupies the second place in the world beer market. The net turnover

amounted to EUR 7.1 billion with a net profit of EUR 516 million. The Heineken
Group employs around 37,000 persons (1999 figures).

Mexico Stocks Fall to Lowest Level in Over a Year, Led By Femsa

Mexico City, Dec. 15 (Bloomberg)-- Mexican stocks fell to their lowest level in
more than a year, led by drinks company Fomento Economico SA, after the company
warned fourth-quarter profits would be lower than expected on sluggish beer
sales.

The bolsa index fell 114.20 or 2 percent, to 5531.39. Femsa fell 9.3 percent to
29.4 pesos. This is the index's lowest point since October 1999.

Fomento Economico SA (FEMSAUBD MM), Mexico's largest beverage company, fell 13
percent to 28.2 pesos after it said fourth quarter operating profit may drop
between 8 percent and 10 percent from a year ago as a cold snap in northern
Mexico reduced beer sales. This is the stock's lowest price since October 1999.

Mexico stocks moderate loss down 2.03 pct and FEMSA drops while Modelo gains

By Sam Dagher

MEXICO CITY, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Mexican bolsa clawed back from early lows
in afternoon trading, but still finished 2 percent lower, dragged down by a
wide ranging sell-off that hit telecom and media stocks the hardest following a
profit warning by a leading bottler amid a slump on the Nasdaq.

"The market moderated earlier losses as the Nasdaq stabilized," said a local
trader. "The fact we closed above 5500 points bodes well for a possible rebound
next week, despite the market's overall negative sentiment."

"However, foreign investors remain net sellers of Mexican stocks in the
short-term with Brazil being a beneficiary of this outflow," said the trader
"Mexico remains dominated by short-term traders, which adds to the market's
volatility."

Mexico's IPC index of 35 leading stocks finished down 2.03 percent, or 114.2
points, at 5531.39 points after piercing the critical support level of 5500 at
midday to fall 3.12 percent to 5469.040 points, its lowest intraday level since
Nov. 1, 1999.

The IPC finished the week with a loss of 4.55 percent from its close of Dec. 8
at 5795.09 points.

Volume was the highest daily level for the week at 97 million shares. Of 73
actively-traded stocks 46 fell, 20 were flat and seven rose.

The Nasdaq Composite Index ended down 2.76 percent to 2653.27 points after a
profit-warning by U.S. software giant Microsoft.

In local market action, bellwether stock Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) finished
down 1.60 percent at 21.50 pesos per share, pressured by the Nasdaq sell-off.
While Telmex's New York-listed American Depositary Receipts, or ADRs, ended
down 1.22 percent at $45-1/2.

The shares of Mexico's largest broadcaster Grupo Televisa TLEVISACPO.MX shed
4.71 percent, or 1.10 pesos, to end at 22.25 pesos. Televisa's ADRs ended with
a loss of 4.04 percent at $47-1/2. The shares of Televisa rival TV Azteca
TVAZTCACPO.MX shed 3.53 percent to end at 6.02 pesos per share, while its New
York-listed ADRs shed 4.65 percent to $10-1/4.

Among the top losers were shares of Mexican bottler and brewer Fomento
Economico Mexicano (Femsa), ending down 12.50 percent, or 4.05 pesos, at 28.35
pesos per share. While Femsa's ADRs ended down 12.68 percent at $30-1/8.

The company announced Thursday that fourth-quarter operating profits would
likely drop 8 to 10 percent from the same period last year due to slowing beer
sales.

"The poor performance ... is a function of both exogenous (the poor climate)
and endogenous (the new strategy and delayed pricing increases) variables
moving against short-term volume placement and cash flow generation for the
beer division," said Deutsche Bank analyst Adriana Rattinger.

On Friday, Deutsche Bank downgraded its rating on Femsa from strong buy to buy,
but said it remained confident that Femsa's new strategic direction will yield
benefits in the long-term.

In her report on Femsa, Rattinger added that Femsa's "poor performance will
look especially dramatic in light of Modelo's expected blow out quarter."

The shares of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo bucked the market's downward drift to
finish up 2.81 percent, or 0.70 peso, at 25.65 pesos per share.

In the currency market, Mexico's 48-hour benchmark peso contract MXN-) ended
with a modest gain of 0.50 centavo at 9.4130/9.4150 per dollar.

2000 Brandies: My placement or yours?

By Timothy M. Gray December 15, 2000

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - In an earlier century, all products in movies were
generic. No labels were ever shown when William Powell poured gin, Bette Davis
lit a cigarette or Marilyn Monroe sprayed on perfume.

That has all changed in the last few decades, since companies have discovered
the joy of product-placement deals. But in the year 2000, such blatant plugs
have moved to a new level: Products are not only visible -- they are now key
plot points.

The storyline of "What Women Want" hinges on Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt working
on an ad campaign for Nike (with the eventual results lovingly shown, in great
detail, onscreen).

Few companies have ever gotten more onscreen time than Federal Express in "Cast
Away." The first 10 minutes of the picture examine the company's scrupulous
efficiency; the company's logo pops up on airplanes, trucks, envelopes -- and
on packages that wash ashore with Tom Hanks, who obsesses on them for half the
movie.

On the other hand, such key plugs are not always positive. The title character
in "Nurse Betty" (Renee Zellweger), unwittingly endangers her life because she
borrows a Buick Le Sabre.

Even more of an anti-plug: Pacific Gas & Electric in "Erin Brockovich." It's
clear that the company execs are bullying and guilty of dumping toxic waste:
"Those arrogant PG&E f---ers!" Julia Roberts proclaims. (This movie does for
PG&E what "The Insider" did for Brown & Williamson tobacco.)

So are brand names a good or bad thing? We'll let the reader decide. Here are
the winners of the 2000 Brandies, honoring the year's most notable plugs.

OVERKILL

- In "Keeping the Faith," Ben Stiller and Jenna Elfman go to a movie and run
into friends -- all of whom are holding Pepsi cups. The Pepsi shots are
repeated in a romantic montage and again during the closing credits.

- In "The Perfect Storm," local bar the Crow's Nest features three neon Bud
Light signs, a Budweiser metal sign and a big Bud Light sticker on the
pooltable lamp, while the customers are seen drinking only one kind of beer.
The kids, however, drink Pepsi.

- There's no Pepsi for Eddie Murphy in "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps." In
various scenes, he drinks Diet Coke, pauses by a Coca-Cola machine, passes a
hot dog cart featuring plenty of Coke cans and hides his fountain-of-youth
formula in the fridge, between cans of Classic Coke and Diet Coke.

A TESTIMONIAL WORTH MILLIONS (ASSUMING PEOPLE WANT TO LOOK LIKE HER)

- In the documentary "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," the former televangelist and
makeup maven says, "Here's my mascara that I'm so famous for. As you can see,
it is L'Oreal Waterproof Lash Out Makeup. As you see, it's much used, much
loved."

DUBIOUS BRANDIES

- In "American Psycho," serial killer Christian Bale stuffs the body of a
victim (Jared Leto) into a Jean Paul Gaultier garment bag.

- In "Scary Movie," a woman gets killed in front of a Norge refrigerator.

- Riding on a motorcycle in "Mission: Impossible 2," Tom Cruise has a
near-collision with an Avis truck.

- In "Me, Myself & Irene," Jim Carrey goes ballistic when he loses money in a
Coca-Cola machine -- twice.

- In "The Perfect Storm," it's clearly established that sea captain George
Clooney has been on a losing streak. And on his desk sits a big bottle of
Pepsi.

TAKE A BIG GULP FOR THIS PLUG

- In "Final Destination," Clear Rivers (Ali Larter) tells of her late father
going into a 7-11, where "a guy blew his head off."

THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND ME

- In "Charlie's Angels," hungry billionaire Sam Rockwell asks Kelly Lynch, "So,
what're we doing, House of Pancakes or Sizzler?"

TRAILER HOOKS

- In the trailers for "What Lies Beneath," Michelle Pfeiffer is shown, in
closeup, photographing a ghost with her Nikon camera.

- In the trailers for "Little Nicky," Lucifer's son (Adam Sandler) and a
talking dog extol the benefits of Popeye's chicken.

[J2jurado]

Reintroduction of take-away alcohol outrages Aboriginal community

Monday 18 December, 2000

A NorthernTerritory Aboriginal community council is outraged at a decision to
reintroduce the sale of take-away alcohol. The Territory's Licensing
Commission has announced a six-month trial of alcohol permits has been issued
to the Nguiu community on Bathurst Island, after a request from community
members.

But the Community Council President Barry Puruntatameri is calling for another
meeting with the Commission.

He says the trial is too long and will destroy the community.

"Six months is too long to give them a trial because in about three months
time this community is going to be wiped out by people walking around as
drunks and there'll be no work done in this community," he said.
© 2000 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Mexico beer makes aggressive world conquest

By Veronica Gomez Sparrowe

December 17, 2000 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - It started with tequila, which began
trickling out across Mexico's borders to tickle the world's palates. Now it
appears Mexican beer brands are making a conquest at least in the region and
may be poised for growing global power. As of last year, Mexico moved into the
No. 3 spot among world beer exporters with shipments of 229 million gallons to
overseas markets, trailing only Holland, with 317 million gallons and Germany
with 243 million, according to figures from British beer industry researcher
Canadean Ltd. released by J.P. Morgan.

Analysts say the numbers will keep on growing, thanks to spiraling demand from
the biggest customer, the United States, which buys some 85 percent of Mexico's
beer exports.

The proximity of the beer-loving giant has translated into a windfall for
Mexican brewers such as Grupo Modelo, maker of the world-renowned Corona brand,
and Fomento Economico Mexicano (Femsa), and it has has underpinned the
industry's growth.

Americans drank 6 billion gallons of beer last year, or 22.5 gallons per
person. That figure was almost double Mexico's per capital intake of 13 gallons
a year.

"Exports have been the principal motor of growth for the beer industry since
the mid-1990s," Flemings Research analyst Joaquin Ley said.

MEXICO PHENOMENON OR JUST CORONA?

Without a doubt, the Corona brand was the trailblazer in the opening of world
markets to Mexican beer and it remains the beer most associated with Latin
America's second-biggest economy.

Now, Mexican beermakers are pinning their hopes to the idea that other brands
will follow the path forged by Corona, which has carved out a 5 percent U.S.
market share based in dollars, double that of Holland's star brand Heineken,
with 2.4 percent.

"Mexican beers are the fastest-growing segment in the U.S. market and Corona is
opening the doors to other Mexican brands," said Grupo Modelo, director of
investment relations Jose Pares.

But some analysts say a repeat of Corona's rise to fashion may not happen so
easily or so quickly. "The growth has been concentrated in Corona, which
represents 90 percent of the beer exports," Ley said.

Mexican beermakers are constantly refining strategies to conquer U.S. and other
markets. For example, Modelo announced in June it would begin selling Corona in
cans in the United States, and Femsa followed with new sizes of beer cans for
its Dos Equis Lager and Tecate beers in August.

Beer packaged in cans tends to sell better in the summer in places like sports
stadiums, swimming pools and beaches, where glass bottles often are not
allowed.

Despite skepticism over whether other brands can catch up with Corona, the
fast-growing Hispanic population in the United States is fanning sales of other
Mexican brands such as Femsa's Tecate and Sol beers. A report by J.P. Morgan
estimates that those two brands have posted annual growth rates of between 18
and 20 percent.

"The growing number and purchasing power of Hispanics, many of them Mexican,
makes this flourishing sector of U.S. society a very attractive target for
Mexican brewers," ING Barings analyst Celso Sanchez said in a report.

Mexican beermakers are taking this market potential seriously. Both Modelo and
Femsa announced multimillion-dollar investments to boost their production
capacity, which could surge 40 percent from 1999 levels by 2005.

Carlsberg Climbs

Stockholm, Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Telia AB led Swedish stocks lower after the
former phone monopoly unexpectedly failed to win a new mobile phone license in
its home country. Stock indices in Norway and Finland rose, while Sweden and
Denmark declined. Sweden's OMX Index fell 6.99 points, or 0.6 percent, to
1086.20, while Finland's HEX20 Index climbed 272.29 points, or 1.9 percent, to
14,526.00. Norway's OBX Index gained 4.76 points, or 0.6 percent, to 765.70,
while Denmark's KFX Index added 0.39 of a point, or 0.1 percent, to 324.27.

Carlsberg A/S (BRYB DC) gained 25 kronor, or 5.8 percent, to 455. The world's
sixth-biggest brewer said late Friday it will form a joint venture with

Singapore's Chang Beverage Co. to develop marketing and brewing activities in
Asia and tap into growing demand for beer in the region.

Vivendi Gets Bids Totaling $8 Bln for Seagram Unit

New York, Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Vivendi Universal SA, the world's No. 2 media
company, received offers of about $8 billion for its Seagram liquor unit, said
people familiar with the situation. The bids were the minimum the company set
as a goal.

Vivendi told a group led by Diageo Plc and Pernod Ricard SA, and a rival group
including Bacardi Ltd. and Brown-Forman Corp., to submit additional offers
today, the people said. Vivendi said in a regulatory filing in October that the
sale of Seagram's drinks business may raise $8 billion to $11 billion.

The beverage division's sale is part of Vivendi's takeover of Seagram. Vivendi,
which bought the owner of Universal Studios to expand its communications and
entertainment businesses, wants the drinks unit's price to cover the $7 billion
in debt inherited with the rest of Seagram. At $8 billion, the sale would be
the largest in the industry since Grand Metropolitan Plc's $39 billion purchase
of Guinness Plc formed Diageo in 1997.

``We were looking for $7 billion to $8 billion,'' said Tom Burnett, president
of Merger Insight, an institutional research service firm. ``They're not likely
to get anything higher.''

Paris-based Vivendi may announce a winner as early as Monday, the people said.

Seagram spokesman John Kiely declined to comment, as did Pernod spokesman
Alain-Serge Delaitte, Bacardi spokesman Jorge Rodriguez-Marquez and Kathryn
Partridge, a spokeswoman for Diageo. A Brown-Forman spokesman couldn't
immediately be reached.

Buying Brands

For Diageo, the world's largest liquor company, Pernod, the fifth-largest, and
Bacardi, the world's biggest rum distiller, the sale is an opportunity to buy
brands that outsell the rest of the industry, such as Captain Morgan rum and
Chivas Regal whisky.

While sales volume for the top 100 liquor brands worldwide grew an average of
0.6 percent last year, many of Seagram's brands grew faster. For example, Crown
Royal's sales volume grew 9 percent last year, while Captain Morgan increased
volume by 19 percent, according to Impact Databank.

An acquisition by Bacardi, known for its namesake rum, could help it surpass
Allied Domecq Plc, No. 2 in the industry, analysts said. Allied Domecq pulled
out of the auction last week. The company decided to buy individual brands
rather than take on almost 200 Seagram products just to gain its top five
sellers.

Size Advantage

Some analysts said Diageo's larger size -- its market capitalization of $36
billion compares with $4.6 billion for Brown-Forman -- could give it an
advantage in a two-way tussle with Bacardi and Brown-Forman, the maker of Jack
Daniels whiskey.

If Diageo wins, the company ``will be picking up a few brands, whereas Pernod
will inherit the distribution infrastructure,'' said Ian Shackleton, an analyst
at Credit Suisse First Boston.

One problem for the British-French partnership may be a dispute over who owns
the rights to Captain Morgan rum, which was the fastest-growing liquor label in
1999, according to Impact research. Diageo has previously said the drink is one
of the reasons it wants to buy Seagram, and the company could drop the purchase
if Captain Morgan isn't part of the package.

Allied Domecq has said it gained an option to buy the Captain Morgan name under
certain circumstances through an agreement with Destileria Seralles, which
supplies rum to Seagram. Seagram disputes Destileria Seralles's rights to the
brand, and the case is now being heard in a Puerto Rican court.

Captain Morgan rum is the second major brand in Seagram's portfolio that
Seagram doesn't control completely. Absolut vodka, Seagram's best-seller, is
owned by V&S Vin & Sprit AB of Sweden. The state-owned company has reclaimed
the brand and won't say what it plans to do with Absolut after the Seagram
sale.

``Getting more than $8 billion will be difficult because of the potential
difficulties with Absolut and Morgan rum,'' said Burnett.

Diageo-Pernod team set to sign Seagram deal Monday

By David Jones

LONDON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - A Diageo-Pernod team is set to sign a deal on Monday
in New York to buy Seagram's wines and spirits empire for around $8.2 billion,
beating off a rival bid from a Bacardi-led consortium, industry sources said on
Sunday.

The deal is due to be signed by Diageo's Finance Director Nick Rose and Pernod
officials at the offices of auction organiser Morgan Stanley and Seagram's
lawyers Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett in New York. An official announcement is
expected on Tuesday.

The purchase will extend Diageo's lead in the world's spirits industry, where
it is already more than twice as large as number two player Allied Domecq,
while Pernod will look to challenge for that global second spot.

Last minute delays to the deal were caused when the French seller of Seagram,
Vivendi Universal, tried to get the Bacardi team to increase its bid, which is
believed to have been just below $8 billion, in what had become a two-horse
race.

"The Diageo and Pernod team offered the best deal -- the highest price, the
least anti-trust problems and the quickest way of Vivendi getting its cash,"
said one source close to the auction process.

Privately-owned Bacardi with its partners, Jack Daniel's whiskey maker
Brown-Forman and Absolut vodka owner Vin & Sprit, had been unable to raise its
bid after only agreeing a syndicated loan organised by Chase Manhatten earlier
this month.

Industry analysts say the Diageo-Pernod team could afford to pay more as it can
win greater cost saving synergies than the the Bacardi-led team, while Pernod
is set to gain a small majority of the Seagram brands compared to Diageo.

The Anglo-French team officially agreed its intention of bidding jointly two
weeks ago, and on how the brands would be split in order to avoid any
anti-trust problems.

JOHNNIE WALKER TO MEET CAPTAIN MORGAN

Diageo, famed for its Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky and Smirnoff vodka, is
believed to want Seagram's Captain Morgan dark rum, its Crown Royal and VO
Canadian whiskies, 7 Crowns American blended whiskey, while the Sterling
Californian wines business would be added to Diageo's Napa Valley wines.

Pernod, with its aniseed-based drinks Ricard and Pastis 51 and Jameson's Irish
whiskey would pick up Seagram's Scotch whisky operations, including Chivas
Regal, Passport and Glenlivet single malt, and also Seagram's Gin.

Seagram's Martell cognac, the world's number three cognac after Hennessy and
Remy Martin and Seagram's third most valuable brand after Chivas Regal and
Crown Royal, is to be sold off and parties such as Remy Cointreau have shown an
interest.

Vivendi put Seagram, the world's number three spirits business after Diageo and
Allied, up for sale in September as part of its merger with Seagram's
entertainment businesses to form Vivendi Universal.

Diageo and Morgan Stanley in London both declined to comment on the progress of
the Seagram auction. In New York, a Vivendi spokeswoman also declined comment.

The Anglo-French team moved to be clear favourite after arch-rival Allied
pulled out of the race on Wednesday. Allied said it had achieved its strategic
aim of gaining a rum, vodka and two champagne brands in recent weeks without
buying the whole of the Seagram's empire.

It has signed a deal with Captain Morgan supplier, the Puerto Rico group
Destileria Serralles, for the rum brand, gained the U.S. rights for Stolichnaya
vodka and bought two champagne brands, Mumm and Perrier Jouet, only last week.

But analysts pointed out the Captain Morgan agreement would be contested in the
courts by Seagram and the Russian ownership of Stolichnaya was unclear. The
champagne brands were "small beer" compared to the whole Seagram empire up for
grabs, they said.

"Allied tried to talk to almost everyone in the industry, but could not find a
partner, so at the end of the day it lacked the firepower," said the source

close to the auction process.

San Miguel<SMC.PS>poised to bottle Coca-Cola again

By Michael Barker

MANILA, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Philippine food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp
<SMC.PS> seems set to resume control of the soft drink bottling operations from
Coca Cola Amatil <CCL.AX> (CCA), analysts said on Monday.

They said San Miguel would gain from CCA's apparent inability to achieve strong
growth in the business and keenness to exit the troubled local economy.

In a statement last week, Australia-based CCA said it would resume talks with
The Coca Cola Co <<A HREF="aol://4785:KO">KO.N</A>> and San Miguel in January
on the possible sale of the Philippine soft drink operations.

San Miguel, which had sold the bottling operation to CCA in 1997, declined to
comment on the deal. "There is no statement to make at this point," its
corporate relations head Ramon Santiago told Reuters.

CCA said the talks would not involve its other businesses in Indonesia and
South Korea. In October, an offer by San Miguel and Coca Cola to acquire all
three operations for an estimated A$2.6 billion was rejected by CCA.

An industry source put the book value of the three at A$3.9 billion.

Nicky Franco an analyst at Abacus Securities Corp in Manila said one of the
reasons CCA was likely to pursue a deal now after rejecting an earlier sale was
that "they realise they cannot run the Philippine business the same way San
Miguel did..it may be due to cultural differences from one or both parties."

"Coca Cola U.S. has come to the same conclusion," he added.

Atlanta-based Coca Cola owns 37 percent of CCA, while San Miguel holds 21.5
percent, acquired in exchange for the Philippine bottling business.

Eric Betts, strategist at Nomura Australia, said the market saw a sale of the
Philippine assets, where economic growth has been tepid and a political crisis
has yet to be resolved, as a big positive.

"The market sees it as being able to retain the options of Indonesia and South
Korea so they get the growth flavour of the stock without the problems," Betts
said.

CCA shares closed up 18 Australian cents at A$5 per share, cheered by the
possible sale of its Philippine arm. San Miguel A-shares, restricted to
Filipinos, closed flat at 48.50 pesos while the foreigner owned B-shares
<SMCB.PS> finished down 50 centavos at 50.50.

ATR King Eng Securities research head Luz Lorenzo said the failure of the
B-shares to bounce up on the news was probably due to some investor scepticism
that the deal would proceed as previous attempt to buy CCA's Asian businesses
had failed.

CASH COW RETURNS

The bottling operation was considered a "cash cow" for San Miguel in the past
but has performed poorly since CCA took control with volumes weakening this
year even as the Australian company said margins were showing improvement after
a restructuring exercise.

Abacus Securities' Franco said San Miguel would want a deal that involves a
share swap.

San Miguel's 21.5 percent holding in CCA at Monday's close of $A5.00 per share,
with 1,044,687,375 shares on issue, is worth nearly A$1.1 billion.

"Any cash that changes hands would be nominal and will not affect any plans for
future acquisitions by San Miguel," he said.

The company is sitting on a cash pile of 42.1 billion pesos, most of which was
accumulated when it sold its 45 percent stake in the Philippine operations of
Swiss food giant Nestle in 1998.

"They will want to preserve cash for next year because of uncertainty in the
Philippine economy and with the board recently approving a 10 percent buy back
of the company's shares," said Orion Squire Capital Inc analyst Hazel de la
Cruz.

Celebrate Winter Along the Wine Road

HEALDSBURG, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 16, 2000--

9th Annual Winter Wineland Saturday & Sunday January 20 & 21, 2001

Hosted by the wineries and lodgings of the Russian River Wine Road

Northwest Sonoma County

Make 2001 a wine odyssey. Kick your wine odyssey off to a great start with a
warm winter welcome from the wineries and lodgings of the Russian River Wine
Road in Northwest Sonoma County as they celebrate the winter season January 20
& 21, 2001 during the ninth annual Winter Wineland. A host of different
activities at over 50 participating wineries; special tastings (older and
library wines,) cellar and winery tours, talks with the winemakers, new
releases and vineyard tours (weather permitting) and much more. Many of the
wineries offer vertical tastings, wine and food pairings and discounts on
wines. Tempt your palate with some of the best wines in the world. Test your
knowledge of the wine, the vineyards and the area as you visit the different
wineries and learn about their wines, the grapes and the history.

Easy to get to from anywhere in Northern California, the Russian River Wine
Road is just one hour north of San Francisco (straight up 101 to Healdsburg) an
hour northwest of the East Bay or two hours west of Sacramento. From the ocean
and the redwoods, to the valleys and hills full of vineyards, the Russian River
Wine Road encompasses three growing appellations, Alexander Valley to the east,
Dry Creek Valley and the Russian River Valley. Wander down the back roads from
Cloverdale to Guerneville and every town in between. In the west, stop at
wineries in Sebastopol, Forestville and Graton, then wind your way up through
Santa Rosa, Windsor and Healdsburg. Don't miss Geyserville and all the wineries
tucked in between.

Northwest Sonoma County is an area full of wine history, grapes have been grown
and wine has been made here for over 130 years. The Russian River Wine Road
boasts member wineries that have been in business (with a short break for
prohibition) for over 100 years. An association of old and new, the wine road
members include some winery families who have been in the business for four or
five generations as well as brand new wineries bringing their own history to
the Sonoma wine country.

You may also find lodgings to suit any taste from B&B's housed in 100-year-old
Victorian mansions to new inns and motels. In addition to the wines, the
members of the Wine Road are known for their hospitality and friendliness.

Tickets are available in advance for $25 per ticket through the Wine Road at
800/723-6336 or order on line through the web site at www.wineroad.com, cost
includes a logo glass. Tickets purchased after January 10th are available
through participating wineries at $35 per ticket. For information or names of
participating wineries, visit us on line at www.wineroad.com or call the Wine
Road at 800/723-6336.

Highest-Scoring Wine Celebrated at Washington Party

WOODINVILLE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 2000--Single Berry Select, the
highest-rated wine in Washington State history, was celebrated at a gala party
Friday afternoon at Chateau Ste. Michelle, maker of the dessert wine in
collaboration with Ernst Loosen of Germany.

Made in the classic German trockenbeerenauslese style, Single Berry Select is
sourced from late-harvested Riesling grapes from Chateau Ste. Michelle's own
vineyards in Washington State's Columbia Valley. Loosen, whose family has been
making outstanding wines in Germany's Middle Mosel region for two centuries,
participated in the vineyards before the fruit was picked, and also in the
winemaking.

Loosen, recently named "German Winemaker of the Year," also worked with Chateau
Ste. Michelle white winemaker Erik Olsen on another acclaimed wine from the
1999 vintage -- Eroica, the highest-scoring American-made dry Riesling in
history.

The highly influential Wine Spectator gave Single Berry Select a "97" rating
and Eroica a "91" on its 100-point scale.

Wine Enthusiast magazine also named Single Berry Select "Best Dessert Wine of
2000."

As a measure of just how high the Single Berry Select dessert wine scored,
Chateau Ste. Michelle President Ted Baseler noted at Friday's party that "no
other American white wine of any kind has been rated higher that Single Berry
Select since the Wine Spectator began scoring wines 25 years ago."

Loosen said in his remarks to the crowd of more than 100 wine enthusiasts and
writers, "This dessert wine made with grapes from right here in Washington
State is right up there with the finest dessert wines of Europe. It will last
forever. You could drink this wine 50 years from now and it will be just as
stunning."

Baseler added, "Having a wine that rates so highly is just further proof that
Washington State has now emerged as one of the world's greatest producers of
ultra-premium wines."

Chateau Ste. Michelle has harvested the grapes for the 2000 vintage of Single
Berry Select, and both Olsen and Loosen were touting the potential of this
vintage after tasting a "barrel sample" on Friday.

Chateau Ste. Michelle and Loosen plan to make many future vintages of Single
Berry Select and Eroica, Baseler said.

Baseler also noted that Wine Spectator named five wines made by Stimson Lane to
its "Top 100 Wines of the World" list for 2000. No other wine company in the
world placed five wines on the latest "Top 100" list.

Baseler is also President of Stimson Lane, which owns Chateau Ste. Michelle.
The Chateau placed the 1999 Eroica (76th on the list) and the 1996 Cold Creek
Cabernet Sauvignon (59th on the list) in the latest "Top 100."

The company also owns Columbia Crest, which placed three wines on the new "Top
100" list. They are the 1996 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (37th on the list); the
1998 Estate Chardonnay (79th); and the 1997 Estate Merlot (83rd).

Founded in 1934, Chateau Ste. Michelle is Washington state's oldest winery.
Situated on a National Historic Register site near Seattle, the Chateau
pioneered vinifera grape growing in the state and has been producing classic
European varietal wines since 1967. Today, the winery continues to be a leader
in viticultural research and is best known for its award-winning Chardonnay,
Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. All of its grapes are grown east of the Cascade
Mountains, about four hours from Seattle.

1-800-TAXICAB and Coors Promote Responsible Alternative to Drunk Driving

LOS ANGELES & GOLDEN, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 2000-- 1-800-TAXICAB,
North America's largest telephone-based taxi referral service, and Coors
Brewing Co., one of the nation's leading brewers, today announced a joint
marketing agreement to promote the 1-800-TAXICAB service as a concrete
alternative to drunk driving.

Simply by calling the easy-to-remember 1-800-TAXICAB phone number, people
across the United States and Canada can now be automatically connected to a
local taxicab company. The initiative encourages people to use taxicabs when
they've had too much to drink. The call is toll-free, passengers simply pay for
the taxi fare.

"We're serious about preventing drunk driving," said Bill Young, manager of
Public Affairs for Coors Brewing Co. "By teaming up with 1-800-TAXICAB, we're
now able to offer consumers an easy-to-remember connection to taxicabs
nationwide. Our goal is simple: to prevent drunk driving incidents during the
holiday season and throughout the year."

Coors will be sponsoring radio spots nationwide promoting the 1-800-TAXICAB
number, point-of-sale materials bearing the 1-800-TAXICAB number in restaurants
and bars, as well as other electronic and outdoor media.

"Our goal is to work with Coors to build the public's awareness of the
1-800-TAXICAB number, which we believe is rapidly becoming North America's
preferred method for getting a cab," said 1-800-TAXICAB CEO, Mark Adkins. "The
holiday season is an especially critical time to get the message out about
responsible drinking, and we want to encourage people everywhere to remember
the 1-800-TAXICAB number when they are out enjoying themselves. Taxis are great
designated drivers!"

About 1-800-TAXICAB

Los Angeles-based 1-800-TAXICAB is North America's taxicab network. Passengers
across North America can call the toll-free and easy-to-remember numbers
1-800-TAXICAB and 1-800-AIRPORT to be immediately connected to a local taxi
company.

1-800-TAXICAB is also available on AT&T (NYSE:<A
HREF="aol://4785:AWE">AWE</A>), Sprint PCS (NYSE:<A
HREF="aol://4785:PCS">PCS</A>), Verizon (NYSE:<A HREF="aol://4785:VZ">VZ</A>),
BellSouth (NYSE:<A HREF="aol://4785:BLS">BLS</A>), and Nextel (Nasdaq:<A
HREF="aol://4785:NXTL">NXTL</A>) Web phones through an alliance with go2
Online's wireless portal. The service is also available on the OmniSky
(Nasdaq:<A HREF="aol://4785:OMNY">OMNY</A>) network for personal digital
assistants and via the Internet at www.1800taxicab.com.

About Coors Brewing Co.

Founded in 1873, Coors Brewing Co. is the third-largest U.S. brewer and sells
its products in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia.
Coors uses only the finest ingredients available in an all-natural brewing
process to offer a wide range of high-quality malt beverages. The company
trades on the New York Stock Exchange under symbol RKY (NYSE:<A
HREF="aol://4785:RKY">RKY</A>).
CONTACT: 1-800-TAXICAB William A. Birdthistle, 818/375-5008
Wbirdt...@1800taxicab.com

Singer Dion says unborn son has a frozen "twin"

By Patrick White

MONTREAL, Dec 18 (Reuters) - French Canadian pop diva Celine Dion said in a
televised interview on Sunday night that she has a second fertilized embryo
stored at a New York fertility clinic and revealed she hopes one day to give
her soon-to-be-born son a "twin."

In a 90-minute interview in French on Quebec's TVA television network, the
32-year-old star said she expects to deliver her son on Valentine's Day. She
also said that another egg was fertilized and remains at a New York clinic,
where it was frozen five days after conception.

The unborn baby and the other embryo were conceived with manager and husband
Rene Angelil through in vitro fertilization.

"So, I have a twin. It is called a laboratory twin. Technically, it is called a
twin. It does not mean they are identical twins but they were conceived at the
same time," Dion said in an interview at her home in Palm Beach, Florida, with
Quebec broadcaster Michel Jasmin.

"I do not know if it is good forever but I think it lasts for a very long time.
I will go get it, that's for sure. I told my mother," a relaxed-looking and
smiling Dion told Quebec's largest private television network.

Dion's interview was her first since she took a three-year sabbatical from her
career to have a child. She made her final public performance before the
sabbatical last Dec. 31 in Montreal. She underwent two small operations last
May to improve her chances of becoming pregnant. Dion had been treated at a New
York City fertility clinic so she could have a child with her husband, whose
throat cancer is in remission.

Asked whether she wanted another child, the Quebec-born singer said: "Another
child? Yes, because we already have another child waiting for us in New York,
making a stopover at this time. I surely could not live knowing that this child
is there."

Dion said that she felt emotionally fulfilled by her pregnancy and that a name
had not been chosen yet for her son. She added that the name might include
Rene, her husband's first name.

In a controversial move blasted by the Canadian media, Angelil on Friday forced
popular Quebec magazine 7 Jours to destroy 200,000 copies of an unreleased
issue it published under the front-page headline, "My Son Already Has a Twin."
An angry Angelil asserted that Dion's interview was sensationalized.

Dion, famous for such hits as "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie "Titanic,"
said last March she was suing the U.S. tabloid National Enquirer for $20
million for falsely reporting she was pregnant with twins.

The couple married in Montreal in 1994. Angelil has managed Dion's career since
she began singing as a teenager in the rural town of Charlemagne near Montreal.

Dion said she could take up to four years before coming back to show business
but said she might record another album in English and in French one year after
her son is born.

Jeweler Trapped in Own Safe for Five Days, Independent Says

(The Independent 12/16 1)

Cowes, Isle of Wight, Dec. 16 (Bloomberg)-- A jeweler emerged unharmed and in
good spirits after spending five days trapped in the safe at his store, the
Independent reported, citing Barry Jones, a friend of the jeweler.

William Joyce, 70, had finished locking up his shop in Cowes, Isle of Wight,
southern England, when the door of the reinforced- concrete vault slammed shut
behind him, the paper said.

The goldsmith, who passed the time by tapping out SOS messages on the pipes,
survived for 120 hours on only a packet of biscuits, the paper said.

Joyce was rescued after Jones realized he hadn't seen the jeweler for a while
and alerted police after noticing a light on in the workshop, the report said.
Joyce refused medical treatment and appeared to be in good health, the paper
said.

[J2jurado]

Genesee Corporation Announces Completion of Management Buyout of Brewing
Business

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Genesee Corporation (Nasdaq: <A
HREF="aol://4785:GENBB">GENBB</A>) today announced that its Genesee Brewing
Company subsidiary has completed the sale of its brands and all other brewing
assets to High Falls Brewing Company, LLC. High Falls Brewing Company was
formed by Samuel T. Hubbard, Jr., the Corporation's President and Chief
Executive Officer, and other members of the Corporation's management, to
acquire the Corporation's brewing business.

The purchase price was $25.8 million. Genesee Brewing Company received $14.8
million in cash at the closing. The balance of the purchase price was paid by
High Falls giving promissory notes totaling $11 million. $6.5 million of this
amount is seller bridge financing represented by three and a half year notes
which are expected to be paid off within nine months of closing from the
proceeds of a $6.5 million HUD-sponsored economic development loan and grant
package which High Falls has applied for. The remaining $4.5 million of seller
financing is represented by a three year note bearing interest at 12% per year.

The $6.5 million bridge loan bears interest at prime plus one and is secured by
a $3 million first mortgage on the brewery facility and a security interest in
the brewery machinery and equipment that is subordinate only to High Falls'
senior bank debt. The remaining $4.5 million of seller financing is secured by
a security interest in all tangible and intangible property of High Falls that
is subordinate to the senior bank and mezzanine debt financing.

The Corporation currently estimates that the sale will result in a net gain of
approximately $5 million. The gain will be deferred until the $6.5 million
bridge loan is paid off from the proceeds of the HUD financing.

In order to obtain the consent of Boston Beer Company to assign the production
agreement between Genesee Brewing Company and Boston Beer Company to High
Falls, Genesee Brewing Company was required to guarantee High Falls'
performance of the production agreement and maintain a minimum liquid net worth
for three years after the closing, starting at $7.25 million in the first year
and declining to $5.15 million in the third year.

The deferred payment of purchase price under the $6.5 million bridge financing
and $4.5 million three year note, together with the minimum net worth
requirement for Genesee Brewing Company under the Boston Beer guarantee, will
delay distribution of a large portion of the proceeds from the brewery sale to
the Corporation's shareholders.

The sale of Genesee Brewing Company brings an end to almost seventy years of
regional brewing by the Corporation and the Wehle Family, which founded Genesee
Brewing Company in 1932. Charles S. ("Chipp") Wehle, Chairman of the
Corporation and grandson of Brewery founder, Louis A. Wehle, said, "The sale of
the Brewery triggers a variety of emotions. We are relieved that the sale has
been completed, ending more than two years of uncertainty about the Brewery's
future. We are pleased that the Brewery will continue as a locally owned
business with strong ties to the Rochester community, and that our loyal
employees can continue to work in a business they truly love. We also feel a
sense of sadness and regret that the Wehle Family is ending its long
association with a great Rochester institution and the Genesee Family of
employees, distributors and consumers who made the beer business such a fun
place to work," said Mr. Wehle.

Under the terms of the sale agreement, Mr. Hubbard and the other executive
officers of the Corporation who invested in High Falls Brewing Company resigned
as officers of the Corporation to join High Falls. Mr. Hubbard will continue
to serve as a director of the Corporation. The other officers who resigned are
John B. Henderson, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, William
A. Neilson, Vice President-Human Resources and Michael C. Atseff, Vice
President and Controller. The Corporation has entered into a short term
agreement with High Falls to obtain certain services from some of the former
officers, including Messrs. Hubbard, Henderson and Neilson.

The Corporation announced that Stephen B. Ashley, who has served as a director
of the Corporation since 1987, has been elected President of the Corporation.
Mark W. Leunig, Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel of the
Corporation, has been promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief
Administrative Officer. Steven M. Morse, Corporate Consolidations Manager, was
promoted to the office of Vice President and Treasurer.

Messrs. Ashley, Leunig and Morse will manage the Corporation's affairs during
the liquidation and wind-up phase under the plan of dissolution and liquidation
that was approved by shareholders in October. The Corporation expects to
complete the sale on terms previously announced of a substantial portion of its
equipment leasing portfolio in December, with the remainder of the lease
portfolio sale expected to close in January. The letter of intent with Ralcorp
Holdings, Inc. to sell the Corporation's foods business has expired. The
Corporation is continuing its discussions with Ralcorp.

The Corporation expects to make the first of a series of liquidating
distributions to shareholders in the first quarter of calendar 2001. The
amount and timing of liquidating distributions will depend on a number of
factors, including the amount that will ultimately be realized from the sale of
the Corporation's assets and the timing of the receipt of the proceeds of such
sales, which will depend on the terms of the transactions in which the assets
are sold, including provisions for indemnification and other post-closing
obligations under the agreements pursuant to which the assets are sold. Other
factors that will affect the amount and timing of liquidating distributions
include payment or provision for the payment of debts, expenses, taxes and
other liabilities of the Corporation, as well as the timing and cost of
liquidating and winding up of the Corporation's business and affairs.

"We will work to liquidate assets in an orderly manner so as to maximize their
value to shareholders in the shortest possible time," said Mr. Leunig. "Based
on the terms of the seller financing of the brewery sale and the
indemnification and other post-closing obligations that are customary in asset
divestiture transactions, we currently expect that dissolution and wind-up of
the Corporation will take at least three years to complete," said Mr. Leunig.

NOTE: Statements made in this news release which are not historical, including
statements regarding the sale of the Corporation's brewing, foods and equipment
leasing businesses, the liquidation and dissolution of the Corporation and the
payment of liquidating distributions, are forward-looking statements. Such
forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties,
and there can be no assurance that the expectations or results reflected in
those statements will be realized or achieved. Risks and uncertainties
relating to the sale of the Corporation's brewing business include, without
limitation, non-payment or other default by High Falls Brewing Company on the
seller financing of the brewery sale, failure of High Falls to obtain the HUD
financing it has applied for, a claim by Boston Beer Company under the
production agreement performance guarantee and the minimum net worth
requirement thereunder, and post-closing indemnification obligations. Risks
and uncertainties relating to the proposed sale of the Corporation's equipment
leasing business include, without limitation, the failure of the transaction to
close for whatever reasons, further negotiation of terms and conditions,
purchase price adjustments, post-closing indemnification obligations, the
failure to satisfy other conditions necessary to consummate the transaction
such as failure to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and third party
consents, and the possibility that a delay in resolving such conditions could
jeopardize the transaction. Risks and uncertainties relating to the
disposition of the Corporation's food business include, without limitation,
failure to reach agreement with Ralcorp on the sale of the business, failure to
find another suitable buyer if a sale to Ralcorp is not completed, and risks
associated with continuing to operate the business while seeking other buyers.
Risks and uncertainties relating to the dissolution and liquidation of the
Corporation include, without limitation, the actual amount of proceeds from the
sale of the Corporation's assets, the ultimate settlement amounts of the
Corporation's liabilities and obligations, actual costs incurred in connection
with carrying out the plan of dissolution and liquidation, including
administrative costs during the liquidation period, the amount of income earned
on the Corporation's cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments
during the liquidation period, and the actual timing of distributions.

Copies of Genesee Corporation press releases are available free of charge by
calling PRNewswire's Company News On Call at 800-758-5804, Extension 352775, or
on the Internet at http://www.prnewswire.com/cnoc.

Founders Food & Firkins Ltd. Announces Opening of Sioux Falls Granite CityFood
& Brewery

December 18 Marks Opening of Second Location for Restaurant/Microbrewery

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ --

Founders Food & Firkins Ltd. (Nasdaq: <A HREF="aol://4785:GCFBU">GCFBU</A>)
("Founders"), announced today that it has opened a Granite City Food & Brewery
restaurant/microbrewery in Sioux Falls, S.D. This opening marks the Company's
second Granite City location. The first is in St. Cloud, Minn.

The Sioux Falls Granite City opened today, nearly a month ahead of schedule.
The restaurant boasts 9,500 square feet and seats 260 patrons. In the summer
months, diners will find a beautiful deck which seats 250. Today's grand
opening follows a week of testing and rave reviews from the test diners. The
Granite City Food & Brewery in Sioux Falls enjoys a premier location near major
commercial retail sites such as Home Depot, a multi-plex movie theater and
several hotels, and is within walking distance of the Empire Mall. "We are
delighted to bring our novel concept of a unique mix of hand handcrafted brews
and made-from-scratch foods to this market," said Steve Wagenheim, Founders'
president and CEO.

Founders' first Granite City location, in St. Cloud, Minn., opened in late June
1999, and was overwhelmingly welcomed to the greater St. Cloud area. From its
opening day, Granite City has enjoyed great success and record numbers of
patrons. The location has enjoyed great customer numbers even on typically
slow days of the week for the restaurant/microbrewery industry.

Granite City provides fresh, high quality, made-to-order food and handcrafted
beers, both made on site. Granite City offers a broad menu of traditional and
regional foods served in generous portions at reasonable prices, designed to
offer customers an excellent value and pleasant dining experience.

Southcorp Wines fined for polluting river

Monday 18 December, 2000

One of the country's biggest wine companies has been fined $118,000 for
polluting a river in South Australia's Barossa Valley.

Southcorp Wines pleaded guilty to three charges arising out of an effluent
spill into the North Para River in March this year.

Judge Christine Trenorden of the South Australian Environment Resources and
Development Court convicted Southcorp on three charges.

She said 8,500 kilolitres of winery waste caused serious environmental harm
along a 12 kilometre stretch of the river, between the company's Nuriootpa
winery and Rowland Flat.

It caused the deaths of large numbers of fish, tortoises and yabbies.

She acknowledged the company had pleaded guilty to the offences and undertaken
expensive remedial work on the river.

She fined Southcorp $40,000 for causing environmental damage, $66,000 for
failing to promptly notify the Environment Protection Authority of the
incident and $12,000 for breaching its licence.

Judge Trenorden also ordered Southcorp to pay the technical costs of the
authority of $21,474.
© 2000 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

ABC Takes Action Against Five Liquor Licenses

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- In a bizarre case that involved a
homicide, a $5.7 million bundle of cash stashed in a closet, money laundering,
tax evasion, and other crimes, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
(ABC) has either revoked or suspended the liquor licenses of five Los Angeles
businesses. Additional disciplinary action is expected.

The action was taken after an investigation began in 1996 involving the
Department of ABC, the Los Angeles Police Department, the State Board of
Equalization, and the State Franchise Tax Board.

The original investigation involved the illegal activity of Hobart Liquor, 4212
West Third Street in Los Angeles, selling alcohol to other retailers, a
violation of State law. It was determined that the owner of Hobart Liquor was
selling to approximately 85 locations, 45 which were positively identified as
ABC licensed businesses.

A second phase of the investigation resulted in enough evidence to file against
17 locations for purchasing alcohol from Hobart Liquor. ABC filed accusations
against the 17, with the majority of the licensees signing stipulations and
waivers accepting penalties ranging from 5 to 25 day liquor license
suspensions.

During a subsequent investigation by the State Board of Equalization and the
Franchise Tax Board, audits of five locations showed substantial unreported
taxable sales of alcohol. They included:

Hobart Liquor 4212 West Third St. $1,064,980

Sparks/Mega 3470-1 Western Ave. $1,804,124

Komma 400 South Western Ave. $861,350

Flamingo 4001 West Sixth St. $2,622,141

Saga/Velfarre 625 S. Serrano Ave. $8,333,631

In the latter part of 1998 and 1999, the LAPD had continuing reports of illegal
activity in and around Koreatown. Many of the names mentioned were also
involved in the on-going Hobart investigation. It appeared there were several
individuals involved in money laundering and tax evasion.

On February 10, 1999, LAPD, with the assistance of ABC and the Board of
Equalization, executed a search warrant covering 28 locations, including the
five locations mentioned above. At a residence of Susie Byun, a corporate
principal of Saga/Velfarre, investigators discovered $5.7 million in bundled
currency in a closet.

Two and a half weeks later, her husband, Eun Son Lee, was shot and killed. It
has not been determined whether this was a "follow home" robbery, or a murder
in retaliation for the loss of the $5.7 million.

Another search warrant at the residence where the murder occurred resulted in
the discovery of a $100,000 cashiers check and approximately $89,000 in cash
inside the master bedroom closet.

The Los Angeles District Attorney filed charges for income tax evasion and
money laundering against both Susie Byun and her brother, Johnny Koo, owners of
Saga/Velfarre.

After many months of court proceedings, the pair pled guilty and were sentenced
on September 8, 2000. Byun was sentenced to three years formal probation and
300 hours of community service involving graffiti removal. Koo was sentenced to
8 months in the county jail and three years probation. Koo is to surrender on
January 19, 2000, to begin serving his sentence. The Department is now
considering disciplinary action against Aikan and Velfarre, the two premises
owned by Byun and Koo.

ABC also has disciplinary action pending against the Seoul Palace Hotel,
located at 620 South Harvard Street. Kwi Ok Kim, a principal owner of the
Flamingo, purchased the hotel, although the license was transferred to a
corporation that did not disclose her as the purchaser. The false ownership
investigation revealed that Kim and her husband, Jay S. Kim, were undisclosed
financial backers and true owners of the hotel.

Kwi Ok Kim recently served time in custody in South Korea for political
corruption.

Diageo-Pernod to unveil Seagram deal Tues - sources

By David Jones

LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Britain's Diageo and France's Pernod-Ricard are set
to announce the world's biggest alcoholic drinks deal on Tuesday, jointly
buying Seagram's wines and spirits for around $8.2 billion, industry sources
said on Monday.

The Anglo-French camp is set to unveil details of the deal at 0700 GMT on
Tuesday to divide the world's third largest spirits empire between them, a move
which could trigger a round of further rationalisation in the global spirits
industry.

The Diageo-Pernod bid <DGE.L> <PERP.PA> for Seagram's Chivas Regal Scotch
whisky to Captain Morgan rum empire beat off a rival bid from privately-owned
Bacardi, Jack Daniel's whiskey maker Brown-Forman <<A
HREF="aol://4785:BFa">BFa.N</A>> and Absolut vodka owner Vin & Sprit. The rival
bid was believed to have been just under $8 billion.

Uncertainty surrounded the deal for a while when the Diageo-Pernod team
threatened to pull out unless it got an early response from French seller
Vivendi Universal <EAUG.PA>. But the prospect of Diageo-Pernod walking away
soon got the parties talking again.

A deal had yet to be signed by Diageo's Finance Director Nick Rose and Pernod

officials at the offices of auction organiser Morgan Stanley and Seagram's

lawyers Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett in New York, but this was considered a
formality and an announcement was planned for early on Tuesday, the sources
said.

"After a late upset this afternoon, the deal is all but signed and is set to be
announced early on Tuesday in London," said one source close to the auction
process.

Diageo and Morgan Stanley in London declined to comment on the auction process.

The industry sources said Vivendi had called an emergency board meeting in
Paris on Monday afternoon to rubber stamp a deal, but Vivendi declined to
comment.

DIAGEO TO EXTEND ITS LEAD

The move will extend Diageo's lead in the world's spirits market where it is
already twice as large as second player Allied Domecq <ALLD.L>, while Pernod,
currently number five, will start to challenge Allied for that second spot.

Analysts said the deal could lead to rationalistion deals among other industry
players such as the three members of the losing consortium, as well as Jim Beam
maker Fortune Brands <<A HREF="aol://4785:FO">FO.N</A>> and Remy Cointreau
<RCOP.PA>.

France's Vivendi put Seagram <VUE.TO> <<A HREF="aol://4785:V">V.N</A>> up for

sale in September as part of its merger with Seagram's entertainment businesses
to form Vivendi Universal.

Diageo, famed for its Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky and Smirnoff vodka, is

believed to want Seagram's Captain Morgan dark rum, its Crown Royal and VO

Canadian whiskies, and 7 Crowns American blended whiskey, while the Sterling

Californian wines business would be added to Diageo's Napa Valley wines.

In a spirits industry which has seen sluggish volume rises, Diageo is keen to
get its hands on Captain Morgan -- the fastest growing of Seagram's top 10
brands with volumes up 19 percent in 1999. Crown Royal was 9.1 percent ahead.

Pernod, with its aniseed-based drinks Ricard and Pastis 51 and Jameson's Irish
whiskey would pick up Seagram's Scotch whisky operations, including Chivas

Regal, Passport and Glenlivet single malt, and also Seagram's Gin. In 1999
Chivas Regal volumes were flat and Seagram Gin was off four percent.

Seagram's Martell cognac, the world's number three cognac after Hennessy and
Remy Martin and Seagram's third most valuable brand after Chivas Regal and

Crown Royal, is to be sold off and parties such as Remy have shown an interest.

Industry analyst Ian Shackleton at Credit Suisse First Boston said that if the
deal was confirmed as expected, then it looked like a win for Diageo but mixed
news for Pernod and Allied.

He expects Diageo to pay around $3.5 billion for brands with annual earnings of
just under $250 million, while Pernod will pay around the same for brands with
earnings of $300 million. A further $1 billion worth of brands, including
Martell, are expected to be sold off.

He has Diageo as a buy with a target price of 760 pence, but there are worries
over Pernod issued shares to pay for the deal while Allied could drift after it
lost out on Seagram.

Allied pulled out of the auction last week and says it has secured the rights
to Captain Morgan through a deal with the Puerto Rican rum supplier Destileria
Serralles if the brand changes hands, a claim Seagram strongly disputes.

Diageo shares closed up 16 pence at 716-1/2p, while Pernod ended up 0.32
percent at 62.70 euros.

Sale of Canadiens delayed until New Year

Decemeber 18, 2000 MONTREAL (AP) - The sale of the <A
HREF="aol://1722:Canadiens">Montreal Canadiens</A> will be delayed until early
next year.

Owner Molson Inc. is extending its Dec. 31 target date to sell the team and the
Molson Center arena.

Molson president Daniel O'Neill said only that ``a number of potential
acquirers'' are negotiating.

Molson has refused to identify potential buyers and said it would not comment
on the negotiations until a sale agreement has been reached.

Recent news reports have identified telecom giant BCE Inc., as a key player in
a group that is negotiating to buy the team.

Molson put the Canadiens and the arena up for sale earlier this year to improve
the company's finances and focus on its core brewing operations. Since the late
1990s, Molson has sold off many of its non-brewing businesses and bought back
full control of its brewing operations from Australia's Foster's brewing group.

In recent years, the sports division has lost money or made meager profits.

Mad Cow Disease Spreads to Bavaria, German Sausage, Beer Center

Munich, Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Butchers in southern Germany, a region as famous
at home for its cattle as it is abroad for its beer and sausage, traditionally
used the label ``Original Bavarian Beef'' as a mark of quality. Now it could
turn out to be a health warning.

Three weeks after the first German case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or
``mad cow'' disease, was discovered, authorities said they found at least one
more case on a Bavarian farm and ordered 81 other animals to be killed starting
tomorrow.

For Bavaria, fear among consumers over the safety of beef may dent the local
economy. The state is home to a third of Germany's cattle and farmers say they
face financial ruin because people are abandoning beef and meat products,
including the region's traditional sausages.

``For all farms and companies that are in the meat industry this is a giant
blow,'' Wolfgang Deml, chief executive of BayWa AG, an operator of stores that
sell goods ranging from building materials to farm machinery, said in a
telephone interview.

The human form of the disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, or CJD, some scientists say
may be transmitted through BSE-infected beef. It has claimed more than 80 lives
in the U.K., where the first BSE cases were recorded in the late 1980s.

In Germany, tests on two more cows from the area of Cham in northern Bavaria
and from Crailsheim in the neighboring state of Baden-Wuerttemberg have yet to
yield results.

Of the 14.9 million cattle counted in Germany last year, more than 4 million
had their home in a Bavarian stable, according to figures from the Bavarian
Statistics Office.

Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber said in a statement ``this is a severe
blow for our farm industry.'' The state has scheduled a meeting for tomorrow to
discuss the situation.

Sausage Eaters

Although Germany has the second-lowest per-capita consumption of beef in the
European Union, behind Portugal, almost all German sausage recipes can contain
beef.

Germans consume 92 kilograms of meat a year on average and more than a third of
that is in the form of sausage.

Prices for sausage and ham in Germany probably will rise by as much as 2
deutsche marks (92 cents) per kilogram as a result of new cattle feed rules
introduced after the discovery of ``mad cow'' cases, the association of German
meat producers said.

What's more, German lawmakers are all too aware of the impact on agriculture
and exports a food scare can have.

The Belgian government last year cut its forecast for economic growth after
cancer-causing dioxin was found in chickens, leading to international bans on
Belgian meat and dairy products, hampering production and exports.

``This is the worst possible scenario,'' said Ulrike Hoefken, agricultural
spokeswoman for the Green Party in Germany's lower house of parliament, or
Bundestag.

Financial Help?

So far, the government hasn't pledged any specific financial aid to farmers hit
by the BSE scare.

The government will ``obviously live up to its financial obligations,'' German
Finance Minister Hans Eichel told daily Berliner Morgenzeitung in an interview.
He added that ``we mustn't always create room for new subsidies.''

At the same time, Germans haven't blamed the government for the emergence of
the bovine disease that plagued the U.K. government in the 1990s, a survey by
the Emnid institute for television broadcaster N-TV indicated.

Thirty-nine percent of those polled said they'd vote for Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder's Social Democrats if elections were held this Sunday, one point more
than in the previous week's survey. Support for the main opposition Christian
Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, was
unchanged from a week earlier at 37 percent.

Still, the number of BSE cases in Germany may rise. Germany only introduced
obligatory tests for BSE on cattle older than 30 months after the first
reported case last month in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, the state that
borders with Denmark.

Back on the Bavarian farm near in Sulzback, a village of 3,000 near the Alps,
the risk has turned into reality.

The farm today resembled a murder scene, according to television pictures.
Police blocked the entrances to the farm, sealing off roads, while journalists
and television crews waited outside in the snow.

Martini twist shakes traditional bridal shower

By Gail Appleson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lil Rushing Roy wanted to inject some real spirit into a
bridal shower she was giving, so she ditched the usual juvenile games for a
swanky martini party where imbibing invitees decorated martini glasses for the
newlyweds.

Roy, an Oklahoma City regional vice president for an executive search company,
said that while such potent potions would once have been taboo at staid bridal
showers, nothing could be more chic in the 21st century.

"There were 17 or 18 women there and we went through four half gallons (7.5
liters) of vodka," Roy said of the party held at Philadelphia's elegant
Rittenhouse Hotel. "They blew through it like Sherman coming through Atlanta."

Lifestyle experts say the new twist on traditional bridal showers is just one
small example of the revival of the 1950s-style cocktail party. But unlike the
'50s, the reincarnation -- now in full holiday-season swing -- calls for
top-of-the-line spirits and colorful concoctions employing flavored vodkas and
fruit infusions.

Dale DeGroff, an authority on spirits and mixology and former bartender at
Manhattan's famed Rainbow Room, said cocktails are definitely an integral part
of home entertaining.

"Do you think that Martha Stewart would have had me on five years ago making
cocktails?" he asked, referring to his television appearance this year. "But
it's become a middle America thing now."

Indeed, this is crystal clear just from the proliferation of bar glassware and
accessories at stores across the country.

Restoration Hardware, the 20-year-old home furnishing retailer, is a perfect
example. Dave Glassman, director of marketing at the San Francisco area-based
company, said it began offering barware only in 1998 with the introduction of a
penguin-shaped shaker based on a 1936 design.

The shaker sold so well that now Restoration, which has 106 stores in the
United States and Canada, has expanded its barware selection to include a range
of accessories like olive picks, drink napkins and even books on making
cocktails. And it has introduced two new exclusive designs, a zeppelin-shaped
cocktail shaker last year and a polar bear this year.

"The demand has been increasing each year so we're trying to keep up with
consumers' appetites," Glassman said.

COCKTAILS ARE COOL

Jay McInerney, wine columnist for House & Garden magazine, said cocktails have
definitely returned as an important part of social life even though the concept
of cocktail parties came close to extinction in the 1960s and '70s.

"In my generation, it was seen as a suburban, corporate institution. It
basically became uncool," said McInerney, author of the best-selling novel
"Bright Lights, Big City.

"I suppose drugs also had something to do with it," he added, explaining that
cocktails had no place in college dorm rooms where students smoked marijuana
and drank jug wine. But he said the pendulum has swung back with a vengeance.

McInerney credits the swing in part to the Cosmopolitan, the seductive pink
vodka-and-cranberry-juice concoction that shook up America a few years ago.
"It's a Trojan horse of a cocktail," he said of the innocent-looking drink that
packs a surprising wallop. "It got in the door because of people who were
afraid to drink martinis."

Although the drink has been around for about 15 years, DeGroff said, it did not
become popular until Madonna was seen drinking a Cosmo around 1997. That is
when he put the drink on the Rainbow Room menu, he said.

"I got calls from around the world asking me to make the cocktail Madonna was
drinking. Now it's still the hottest cocktail going," he said, although
rum-based drinks from South America and the Caribbean are rapidly growing in
popularity.

While cocktails have made a definite comeback as part of home entertaining,
House & Garden food editor Lora Zarubin said, the trend involves premium
spirits. "If someone is going to make cocktails it will be about great
ingredients. I don't think it's about scotch and soda. I think it's about what
scotch it is."

DeGroff agreed: "It's not about slamming back three martinis but one
high-quality drink. Fifteen years ago you wouldn't have had nearly the options
you have now."

Roy credits the return of the cocktail to the influx of premium vodkas because
the clear spirit can be mixed with fruit juices to create a range of dazzling
drinks. She said the availability of classy stemware also helped.

"I think hard liquor made a resurgence because of vodka, because it's about
looking good as much as tasting good."

This gave rise to her idea for a bridal shower with guests decorating a dozen
different styles of martini glasses with paint, beads and costume jewels as a
gift for the wedding couple. Invitees sampled a flight of three different
martinis -- cosmopolitan, raspberry pucker and chocolatini -- while they
worked. One woman was so inspired she painted the Manhattan skyline around a
glass.

Roy's next project is creating a recipe for a "Noeltini" with vodka, cranberry
and orange flavors and a cinnamon or nutmeg spice "that will taste like
Christmas smells."

She is also considering how to fight post-holiday doldrums. "I want to have a
party after New Years where everybody brings their own concoction and we'll
vote on the winner," she said. "Everybody is trying to get their own signature
thing going."

[J2jurado]

Asahi Breweries Says It Will Begin Selling Low-Malt Beer in Feb

Tokyo, Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Asahi Breweries Ltd., which is losing ground to
rivals who produce low-malt beers, said it will begin selling a low-malt
product next February to meet growing demand for the less-expensive beer.

Japan's No. 2 beermaker, which has long relied on sales of its Super Dry beer,
the nation's most popular, is the last of Japan's major brewers to enter the
market for low-malt beers.

It aims to sell 15 million cases of its new Asahi Honnama a year, according to
company spokeswoman Mikako Izumizaki. Kirin Brewery Co., the country's largest
brewer, shipped 60 million cases of low-malt beer between January and November,
accounting for more than half the market.

Partly because they are taxed lower, low-malt beers are about 30 percent
cheaper than other beers and appeal to consumers amid Japan's decade-long
economic slump. A low malt beer has less than 25% malt in its formulation, with
the balance being rice, corn or a combination of both.

Asahi Breweries announced its intention to enter the low-malt beer market in
October, as part of a mid-term management plan through the end of 2004.

The company's shares fell 2 yen to 1095 yen.

Asahi Says Low-Malt Beer Won't Detract From Super Dry

Tokyo, Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Asahi Breweries Ltd., Japan's second-largest
beermaker, said its entry into the low-malt beer market won't detract from
sales of its Super Dry regular beer, the nation's most popular brand.

Asahi is the last of Japan's major brewers to enter the market for cheaper
low-malt beers aimed at boosting sales amid a decade-long economic slump.
Low-malt beers are taxed at a lower rate, making them a third less expensive
than regular beer.

Asahi's sales have risen for the last four years, led by Super Dry, though
growth of the brand has slowed, prompting the company in October to say it
would enter the low-malt market.

``Low-malt brew, which has been just a substitute for regular beer, is now
worthy of a new category, and can be differentiated from regular beer,'' said
Yuji Ninomiya, senior general manager of marketing at Asahi.

The company said it will start sales of the low-malt beer, Asahi Honnama, on
Feb. 21. It expects to ship 15 million cases by the end of next year.

Low-malt beers appeal to consumers who have cut spending amid Japan's
decade-long economic slump. First introduced by Suntory Ltd. in 1994, low-malts
now account for 22 percent of the total beer market.

Kirin Brewery Co., the country's largest brewer, shipped 60 million cases of
low-malt beer between January and November, accounting for more than half the
market. Low-malt beers have helped Kirin, third-largest Sapporo Breweries Co.,
and Suntory to make up for declining sales of regular beer.

Asahi said it expects the low-malt market to increase 7 percent next year, and
the regular beer market to fall 2 percent.

``We'd like to get part of that growth,'' Ninomiya said.

Asahi shares fell 2 yen to 1,095 yen. The shares have fallen 2.1 percent this
year, less than the 24 percent decline in the Topix index of all first section
shares on the Tokyo exchange.

Lion Nathan Sees Higher 2001 Earnings

Sydney, Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Lion Nathan Ltd., Australia's No. 2 brewer, said
it expects earnings to rise in the current fiscal year, even as higher taxes
dent beer sales.

Chief Executive Gordon Cairns said beer sales in Australia ``remain volatile''
and ``a concern,'' with volumes in the three months to Nov. 30 falling 3
percent from a year ago. Sales from New Zealand fell 1.3 percent in the same
period.

Still, Cairns told reporters after the company's annual meeting in Sydney he
remains ``very comfortable'' with analysts' forecasts of 6-to-7 percent
earnings growth in the fiscal year to Sept. 30, 2001.

Like its main rival Foster's Brewing Group Ltd., Lion's sales in Australia have
fallen since the government introduced higher taxes on beer from July 1. The
price paid for draught beer served in a bar has risen by as much as 8 percent,
adding about 20 cents to a glass of beer.

On Oct. 23, Foster's said its first-quarter beer sales fell more than 2.5
percent from a year ago because of the new taxes.

Lion is expected to report a profit of A$145 million ($79 million) in fiscal
2001, according to a Bloomberg news survey of four analysts. This compares with
a profit of A$130.2 million, or 24.2 cents a share, for the year to Aug. 31.

Sydney-based Lion, which makes ``Tooheys'' and ``Hahn'' brand beer, has changed
its fiscal year to line up with its 46.1 percent- owner, Japan's Kirin Brewery
Co. The company makes about 80 percent of its earnings in its home market of
Australia.

Meantime, Cairns said Lion is in talks with six offshore companies about an
alliance to turnaround sales at its unprofitable brewing operations in China.
He declined to name the companies involved, though he said they include two
Chinese brewers, two investment companies listed in Hong Kong and one
international brewer.

Lion took a A$120 million one-time charge in its fiscal 2000 profit result to
cover the restructuring of its Chinese assets, which include two breweries in
China's Yangtze Delta region. Losses in China rose to A$27.6 million last year.

Lion stock rose 2 cents to A$4.18. Foster's rose 6 cents to A$4.70.

Genesee Brewing Co. Bought Out

Decemeber 19, 2000 ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - A management-led buyout of Genesee
Brewing Co. was completed Monday, saving 450 jobs and ending two years of
speculation that the brewery might shut down.

A team of eight Genesee Corp. executives bought out the company for $25.8
million, with $14.8 million in cash.

The new company name will be the High Falls Brewing Co., which will enter the
market as the fifth-largest beer producer in the country. The Genesee name will
be kept on all the beer labels. However, new specialty brews will bear the High
Falls name.

Pabst Brewing Co., the nation's fourth-largest brewery, had previously offered
to buy certain Genesee labels, but Genesee Brewing would have been closed under
that proposed deal.

High Falls is spending $3.5 million more dollars on advertising than Genesee
and hopes to grow through contracting for other companies and advertising its
own specialty beers.

Genesee produced 1.6 million barrels of beer and ale per year with sales of
$103.3 million in the 1998-99 fiscal year. Its brands included regional beers
Genesee Beer and Genny Light along with specialty brews like J.W. Dundee Honey
Brown Lager. It also brewed Samuel Adams beer under contract for Boston Beer
Co.

The Genesee Beer Co. has made beer in Rochester since 1838.

just-drinks.com: Uvine.com Puts Auction HousesAnd Fine Wine Trading Under the
Hammer

LONDON, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- http://www.just-drinks.com -- The future of
fine wine trading is under threat from the growing influence of Uvine.com, the
online fine wine stock exchange.

A special report at http://just-drinks.com/features-detail.asp?art=342 assesses
the impact of the site, which is causing deep controversy for the more
conservative elements of the trade.

Uvine.com offers an unprecedented realtime, online marketplace with the
opportunity to trade drinks as a commodity for investment or a liquid for
drinking. Victor Gallegos, CEO of the US division of Uvine.com, believes the
site will allow the wine trade to behave like a normal market where prices
fluctuate according to supply and demand.

"Private wine buyers think themselves lucky when claret prices have only risen
by a single percentage figure on the previous vintage", he states. "And they
are, of course, being hoodwinked, "No bottle of Grand Cru standard wine is
really worth thousands of dollars."

While Uvine.com embarks on its mission to find out the real price of a bottle,
others are sceptical of producers becoming involved in the concept.

Charles Sichel, whose family-owned business is from the top drawer of the wine
trade, states: "The system Bordeaux works on is archaic but it works. In
theory, the Uvine.com idea is good and I am sure it is interesting for
consumers trading with their own cellar and maybe some UK brokers but I can't
see why producers would be interested."

For the full story, click here:
http://just-drinks.com/features-detail.asp?art=342

SAB leads S.African shares up one percent at lunch

1100 GMT - A rally in South African Breweries <SABJ.J> shares and firmer
resources stocks led the Johannesburg bourse up more than one percent in thin
lunchtime trade on Tuesday.

* SAB -- the world's fifth largest brewer -- was the market's most active
counter, adding 3.2 percent or 170 cents to 54.70 rand in what dealers said was
a correction from recent lows. "It's coming from a bit of an oversold
position," said one trader

* The benchmark all-share index <.JSAI> rose one percent to 8,234 points, just
below important technical level of around 8,300, after the data feed from the
bourse was restored following an early interruption.

* M-Cell <MCEJ.J> jumps 5.26 percent or 120 cents to 24 rand after CSFB started
coverage of the mobile operator with a "buy."

* Platinum index <.JPLT> rises three percent, led by Angloplat <AMSJ.J>, which
moves up 11 rand to 332 rand after Monday's news that it handed over some
mineral rights on 14 undeveloped farms in Lebowa to the government. The deal
guarantees Angloplat future operations.

Proactive Tool Introduced to Help Reduce Campus Alcohol Abuse

Promising Practices Action Planner Introduces Steps for Developing A
Comprehensive Campus Alcohol Abuse Prevention Program

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, to help campuses address the
problems associated with alcohol misuse, the 2001 Promising Practices Action
Planner was released and distributed to 3,000 college presidents and chief
student affairs officers across the country. This tool is a means for
developing comprehensive strategies towards fighting alcohol abuse on America's
college campuses. Developed through a grant provided by The Century Council, a
non-profit organization dedicated to fighting alcohol abuse and funded by
America's leading distillers, this resource was designed by Dr. Gail Gleason
Milgram of Rutgers University and Dr. David Anderson of George Mason University
who worked with an Advisory Panel of national experts.

"The Action Planner is an element of a five-year, nationally funded project
known as Promising Practices," said Gail Milgram, Project Co-Director and
Professor of Education and Training at the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers
University. "The planner was created to provide a framework by which campus
and community leaders can roll up their sleeves and do the very hard work
necessary to define directions to take in future programming efforts."

A recent study released by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism points up the critical need for resources like Promising Practices.
According to the study, over half the students surveyed have consumed alcohol
in the past 30 days.

Promising Practices project leaders found that disjointed and often
single-events are not successful in addressing the depth of problems associated
with alcohol misuse. "Through our research, we found that campuses lack
specific goals, their efforts were without a clear, concise message and many
campuses lacked an organized plan for program design and implementation," said
Dr. David Anderson, Project Co-Director and Associate Professor at the Center
for the Advancement of Public Health at George Mason University.

The result of their research concluded the need for a long-term planning tool
that specifically guides campuses as they work and create a comprehensive
prevention program. The implementation of such a plan requires collective
action and partnering of various groups and individuals on-campus.

The Action Planner centers around an eight-step model in its approach to
effectively combat alcohol abuse on-campus. The first and most critical step
requires the institution to develop a campus task force, the task force serves
as the foundation for organizing the prevention efforts on-campus. From there
the task force is responsible for determining guiding principles, which should
reflect both the current and future status of the prevention program. Once
goals are set, the needs of the campus are clarified and resources are
assessed. The task force then prioritizes actions and effectively communicates
the messages to the campus public. The coordination of these messages creates
the building blocks necessary for institutionalizing the overall prevention
program.

"It is imperative that the task force oversee operations to ensure a process
that continually evolves over time. This allows for possible modification of
the strategies of the task force goals," says Anderson.

"The goal of making our campuses a healthy and safe haven for learning is of
utmost importance," says Milgram. "By sharing our strategies and resources,
like our 'Beer Is Bad Month' iniative and the Alcohol Abuse Library, we can
quickly work toward solving problems associated with alcohol abuse on campus.

The Century Council is dedicated towards promoting responsible decision- making
regarding the consumption or non-consumption of beverage alcohol as well as
combating all forms of irresponsible drinking.

Dervishes whirl to commemorate mystic Mevlana

By Claudia Parsons

KONYA, Turkey, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Dressed in white robes with billowing skirts,
a group of Turkish men take to the floor and whirl to keep alive the memory of
a mystic philosopher who died over 700 years ago.

Each dervish bows and kisses the hand of an elder, who presides over the
"Sema," before slowly starting to spin.

Gradually he stretches out his arms and throws back his head, picking up speed
yet somehow avoiding dizziness.

"Sema is not just a dance, it's also the reflection of a philosophy," said
Osman Siviloglu, cultural director of the city of Konya in central Turkey.

"Performers whirl from right to left with the right hand in turned to the sky
and the left to the ground...which means giving to people what you have
received from God with your heart oriented towards God," he said.

"There is a turning movement in the basis of the universe, and people turn too.
They come from God and go back to God, they come from the soil and go back to
the soil."

The whirling, which lasts for around half an hour, is the climax of an evening
which starts with music and songs including poetry written by the mystic
Mevlana.

Born Jalaladdin Rumi, a Persian in what is now Afghanistan in 1207, Mevlana
travelled widely before settling in Konya where he wrote poetry as well as
discourses on subjects ranging from love and God to science and astronomy.

Rumi died on December 17, 1273 -- a date commemorated each year by a week-long
festival including conferences and exhibitions about his life and the history
of the Mevlevi order.

The dervishes range in age from 17 to 65 but even the grey-bearded older men
are remarkably spry as they pivot on their left foot, using the right one to
propel themselves around. Some are full-time dervishes; others are ordinary
people such as farmers, shopkeepers and students.

CULTURAL EVENT OR SPIRITUAL FESTIVAL?

The Mevlevi sect was banned in 1925 after the foundation of the secular Turkish
Republic so modern dervishes are not strictly speaking members of the sect.

The festival is organised and controlled by the Culture Ministry which employs
around 35 full-time musicians and dancers who tour in Turkey and abroad during
the rest of the year.

"They are artists but paid by the state," Siviloglu said. "The convents,
dervish lodges and recluse cells are banned under the Republic...there is no
hierarchy."

But while they may not follow the traditional 1,001 days of training and
initiation that dervishes did in the past, the ecstatic, spiritual mood of the
Sema seems genuine enough.

"As this is worship, they think about Allah," said Mustafa Holat, one of the
older dervishes who organises the Sema.

"It's up to the individual according to his own capacity. Each one improvises
within himself and only he knows what he feels," continued Holat as the
dervishes relaxed with a cup of tea after one of many performances during the
week.

"The basis of the sect and the religion is to reach God, or more specifically
to reach knowledge of God."

The ceremonial costume is as symbolic as the dance -- the long white robes
symbolise the death shroud of the ego, seen as a barrier to union between the
dervish and God.

Tall cylindrical hats -- tilted almost flat as they spin -- are a symbol of the
ego's tombstone.

For many in the audience the Sema has not lost its spiritual nature despite
being officially a cultural event now performed in a sports hall rather than
the home of the Mevlevi order.

Konya, a sprawling grey city dotted with centuries old mosques, has a
reputation as Turkey's most religious city.

Most women wear headscarves in public and the holy month of Ramadan is observed
strictly with many restaurants and tea-shops closed during daylight hours. Many
hotels and restaurants do not serve beer or wine in keeping with the Koran's
ban on alcohol.

The anniversary of Mevlana's death, known as the "wedding night" when he
finally achieved union with God through death, is among the most holy days in
Konya's calendar.

Thousands of Turks and a few tourists flock to his tomb to pray and seek his
intercession.

Mourners from five religious denominations are said to have attended Mevlana's
funeral, and his poetry is often quoted as evidence of the tolerance inherent
in Islam yet often ignored by the West.

Siviloglu said the aim of the festival was to promote a philosophy of peace,
love and tolerance.

"The highest ranking representatives of other religions in Turkey were
invited," he said. "But none of them has come yet."

Moscow Official Wounded, Driver Shot Dead Close to the Kremlin

Moscow, Dec. 19 (Bloomberg)-- Moscow Deputy Mayor Iosif Ordzhonikidze was
wounded in the thigh and stomach and his driver was killed this morning in a
shooting less than a kilometer from the Kremlin, Moscow officials said.

The shooting took place at 9:15 a.m. local time on Leontyevsky Pereulok, about
500 meters from the Mayor's Office as Ordzhonikidze was being driven to work.
The deputy mayor was taken to the hospital. Two gunmen standing either side of
the road fired armor- piercing bullets at his official car, which is reinforced
to withstand normal gunfire, as it passed them, NTV television reported. More
than 30 bullets were found in the car, NTV said.

``He probably got in someone's way,'' Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said, adding
that the attack probably was linked to his work, the Interfax news agency
reported.

One gunman, who killed the driver, used a pistol, while the second gunman fired
at the deputy mayor using an AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle, NTV reported.

Ordzhonikidze is responsible for the Moscow government's international economic
relations and worked on large-scale investments involving foreign currency,
Luzhkov said.

High-ranking city officials have rarely been targeted by criminals. Deputy
Mayor Valery Shantsev was seriously wounded in June 1996 when a bomb exploded
as he left his apartment building. The head of the city government's education
committee survived a shot to the head in May 1997.

Moscow officials often receive threats in connection with their works, Luzhkov
said.

``A whole sea of threats,'' have been received following the closure of some
markets and alcohol counterfeiting controls, Luzhkov said.

Ordzhonikidze also sat on committees on public toilets, tourism and lotteries.

[J2jurado]

SAB leads S.African shares up one percent at lunch

1100 GMT - A rally in South African Breweries <SABJ.J> shares and firmer
resources stocks led the Johannesburg bourse up more than one percent in thin
lunchtime trade on Tuesday.

* SAB -- the world's fifth largest brewer -- was the market's most active
counter, adding 3.2 percent or 170 cents to 54.70 rand in what dealers said was
a correction from recent lows. "It's coming from a bit of an oversold
position," said one trader

* The benchmark all-share index <.JSAI> rose one percent to 8,234 points, just
below important technical level of around 8,300, after the data feed from the
bourse was restored following an early interruption.

* M-Cell <MCEJ.J> jumps 5.26 percent or 120 cents to 24 rand after CSFB started
coverage of the mobile operator with a "buy."

* Platinum index <.JPLT> rises three percent, led by Angloplat <AMSJ.J>, which
moves up 11 rand to 332 rand after Monday's news that it handed over some
mineral rights on 14 undeveloped farms in Lebowa to the government. The deal
guarantees Angloplat future operations.

Colombia's Bavaria Brewery Workers May Strike, El Tiempo Says

(12/19; Tiempo, Sec. 2, P.2)

Bogota, Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Workers at brewer Bavaria SA, Colombia's No. 1
private company by market capitalization, plan to vote on whether to strike
today as talks to increase next year salaries failed, said the daily El Tiempo.

Ever Madariago, president of Bavaria's labor union, said Bavaria's management
ignored workers' demands for a 25 percent wage increase for next year,
provoking the strike vote, the paper said.

The company said it wasn't aware the union was about to take a strike vote, El
Tiempo said. Bavaria has a 5,600 staff and its union numbers about 3,580
workers.

Workers say Bavaria, whose third-quarter net income fell 14 percent, isn't in
crisis and that it used profits to buy rival Cerveceria Leona last May.

Bavaria drags Colombia stocks lower, peso firm

BOGOTA, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Colombian stocks slipped Tuesday, dragged down by
market bellwether Bavaria <BAV.BG> as the brewing and beverage giant traded
lower on news of an impending strike, while the peso held steady against the
dollar.

On the stock market, Bogota's IBB <.IBB> index shed 0.66 percent to close at
709.28 on turnover of $579,600. In Medellin, where $678,500 of shares traded
hands, the IBOMED <.IBMG> general price index fell 0.37 percent to 8,944.09.

Dealers said the market focus was squarely on Bavaria, the most
heavily-weighted share in Colombia's stock indices, after the head of its trade
union announced that rank-and-file members would stage an indefinite work
stoppage beginning at 6 a.m. (local/1100 GMT) Wednesday.

The union, which represents about 3,800 members of Bavaria's 5,100-strong work
force, is demanding a 25 percent wage hike for next year, more than double the
increase planned at most private companies or in the public sector.

Officials at Bavaria, which is one of the world's top 20 brewers and supplies
about 90 percent of the beer consumed in Colombia, could not be reached for
comment on possible contingency measures to offset the impact of the strike.

Bavaria's common stock fell 1.62 percent to 6,670 pesos per share in Bogota and
ended down 0.71 percent at the same price in Medellin.

The day's other decliners included cigarette maker Coltabaco <CCT.BG>, which
did not trade in Bogota but closed 1.77 percent lower at 2,110 pesos per share
in Medellin.

The peso <COP=>, meanwhile, ended a day of see-saw trading just 0.04 percent
lower against the dollar at 2,187.

The local currency ranged between a high of 2,178 and an intraday low of
2,194.50 and dealers said demand for dollars from banks and financial
intermediaries was countered by sales of greenbacks by state oil company
Ecopetrol.

Traders reported 188 transactions for a total of $162.4 million, about twice
the daily average.

Diageo N. America exec sees Seagram deal as great boost

By Jessica Wohl

NEW YORK, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The top North American executive of Britain's
Diageo Plc's <DGE.L> drinks business sees the company's joint purchase of the
Seagram's drink brands boosting its existing North American spirits business by
about 50 percent.

Diageo on Tuesday garnered rights to some of the world's most famous alcoholic
drinks brands with a $8.15 billion joint purchase of the Seagram's brands along
with France's Pernod-Ricard <PERP.PA>.

Paul Clinton, President and Chief Executive Officer of UDV North America, the
North American arm of London-based Diageo, told Reuters that the deal will let
Diageo grow its spirits business in the United States and Canada by about 50
percent.

The deal takes Diageo's share in the North American market "up to around a 22
percent level from about a 15 percent level," Clinton said in a phone
interview.

According to Clinton, the deal adds about about 9 million more cases for Diageo
in the U.S. alone per year. The company already markets a variety of brands
such as Smirnoff vodka, Jose Cuervo tequila and Guinness beer.

"We're already the leaders in the U.S., but now it's a significant leadership
position and it adds categories that we don't really participate in right now,"
Clinton said, mentioning brands such as Captain Morgan rum and Crown Royal
whiskey, which Diageo also gets as part of the deal.

"It just gets better with this," he said.

As for Captain Morgan, Allied Domecq <ALLD.L> claimed it had secured the rights
to the brand through a deal with Destilleria Serralles, the distiller that has
been providing the rum product to Seagram, if the brand changed hands.

Seagram, however, strongly disputes that claim.

"Our belief is that it is part of this agreement that Captain Morgan will go to
us because we bought the company," Clinton said. "The view of our legal
advisors is there is no change in control and therefore Captain Morgan is part
of this agreement."

"We'll do what it takes to defend our rights for Captain Morgan, it's an
important part of this agreement," he said.

Clinton called Captain Morgan and Crown Royal "two of the most important brand
franchises in the U.S.," adding that the brands are "critically important" for
Diageo's presence at bars and restaurants.

He also noted that Seagram's Sterling Vineyards wine business will be combined
with Diageo's existing wine business.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, came later than some had anticipated. When
asked why there was a delay, Clinton said some last minute contractual details
may have been hammered out.

"I don't think there was anything overall, just a few last minute details. When
these things get done overnight, I think there are some last minute loose ends
that have to get tied up," he said.

According to Clinton, no one is quite sure where the Seagram's executives will
go once the deal is completed.

"We're definitely going to want to have some of the Seagram folks involved in
our business and Pernod, I'm sure, is going to want to have some of the folks
involved in their business," he said.

"Overall, I think there's going to be lots of opportunities, we just can't say
right now where those opportunities are going to be and for who."

Clinton said that working with Pernod on this deal "was about as perfect a fit
as you could get," but that it was tough to say whether the two beverage giants
will work together on future deals.

Diageo-Pernod swallow Seagram drinks for $8.15 bln

By David Jones and Caroline Brothers

LONDON/PARIS, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Britain's Diageo and France's Pernod Ricard
clinched the world's biggest alcoholic drinks deal on Tuesday, buying Seagram's
wines and spirits empire debt free for $8.15 billion in cash.

The Anglo-French bid for the Seagram's portfolio, featuring Chivas Regal whisky
and Captain Morgan rum, beat off a rival grouping of privately owned Bacardi,
Jack Daniel's whiskey maker Brown-Forman and Absolut vodka owner Vin & Sprit.

The two will split up the 76-year old Seagram business between them 61:39 in
favour of Diageo, and sell off some of the smaller brands, with Diageo
providing $5 billion of the funding for the deal and Pernod $3.15 billion.

Industry analysts said the move by the Anglo-French team to divide the world's
third largest spirits empire between them is likely to trigger a round of
further rationalisation in the global spirits industry amongst the other major
players.

For Diageo, it fills gaps in its portfolio with Captain Morgan rum and Canadian
whiskies and adds to its wine list, while Pernod gains greater distribution in
the key North American market and clout in the profitable scotch market, they
added.

"These are assets of quality and this is a fair price which will still give
shareholder value for us," Diageo Chief Executive Paul Walsh told Reuters after
the deal was signed.

Pernod said it will become the third largest global spirits company after
Diageo and Allied Domecq. It becomes number two player worldwide in the scotch
whisky industry and in the cognac market after Diageo and LVMH respectively.
The deal is conditional on clearance by anti-trust authorities.

"This deal gives us a better balance in geographical and portfolio terms and
will make scotch, which is an international drink, our biggest profit earner
rather than anis," Pernod's joint managing director Richard Burrows told
Reuters.

SEAGRAM'S BRANDS CARVED UP

The brands acquired by Diageo add up to nearly 17 million 12-bottle cases with
sales of just over $1 billion and will push group total sales well over 100
million cases annually. It was already twice as big as second player Allied
before the deal.

Pernod picks up around 14 million cases with sales of $1.2 billion and will now
challenge Allied for number two spot.

From the split up, Diageo gets Captain Morgan, Crown Royal and VO Canadian
whiskies, 7 Crown American whiskey and the Sterling Vineyards wines from the
Seagram's portfolio. It also gains local brands Cacique rum in Venezuela and
Spain, Windsor Premium whisky in South Korea and U.S. premium run Myers.

In a spirits industry which has seen sluggish volume growth, Diageo was keen to
gets its hands on Captain Morgan which is the fastest growing of Seagram's top
ten brands with volumes up 19 percent in 1999 while Crown Royal was 9.1 percent
ahead.

Pernod will get Seagram's scotch whisky brands including Chivas Regal, Glen
Grant, Royal Salute and Glenlivet single malt as well as Martell cognac and
Seagram's Gin, and several national brands in Latin America, Asia and Europe.

"It is significant because it changes the shape of the company. It gives the
company the means to pursue its ambition of extending mid-sized brands across a
greater region, and gives it a portfolio of global brands that are well
recognised," said an institutional investor in Pernod.

Diageo shares earlier closed off 0.77 percent at 711 pence, having moved up
from around 600 pence in late September, while Pernod shares in Paris closed at
62.60 euros, down 0.16 percent.

The Anglo-French team has also agreed to sell non-core Seagram brands such as
Sandemans sherry and port and Oddbins UK wines shops within 12 months. The
value of these non-core businesses amounts to $670 million, which Diageo says
represents a "prudent estimate" of the expected disposal proceeds.

WALSH LOOKS TO HIGH MARGIN DRINKS

Diageo's Walsh said his group, which already owns Johnnie Walker whisky and
Smirnoff vodka, was picking up high-margin products, and would now have 18 of
the world's top 100 spirits brands and increase its share of the important
North American spirits market to 22 percent from 15 percent previously.

He said this move was a logical one after selling off its Pillsbury U.S. foods
business, announcing a float of Burger King and merging of its two main
businesses, UDV wines and spirits and Guinness beer this year, to focus on
alcoholic drinks.

Pernod, with its aniseed-based drinks Ricard and Pastis 51 and Jameson's Irish

whiskey, said it will finance the deal through borrowing. A refinancing
programme has been arranged, including the sale of assets and non-core
businesses and the issue of a convertible bond.

Both Diageo and Pernod expect the deal to be earnings enhancing in the first
full year of acquisition.

Allied pulled out of the auction last week and said it had secured the rights

to Captain Morgan through a deal with the Puerto Rican rum supplier Destileria
Serralles if the brand changes hands, a claim Seagram strongly disputes.

Analysts said the deal could lead to rationalisation amongst other industry
players such as the three members of the losing consortium Bacardi,
Brown-Forman and Vin & Sprit, and also Jim Beam maker Fortune Brands and Remy
Cointreau.

France's Vivendi put Seagram's drinks up for sale in September following its
merger with Seagram's entertainment businesses to form media group Vivendi
Universal.

The auction was handled by U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.
Diageo was advised by UBS Warburg and Pernod by Societe Generale.

Brown-Forman says Seagram not key for prospects

NEW YORK, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Brown-Forman Corp. <<A
HREF="aol://4785:BFa">BFa.N</A>>, one of the losing bidders for Seagram's
drinks business, on Tuesday expressed disappointment about the auction's
outcome, but said the deal was not essential to its prospects.

Bacardi, which teamed up with Brown-Forman to make a bid, said the Seagram
auction was consistent with its strategy of pursuing additional brands to add
to its portfolio.

"We are pleased to have participated in the Seagram auction process together
with our partner Brown Forman, and will continue to remain alert for other
opportunities," Bacardi said in a statement.

Brown-Forman said earnings are increasing at an annual rate of 10 percent and
noted the company has benefited from recent alliances with other makers of
alcoholic beverages.

"We remain interested in selectively adding complementary spirits and wine
brands that may become available in the future," Chief Executive Officer Owsley
Brown said in a news release.

Britain's Diageo <DGE.L> and France's Pernod Ricard <PERP.PA> earlier clinched
the world's biggest alcoholic drinks deal on Tuesday with a cash bid of $8.15
billion.

Louisville, Ky.-based Brown-Forman, maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey, had teamed
up with privately owned Bacardi and Absolut vodka owner Vin & Sprit to make a
rival bid.

Avado Brands Reports Fourth Quarter Updates

MADISON, Ga., Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Avado Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq: <A
HREF="aol://4785:AVDO">AVDO</A>) today announced consolidated same-store sales
decreased 1.9 percent for the eight-week period ended November 26, 2000. The
Company's Hops Restaurant-Bar-Brewery and McCormick & Schmick's brands
continued positive sales performances with increases in same-store sales of 2.9
percent and 1.9 percent, respectively. However, Don Pablo's Mexican Kitchen
was 4.2 percent negative and Canyon Cafe was 11.5 percent negative.

Commenting on the sales comparisons, Tom E. DuPree, Jr. Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer said, "Although we are pleased with the performance at Hops
and McCormick & Schmick's, representing more than half of our business, the
sales performance so far in the quarter at Don Pablo's has not met our
expectations. Harsh winter weather conditions in the Midwest and Northeast at
the end of November severely impacted sales in many of our system's
top-performing markets. Sales trends also were weaker than expected leading up
to and following the presidential election. Also, starting in mid-November,
Don Pablo's began performing against a deep-discount coupon campaign that was
implemented system-wide last year through December, which generated consumer
trial and positive same-store sales. The negative trend continues in December
due to last year's coupon campaign and due to continued winter weather
conditions that have affected sales in 53 percent of our Don Pablo's
restaurants.

"Also, Don Pablo's is closely trending each week in the fourth quarter with the
Knapp-Track Mexican segment casual dining research index, which reflects
consumer concerns over genetically engineered yellow corn used in tacos and
corn-tortilla products. Don Pablo's has now switched to white corn in 100
percent of its restaurants and is beginning to communicate its use of superior,
non-modified white corn to consumers to alleviate concerns and bring more
customers to our restaurants.

"Hops demonstrates itself to be one of the finest specialty brewers of beer in
the Americas, and hopefully will grow internationally as we educate consumers
about what quality is about.

"Given the softness of sales so far this quarter, it will be extremely
difficult to obtain the $15.0 million of EBITDA (earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation and amortization) targeted for the quarter, but we believe
our EBITDA will be greater than the $7.0 million generated in the fourth
quarter of 1999," said Mr. DuPree.

In the fourth quarter, Avado Brands is making progress on improving its overall
financial picture by paying significant interest payments and through the sale
of various assets.

Fourth Quarter Highlights

* During the quarter, the Company made interest payments of nearly 12.0
million, including a $5.7 million payment on December 1 and a 5.9 million
payment on December 15 on its 9 3/4 percent Senior Notes and 11 3/4 percent
Senior Subordinated Notes, respectively.

* Avado continues to sell various assets to pay down debt and increase
liquidity. Following the $27.7 million sale-leaseback transaction closed in
October, the Company has sold a Hardee's location and two parcels of land
originally purchased in the Don Pablo's and Applebee's divisions for a total of
$2.4 million.

* Also, the Company expects to close on the sale of its 20 percent stake in
United Kingdom-based Belgo Group PLC for a total of approximately 8.0 million
by the end of December. The shares are to be repurchased by Belgo, subject to
shareholder approval.

Mr. DuPree said, "With the proceeds from these asset sales, we will have paid
not only the principal payments of $20.0 million due in 2000 but also the April
1, 2001 principal payment of $7.5 million and part of the $7.5 million July 1,
2001 payment on our revolving credit facility.

"And, as we look ahead to 2001, we expect the Don Pablo's brand will return to
positive same-store sales due to our stronger operations, culinary and
purchasing programs as well as marketing efforts. Adding to our confidence for
Don Pablo's is the strength of our brand team. For the first time in more than
a year, the brand has staffed substantially all functional areas. The team is
working diligently on its business operating plan for 2001 and we have high
expectations that the team will deliver sales growth and operational
excellence.

"Next year, we are optimistic that we will continue to reduce debt, maintain
positive sales in our Hops and McCormick & Schmick's brands and vastly improve
sales in our Don Pablo's brand. I have no doubt that steps we have taken so
far this year have gone a long way to setting the stage for an ultimate
recovery in our overall business."

Avado Brands, Inc. owns four decentralized brands, operating 17 Canyon Cafe
restaurants, 139 Don Pablo's Mexican Kitchens, 74 Hops Restaurant-Bar- Brewery
restaurants and 32 McCormick & Schmick's seafood dining stations.

Pechiney Obtains Key Recommendation in Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against
Continental Pet Technologies Beer, Ketchup Bottle

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 19, 2000--Pechiney Plastic Packaging, Inc., a
business unit of Pechiney (NYSE:<A HREF="aol://4785:PY">PY</A>), obtained a key
recommendation, which was filed in court, from a Special Master in a lawsuit
commenced in 1990 against Continental PET Technologies, Inc. (CPT) for
infringement of two patents involving plastic container coinjection technology
used primarily for products such as ketchup and beer.

In his recommendation to the Court, Special Master Don W. Martens, who was
appointed to hear the case by the U.S. District Court for Connecticut, granted
summary judgment to American National Can Company (ANC), a
predecessor-in-interest to Pechiney Plastic Packaging, Inc. He ruled that
representative plastic Heinz(R) ketchup bottles and preforms and representative
plastic Miller(R) beer bottles manufactured by CPT infringed Pechiney U.S.
Patents. Special Master Martens also agreed with Pechiney's interpretation of
the key patent terms.

Under the District Court's procedures, CPT has 30 days to appeal the Special
Master's recommendation to the District Court. If the Special Master's
recommendation is confirmed by the District Court, Pechiney believes that it
will be able to establish its entitlement to significant damages and other
relief from CPT, based upon the large number of allegedly infringing products
manufactured by CPT for almost a decade.

Pechiney Plastic Packaging, a global manufacturer of flexible packaging and
plastic bottles primarily for the food and beverage markets, operates 28 plants
in the Americas, Europe and Australasia. Its plastic bottles business, a leader
in barrier technology, manufactures single and multilayer polyolefin and PET
barrier containers utilizing both injection and extrusion processes. The
business is part of Pechiney's US$1.9 billion Packaging Sector.

Pechiney (NYSE:PY) is an international manufacturer with core businesses in
primary aluminum, aluminum fabricated products and high value-added packaging.
Pechiney, which reported sales of 9.5 billion euros (approximately US$ 10.2
billion) in 1999, also manufactures ferroalloys and operates an international
trade business. Its shares are traded on the Paris Stock Exchange; its ADRs are
traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Fourth Pet Joins Bush Household

By LAURENCE ARNOLD

19 December, 2000 WASHINGTON (AP) - Roll over, Buddy. There's a new dog in
town.

President-elect Bush and his wife, Laura, have accepted from New Jersey Gov.
Christie Whitman an 11-week-old Scottish terrier who could become the next
``first dog.''

The dog, black with a white spot on his neck, arrived Monday at the Washington
hotel where Bush was staying as he held get-acquainted meetings and interviewed
prospective members of his administration.

Susan Spencer, Whitman's aide in Washington, carried the puppy through security
and up to a 12th-floor room where Mrs. Bush waited.

``She was on the phone when we got there, but we took the puppy out and he ran
right to her,'' Spencer said. ``It was really cute.''

Mrs. Bush then brought the dog to an adjoining room to introduce him to the
president-elect, Spencer said.

For now, the male dog is known as ``J,'' a temporary name assigned by Whitman
until the Bushes choose a permanent one. Spencer said Mrs. Bush indicated the
short list is down to three or four names.

The Bushes already have a dog, Spot, plus two cats - Ernie and India. Bush
aides could not say Tuesday which animals will live at the White House. The
Bushes own a 1,600-acre ranch in Crawford, Texas, about 80 miles north of
Austin.

The puppy, born Sept. 30, is the offspring of Whitman's Scottish terrier,
Coors, named after the famous beer. Whitman is a candidate for a post in the
new administration.

President Clinton's chocolate Labrador, Buddy, is often seen frolicking across
the White House grounds. But another Scottish terrier probably was the most
famous White House dog in his day.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was inseparable from his pet Scottie, Fala, and
the dog is immortalized in bronze next to the statue of the president at the
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial on the National Mall in Washington.

Mad Cow Fear Hits German Sausage

By BURT HERMAN

Decemeber 19, 2000 BERLIN (AP) - German officials rushed to reassure consumers
Tuesday that their sausages are safe after a European Union official hinted the
country's beloved bratwurst, currywurst or even weisswurst could be suspect in
the mad cow disease scare.

The veiled warning from Brussels was a bit like telling Germans they can't
drink beer or drive fast, with worries over a potential sausage ban headlining
newspapers across the country.

The suggestion that sausages may contain contaminated products could prey on
the consciousness of sausage-loving Germans, who each eat an average of 69
pounds of sausage a year.

According to a German saying, there are three things that even God doesn't
know: how a trial will end, what a woman is thinking and what is in a wurst.

To prevent hysteria, the German health minister said Tuesday the government
believes there's no need for a sausage and meat recall, though she said she
personally would avoid sausage containing beef.

``One shouldn't gloss over the dangers, but also not stir up fears,'' Andrea
Fischer said.

Germany just last month joined the growing list of European countries where mad
cow disease, as bovine spongiform encephalopathy is commonly known, has been
identified from an animal born and raised domestically. A second case was
confirmed over the weekend, and experts have said it is likely yet more
infected cows will be discovered in Germany.

Germany also will likely soon join the list of nations whose beef is shunned
abroad: Austria said Tuesday it was asking the EU to approve its plan to ban
beef imports from Germany.

EU Commissioner David Byrne's statement Monday repeated warnings that cattle
brain and spinal cords - both contained primarily in sausage and canned meat -
are ``risk materials.'' He said Germany shouldn't take ``half measures in
regards to public health and safety,'' and cited the example of Denmark, which
immediately pulled all beef off the shelves when a mad cow case was discovered
earlier this year.

The German Association for Meat Products said that cattle brain and spinal
cords are not used in German sausage, adding that it was crazy to single out
the sausage.

``What is in ravioli, what is in pizza? There are many products made with meat,
and not wurst alone,'' association head Thomas Vogelsang said.

But experts say even sausage labeled non-beef could in some cases contain beef
parts.

The Health Minister for Germany's largest state, Baerbel Hoehn in
North-Rhine-Westphalia, told the Cologne Express newspaper: ``Whoever wants to
be totally certain shouldn't eat beef at the moment.''

Bavaria state, where the second mad cow case was confirmed Sunday, also said
Tuesday it would spend $9.1 million to research how to combat the disease.

Also by Fischer's side Tuesday was the president of the German Nutrition
Society, who offered his suggestions for safe sausages. Helmut Erbersdobler
said non-cooked sausages like salami were relatively safe, while those that are
cooked and liverwurst are less safe because they can contain muscle, fat or
lymph nodes.

Another item on the risky list: ex-Chancellor Helmut Kohl's favorite dish,
stuffed pork stomach.

At the Damisch snack bar in Berlin's Friedrichstrasse train station, a red sign
on the counter assured customers their sausages are beef-free.

``A lot of people ask what's in the sausages, but we've seen no drop in
business,'' said server Ben Amor, watching over half a dozen slowly grilling
sausages, or wursts.

Digging into a mustard-lined bratwurst on her way home from work, 53-year-old
Monika Wall said she doubted a sausage scare would cause Germans to lose their
appetite.

``I'm very skeptical,'' she said looking down at her evening snack. ``There's
coloring, spices and pork in there, and if I'm lucky, no beef.''

Half of all Germans eat and drink too much

Decemeber 19, 2000 BERLIN (Reuters) - Every other German is overweight and more
than half of the population drinks more than they should, a national nutrition
report showed Tuesday.

Presenting the report to journalists in Berlin, nutrition expert Guenther
Wolfram said one in five Germans suffered from serious weight problems and
Germans of all ages ate too much fat and too little calcium and green
vegetables.

The nutrition report, which is produced every four years, noted that the
consumption of citrus fruits, bananas, potatoes and beef had fallen since
German reunification a decade ago, while that of green vegetables and chicken
had risen.

Western Germans tend to eat more meat, milk, cheese and sweets, whereas their
counterparts in the former communist east eat more fruit, vegetables, bread and
jam, the report said.

A separate study released Tuesday by the German Center against Addiction said
alcohol consumption had declined by some three percent since 1970, but still
remained high by global standards at an annual 2.8 gallons of pure alcohol per
head.

Cigarette smoking was still on the rise, however, increasing some 13 percent
over the last six years, with women and young people smoking more and men
slightly less and the average German smoker puffing on 1,770 cigarettes a year.

Divorce for wife who shifted one chair too many

Decemebr 19, 2000 LONDON (Reuters) - A British husband who walked out on a
38-year marriage because he could not stand his wife obsessively moving the
furniture has been granted a divorce.

John Turner filed for divorce on grounds of unreasonable behavior, complaining
he was sick and tired of his wife Pauline shifting chairs, tables, the
television -- and anything not fixed to the walls -- every single day of their
married life.

The couple, both 62, even swapped their house for a caravan in the hope it
would cure Mrs. Turner of her affliction. But on Monday she accepted the
marriage had irretrievably broken down, British media reports said.

"Moving furniture about was just something I did and I always will do," she
told a divorce court in Middlesbrough, in northeast England. "I suppose
everybody has their little obsession."

Policeman jailed for slicing ear of boss

December 19, 2000 CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian police officer was sacked and
jailed after slicing off part of his boss's ear during an argument, security
sources said Tuesday.

They said 28-year-old Ihab Fiqi could not believe what he was hearing when his
boss called him Monday for a "talking to" over arriving late for work -- so he
lunged at his boss with a penknife, cutting off about one inch of his ear. He
claimed later that it was a fluke accident, and that in reality he was
attempting to kill a fly buzzing in the vicinity of his employer's ear.

Police officers at the station in Qaliub city north of Cairo arrested Fiqi,
public prosecutors ordered his detention for 15 days, and the interior ministry
sacked him.

Fiqi's boss, Mohamed Hassan, was recovering after being admitted to the
hospital.

[J2jurado]

Brau und Brunnen Won't Exclude Sale of Jever Beer

Dortmund, Germany, Dec. 20 (Bloomberg)-- Brau und Brunnen AG, Germany's No. 2
brewer, doesn't exclude the sale of its main Jever beer and Apollinaris
mineral-water brands should restructuring fail, Wirtschaftswoche reported.

The Schloesser, Kueppers and Sion beers will be sold at the beginning of 2001,
it quoted supervisory board Chairman Dieter Rampl as saying in an interview to
be published tomorrow.

``Within the next 12 months, we will sell and split off big chunks from the
company,'' Rampl told the weekly. ``Restructuring will be tough, but it will be
the only way to save jobs and parts of the company.''

The brewer will cut up to 400 jobs and sell units after the proposed merger
with its smaller rival Bayerische BrauHolding failed in September. Losses at
the beer unit are seen widening to as much as 65 million deutsche marks ($30
million) from a loss of 50.5 million marks in 1999, Rampl said.

A replacement for Chief Executive Rainer Verstynen, who left earlier this
month, will be announced by mid-January, Rampl said.

Interbrew seen selling brands for UK Bass deal approval

By Katie Nguyen

BRUSSELS, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Belgian brewer Interbrew may have to limit supply
contracts with pubs and sell brands to win British government approval for its
acquisition of Bass Plc's beer assets, analysts said on Wednesday.

UK Trade and Industry minister Stephen Byers has until January 4 to rule on the
deal. Interbrew plans to merge Bass Brewing with Whitbread's beer unit, bought
earlier this year, giving it a leading 32 percent slice of the UK market.

Byers, who is examining whether the acquisition would hurt competition, is
likely to target Interbrew's stronghold on beer distribution by diluting the
length and amount of its supply contracts, analysts said.

"The harsher regulation will be focused on Interbrew's excessive control of
secondary distribution in the UK beer market, which would be overcome by ending
supply contracts into Whitbread and Bass pub estates," HSBC analyst Shai Hill
said.

He estimated the five-year supply contracts with Bass and Whitbread pubs
account for seven percent in terms of volume of the UK market.

Whatever Byers' decision, analysts said the outcome could hit the Interbrew's
share price and reduce cost synergies that some estimates have put at as high
as 150 million euros ($136 million).

"If you have to wind down the amount of the (market) share, it's obviously
going to hurt the share price," one London-based analyst said.

Another analyst said while uncertainty over the competition probe had been
factored into the share price, a negative ruling could see Interbrew fall to
the 30 euro-level.

The world's No. 2 brewer debuted on Euronext Brussels on December 1 at 34
euros, above its offer price of 33 euros. By 1352 GMT on Wednesday, the stock
was up 0.82 percent at 37.10 euros, having touched a high of 38.10 euros on
December 5.

Interbrew spokesman Corneel Maes declined to comment on the possible outcome of
the investigation. "Let's wait for the decision of the minister -- Stephen
Byers owns the agenda."

SUPPLY CONTRACTS, BRANDS

Another option to reduce Interbrew's UK market share would involve divesting
some of its brands, analysts said.

They rule out speculation that top-selling beer Carling may be disposed,
pointing to divestment in smaller brands such as Tennent's.

"Carling is a very big brand with 10 percent of the market," said a brewing
analyst based in Amsterdam. "It really would be a worse case scenario."

Danish rival Carlsberg, which lost out on buying Bass' brewing business in
June, is seen as the likeliest contender for any UK brands Interbrew would have
to sell. With a market share of 13 percent analysts said Carlsberg needs to
bolster its position in the key British market.

Asked if Interbrew had held talks with Carlsberg on the purchase of brands,
Maes said: "We've had no contact with Carlsberg whatsoever."

If Interbrew -- best known for its Stella Artois premium lager -- was forced to
cut its supply or sell brands, some analysts said such measures could well fit
into a strategy to tighten operations.

"The acceleration of the reduction in the number of plants can fit into a
beneficial scenario for Interbrew. It makes it much easier to restructure," the
Dutch analyst said.

Delta Lloyds Securities' Han Van Lamoen agreed, saying the cash would come in
handy. "If they sell something it's money to improve the balance sheet."

Interbrew has made clear the proceeds from its flotation would go to finance
the British acquisitions which totalled 2.7 billion pounds ($3.96 billion) and
fund further growth.

DB Group to Spend NZ$60 Million on Improving Auckland Brewery

Auckland, Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- DB Group Ltd., the nation's second-largest
brewer, said it will spend NZ$60 million ($26 million) on its Waitemata Brewery
in Auckland.

The company, which brews Heineken in New Zealand, said the money will be spent
on a new packaging hall and a new office building. The Auckland-based company
is about 77 percent owned by Singapore's biggest brewer Asia Pacific Breweries
Ltd.

DB shares rose 5 cents, or 1 percent, to NZ$4.90.

The work at the brewery is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2002, it
said.

Japan, deep in debt, in tough budget balancing act

By Yoko Nishikawa

TOKYO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Trying to please free-spenders and cost-cutters
alike, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Wednesday submitted a draft budget that
aims to keep Japan's long-awaited recovery on course while starting to rein in
its swelling debts.

The MOF said the initial budget for fiscal 2001/02, which starts on April 1,
will total 82.65 trillion yen ($735.3 billion), down 2.7 percent from the
initial budget for the current year.

It is the first cut in six years, but the reduction mainly reflects a 22
percent drop in debt-servicing costs to 17.17 trillion yen due to the
completion of a scheme to set aside reserves to protect bank depositors.

Discretionary spending -- the largest component in the budget -- is in fact set
to rise 1.2 percent from this year's initial budget to 48.66 trillion yen.

"The economy has not fully passed the baton to private demand from public
demand. We want to put the economy firmly back on a recovery path with the
budget," Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa told reporters.

SAME OLD STORY

Reluctant to pull the plug on fiscal support before the economy has fully
recovered, the government plans to keep public works spending at this year's
level of 9.4 trillion yen plus a reserve of 300 billion yen. With elections
for the Upper House of parliament due next July, the budget is stuffed with the
sort of pork-barrel projects that have helped the Liberal Democratic Party keep
its supporters happy and itself in power almost without a break since 1955.

Ruling party and government officials have agreed to allocate 75 billion yen to
build new "shinkansen" bullet trains to rural areas that will cost a hefty 2.5
trillion over 12 years. But amid growing criticism of the wastefulness of
traditional pump-priming, a record 272 public works projects are to be
cancelled, saving taxpayers 2.6 trillion yen over coming years.

The overarching political purpose of the budget is to flesh out Prime Minister
Yoshiro Mori's "Japan rebirth plan," which aims to promote information
technology, facilities for the burgeoning elderly population, urban renewal and
the environment.

Unwilling to offend key constituencies, the budget backs away from key tax
reforms, resulting in net tax cuts of 173 billion yen -- mostly related to
housing and incentives for small firms as well as scrapping a planned unpopular
levy on low-malt beer.

Pernod to double in size after landmark deal

By Caroline Brothers

PARIS, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Pernod Ricard will strengthen its global reach and
double its core wine and spirits business following its joint $8.15 bln
purchase of Seagram's drink brands, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

The French group has shot to third from fifth place in the world industry
stakes, hot on the heels of Britain's Allied Domecq, after the bid with British
partner Diageo was clinched on Tuesday.

"It is very significant strategically because it really allows us to develop
our core wines and spirits business," Richard Burrows, joint managing director
of Pernod told Reuters in an interview.

"It just about doubles the size of that in terms of revenues and cases. Plus it
diversifies us geographically -- at the moment we are very strong in Europe,
and the deal takes us into North and South America and into Asia where we're
quite weak," he added.

Pernod stock soared more than nine percent to a 13-month high of 68.80 euros at
around 1500 GMT on Wednesday, outperforming the DJ Stoxx Food and Beverage
index, which was off 1.36 percent.

The deal broadens Pernod's cellar from its traditional aniseed liqueurs Pernod
and Pastis 51 to a range of significant internationally traded brands like
Chivas Regal whisky and Martell cognac. It also adds national brands like
Seagram Gin in the United States, and labels in Brazil and India.

The weight of Martell and Chivas will boost Pernod's clout with wholesalers in
the United States, Burrows said.

Shareholders might initially balk at the leap in Pernod's debt to $5 billion
from $1 billion, but they will be pleased that operating margins will improve
by 2002 and earnings per share (EPS) rapidly rise.

"The deal lifts our (operating) margin we expect by about a third, from around
15 percent to around 20 percent, because the businesses we are acquiring are
generally higher profit margin businesses than the ones which we (already)
have," Burrows said.

EPS should rise from 4.24 euros before exceptional items and goodwill in 1999
to about 6 euros in 2002 and 8.0 in 2005.

Though Pernod was coy about where its gearing now stands -- it was at 36
percent before the buy -- EBIT or core earnings to interest cover will plunge
to 2.8 times from what Merrill Lynch estimated at 14.9 times before the deal.

Burrows said that would rapidly recover, to 3.6 times in 2002 and 5.3 times in
2005.

"Because the acquisition is strongly cash generative, we are going to pay down
the debt very rapidly," Burrows said.

CONVERTIBLE BOND DUE IN MONTHS

Pernod will refinance the debt-funded deal by unloading non-core assets and by
issuing a convertible bond worth up to 500 million euros.

"The bond will be done in the next few months," Burrows said. News of it
relieved shareholder fears of a capital increase that sliced 5.0 percent off
Pernod stock on Friday.

Chairman Patrick Ricard told reporters Pernod would put all its non-core assets
on the sales block in January.

That will include orange soft drink unit Orangina, merged with Pampryl fruit
juices, which analysts say could fetch 800 million euros; its Oddbins wine
shops in Britain and BWG grocery distribution business in Ireland; and its 1.3
percent stake in French bank Societe Generale, worth $300 million.

The Seagram deal also heralds a new round of consolidation for the sector as
Pernod and Diageo sell off secondary brands. Ricard told Reuters he had already
been approached.

But no sales of secondary brands can even begin until regulatory authorities in
Europe, the United States and elsewhere give their green light.

Burrows did not foresee problems, but said it may take time. "Optimistically
that could take to the end of the first quarter, say to March. Pessimistically
quite a bit longer than that."

Honeycombe Leisure 1st-Half Rises as It Expands Pub Estate

Preston, England, Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Honeycombe Leisure Plc, which owns
pubs and bars in university towns, said first-half profit rose 2 percent after
sales from recent acquisitions compensated for trading time lost during a
modernization program.

Net income rose to 956,000 pounds ($1.4 million) from 813,000 pounds, and
earnings per share was unchanged at 3.3 pence. Group sales rose 32 percent to 9
million pounds, compared to a 2 percent rise in pubs open longer than a year,
the company said in a statement issued on the U.K.'s Regulatory News Service.

``We've completed the vast majority of our refurbishments,'' said Finance
Director Michael Norris in an interview. ``It has been difficult when buying
individual pubs to maintain the growth we are looking for, so we are looking
for larger corporate deals as well,'' he said.

About 10 percent of U.K. pubs are currently on sale as traditional brewers,
such as Whitbread Plc and Bass Plc, are quitting the industry and selling their
properties. Norris said the company wants to make a block purchase, if the
larger pub estates are split up as he expects, in the next year.

The shares rose as much as 2 percent, or 2.5 pence, to 127.5. They have risen
13 percent this year.

Honeycombe has completed the refurbishment of a fifth of its estate, costing
1.7 million pounds, in the last six months. Norris said this led to about
190,000 pounds in lost profit. Operating margins were also affected, declining
from 19.8 percent to 17.3 percent.

The Preston, northwest England based company bought six pubs for 3 million
pounds in the last six months, and another four since then, bringing its
portfolio to 54 establishments. It plans to expand into northeast England.

Honeycombe's estate is split equally between inns, which offer traditional food
and beer, bars in small towns and pubs in university towns. Norris said
although students attend university for about nine months of the year, the
pubs' contribution to sales and profit is the same as the other units over the
whole year.

Honeycombe raised its dividend to 0.8p from 0.7p last year.

Whitbread Plans Hotel at London's Heathrow Airport, Times Says

(The Times of London)

London, Dec. 20 (Bloomberg)-- Whitbread Plc, the U.K. operator of Pizza Hut
restaurants, plans to develop the U.K.'s biggest budget hotel at Heathrow
Airport, the Times reported, citing Alan Parker, managing director of the hotel
division.

The company, Britain's largest owner of budget hotels with its Travel Inn
brand, is in the process of obtaining planning permission for the 39
million-pound ($57.3 million) project outside London, the newspaper said.

Following moves by rival Bass Plc, Whitbread is shrinking its business to focus
on faster-growing hotels and health clubs. The company sold its beer division
in May and in October put 3,000 pubs on the market.

Whitbread, which has 258 Travel Inns in the U.K., with a total of 13,500 rooms,
hopes to open the Heathrow hotel in 2002, the newspaper said.

Foster's Brewing Buys Italian Winemaker Gabbiano for A$35 Mln

Melbourne, Dec. 20 (Italnews) -- Foster's Brewing Group Ltd., Australia's
biggest brewer, said it bought Italian winemaker Castello di Gabbiano for about
A$35 million ($18 million), continuing the company's global wine expansion.

Melbourne-based Foster's, which completed a A$2.6 billion purchase of Beringer
Wine Estates Holdings Inc. in October, said closely held Gabbiano owns 120
acres of vineyards in Italy. It makes Chianti and Super Tuscans premium brand
wine, and is the No. 2 selling Chianti in U.S. grocery stores.

Included in the sale of Gabbiano's 900 year-old wine estate is the historic
Castello castle and surrounding property, which include guest cottages, a
winery and 254 acres of land. A nearby 57 acre property has also been
purchased.

The acquisition is part of Foster's plan to double the contribution of wine to
its earnings to 40 percent in the next five years as growth in beer sales slow.
The company generates about three-quarters of total profit from its brewing
business.

Foster's shares rose 4 cents, or 0.9 percent, to A$4.74.

Diageo in High Spirits After Seagram Deal

LONDON, Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- http://www.just-drinks.com -- Britain's Diageo
has left its rivals for dead having clinched the world's biggest alcoholic
drinks deal on Tuesday.

A special report at http://just-drinks.com/features-detail.asp?art=343 explains
how Diageo's chief executive, Paul Walsh, engineered the $8.15 billion purchase
of Seagram's drinks empire with partner Pernod Ricard as part of his strategy
to improve focus and boost the company's share price.

Since his appointment as chief executive in September this year, Walsh has
floated hamburger chain Burger King and sold food business Pillsbury to General
Mills, as well as integrating Diageo's UDV wines and spirits and Guinness to
focus the group entirely on the drinks industry.

Determined to drive the drinks side forward, Walsh made a pact with Pernod
whereby Pernod would gain Seagram's Scotch Whiskey interests, leaving Diageo
with the brands it wanted like Captain Morgan and Crown Royal Canadian whisky.

Captain Morgan's fate, however, remains undetermined, since Allied Domecq
claims it has secured the rights to the brand through a deal with Destileria
Serralles. Diageo faces a long legal battle for Captain Morgan, but is likely
to fight hard to fill a dark rum "hole" in its portfolio.

For the full story, click here:

http://just-drinks.com/features-detail.asp?art=343

Wines of the World Gold Brings the World's Food and Wine Experts to the
Computer; New Gourmet CD-ROM Turns Any Kitchen Into a Four-Star Restaurant

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 19, 2000--Multimedia 2000 today announced the
release of the Gourmet Edition of Wines of the World, combining two of the
publisher's most popular titles in one valuable program.

Multimedia 2000 has taken the extensive database and expert instruction of
Wines of the World, and added the world-renowned chefs and delicious recipes of
Best of Food & Wine, to create a complete guide to gourmet cooking.

"We've created a one-stop resource for any aspiring chef," exclaimed Paul
Bader, CEO of M-2K, and no slouch when it comes to epicurean living. "With
hundreds of recipes, tens of thousands of wines, and decades of experience from
the masters of the art, I can't see why anybody will ever again need to drop
big bucks in some fancy-schmancy restaurant."

Ronn Wiegand, the first person to hold both the Master of Wine and Master
Sommelier titles, serves as host on a tour of the world's finest wine-growing
regions, showing the unique qualities and historic traditions of each. Mr.
Wiegand draws on a lifetime of experience to teach what makes a great wine
truly memorable. The heart of Wines of the World Gold is the extensive
database, featuring information on over 40,000 wines in all categories. This
searchable resource lets the user discover the best wine by variety, vintage,
price, or other categories.

The annual Food & Wine Magazine Classic at Aspen brings together thousands of
gourmet aficionados and dozens of artists from all areas of epicurean living.
Wines of the World Gold offers a front-row seat at this exclusive event, with
video instruction and expert techniques from chefs such as Julia Child and
Jacques Pepin. The program includes printable recipes for more than 200
magnificent dishes, as well as lessons on how to choose the perfect
complementary wine for any meal.

Individuals can place orders by calling 206/622-5530, or by visiting
www.m-2k.com.

Multimedia 2000 (www.m-2k.com) develops and distributes DVDs and CD-ROM
software, including the ASL Dictionary on CD-ROM and a line of cooking
software. Multimedia 2000 has also begun distributing applications for the
exploding Palm Pilot market, including PocketPhoto, which lets users store
photos and images on their handheld.

All Rise For This Year's 'America's Worst Judges'

Defendants Breathe Easy When These Jurists are on the Case (Although One is
Pretty Tough on His Own Court Clerk)

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Never have our nation's judges
been so much in the spotlight. From traffic court to Supreme Court, can we
trust them to see that justice is done?

Unfortunately, some undermine that trust, with controversial results. And
that's why Reader's Digest magazine tracks down some of "America's Worst
Judges."

Senior Staff Writer Daniel Levine has scoured court records and talked with
courtroom observers nationwide. The magazine's January 2001 issue exposes four
of "America's Worst Judges" -- from Washington and Boston to Florida and
Mississippi -- whose excessively lenient rulings or reported misconduct not
only poison society's respect for the law, but may put innocent people at risk.

* Mary Gooden Terrell, Washington, D.C. Even a criminal says this Superior
Court judge is too soft. "I needed more supervision. She does mean well, but
she is not strict enough," one burglar lamented. Freed when Terrell suspended
his sentence, he looted more than 30 offices over the next two months before
being nabbed, high on crack, inside Federal Election Commission headquarters.

Terrell denied prosecutors' request that another break-in convict be held until
sentencing, despite four prior convictions and a halfway-house escape on his
record. Set free by Terrell, Homer Hayes was soon arrested for brutally
assaulting a girlfriend. After that, Terrell gave him two to six years, but
suspended the entire sentence -- and Hayes has since been charged with
assaulting another woman.

* Peyton Hyslop, Brooksville, Fla. After he was arrested for exposing and
fondling himself in front of two 13-year-old girls, Timothy Glover's bond was
set at $60,000 -- reflecting the fact that he was already a suspect in a
similar incident. But when Hernando County Judge Peyton Hyslop got the case, he
quickly cut bond to just $2,000. Glover was back on the street that day.

Hyslop continually infuriates law enforcement officials by cutting high bonds
in warrants. An administrative order devised to stop this practice was
eventually quashed by the now-famous Florida Supreme Court.

When setting bail, a judge can and should weigh a defendant's past to protect
the public -- but even career criminals benefit from Hyslop's generosity. He
even lowered bond on a repeated felon who allegedly tried to knife two Wal-Mart
employees when caught walking out with a VCR -- the same day he had been
released by Hyslop on another charge.

* Isaac Borenstein, Boston, Mass. As the sentence was read, Leona Doucette's
family erupted in rage.

The 56-year-old grandmother had been run down in the street, then run over
again by the same car as she lay on the ground. As the driver sped away,
witnesses saw a 12-pack of beer being flung from the window. Prosecutors
sought a 12- to 15- year sentence in the fatal hit-and-run, but Suffolk
Superior Court Judge Isaac Borenstein, citing the 19-year-old defendant's age
and alcohol problems, handed out only three-and-a-half.

Critics say that defendants are more willing to take their chances with
Borenstein rather than a jury. Ask James Muise, who pleaded guilty to charges
involving a 14-year -old boy, including assault with intent to rape. He went
free with just four months' time already served. And before his decision was
overturned, Borenstein even sided with a group of convicts suing to stop
collection of blood samples for DNA evidence in unsolved crimes.

* Ellis Willard, Rolling Fork, Miss. While he was not criticized for his
liberal rulings, Ellis Willard's behavior "strips the system of credibility and
integrity."

That's what a state review panel said in finding that the Sharkey County judge
had dismissed charges and fines for friends and others, and conducted court
business at his tire and pawn shop (he allegedly once told three defendants to
appear at Chuck's Dairy Bar to receive his verdict).

But according to the panel, one egregious abuse came against Willard's own
court clerk. When she told the judge his 11 p.m. request for some files could
wait until first thing the next morning, Willard had Patty Stevens arrested,
booked and brought into court at 1:30 a.m., so he could give her two years'
probation for "direct contempt."

"This may be a small court in a small town, but it is not a small issue," the
director of the review panel said in blasting Willard's antics. At any judicial
level, "it is vitally important that (Americans) encounter judges who are both
competent and ethical."

Willard was placed on suspension pending disciplinary hearings. But many of
America's worst judges -- including six of the 15 others Reader's Digest has
spotlighted since 1996 -- still don their robes each day. And the actions of a
few can mean injustice for us all.

Penniless Japanese held after six-hour sushi binge

TOKYO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Unemployed Yutaka Osaki had just two yen in his
pocket, but that didn't stop him eating his way through 36 plates of sushi
worth $100.

"I just thought about filling my tummy, even though I had no money," Osaki, 62,
was quoted as telling police on Wednesday in Nagahama, western Japan.

The conveyor belt restaurant became suspicious after Osaki had been eating for
six hours, running up a 11,400 yen tab for the sushi and 10 cans of beer, the
Kyodo news agency said.

Police came and arrested Osaki, who had just two yen (17 U.S. cents) in his
pocket.

Canny Scottish Investors Find Latin America Ride a Wee Rough

Edinburgh, Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Fund manager Alison Hamilton's 90-minute
commute sweeps her through some breathtaking Scottish Lowland scenery to her
desk looking onto Edinburgh's 11th- century castle.

Sometimes she wishes Latin America's stock markets were as tranquil as her
daily drive to Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd., dodging stray sheep on
the way from her home in Minto, a sleepy border country hamlet of just 23
houses.

As the Christmas shoppers on Edinburgh's Princes Street wrap up against the
damp squalls of a Scottish winter, so fund managers like Hamilton have been
adjusting to the vagaries of Latin American economies. Just recently, she's
slashed her cash holdings to zero, buying up stocks in Brazil as she bets the
economy there is less at risk from economic slowdown in the U.S. and
Argentina's financing woes.

``Latin America taught me a long time ago how to be philosophical,'' said
Hamilton, who helps oversee Latin American investments worth $220 million.
``I'm quite stoical now.''

It's only a matter of days since Hamilton had as much as 9 percent in cash as
she sought refuge from the steep declines that have buffeted Latin America's
main equity markets since October.

A subsequent drop in oil prices, Argentina's success in lining up credits and
yesterday's warning of ``economic weakness'' by the U.S. Federal Reserve,
perhaps signaling a prompt cut in interest rates, have made her rethink her
strategy.

Just recently, she's been buying telecommunications stocks like cable
television company Globo Cabo SA, jumping in early enough to net most of its 37
percent gain this month.

Hamilton also bought steelmaker Cia. Siderurgica Nacional and
telecommunications stocks like Brasil Telecom Participacoes SA, which she sees
benefiting from a restructuring, and Tele Norte Leste Participacoes.

Big Swings

Big stock swings go with the territory for Scottish fund managers who may have
as much as $3 billion invested in Latin America, according to David Sheasby,
37, who helps manage about $200 million at Scottish Equitable Asset Management.

They've had their fair share recently.

Brazil's Bovespa stock index, down 10 percent this year, has risen 7.9 percent
in dollar terms over the past month on expectations the central bank will cut
benchmark interest rates today. That makes the Bovespa the sixth-best performer
over that period out of 62 world indexes tracked by Bloomberg.

Martin Currie's emerging markets fund, with a 25 percent Latin America
weighting, is down 26 percent this year. Scottish Equitable's Latin America
fund is down 2.7 percent this year.

The ups and downs of Latin American markets means Scotland's fund managers have
to keep close tabs on the companies they watch in Latin America, said Steven
Blackie, 37, who manages about $100 million in Latin American stocks for
Edinburgh Fund Managers. Blackie travels to the region several times a year.

Kilted Visits

Fund managers at Walter Scott & Partners, a small Edinburgh, investment house,
make frequent trips dressed in kilts to visit their companies in Latin America
and elsewhere, said fund manager Rodger Nisbet. ``We've caused a few raised
eyebrows in places like China,'' he said.

Latin American investors also have their opportunity to be on the receiving end
of Scottish hospitality.

Edinburgh is an important staging post for Latin American companies on their
European presentation tours, said Hamilton. Edinburgh along with Glasgow is
Europe's sixth-biggest financial center with $253 billion in global equities
under management in the two cities.

For many, the close proximity of several superb golf courses to Edinburgh, like
the 226-year-old nine-hole Musselburgh Links where enthusiasts can play with
traditional hickory clubs, is another lure, she said.

Foreign companies like to drop in at Walter Scott's offices at Millburn Tower,
a converted castle close to Edinburgh airport, when they visit the city, said
Nisbet, who wears Nisbet clan tartan for official meetings. ``It's quite a
treat for them,'' he said.

Pubs and Golf

``I seem to remember going to a few pubs and thinking Edinburgh was a wonderful
city,'' said Luiz Gonzaga Murat Junior, finance director of Sadia SA, Brazil's
No. 1 food processor, who has made several presentations in Scotland. ``It's
definitely on our circuit.''

Being thousands of miles away in blustery Edinburgh has its advantages,
especially in turbulent times like those seen since mid-October, said Hamilton
as she sat at a tartan-decked table in a conference room decorated with prints
of Scottish golf courses.

``Sometimes it helps to be removed from the situation and just look for the big
picture,'' she said, placing a coffee cup on a Martin Currie placemat depicting
the Edinburgh home of John Knox, a 16th-century Calvinist firebrand.

Even though it's hard not to ``fall in love'' with Latin America, an exotic
region so different from the austere elegance of Edinburgh, a touch of Scottish
canniness goes a long way when investing there, said Hamilton.

``If a Latin American company wants to wine and dine me, my immediate reaction
is why are they wasting their money,'' she said.

Cautious Approach

A cautious approach also works for Andrew Telfer, a tall, wiry Scot who helps
manage more than $140 million in Latin American funds at Baillie Gifford & Co.

On a recent trip to Brazil, Telfer, 34, deliberately didn't visit the factory
of aircraft maker Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA, choosing instead to
meet company officials on neutral ground in Sao Paulo.

``There's a danger that you might think it's a great facility so you must buy
the stock and that's why I deliberately didn't go,'' said Telfer. ``I'd much
rather run my models, do my analysis and take any decision from there.''

Still, Telfer was impressed by Embraer's export-led growth and Baillie Gifford
has bought its shares.

``Sometimes people can get attached to a country or region they know well, but
I can be slightly colder about it all,'' said Telfer, who favors Brazilian
stocks including Banco Itau SA, a bank, brewer Cia. de Bebidas das Americas,
telephone company Tele Norte Leste Participacoes SA. Unlike many of his peers,
he's not afraid to hold thinly traded companies if he thinks they're promising
-- like clothing maker Confeccoes Guararapes SA.

Five years of experience managing Latin American equities have taught him that
the recent ups and down are nothing out of the ordinary, said Telfer.

As he speaks, the rain beats against his window and a dank mist descends on
Edinburgh's fabled Royal Mile. Baillie Gifford's Latin American fund is down
4.8 percent this year.