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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1980)
No image, but price is right Generic beer latest craze by USCHI MICHEL-HOWELL Battalion Staff In a world where weekends are made for Michelob, Budweiser is brewed for you and Lone Star is the national beer of Texas, there is now a beer on the market that, instead of trying to top every other beer’s image, is using a dififerent approach — no image at all. It’s Beer, another addition to the long list of generic products flooding the market. ; Having already made its debut in the northwestern states and in parts of Texas like Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Galveston, Beer seems to be the latest craze. and Bt Judging from the thirst of many consumers, the brewers of generic beer t I spent their last lazy moment the day before the white-label bottle hit the c ldn ' r market. For $1.30 a six-pack, compared to an average price of more than $2 for Baker. asG (regular brands, beer drinkers in the Northwest are buying the bottles as fast Jn the Fir.i- as storeowners can put them on the shelves. of power beBf'We can’t even fill 50 percent of our orders,’’ said Carl E. Mullen, vice not gain president of General Brewing, in Vancouver, Wash. lever will hi Mullen, who praises the marketing of generic beer as “the biggest phe- inedvs hi nonienon in the northwestern brewing industry,” said he is expanding his brewing capacity by 120,000 barrels a year to a total of 720,000 barrels of generic suds a year. 1 i’ 11SK Texans get theirs in a can that assures the consumer: "Made from the finest ase 01 pone barley ... brewed by Falstaff.” hip of the lllBrhe demand for the no-image beer has more than tripled since its sale igh 18 year Started last October in the South, and sales amount to over 250,000 cases a day, said Tony Petti, Texas’ Falstaff district, ice to !iberal^^ orne die-hard beer lovers, however, can’t be convinced by the product’s spring ofilr price, nor by its innocent looks. or the t ^ ie c ^°* ce between my regular brand and generic beer, I wouldn’t buy it (generic beer),” said Brian Garceau, a graduate student in economics at convent): fe 6 Texas A&M University. Although he has never seen generic beer, Garceau said he knew what’s in his regular brand and would not want to take a chance by drinking the generic kind. Others were not so skeptical. “If it tastes good and is cheiap, then I would try it, ” said Dave Vacanta, a real estate agent. Using the beer at parties was considered a possibility by Debbie and Jimmy Ordogne, who said the lower price would help defray party costs. Generic beer is a lot fresher and has less shelf life than regular beers, breweries claim. “It’s the best beer made; it’s the freshest. Sometimes it’s still warm when it gets to the consumers,” Mullen said. “One week is the longest the beer will stay on the shelf, because we’re out of it all the time.” “The quality of our generic beer is equal to the regular brand,” Petti said. Falstaff is not specifically addressing one consumer group and is following a limited marketing strategy, making sure the generic beer is not pushed too much into the market like a new brand beer would. Petti said. Before marketing its generic beer, the company tested its appeal in Gree- ly, Colo., a college community. Students there drank a lot of generic beer and bought the white label brand when they were out of cash in between checks from home. Petti said. Beer is acceptable to many, but they buy name brands on weekends “to show off,” Mullen said. The leading sales for General Brewing are at the University of Washington, Mullen added. The chances that generic beer will find its way to College Station are slim, because it does not offer enough profit for the distributor, said Carl Schafhaeuser, local distributor for Falstaff. “With a profit of two to three cents a case I would make no money,” Schafhaeuser said. Petti, the only distributor for Texas, said generic beer in Texas is only distributed to the large chain stores. ted leaders rmerly si® Senate, incr medy will on leaderslj rd bloc in tkl ■road moderJ irteradminia Minedy beraj nocrats, a rj e Speaker i| est elected la Director dies just before show United Press International ■NEW YORK — Award-winning B’roadway director and choreog rapher Gower Champion, who helped create the hits “Hello, Dolly” and “Bye Bye Birdie, ” died Monday — just hours before his latest show opened. ||j Champion, 59, died of a rare blood cancer at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital as the cast of “42nd Street” was preparing for the opening of the lavish musical at the Winter Garden eater. The cast was not told of Cham- n’s death until after the perform- ce — a move that apparently gered some cast members who ought the opening should have en canceled. As the curtain fell, producer £|avid Merrick walked onstage be- e the cheering audience, holding hands to his face. The audience, laughing, waited pectantly for Merrick to praise the ow. The cast, which had just re ived 10 curtain calls, stared at the producer. “It is tragic,” he said. “Gower Champion has died.” The curtain was brought down as the players broke into tears. The au dience filed out in silence. After wards, the cast and Merrick attended a somber black-tie party at the Waldorf Astoria’s Starlight Roof. Champion, who was suffering from Waldenstrom’s macroglobu- linemia, a rare blood cancer, entered the hospital last week. Although he started out as a dan cer, it was as a choreographer- director that Champion was best known. He established himself as one of the best in the field with the 1960 hit “Bye Bye, Birdie,” and won two Antoinette Perry Awards — Tonys — in 1963 for his best-known hit, “Hello, Dolly.” He also choreographed other works, including the plays “Three Bags Full” and “Sugar,” as well as the films “I Do! I Do!” and “Thor oughly Modern Millie.” Champion was born in Geneva, Ill., on June 22, 1921. He studied dancing under ballet teacher Ernest Belcher and first appeared in West Coast and New York City night clubs with Jeanne Tyler. After serving in the Coast Guard in World War II and appearing in a military show. Tars and Spars, Champion married Belcher’s daugh ter, Marjorie, in 1947. The two — first known as Gower and Bell — made their debut in Montreal in 1947. They later appeared at the Plaza Hotel in New York City and in night clubs, per forming a ballroom and soft-shoe routine. During the 1950s, Marge and Gower Champion appeared fre quently on television shows such as “Toast of the Town,” “G. E. Theater” and “The Jack Benny Show.” The couple, divorced in 1973, have two sons. Champion also appeared in a num ber of movies, including “Show Boat” and “Give the Girl a Break.” Diver goes blind for a day United Press International SAN ANTONIO — An Oklahoma man, who was blinded while scuba diving, has regained his eyesight completely, but doctors in San Anto nio have warned him never to dive again. Arthur Skupien, 24, of Henryetta, Okla., was preparing Tuesday to leave Southwest Texas Methodist Hospital in San Antonio and fly home to his job as a steel roller in Tulsa. “I’m probably just more aware of my sight than I was before,” Skupien said late Monday. “I thought I was going to be blind for a long time.” His temporary blindness was caused by an air embolism that de veloped while he was making an emergency ascent Sunday from the bottom of Lake Tenkiller near Tulsa. In the ascent, the diver apparently held his breath, allowing the embol ism to form, doctors said. Fifteen feet from the surface, Skupien black ed out and was pulled from the lake by other divers. Dr. Jeff Davis, director of the hos pital’s department of hyperbaric medicine, said the air embolism was “thousands of tiny bubbles, more like foam” that slowed the flow of blood in the diver’s brain. Skupien’s vision began to return within 15 minutes of his five-hour and 26-minute stay in the hyperbaric chamber. An ophthalmologist ex amined his eyes Monday and found them in good condition. COOL 6 CLEAN 7 Days a Week <yan^ LAUNDRY & DRY CLEANING 103 E. Holleman \College Sta. 693-2121 .Open 6:30 a.m. till Midnight 3702 S. College Bryan 846-2872 ^Open 24 hoursy Every day AGGIES! Jewel TV 10% AGGIE DISCOUNT ON ALL MERCHANDISE WITH STUDENT ID (Cash Only Please) We reserve the right to limit use of this privilege. 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