New Oregon Beer Distributor

Following the news of distribution mergers (background here, further coverage here and here), I was pretty anxious about where the smaller companies might land. Consider this very good news:

Beverage distribution companies The Odom Corporation (Bellevue, WA) and Maletis Beverage (Portland, OR) have formed a joint venture called Odom-Maletis Beverage to enable combined expansion of beverage distribution services for suppliers and retailers. Their initial push will be into the Mid-Valley, Central and Southern Oregon areas currently not covered by either distributor.

We'll wait to see how all of this shakes out, but more competition is a good thing.