The European Beer Star (EBS), Europe's leading beer competition, keeps on breaking one record after another. This year's EBS saw another significant increase in popularity with 1,512 beers entered from 40 different countries, up from 1,366 last year. In late August an international consortium of connoisseurs consisting of 102 master brewers, beer sommeliers and expert journalists from 25 countries gathered for a blind tasting held at the Doemens Akademie, Gräfelfing, Germany to select the best beers in the world, now in 51 separate beer categories (previous year 50).

It’s time for Africa

Around 200 delegates attended the 14th IBD Africa Section Convention which was held in Ghana’s capital city Accra during March 2013. Here is a summary of the Convention.

The cultivation of spring barley is turning out irregularly this year. In Germany, France and Denmark it is decreasing. Only Great Britain has enlarged its acreage. In almost every growing area it was sowed late. Losses of yield are expected.

Nine beers and one cider were named as overall Champions of The International Brewing Awards 2013 at the end of April at a presentation in London’s Guildhall that marked the end of this year’s competition.

The International Brewing Awards 2013

For breweries, comparative taste-testing has long been a proven method for evaluating their products. However, an unbiased opinion regarding the quality of the brewmaster’s favorite beers is only possible through independent assessment. Whether the beer is to be evaluated by a scientific institute or through participation in one of the many international competitions depends on a brewery’s point of view – the former promotes quality while the latter largely benefits marketing.

Ninety-six medals were presented on 15 February to brewers and cider makers in The International Brewing Awards 2013, after a three-day judging session at the National Brewery Centre in Burton-upon-Trent.

You win some, you lose some. Diageo, the world’s number one drinks company, may have been successful at clinching a USD 2.1 billion deal for a majority stake in India’s largest spirits company, United Spirits, in November 2012, but ultimately failed to secure a takeover of Jose Cuervo, the world’s top-selling tequila brand, which is to stay with its Mexican owners, the Beckmann family.

32,810 trade visitors (2011: 31,693) were apparently very satisfied with the new opening days of Brau Beviale – now Tuesday to Thursday – and the extensive range of products from the 1,284 exhibitors (2011: 1,384). The beverage industry’s most important capital goods exhibition in the world this year invited internationally renowned regulars and start-ups to the exhibition centre from 13–15 November and served the popular cocktail of high-quality beverage raw materials, innovative technologies, efficient logistics and sparkling marketing ideas.

For decades, November has been the time when the international brewing industry looks to Nuremberg, where the latest technologies from the bottling machines to the draught system are presented at the Brau Beviale. The focus is increasingly concentrating on a contest that has undergone a sensational development: the European Beer Star, organized by the association Private Brauereien.

With the Filtech Show taking place from 22 - 24 October 2013 the City of Wiesbaden in Germany will again turn into the top-meeting-place for all those involved with filtration and separation and adjacent sectors. The Filtech Congress with more than 200 presentations will offer a representative cross section of current research findings, global developments, and new approaches to solving problems with respect to the methods for the classic mechanical separation of particles from liquids, the gas cleaning and membrane filtration methods.