17th STANDARD MALT

The 17th Standard Malt has been accepted after analysis by the Analysis Committee of the

The Festival of Flavor

“The swirling, dynamic, luminous core of what is now the most exciting beer culture on the planet,” is how Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewing Company described the Great American Beer Festival, which has taken place every autumn in Denver, Colorado for the last 26 years. It is advertised as “the biggest selection of American beers ever gathered together in the United States”.

InBev plans to sell its cafés

Belgian brewer InBev is seeking a buyer for its majority stake in real estate subsidiary ImmoBrew.

Inauguration of new production facilities

New production facilities of KHS Machinery Pvt. Ltd., Ahmedabad, India were ceremonially commissioned on February 26th, 2007 in the presence of numerous honorary guests from politics and industry. The construction phase took only two years. A total of 8 million EUR has been invested. According to Maternus Gemmel, Director Sales and Marketing of the parent company KHS in Dortmund, the decision to build this new facility is “the right step at the right time”. Valentin Reisgen, Chairman of the Board, regards the opening as a milestone in KHS developing increasingly into an internationally operating group.

Largest event in the Latin American Brewing Sector

A major meeting place for professionals and companies operating on the beer market, Brazil Brau 2007 will gather together seventy exhibitors from all over the world. Scheduled for June 19th - 21st at the Frei Caneca Convention Center in São Paulo, Brazil, this event encompasses the IXth International Exhibition of Beverages Technology, the XIth Brazilian Congress of Brewery Science and Technology and the IIIrd Latin-American Symposium of Beverage Technology.

31st EBC-Congress in Venice, Italy

The provisional programme of the 31st EBC Congress has been published. The Congress will be held in Venice, Italy, 6 - 10 May 2007. Venue is the Lido di Venezia, Palazzo del Cinema & Palazzo del Casinò.

Just one weekend to install the upgrade BRAUMAT V5.3 S7.

More toys for boys

What does a man need? If the ‘must-have’ columns in men’s magazines are to be believed, a digital camera, an MP3 music player and a mobile phone are cool gadgets for grown-up boys. However, what do you do if you already possess all of the above? You buy yourself a boys’ toy by Heineken … says Heineken! Not that there is a real need for men to have their own draught beer appliance cluttering up their kitchen top. But Heineken’s R&D department must have thought that they were on to a good idea. And male consumers have been buying these kits in droves according to Heineken’s recent corporate statement. Heineken reported that in the first half of 2006, beer volume generated by recent innovative beer systems such as DraughtKeg, BeerTender and the David draught system grew more than 30 percent, albeit from a low volume base.

Trade fair innovations from universities

Universities also presented innovations at drinktec in Munich. Presenting itself under the motto “Weihenstephan – it’s the one and only! Research and teaching for tomorrow’s beverage technology”, the Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan (WZW = Weihenstephan scientific centre) gave an overview of its activities. The welcomes by Prof. Dr. Bertold Hock, Dean of WZW, and Dr. Volker Kronseder, CEO of Krones AG, emphasised the importance of the Research Network encompassing Universities of Applied Science, Technical Universities and general universities. The hands-on, very diversified education produces optimally trained graduates whom the supply industry likes to have as competent partners for customers in the food industry. Dr. Kronseder emphasized that universities have a reservoir of specialist knowledge that can be tapped, also by large companies.

World Beer Monopoly

Rüdiger Ruoss, the organiser, succeeded in bringing together top managers from the world’s largest brewing groups for the panel discussion at the 4th World Beer & Drinks Forum 2005. As Dieter Ammer, CEO, Tchibo Holdings AG who acted as moderator stated, they represented over 50% of the world beer market. The World Beer Forum in 1997, when the market leaders from five continents came together, was regarded as a historical sector event. 2005 will be referred to in future as a mega-event that will not be very easy to top. Indeed for four hours, Munich was the world beer capital. Much has happened since 1997. One only has to think of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Eastern Block as well as developments in the Far East, such as e.g. in China and India. Some processes are still ongoing. Companies and even whole sectors go through life cycles. The important thing here is to adapt in time.