On 25 June 2018, the CEO of the Australian Beverages Council, Geoff Parker, and the Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, announced that Australia’s major soft drink companies had signed an agreement to reduce the sugar in non-alcoholic drinks by an average of 20 percent, in a move aimed to tackle the country’s obesity crisis.

Independent craft brewers have set themselves a lofty growth target: they seek to control 15 percent of the beer market by 2015, up from nine percent today. If the US can serve as an example, the target appears not all that ambitious considering that the current level includes all the “crafty” beers too. Australia’s 520+ indies only account for two percent of beer sales.

Several countries already have them and soon Australia will have one as well: an incubator brewery, that is, built specifically for start-ups, contract and gypsy brewers, including publicans seeking to create their own branded beers without wanting to invest in a brewery of their own.

At the end of May 2018, Coca-Cola launched its first alcoholic drink, Lemon-Do, which is, as the name suggests, a lemon flavoured alcopop. Coke calls the fizzy drink “unique” in the company’s 125-year history because it contains alcohol. The three Lemon-Do alcopops range in alcohol content from three to seven percent. Packaged in cans, they aim at a growing market of younger drinkers, especially women.

The Japanese Beer Market

Prolonged weakness | Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in Japan. Though, the overall beer industry is registering decline in volumes year after year for a number of reasons. The first brewery to serve the Japanese market was founded in 1869 in the international port town of Yokohama by a foreign businessman. After changes in ownership in 1888, the brewery started producing Kirin-branded beers. BRAUWELT International presents an overview of one of the largest Asian beer markets in this article.

The price seems right. The Western Australian craft brewer Gage Roads from Fremantle has taken over Matso’s for AUD 13.25 million (USD 10 million) with a deferred consideration of up to AUD 2.8 million more, subject to meeting sales volume targets, over a three-year period, it was reported on 7 June 2018.

Sabeco and Habeco are facing strong headwinds this year, so much so that in May 2018 Habeco announced that it expects its pre-tax profit in 2018 at only VND 746 billion (USD 32.6 million), down eleven percent compared with 2017, local media report.

At the 2018 annual meeting of the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry (JSBBA), which took place from March 15 to 18, 2018 in Nagoya, Japan, Sapporo received the Award for Achievement in Technological Research. The award was bestowed to Dr. Kiyoshi Takoi, Koichiro Koie, Dr. Yukio Okada and Yukata Itoga.

If Pete Coors feels offended by the Brewers Association brandishing its independence logo, what would he make of Australian craft brewers calling their competition’s beers “industrialised”? That’s a derogatory and populist use of language if ever there was one.

Nearly one year after its own rebranding, the Independent Brewers Association (IBA) on 9 May 2018 has launched a seal of independence to help consumers identify which beers are locally owned by independent Australian brewers.