Almost exactly two years after the Melbourne craft brewer Mountain Goat sold itself to Asahi, AB-InBev through its ZX Ventures arm, took over the Sydney brewer 4 Pines. The deal was announced on 22 September 2017.

Given that 17,000 craft beer consumers took part in the Beer Cartel’s consumer survey, craft beer’s popularity must be on the increase still.

AB-InBev-owned Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) has said it is aiming to meet the growing demands of consumers who want to moderate their drinking, by reducing the ABV in some of its mid and low-strength beers.

Diageo, the world’s major drinks company and brewer of Guinness, has appointed AB-InBev to become the exclusive distributor in the Chinese mainland of Guinness, eyeing fast expansion of sales in the market, media reported on 28 August 2017.

Good craft beer in cans used to be an oxymoron like “airline food” or “English cuisine”. Not any longer. It has become the fastest growing trend in beer, thanks to craft brewers Pirate Life (Adelaide) and Balter (Gold Coast) actively pushing cans.

CBCE 2017 Shanghai

The Craft Beer China 2017 Conference and Exhibition took place in Shanghai from 17th to 19th May 2017. The exhibition was organized in cooperation with NürnbergMesse China and The Beer Link, Germany, and targeted mainly brewmasters, craft brewers and craft beer enthusiasts.

Nomen est omen. The women-run Sparkke Change Beverage Company from Adelaide, which has brought together some of Australia’s youngest brewers and winemakers, has two goals: to create great booze and trigger social change – not just in society at large but equally in the male-dominated alcohol industry.

Sapporo’s purchase of San Francisco’s Anchor brewery needs to be viewed against recent developments in the Japanese market. Beer production has declined for the past decade to 55 million hl in 2016, according to the Barth Report, which included real beer, low-malt “happoshu” and zero-malt third-category beer, while craft beer has slowly risen to control between one and two percent of the market. There are currently over 260 small breweries in Japan.

When asked by Brauwelt International if the going rate for Australian craft breweries was really only five times EBITDA, financial advisers Deloitte replied that the reference to this low multiple during their presentation at the Craft Brewers Conference in Adelaide (26 July) “was purely for illustrative purposes and in no way reflects the valuation of Australian craft breweries generally.”

Think of all the wonderful things you can do with a shot of private equity money in the arm, like building a brewery. In a July entry to their blog, Scottish brewer BrewDog made the promise to their Australian fans: “We are heading down under to build a brewery for you.” Although they do not have a location yet, or a city, for that matter, they are considering options.