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.

Cranes busily bow against the backdrop of the Mt Lofty Ranges in Adelaide, South Australia. They herald that the construction of Australia’s newest state-of-the-art malthouse for Coopers, which is within a “bulls roar” of completion. The malthouse is a 55,000 t per annum, Bühler Group-designed and fabricated facility whose construction is being managed by the Ahrens Group, who previously assisted Coopers in the building of its Regency Park, Adelaide brewery 17 years ago and subsequent enhancements.

The IBD Convention will be held from 19 to 23 March 2018 in Wellington, New Zealand. The Convention Chairman will be Chris O’Leary of Emerson’s Brewery New Zealand and the Convention Organisers will again be ETM.

Is this the Wicked Weed effect? In order to avoid a consumer backlash and thus the fate of US craft brewer Wicked Weed, South Australian craft brewer Vale Brewing has decided to disclose the sad circumstances which have forced the owners to seek a sale.

Australia’s small and independent brewers voted on 18 May 2017 to bar corporate brewers from membership of their trade body. What was the Craft Beer Industry Association will be renamed as the Independent Brewers Association.

India’s beer and spirits tycoon VJ Mallya may enjoy the spring in London, but back home the Enforcement Directorate (ED), India’s investigating agency for economic crimes, has taken possession of his stake in United Breweries (UB) and also stakes in other listed companies, media said on 22 May 2017.