Are they beginning to see the beauty of a high profit stream? With Australia’s beer consumption in decline, it was understood late last year, after the takeover of SABMiller, that the new owner AB-InBev would embark on a dual track process to sell SABMiller’s USD 10 billion Australian beer unit CUB (formerly Foster’s), either through an IPO or a trade sale, with the Japanese company Asahi and private equity firms the most likely buyers.

Bad news travel fast and to unexpected places. Only three days after German media reported that a Munich environmental institute had detected traces of the weed killer glyphosate in 14 German beer brands, Korean retailers and restaurateurs on 29 February were biting their nails, wondering whether to place any more orders with the country’s importers of German beers.

Men, in case you did not know: International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day (WCBD) took place on 8 March 2016 and ladies from all over the world got together to create unique and challenging recipes.

What a juicy scandal. An Indian tribunal, heeding a call from a group of creditor banks, has blocked the USD 75 million settlement between Diageo and Vijay Mallya, 60, after he agreed to step down as chairman from the spirits giant's local unit United Spirits in February 2016.

Craft brewers seem to pose a serious challenge to the country’s two Big Brewers, Kirin-owned Lion and Heineken-owned DB. New Zealand's largest brewer Lion, with a market share of 46 percent, had to post a 21 percent decline in full-year earnings for the year ending 30 September 2015, as the industry adjusts to a rise in craft beers and people choose to drink less.

Never mind the low price, analysts on the whole welcomed the termination of the SABMiller and China Resources Beer joint venture, announced on 2 March 2016. China Resources Beer (CR Beer) agreed to buy SABMiller's 49 percent stake in the Beijing-based CR Snow brewing company for USD 1.6 billion. The sale clears the way for the completion of AB-InBev's takeover of SABMiller.

What a mess. British drinks group Diageo has agreed to pay USD 75 million and provide other incentives to replace the chairman of its India business, Vijay Mallya, in exchange for his resignation from United Spirits, media reported at the end of February 2016.

That’s a blow to AB-InBev. The Chinese government not only prevented them from obtaining SABMiller’s 49 percent stake in CR Snow, the country’s major brewer. It also forced AB-InBev to accept a price which is far below analysts’ original valuation.

It’s so blatantly obvious. How to raise your profits? Answer: lower the excise. In late February 2016 and only a few days after announcing a 3 percent decline in volume sales for fiscal 2015, Australia’s major brewer Lion advised reductions in alcohol content for three of its major beers: XXXX Bitter, Tooheys Extra Dry and James Boag’s Premium Light.

After decades of rising sales, brewers in China have to adjust to a new reality: beer sales in China fell 7.3 percent in the January to September period last year. Beer sales dropped for the first time in 2014 and the downtrend continued into 2015.