Craft beer sales may be on the rise in Australia, but craft beer brewers are still struggling to make serious inroads into the lucrative on-premise sector. Why? Because they suspect that the country’s two big brewers have managed to protect their dominance over the beer taps of Australia’s pubs and bars.

The recent decision (May 2014) by French luxury goods company Moët Hennessy to launch a new e-commerce site that sells the company’s entire portfolio of wine and spirits directly to the public has been met with outrage by liquor retailers, Australian media report.

“No” was the word most frequently used by Australia’s Treasury Wine Estates’ PR in May. “No”, the world’s number two wine company was not in talks to be acquired by China’s Bright Food Group. And “no”, it had not been approached by either Pernod Ricard or Constellation Brands for its U.S. business.

Is it because Australian beer drinkers are shunning traditional brands that SABMiller on 23 May 2014 had to report that three of its top Australian brands have witnessed declines in volumes over the past year?

Global drinks group Diageo has received regulatory approval for an open offer to acquire a 26 percent stake in United Spirits for an estimated Rs 114.48 billion (EUR 1.4 billion/USD 1.9 billion), it was reported.

Alison Watkins, the new Group Managing Director of Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) is not to be envied her task at hand: turning CCA around. Nothing less will do. CCA’s stock is down over 40 percent since May last year, reducing the soft drink-to alcohol-producer’s market value to AUD 7.3 billion (EUR 4.9 billion).

Over 300 delegates attended the IBD Asia Pacific Convention in Vietnam (23 to 28 March 2014).

Last week’s announcement (29 April 2014) by the Australian consumer watchdog ACCC that it has reprimanded brewer Carlton & United (CUB) over the manner in which it advertised Byron Bay Pale Lager (Brauwelt International reported) seems set to have wider implications for the brewing industry.

Too “crafty” for their own good? Australian brewers have been put on notice over misleading craft beer labels after SABMiller-owned CUB was fined for potentially fooling drinkers, Australian media reported on 29 April 2014.

After months of speculation, AB-InBev, the world's major brewer, confirmed on 24 April 2014 that it has fully acquired the Chinese beer company Siping Ginsber, but did not disclose financial terms of the purchase. The acquisition was approved in March by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and Chinese media valued the deal at EUR 450 million (USD 622 million).