That's tough: stumbling in the home straight. For years, Diageo, the world's number one drinks group, has tried to buy part of Vijay Mallya’s United Spirits group. In November 2012 it finally managed to clinch a deal for a 53 percent stake in the company.

The new Crafty Beggars range of beers, produced by Lion, has been banned by a retailer because its advertising material is “an insult to a great industry". In early March 2013 the retailer Liquorland Newmarket tweeted that it would no longer stock Crafty Beggars brews due to the tagline causing a backlash among drinkers.

India is a tough beer market to operate for every foreign beer company. Besides central regulations, the beer companies have to face regulations of each state in which it operates. However, this time the regulatory hurdle for a foreign beer producer didn’t come from India, rather from US Securities & Exchange Commission. Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Indian joint venture, which has been struggling to get a foothold in the Indian market, is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

On the face of it, the former Foster’s wine business, Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), on 28 February 2013 posted disappointing half year results to the end of December 2012: net profits fell 23.2 percent to AUD 45 million (USD 45.9 million) and net sales dipped 3.4 percent to AUD 816.9 million, while EBIT dropped 20 percent to AUD 73.4 million and volumes slipped 2.5 percent to 16.5 million cases.

The dispute over what constitutes a craft beer – as opposed to a pseudo craft – has now broken out in Australia too. While in the U.S., craft brewers complain that the “Big Brewers” put crafty-looking beers into the market thus hoping that their me-too creations can help them cash in on the growing craft beer boom, Australian consumers have long grown used to the fact that several former craft breweries are owned by the country’s major brewers. What has now caused an outcry is that one of the smaller craft brewers, Byron Bay Brewing, is having a beer brewed, packaged and marketed by Foster’s/SABMiller – without as much as telling consumers.

After Carlsberg began posting job openings for Myanmar nationals in mid-summer on its website, speculation was rife that Carlsberg was seeking to return to Myanmar following the easing of international sanctions which had forced the brewer out of the country in the mid-1990s.

Gaining market shares seems to be brewers' top priority. Or how should we interpret SABMiller's recent acquisition of the loss-making brewer Kingway otherwise?

It seems that SABMiller have realised that the previous Foster’s management axed too many experienced brewing/technical staff, thus creating an embarrassing shortage. That’s why in January 2013 there were ten technical job vacancies at Foster’s published on the website seek.com.au.

Is Australia going the way of Germany or is it the other way round? It does not really matter as what I saw on a recent trip to Australia signalled to me: “very bad and worse to come”. When I visited a liquor shop in Adelaide in early January 2013, I noticed that every other bottle of wine carried a sticker saying “best offer”. As if this was not bad enough, there was also an offer for an Australian white wine at AUD 25 (USD 26 / EUR 19.30), which, by Australian standards, is not really expensive. What made me gasp for air was the fact that with the wine came a free six pack of Mexican Sol beer (owned by FEMSA/Heineken). In a nearby cooler cabinet the same Sol six-pack was priced at AUD 16 (USD 16.60 / EUR 12.50).

Water problems continue to be a major headache for Indian beer producers, especially in the Maharshtrian city of Aurangabad, which is dubbed as Beer Capital of India. Home to almost all of the big beer companies and some of the best brands in the country, thecity of Aurangabad has been facing an acute water problem for the last five months. A deficient monsoon (July- September period) triggered the water scarcity in the region. The water of the Aurangabad regions is considered the best water in India to produce beer.