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.

On the face of it, things don’t look all that bad for Efes’ beer division. On 15 January 2013 Turkish brewer Efes reported that total beer sales by volume in 2012 were 28.4 million hl, up 23.5 percent over the previous year, thanks to the combination with SABMiller in Russia and the Ukraine early last year.

That’s desperate. In mid-January 2013 Asahi Breweries said it is aiming to increase beer and beer-like drink sales in the Japanese market by 0.5 percent this year to the equivalent of 164 million cases (a case holds 20 bottles of 0.633 litres each). Asahi will aim for the increase by selling more inexpensive, so-called third-category beer (a non-malt, carbonated beverage with a beer-like flavour and alcohol strength of 5% to 6% ABV).

The craft brewer Boxing Cat from Shanghai, China has announced that the much anticipated Cat Scratched Celt beer is now pouring at its Sinan Mansions location. The Cat Scratched Celt is a collaboration creation between the Boxing Cat Brewery and The Celt Experience of Wales. Cat Scratched Celt represents the combined brewing philosophies of the Boxing Cat’s brewmaster Michael Jordan and The Celt Experience’s brewmaster Tom Newman.

This is political correctness gone too far. Although several U.S. states have pushed ahead with it, few would have imagined Australia to follow suite in banning “Ladies Nights” — a type of bar promotion that provides free or discounted drinks for female bar patrons — because it represents gender discrimination.

In 2012, we have seen a further increase in general awareness of the craft beer sector in this country. Some consolidation, accompanied, of course, by some “drop-outs”, has occurred but by and large the sector is thriving. There are now over 150 craft breweries in Australia.

How do you know you are getting on a bit? There are hundreds of tell-tale signs like when your back goes out but you stay at home; or when you realize that your joints are more accurate than the national weather service in predicting approaching showers. Another indication of rampant fuddy-duddyism is when you begin every other sentence with “Nowadays...”, and you actually hear yourself say “when I was younger…” as in “when I was younger I did not risk being walked into by some git on the pavement staring into his iPhone”, which makes you sound like your own high school teacher and you hate yourself for it (actually others tell me that I have taken up ranting like an old biddy too of late).