On 31 August, twelve of Australia’s most famous names in wine, many of whom have been in the business for several generations already, launched their alliance AFFW which will work to engage consumers, retailers, restaurateurs and industry members across the globe about the real character and characters of Australian wine.

A monster cocktail served by a popular restaurant chain should join the list of banned drinks and promotions, the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) has warned. A 13.6-shot cocktail at the Taco Bill chain of restaurants (Melbourne) has become the latest target for critics who warn it’s a clear breach of responsible service guidelines. “Clearly, any container of alcohol sold for consumption on this premises that includes over 13 standard shots is completely unacceptable and the licensees should be immediately dealt with,” AHA chief executive Brian Kearney was quoted as saying.

In Vietnam trends show that consumptions of soft drinks, beers, coffees and milk products are steadily growing (6 percent in 2008, forecasted 5 percent in 2009 and 9.3 percent in 2010). (Business Monitor International, “Vietnam Food and Drink report Q1 2009”, published on 11th February 09). This attractive investment opportunity is mainly driven by a growing population, an overall improving standard of living and a rising health-conscious consumption.

Import clearance figures for full-strength beers (to March 2009) showed a total of 972,140 hl, of which beers from Mexico – mainly Corona Extra – accounted for over 400,000 hl (= 41 percent). Beers from the Netherlands and USA both showed about 11 percent with Germany about 8.5 percent, according to the monitoring service of the Liquor Merchants of Australia.

They selected a system based on the Rockwell Automation Logix Control Platform, consisting of Allen Bradley ControlLogix® programmable automation controllers (PAC) and 1756 I/O. They communicate with the existing DCS on Modbus™. Asia Pacific Breweries decided to migrate the brewhouse control system in phases. First, the company would replace the I/O modules and migrate them to a newer system. It needed a new I/O system that was open and modular and could be scaled for future growth. Second, the brewer had an aggressive goal to migrate each remote I/O panel during one eight-hour period of scheduled downtime — a process that can normally take several days. To help ensure that the upgrade was completed in the scheduled eight-hour period, Rockwell Automation and Asia Pacific Breweries approached this project with a pilot and ran a “dress rehearsal” of the planned upgrade.

When it comes to alcohol consumption by category, beer is still Australia’s most popular alcoholic beverage with annual consumption of 78.2 litres per capita in 2008. By comparison, the consumption of wine, RTDs and spirits was 17.0 litres, 14.0 litres and 2.1 litres per capita respectively.

Foster’s Group has warned it could take up to two years to deliver a lasting improvement in performance, after announcing an almost fourfold jump in net annual profit from AUD 111.7 million (2008) to AUD 438.3 million.

Beverages company CCA is forecasting to deliver profit growth of almost 10 percent for the second half of calendar 2009 assuming current economic conditions prevail.

Statistics for 2008 indicate that New Zealand ranks 16th among the world’s beer markets with 75.5 litres of beer per capita consumed in 2008, down from 90.5 litres in 1996.

The deal between Sapporo and Pokka, if completed in September, could go down in history as two drunks propping each other up pretending to be sober.