Six months on from the Federal Government’s tax increase on RTD’s in April, the Department of Ageing & Health is pleased with the impact the rise had on the market, pointing out that “recent Australian Tax Office figures show a 23 percent decrease in pure alcohol sold in spirit form, between April and June”.

Lion Nathan’s most popular beers, including Tooheys New, Tooheys Old, XXXX Bitter, XXXX Gold, Swan Draught & West End Draught, will now carry a stamp: “Natural Beer Promise: Brewed in Compliance”. This statement confirms that the products are naturally brewed using only five ingredients: water, malted grains, cane sugar, hops and yeast and are free from additives and preservatives.

In October SABMiller launched a new national beer brand in India, appropriately named Indus Pride. The new mild beer is to crack Kingfisher’s dominance as the best-selling beer. Kingfisher is owned by United Breweries in which Dutch Heineken has a 37.5 percent stake. SABMiller is the number two brewer in India with a market share of 35 percent in its core markets.

Plans for the new Bluetongue Brewery at Warnertown (NSW Central Coast), north of Sydney, are currently on display for comment at the Wyong Council offices. The brewery, to be built by Pacific Beverages - a joint venture between Coca Cola Amatil and SABMiller - is expected to open in 2010.

A range of quality vineyards and winery assets in the Clare Valley, Coonawarra, McLaren Vale, Padthaway and Wrattonbully regions in South Australia and Mt Barker in West Australia has been offered for sale on behalf of Constellation Wines Australia. The relevant winemaking and fruit-supply arrangements are subject to negotiation. In Adelaide, persistent ‘grapevine’ rumours suggest that Constellation is set to pull out of Australia completely if the market for Australian wines does not improve.

Peter Lehmann, 78, Barossa valley wine legend, is celebrating the remarkable turnaround of the company that bears his name, following the news of its best-ever financial result.

The Fosters Group have served up the dregs for investors with their first profit drop in 16 years, revealing a fall of 88 percent (AUD 117 million) to 30 June 2008, and due mainly to a massive write-down of the value of their wine businesses. Admitting that they paid too much for their wine assets (principally Beringer and Southcorp), Foster’s said that financial returns from wine have not met expectations and that the multi-beverage marketing approach had failed.

Australian Vintage (formerly McGuigan Simeon Wines), the country’s third largest winemaker, unveiled its first net profit in two years on 27 August 2008.

In October Kirin Breweries will launch a new high alcohol (7% ABV) beer in a bid to gain a bigger share of the domestic market. The beer, named Strong Seven, represents Kirin’s development of a third category beer, supplementing regular beers at 5% ABV and low-malt beers at 3% - 4% ABV. The new category is aimed at 30 to 50 year old males. Both Kirin and Suntory have already experienced success with higher alcohol shochu liquor-based drinks.

According to the Financial Times, InBev is weighing up whether to sell their Korean beer business, Oriental Brewery, and certain brands in Germany, among other assets, as they try to find the best way to fund their purchase of U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch.