According to recent research by Diageo, about 20 percent of all off-premise liquor sales in Australia are RTDs with the pre-mixed segment generating more profit per square metre than any other category in liquor stores.

Cashing in on the environmentally-friendly image of Tasmania, Foster’s Group has launched Cascade Green, a beer which is 100 percent carbon neutral from the picking of hops to the eventual deposit in the recycling bin.

New technology may help Australia’s winemakers cope with higher alcohol levels brought about by the freak weather conditions of the 2008 vintage.

Binge drinking is currently a hot topic in Australia, occupying much media time and space.

A recent survey of the premium segment reveals that international brands continue to lead but domestic beers have improved slightly.

Coincident with the staging of cycling’s Tour Down Under in South Australia in January, a range of citrus flavoured (Radler) beers have become available.

Efforts by Aussies to battle bulging bellies have led to a 250 percent increase in the sales of low carb beer brands such as Hahn Super Dry, Pure Blonde and Bondi Blonde.

Unlike Heineken, that could not be drawn out when it will build a brewery in South Africa, the two beverage giants self-confidently let their competition know well in advance when they would be ready to tackle them head on.

Vietnam’s largest brewer, state-owned, Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp (Sabeco), plans to raise at least USD 557 million from selling 20 percent of its shares in an initial public offering on 28 January 2008.

Sales of beer and quasi-beer beverages are expected to have declined in 2007 amid a flurry of new product launches.