Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. said it will build a brewery in Foshan, southern China, to help reach its goal of doubling the distribution of Budweiser in China over the next five years.

SoBe diet? Atkins diet? Have a glass of a low calorie bubbly instead.

Australian drinks company Coca-Cola Amatil said that proceeds from the sale will go towards entering the Australian beer market.

Foster’s will refocus on its struggling multi-beverage strategy after completing the AUD 270 million (EUR 164 million) sale of its overseas and domestic wine clubs and services groups.

The war of words between Danone and its Chinese partner Wahaha is a lesson in greed, cultural misunderstanding and crude but effective spin doctoring.

State of the art in brewing technology 2007

The 1st Technical/Technological Conference for executives of the 4 leading Japanese breweries was held in Tokyo from 13th to 14th of march, 2007. The Faculty of Technology of Brewing of the Technical University of Munich-Weihenstephan, the Research Centre for Brewing and Food Quality Weihenstephan and Fachverlag Hans Carl Nuremberg organized the conference in collaboration and with the outstanding organizational support of Eberhard Gerlach, Künzel Maschinenbau GmbH and Hidekazu Miyake, Miyake Industries C. Ltd., Tokyo.

Present trend in the brewing industry in Japan

This article reports topics related to the brewing technology in Japan with special focus to the new type of beer-like drinks. Today, the world brewing industry is facing big changes. The biggest one will be the grouping of brewing companies, especially M&A, by international big brewing companies (Fig. 1). The trend is exceptional in Japan, but another big change is progressing now in the domestic beer market. The launching of the beer-like drink called “beer of the new category”.

A major step into the future

International brewing companies and suppliers benefit from the current boom in China. The upswing of the Chinese beer market encourages more and more companies to access the Chinese market. Based on its majority holding, the Ziemann Group has acquired an „ideal partner“, said the management of the family-owned company when commenting on the acquisition.

In February 2007, Anheuser-Busch confirmed that it had formed an equally owned joint-venture with India’s Crown Beers to brew, market and sell Budweiser and other beer brands in India when Crown Beer’s new brewery will be completed as of March.

In March Heineken opened its first Heineken Bar in the new Terminal 2 of Hong Kong International Airport on Lantau island. Heineken intends to roll out this branded bar concept to key international airports which support the brand’s premium positioning.