If you thinking what you are seeing on the label, well, ... you may be right. At Carlton United Breweries (CUB), a division of the Foster’s Group, word is out that its latest product innovation, launched in July, "improves stamina and endurance". The activity in question shall remain unmentioned. But no doubt, male consumers will have an inkling or two. Carlton G is a beer (4.6% alc./vol.) brewed with Guarana, a natural berry extract from the Amazon jungle. The percentage of natural Guarana extract used in each bottle of Carlton G is between 0.15% and 0.20%. Compared with one standard energy drink, you will have to consume three 355ml bottles of Carlton G before you experience a similar effect. If not we will continue to lose out..

Destination Turkey. Efes could profit from a tourist boom this year but financial costs may eat into profitability. For the first quarter of 2001, Anadolu Efes reported a hefty loss in excess of US$20m as a consequence of the Turkish lira’s depreciation.

Turkey offers good sales prospects for beer in the medium term. The legislation passed in January 2000 terminating the Turkish alcohol monopoly opens up opportunities for foreign breweries to supply local wholesalers or build up their own distribution network. Before this, all foreign purchases had to be handled through the government-owned monopoly Tekel, which sold imported beer exclusively to large hotels and tourist facilities, allegedly due to warehousing problems. These customers were obliged to take at least 1,000 cartons of a brand at a time, and remit the invoice amount to Tekel in advance, including taxes and levies. In Turkey’s retail sector, only Turkish beers are available, apart from smuggled merchandise. This lower limit is to be gradually reduced to zero by 2006.97 (1..

They know how to hurt. After trouncing Boon Rawd Brewery, the maker of Singha, in the beer market, Beer Thai is launching a new attack - this time on the soda water front. With a 97% stake, Boon Rawd controls the Thai soda water market, while Beer Thai has a meagre 1.3%. It’s not about David vs. Goliath - it’s all about money. The Thai soda water market is supposedly worth US$83.6m. Boon Rawd had better cover its back this time. When Beer Thai took on Singha, Boon Rawd enjoyed a market share of 90%. Since having engaged in battle, Singha’s market share has fallen to 30%, while Beer Thai’s brand Chang beer has managed to claim 60%.

The tag line runs: "It could only be Heineken". Why? Who could possibly want a bottle of Heineken after having seen this one, beheaded, the head in the gutter and the liquid oozing out?

The UB Group, which claims to hold 40% of the Indian beer market and which is best known for its Kingfisher brand, will offer a 26% stake to any foreign partner who is willing to bring to India its international beer brand and ability to sell Kingfisher in markets outside India. Dr Vijay Mallya, the flamboyant chairman of the UB Group, said at a news conference in April that UB’s diversified investments would be separated from the brewer before the stake was sold.

Yes, they brew beer in Azerbaijan - an estimated 15,000 hl annually according to The Barth Report. In 1997 the Azeri-Castel Brewery was set up as an Azerbaijani-French joint venture. It has since been renamed Baku-Castel because beverage company Castel has bought out the Azerbaijani partner and become the sole owner of the brewery.

Carlton Special Beverage’s "Sub Zero" has re-invented itself with the launch of a pink grapefruit flavoured Sub Zero. Claiming to combine the tang of a pink grapefruit with triple distilled vodka, the new Sub Zero is cashing in on the current popularity of vodka with the 18-24 crowd. Visit www.subzero.com.au

... did they call it a "Killer Bitter"? SA Brewing, part of Lion Nathan, has increased the bitterness of its Southwark Bitter brand to 25 IBU. But what possessed them to call it a "Killer"? We should be told.

Australasian brewer Lion Nathan was able to lift net profit after tax 16% to A$89m (US$46.3m) in the six months to 31 March 2001. Profits would have been even higher had it not been for a A$12.9m loss in its Chinese operations. Lion Nathan China reduced its losses by 33% but is still far from breaking even. Half-year sales for the group were A$795.5m (US$413.7m), up 2%.