Asian beer markets 1998 The patient is still coughing

It all began with a loud "Atishoo". On 2 July, two years ago, the Thai currency suddenly sneezed and before anybody knew what was happening, many Asian economies came down with the flu. Nothing could be done.

The fine art of brewing Japanese brewmasters back modern technology

Sapporo is probably the brewer with the longest tradition in the Land of the Rising Sun. The company’s origins lie in the 19th Century. The brewery in Sendai was built in 1971. In the new brewing room of the plant, 100,000 liters per brew are produced, and this translates to an annual output of 2,40 million hectoliters.

The lauter tun with a diameter of 12 meters is one of the largest ever built in Japan.

Know-how from Germany

Automation of the new brewing room was handled by Miyake Industries from Tokyo, one of the most important machine builders and brewery fitters in Japan. For a project of this size, Miyake sought out a partner with the necessary experience and found this partner in Ludwigsburg, Germany. The Ludwigsburg machine builder A.
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Brewers top league

When it comes to sales volume, Japan’s brewers top the league of the country’s food and beverage industry. According to Japanscan, the top ten companies ranked by total sales in 1998 (financial year ended March 1999 or December 1998) were: table

Fun-loving youths

Shaw Wallace plans to launch two beer brands in India: a mild beer called Hi-Five (not Hi Fi although the homophone is probably intended) and a strong beer called Lal Toofan. Hi-Five is to compete with UB’s Kingfisher brand in the mild beer segment, popular with fun-loving youths aged between 18 and 25. Lal Toofan is to help consolidate Shaw Wallace’s presence in the strong beer segment where it claims to control a 32 % market share.

Call that a career

Alan Bond, the entrepreneur who ran down an Australian brewing empire and was convicted of corporate fraud, is back in business. Having been released from prison, he is now working for Money Centre, a London high-street money-lender.

Brewpub to open

In 2001, a microbrewery is to open in the Northern Thai resort city of Chiang Mai. The local investor and chain res-taurant operator Chiang Mai Brew House has obtained US$ 500,000 in soft loans from the Small Industry Financial Corporation and an additional US$1.0 million for the project. Chiang Mai Brew House intends to set up a 600 to 800 seat outlet, selling 5,000 hl of draught beer annually to domestic and international tourists. Apart from draught beer, the brewery will also produce a "soft beer" for female patrons.

Brown or green

In a move to boost sales, the Carlsberg brand in Thailand has undergone a serious make-over. What once was a standard brand, packaged in a brown bottle, presents itself now as a premium brand in a green bottle. In line with the external make-up change, the taste of the product has become smoother, less bitter. More importantly, the retail price has gone up to premium heights from US$ 1.19 to now US$ 1.34 per 625 ml bottle.
Carlsberg lays claim to a 35 % to 40 % market share of the premium beer sector, which itself accounts for 6 % of the total beer market. The Tiger brand by Thai Asia Pacific Breweries is the current market leader in the premium segment. The Sura Maharas Group, Carlsberg’s Thai partner, operates two breweries: one in Ayutthaya with a annual capacity of 1..

Carlsberg buys largest Swiss brewer

Who else but the usual suspects would be interested in acquiring Switzerland’s brewer and soft drinks bottler Feldschlösschen Getränke Holding AG from Feldschlösschen-Hürlimann Holding AG? Ultimately, Carlsberg Breweries clinched the deal, thus taking over with effect from 1 July 2000 the beverage business for CHF 870 million including external debt. As Norwegian Orkla and Danish Carlsberg AS announced in November (their joint company Carlsberg Breweries is still subject to approval by relevant authorities), Feldschlösschen is the largest brewer in Switzerland with 2,600 employees, 2.4 million hl of beer output in 1999 and a market share of 45 %. It owns four breweries and four bottling plants, where it packages 3. In 1998/99 its 12-month turnover was CHF 1. Per capita consumption was 58..

Special hop aroma profiles for special beers

Two new cultivars have been released from the New Zealand Hop breeding program in the past two years, which has been an outstanding result for Dr Ron Beatson and his team at the Hort + Research, Hop Research Station.
The initial release was a new cultivar named "Nelson Sauvin" which has an excellent aroma type essential oil profile, with low cohumulone, and a good humulene/caryophyllene ratio, whilst still producing a 13 to 14 % alpha, but this new variety of hop gives a beer flavour similar to the now internationally famous New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc wines.
One large Brewery has already produced a commercial beer with this hop, and another major International Brewer is in trials, that may take this hop directly into full commercial production..

Microbreweries welcome

From the year 2002, Korea could permit the construction of microbreweries. To date, an alcohol taxation regime has prohibited the construction of microbreweries on the basis that alcohol production plants have to have a minimum storage capacity, which is way in excess of any average microbrewery. The revision of the law has been brought about by the Office of Investment’s assessment that craft beers would increase the value of Korea’s tourist facilities. Therefore the OIO has requested the co-operation of the Finance Ministry to change the alcohol taxation law.