When Irish eyes are smiling, the old saying goes, everyone is happy and the world is a wonderful place. But what happens to Irish eyes, when they see that the world’s number one drinks company Diageo is willing to trade its Irish whiskey Bushmills for full control of Mexico’s Don Julio tequila brand as was announced on 3 November 2014? Do Irish eyes well up with tears?

An upstart brewer is betting that it can burnish the Czech and Bohemian name with a dose of Western style marketing technique and some boutique non-lager brews. The new company’s dreams, at least on the surface, fly in the face of declining Czech exports to Germany and the United States. But, the Two Tales brewery says that trends are moving its way. “No one has ever taken Czech craft brewing and matched it with Western-style marketing,” argues Se Padilla, co-owner and co-founder of Two-Tales.

Who’s hysterical? Because a single viewer had complained, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned Diageo’s TV commercial for Parrot Bay frozen cocktails on 15 October 2014. The reason given? It’s “strongly likely” to appeal to children. The TV ad, which showed a colourful animated parrot squawking while being frozen, must not be broadcast again in its current form.

SUN InBev, the Russian subsidiary of AB-InBev, is selling its brewery in Perm, Russian media reported on 24 October. The sale of the Perm brewery was announced on the Rosrealt website. The assets include all the buildings on a total area of 60,000 square meters. The selling price exceeds USD 20 million.

It’s such a well-worn excuse that the summer has either been too hot or too wet if brewers have to explain disappointing beer sales that it comes as a surprise that only now investors are finding it somewhat odd.

It did not only rain a lot in Europe, it was also pouring down in China over the summer, it seems. SABMiller reported lower beer sales for the past quarter (July to September) and for the six months on 14 October 2014. Fortunately, SABMiller could boast of a 5 percent rise in first-half revenues as higher prices offset the impact of lower beer sales.

After having worked together for years across the globe, Gea Process Engineering recently announced the acquisition of Scan-Vibro A/S from Svendborg in Denmark.

It was so Hollywood teen movie-ish: boring, unattractive and never-been-kissed geek makes pass at gorgeous high school prom queen in front of the whole class and gets brushed off.

When will the decline in Russian beer consumption bottom out? Russia’s beer sales have dropped more than 25 percent in the period from 2008 to 2013 and a further seven percent in the first six months of 2014. Brewers have responded by scaling back capacities and closing breweries.

Good grief – what will the number pushers, aka statisticians, come up with next? The Morning Advertiser, a UK trade publications, reported on 1 October 2014 that some guys at the Office of National Statistics (ONS) have worked out that UK consumers spend more every year on illegal drugs and prostitution than on beer and wine.