It’s a rumour only, but further consolidation of the Czech beer market would make sense. Czech media reported on 9 September 2014 that Heineken is in talks about selling its Czech operations to Molson Coors.

Wheat beers have long enjoyed the highest prices for beer in Germany. They are the measure of how much Germans are prepared to pay for beer at the most. Now that AB-InBev is heavily discounting its national wheat beer brand Franziskaner, German brewers fear the whole price architecture for beer will collapse.

On 2 September 2014, the Hamburg based GlobalMalt Group announced the complete acquisition of GlobalMalt Polska, Bydgoszcz, by Tivoli Malz GmbH. The acquisition was completed in order to continue the further development of the Group. After the acquisition of the minority stake of 40% last week which Polskie Mlyny had been holding since 2008 Tivoli Malz GmbH (Tivoli) is now the sole shareholder of its Polish subsidiary GlobalMalt Polska Sp. Z o.o.

You’d have thought that Carlsberg was merely one of several international companies doing business in eastern Europe – but now the brewer seems to have become the test case for how European companies are going to be affected by the new chill between Russia and the West.

What’s the big news here? Bars and restaurants have always had various discount schemes – think Happy Hour – to bring punters through their doors. And why does BrewDog only allow students to benefit from the discount? Why not senior citizens too? They are usually hard up too.

In our recent report “Beer is special still – The anatomy of the AB-InBev-SABMiller takeover rumour” (BRAUWELT International August 2014) we highlight the power wielded by the new and truly global alliance of analysts and business media in bringing a deal about.

A Polish Minister has an idea: What to do with excess apples? Well, turn them into cider. In its spat with Europe over sanctions, Russia on 1 August 2014 officially closed its borders to Polish fruit and vegetables, depriving farmers and exporters of a market worth more than EUR 300 million last year.

Is this the answer? Carlsberg, whose Baltika unit is Russia’s biggest brewer, plans to fill some bottles with less beer and make others smaller in order to limit price increases amid political upheaval, its CEO Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen said on 20 August 2014.

The South Africa born Jan du Plessis, 60, is set to become chairman of two big global companies at the same time when he takes over the role at brewer SABMiller next year in addition to his current position at miner Rio Tinto.

Coca-Cola HBC, the world’s number two bottler of Coke products, on 7 August 2014 issued the warning that volumes would fall for the rest of the year, citing a “sudden deterioration” in Russia, its biggest market.