The Czech brewing industry is a mix of good and bad news. First the bad news: Czechs are drinking less beer and more of it at home. And now for the good news: they are still the world leader in beer consumption and they are drinking a larger variety of brews as microbrews move into the hospitality sector.

It took a trio of female beer experts to launch Beer Day Britain, which is hoped to become an annual festivity of the British beer industry starting in 2015. On 15 June next year, Beer Day Britain will celebrate all that is great about British beer.

Call it bad timing. David Duchovny’s latest role is stirring up more intrigue than any episode of “The X-Files”. The U.S. actor plays himself in a beer ad for AB-InBev’s brand Sibirskaya Korona (“Sibirian Crown”), imagining how proud he would be if he were Russian. The ad was first aired on YouTube on 25 July 2014, only days after the downing of flight MH17 in the Ukraine.

Guinness brewer Diageo has discontinued the controversial Arthur’s Day celebrations in favour of a new format called Guinness Amplify, which will see a series of music events take place every weekend for the month of September throughout Ireland.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Germany is a hotbed of illegal shenanigans. In July 2014, the Germany Federal Cartel Office issued fines of more than EUR 338 million (USD 455 million) on 21 sausage makers for illegal price fixing.

It’s amazing. Another U.S. craft brewer has ventured overseas. Really, you have to admire them for their guts. It takes guts, and probably more, to want to open a brewery in Germany these days. Beer consumption is in decline, competition is fierce and U.S.-style “craft beer” largely unheard of.

SABMiller’s stigma as a tax dodger does not seem to want to go away. Four years after the UK charity ActionAid exposed the brewer of depriving poor countries of millions in revenues, the Sunday Times newspaper ran a comment on 29 June 2014 with the opening line: “You could be forgiven for thinking SABMiller’s newish boss Alan Clark has a guilty conscience.”

One rival less to use the Budweiser label. AB-InBev has bought the “other” claimant to the Budweiser name, the small Budějovický Měštanský Pivovar located across town from state-owned Budweiser Budvar. AB-InBev confirmed the transaction on 2 July 2014, but did not disclose any terms.

Someone seems to have a vision. From what we at BRAUWELT International have heard, the Dutch private equity vehicle Waterland has set its eyes on buying into privately owned Belgian breweries to establish a group of breweries, much like Duvel Moortgat (Brasserie d’Achouffe, Brouwerij De Koninck, Bernard in the Czech Republic, Ommegang and Boulevard in the U.S.). Waterland reportedly seeks to acquire stakes of at least 50 percent in the breweries.

More than 300 guests attended the annual meeting of German brewers in Berlin on 25 June 2014. Hosted by the German Brewers’ Association, the highlight of the meeting was the appointment of the new “Ambassadors of Beer". This honorary title was awarded to the TV host Sonya Kraus and the leader of the Green Party, Cem Özdemir. They will bear the title for a year.