Apparently, Carlsberg think it does. On 3 April 2014 they announced they had entered into an agreement to acquire 51 percent of Zatecky Pivovar (“Zatec Brewery”) in the Czech Republic for an undisclosed sum.

The antitrust watchdog bared its teeth yet again and issued a total of EUR 231.2 million in fines against Carlsberg Germany, Radeberger, a host of smaller regional brewers (Bolten, Erzquell, Früh and Gaffel), the Association of Rhine – Westphalian breweries as well as against seven brewery executives. The penalties were issued on 2 April 2014.

On 28 March 2014, Nya (“new”) Carnegiebryggeriet, an 8,000 barrel brewery cum restaurant, opened in Stockholm. Behind the two-year project are Carlsberg Sweden and Brooklyn Brewery, plus some private investors. Sweden’s Minister of Rural Affairs, Eskil Erlandsson did the ribbon-cutting in the presence of Marc Jensen, CEO of Carlsberg Sweden, Brooklyn Brewery’s GM Eric Ottaway, Brewmaster Garrett Oliver and co-founder Steve Hindy.

A year of brewery closures? First, Efes closed their Moscow brewery in January, now AB-InBev follow suit. On 26 March 2014 media reported that AB-InBev will shut down their brewery in Perm. It will be their third plant to go off-stream in less than two years after closing one in Kursk in 2012 and another in Novocheboksarsk in 2013. This will leave AB-InBev with six breweries, it was reported.

Although they went scotch free, having turned themselves whistleblower in the watchdog’s investigation into the German beer cartel, AB-InBev may be dragged to court after all – by German Rail (DB). In 2008, when several German brewers colluded over beer prices, according to German trust busters, AB-InBev were the exclusive beer supplier to DB. AB-InBev’s contract with DB only expired recently after six years. They have since been replaced by Bitburger Brewery (another culprit in the beer cartel case) and wheat beer brewer Erdinger.

Who buys these kitchen appliances? Popcorn makers, ice cream makers, waffle makers, pasta makers – don’t they all get used once and end up cluttering your kitchen counters? Never mind the wife’s complaints, Heineken is to launch their latest must-have kitchen appliance, branded the SUB, which is a draught beer lifestyle appliance. It has been created in collaboration with Heineken, the designer Marc Newson and consumer technology experts Krups.

As the anti-sugar campaign gathers pace, the targets – food and beverage manufacturers – decided it was high time to tell the government what’s what, and in a language politicians understand: the language of money. In March 2014 members of the Food & Drink Federation and Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) met in Westminster to point out the wider impact The Coca-Cola Company has on the UK economy. As UK media reported, CCE had enlisted the help of independent researchers, who – no surprise really – found out that for each job provided by Coca-Cola, a further eight jobs are created across Great Britain both upstream and downstream – a total of 34,500.

The co-owner and Managing Director of Munich’s Augustiner Brewery is dead. Dr Jannik Inselkammer, 45, was buried by an avalanche in Canada on 24 March 2014. He was waiting for his helicopter to fly him out after a heli-ski expedition to the Selkirk mountain range in British Columbia.

The secrecy surrounding the EU-US trade talks – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) - has already stoked widespread fears among European environmental and consumer groups that the pact will lower standards for everything from apples to automobiles. Opposition to TTIP is rife. But the angst over the potential impact of an EU trade agreement is also coming from mainstream European groups who don’t have a knee-jerk approach to trade agreements.

The beer division of German food and beverage company Oetker Group faces a fine of EUR 190 million (USD 263.3 million) for its involvement in fixing beer prices, the German news magazine Focus reported on 9 March 2014.