It always seemed like a lame excuse, but obviously the weather has become the determining factor in beer sales in Europe. On 17 October 2013, brewer SABMiller said that its performance for the six months to 30 September 2013 has been in line with expectations: strong volume growth at its African business managed to offset a challenging environment in parts of Europe.

Given the long saga of Silvio Berlusconi’s legal wrangles, a victory in an Italian court, even if it is the Supreme Court, may amount to actually very little. Still, Czech Budweiser Budvar delighted in the sweet taste of victory, when on 8 October 2013 the Italian Supreme Court ruled in their favour, thus banning AB-InBev from using the Budweiser trademark in Italy.

Money isn’t everything, but it’s a long way ahead of what comes next. Like Olympic medal rankings, rich lists are somewhat silly. Still, they make for compelling study. On 8 October 2013, the ManagerMagazin published its annual rich list of the 500 wealthiest Germans. As expected, the two families behind Germany’s discount retail chain Aldi top the list at EUR 17.6 billion and EUR 16 billion each.

Most people feel they no longer have a “local” (that is a local pub) at the heart of their community – that’s according to a recent survey by YouGov released in September 2013.

Gin is such a popular drink that the son of the late porn and property baron Paul Raymond has jumped on London’s gin bandwagon with a new drink named in honour of his father. King of Soho London Dry Gin was launched at the end of September 2013 by West End Drinks, owned by Howard Raymond, the son of Paul Raymond, notorious for his strip joint Raymond’s Revuebar in Soho.

Why would Heineken sell their Strongbow cider in 2 litre plastic bottles? Is this a desperate measure to maintain volumes of one of the UK’s most popular cider brands, or is it just me failing to see the logic of this? While it’s not as bad as selling beer in large plastic bottles, Heineken’s move certainly carries the risk of downmarketing the brand’s image. What is more, have they forgotten that there is some stigma attached to drinking cider out of plastic bottles (remember youngsters at the park getting drunk on the stuff)?

Since when have the Irish become such morose whinge-pots? Even before Diageo, the owner of Guinness, invited punters to be in a bar by 5:59 pm on 26 September to raise a glass to Arthur – that’s Arthur Guinness, the brewery’s founder – a growing chorus of critics has called the festivities, which bring together three celebrated strands of Irish culture, namely Guinness, the pub and music, a “national embarrassment”. They argue that it is merely a PR stunt, aimed at promoting the company’s brands, and that there is nothing to celebrate in binge drinking.

Grand Place, Manneken Pis and the Atomium – come 2018 and Brussels will boast another atraction: The Belgian Beer Temple. Launched by the City of Brussels, the Brussels Capital Region and the Federation of Belgian Brewers, and housed in the former Brussels Stock Exchange, the Belgian Beer Temple will be a visitor experience that is built on a grand scale to highlight all aspects of Belgian beer culture.

They like their soft drinks alright. Japan’s beverage company Suntory has bought the Lucozade and Ribena brands from the UK’s biggest drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for GBP 1.35 billion (USD 2.1 billion). Suntory will acquire the global rights to the brands and GSK’s Coleford manufacturing site.

Good summer weather during the month of July 2013 has brightened up the mood amongst German brewers. Compared with the previous month, beer sales rose 11.9 percent.