Faced with falling beer sales in UK pubs, which were down by almost 50 million pints in the first quarter of 2013, compared to the same period last year, the UK’s major brewers decided to plough millions of pounds into a joint TV campaign which was launched at the end of June 2013.

The spring barley crop in Europe varies greatly from region to region. The late sowing and the regionally wet and cold spring left its mark. In certain regions, drought is also a topic. However, there is talk of regeneration, which doesn`t guarantee yield and quality though. Beyond that, diseases have to be taken into account.

The UK’s on-premise sector will shrink by a further 7,704 outlets over the next five years, with most closures coming in the next two years, according to a new forecast by CGA, a consultancy firm. There are now around 50,000 pubs serving Britain.

A consolidator of the Polish market of regional beers has emerged. Gontyniec Brewery from Wielkopolska bought the Konstancin Brewery for PLN 2.54 million (USD 800,000) in April 2013 and is now planning further acquisitions.

“I brew only what I like to drink”

It is not easy to track down a brewery in Austria which can be described as a craft brewery. “What do you mean by craft breweries? Strictly speaking, craft breweries do not exist in Austria”, according to information initially received from the Verband der Brauereien Österreichs (Association of Austrian Breweries), at least not as they exist in the United States, Belgium or Holland. “But there are already a large number of breweries with a creative assortment of products, each with their own taproom and an interesting story,” comes the reassuring response. Small, emerging breweries, some of them with quite innovative beers, are coming out the woodwork. Since the year 2000, the number of small breweries in Austria has almost doubled. About three years ago, the brewery “Schwarzbräu” joined the ranks.

JD Wetherspoon (JDW), the 860-strong UK pub chain, has defended its position after it emerged that the use of e-cigarettes had been banned inside all of its pubs, media reported on 7 June 2013.

At the German Brewers Association, which represents the country’s 1,300 brewers, they will be pleased that their open letter to six government ministers at the end of May 2013, in which they warn against fracking in their country and ask for a moratorium on the issue, was picked up widely by the media, making it even into the New York Times newspaper.

They did not use the derogatory term “fat cat” – but this seems to be the implication of a Sunday Times piece on Paul Walsh, CEO of Diageo. On 26 May 2013 the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper reported that Diageo’s departing CEO is to receive one of the biggest-ever farewell packages valued at GBP 50 million (EUR 58 million/USD 75 million).

This must be spirits marketers’ Newspeak. Or how can a liquid have a heart? With exactly those words Diageo on 27 May 2013 announced the winner of their bartender competition Show Your Spirit 2013 launched earlier this year. It’s a “Japanese” gin called Jinzu – pronounced, I guess “ginzu”. Geddit?

It was a bit of a damp squib: On 16 May 2013, following the recent developments in the EU-wide trademark registration case for Bud, AB-InBev’s top legal counsel Frank Hellwig tracked all the way to Prague for a special press conference to announce that the world’s major brewer was not interested in buying the Czech beer icon Budweiser Budvar and how did the country respond?