Funny it should only occur to hacks now that SABMiller's shares have surged more than 20 percent to GBP 28.1 so far during 2012, making the share one of this year's best performers in the FTSE 100. True, beverage stocks have climbed about 26 percent between 1 January and 30 November 2012. But hey, a share price hike is a share price hike.

The Carlsberg Group, on 14 November 2012, signed an agreement to acquire a further 18.58 percent shareholding in Chongqing Jianiang Brewery, taking its total shareholding to 49.58 percent. The purchase price is approximately RMB 600 million (USD 96 million).

On 23 November The Brewers of Europe appointed the Spaniard Demetrio Carceller as its new President, succeeding the Portuguese Alberto da Ponte.

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, says that Britain’s pub closure rate has increased to 18 per week, with over 450 pubs across the country having been lost since March 2012. This is an increase from 12 per week for the September 2011 to March 2012 period.

The deal raised a few eyebrows. Yu Xiaoning of Vandergeeten & EG Distriselecta, the importer of AB-InBev beers into China, has bought a controlling stake in the small brewery Brasserie d’Ecaussinnes, the Belgian magazine Trends reported on 13 November 2012.

Brewers should not cheer the Senate’s rejection of a draft law to raise beer excise by a whopping 160 percent. In its vote last week, the French Senate proposed a 120 percent increase instead with a reduced rate for smaller brewers.

Hop, hop, more hops was certainly the much talked about topic at Brau Beviale in Nuremberg (13 to 15 November 2012), especially after the Bavarian Brewers Association in January this year issued a statement saying that dry hopping was not in contradiction with the German Reinheitsgebot. Phew. You can image how relieved German brewers were, now that this controversial issue has been settled, hopefully, once and for all.

Good or bad is a matter of perspective. On 7 November 2012 Carlsberg reported that in the third quarter 2012 beer volumes declined 2 percent in its Eastern European unit (which is mainly Russia and the Ukraine), compared to the same period a year ago. In the January-through-September period the beer volume decline was even more pronounced: – 7 percent to 34.3million hl year-on-year.

Several media reported at the end of October 2012 that Russian President Vladimir Putin is stepping up his attempts to fight the bad health of Russians by banning smoking in public places and setting a minimum price on wine. Already it’s illegal to drink alcohol in public places.

Ho, ho, that’s a tough one. The Brewers of Europe, an industry body not known for its foam-at-the mouth rhetoric, recently wondered aloud if France is an EU member state, thus expressing its shock over the French government’s anti-industry, anti-EU ministerial stance.