The Federal Cartel Office has fined five German brewers a total of EUR 106.5 million for illegal price fixing. The group of convicts include national brewers Bitburger, Krombacher, Veltins, Warsteiner and the regional brewer Barre.

Drinking alcohol is bad for you. Remember what happened to the notorious pissheads Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Oliver Reed, George Best, Mary Winehouse and Kurt Cobain? All dead. And Charlie Sheen, Miley Cyrus, Pete Doherty cannot be feeling too well after their many close encounters with the bottle.

“Love beer” is the moniker of a generic beer campaign that is presently being tested in five European countries. If the campaign syncs with consumers, it could be rolled out across the European Union as of April 2014, provided national brewers’ associations are willing to cough up the money to run it in their own countries.

Hopefully, supporters of generic beer campaigns take the ruling by the UK’s advertising watchdog to heart. In December 2013 it ruled that a TV ad for brewing industry marketing campaign “Let There Be Beer” cannot be shown again in its current form.

How much worse can it get? The Russian beer market might decline at a rate of low-double digits in 2013, mainly due to the negative impact of the regulatory changes, pricing environment and the deceleration of economic growth, Turkish brewer Efes warned investors in late 2013.

Brewers have applied to UNESCO, the United Nations Organisation for Education, Science and Culture, to have their “Reinheitsgebot”, the German beer purity law, join a list of “intangible heritage” that includes Spanish flamenco and Turkey’s Kirkpinar oil-wrestling festival, media reported at the end of December 2013.

SABMiller, the world’s number two brewer, reported a rise in profits for the first half of its financial year, as its business in Africa helped offset declining beer sales in Europe and North America.

So Bud is not a place. Who would have thought? The Colmar Court of Appeal has ruled that the “Bud” appellation of origin, owned by the Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar, is invalid, AB-InBev reported in early November 2013.

Clay bricks are often impregnated with polystyrene as a way to enhance their heat-trapping abilities. However, EU restrictions on carbon emissions have made it expensive to incorporate polystyrene and other synthetic materials into bricks for this purpose.

Just because Michael Hollmann, 55, used to be CEO of one of Germany’s largest brewing groups Brau + Brunnen, which he sold to Radeberger Brewery in 2004, it does not mean that he has the wherewithal to run his own brewery. In mid-November 2013 his Iserlohn Brewery filed for bankruptcy, owing suppliers and banks an estimated EUR 2 million.