With hundreds of thousands of Russians dying of excessive drinking every year, the Kremlin says it plans to hike minimum prices for strong spirits, including vodka. According to a draft decree published by the government on 29 November 2013, the cheapest half-litre bottle of vodka will cost 199 rubles (USD 6.0/EUR 4.40), up from the current 170 rubles, as of 1 January 2014.

On 22 November 2013, Krones and Volkswagen were awarded the German Investors’ Prize for corporate social responsibility. “With Krones and Volkswagen, we have singled out two deserving companies as prize-winners. For both these corporations, responsible action is a vital element of their business operations”, Michael Schneider, head of Environmental, Social & Governance at DeAWM said at the award ceremony in Frankfurt.

Ah, those heady deal fantasies. Just because the controlling Carlsberg Foundation said in October 2013 that it wants to be able to cut its stake in the Danish brewer to below 25 percent, which could open the door for a share issue (and more money to spend on acquisitions), commentators have already been outdoing each other in guesswork who Carlsberg would buy next. Some even went as far as saying that Carlsberg have set their eyes on the Chinese brewers Tsingtao and Yanjing and the Philippine brewer San Miguel. Could it be that these commentators, in their exuberance, have ignored the fact that Tsingtao and San Miguel already have foreign shareholders? Japan’s Asahi owns 20 percent of Tsingtao and Kirin controls 48 percent of San Miguel?

Small brewers will be relieved. As of February 2014, AB-InBev, the country’s major brewer, will raise wholesale prices of beer by EUR 0.015 per glass. That’s EUR 0.06 per litre or EUR 2.40 per 50 litre keg.

Where were all those costs hidden that the previous owners of Modelo did not find them? AB-InBev said on 31 October 2013 that they had “found” USD 250 million of savings just four months after taking full control of the Corona Extra brewer Grupo Modelo in Mexico.

What did the government think? To clamp down on the on-trade industry’s practice of getting a bit of money under the table, the Belgian government decided that from 1 January 2014 Belgian pubs and restaurants need to have electronic cash registers (“black boxes”), which record all incomes. Smaller outlets have been given until the end of 2015 to put these boxes into place.

Securing a seamless succession, both Volker Kronseder, Chairman of the executive board and his brother Norman, who is a member of the supervisory board, have made arrangements to ensure that their shares are transferred to their children, the manufacturer of beverage filling and packaging machines, Krones, said on 23 October 2013.

Those revolving doors at the top of AB-InBev’s German unit keep on spinning. As of 1 January 2014 Steve McAllister (47) will succeed Chris Cools (46), who is leaving AB-InBev after 17 years, AB-InBev said on 17 October 2013. Mr Cools only became head of the German unit in 2010, when his predecessor Jens Hösel left after merely a year at the helm. The departure of Mr Cools brings the tally of bosses that have come and gone in Bremen over the past ten years up to six. AB-InBev employs about 2,800 people in Germany. 1,400 work in Bremen, where AB-InBev Germany is headquartered.

On 23 October 2013 Dutch brewer Heineken posted a lower-than-expected profit outlook for 2013 after earnings fell by 15 percent year-on-year for the third quarter 2013. Heineken now expects 2013 net profit to decline in the low single digits.

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.