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.

As of 1 February 2013, Belgium’s major brewer AB-InBev will increase the price of its beers by EUR 0.02 per glass on average, Belgian media reported in early November 2012. Allegedly, the price hike is due to higher input costs.

Cynics in the beverage industry may think that drinkable beauty elixirs are to the 21st century what snake oils were to the Wild West: an expensive fad. However, in their quest for the Next Big Thing, global beverage companies cannot leave the booming beauty market untapped. If there are millions of desperate women out there who might succumb to the idea that a bottle a day will keep the plastic surgeon away, why not serve them with a beverage that they think will give them everlasting youth and beauty?

AB-InBev, the world's biggest brewer, said on 31 October 2012 that in the third quarter (July to September) revenues rose by 9.1 percent to USD 10.3 billion, despite a slight decrease in the global volumes of sales. Total volumes dropped 0.3 percent, the brewer reported, after having declined 0.1 percent in the previous quarter.

Third quarter beer sales in Russia could prove a mixed bag for brewers. While Heineken on 24 October 2012 reported beer volume gains in its Central & Eastern European unit (that’s Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Russia and Serbia!) by 3.6 percent on an organic basis, AB-InBev was forced to admit on 31 October 2012 that it saw its Russian beer volumes decline by 17 percent in the quarter.

“Vodka Martini, James?” “No, make mine a Heineken.” The day after James Bond was first seen sipping a Heineken out of a bottle on the big screen – a deal reportedly worth USD 45 million to the Dutch brewer - Heineken said on 24 October 2012 that its third-quarter revenue grew 7.1 percent to EUR 4.97 billion, with an organic growth of 4 percent. Volumes were up 1.5 percent thanks to the brewer selling more beer in the Americas, Eastern Europe and Africa.