Isn’t it great, this short-termism? Makes comparisons less dramatic than they really are. Brewer Heineken is a case in point. Heineken, the world’s number three brewer, beat forecasts on 26 August when it reported a 20 percent jump in first-half net profit (ended 30 June 2009). How come? Aren’t we in the middle of a crisis? Yes, we are but Heineken made a one-off financial gain in its first half of 2009.

Reporting Carlsberg’s half year results (ended 30 June 2009) on 5 August 2009, CEO Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen admitted that the market decline in Russia was more than expected. Hence Carlsberg has been forced to assume a 5-6 percent decline for the year (previously assuming a 2 percent decline).

Mr Kowalsky’s about-face took many Germans by surprise. Could this be the same Mr Kowalsky who last August brushed aside criticism by saying that his lemonade deserved to be the most expensive of its kind?

Beer sales have been hit hard as consumers across the region tighten their purse strings by shunning bars, pubs and restaurants. ‘Cocooning’ a term not used since the downturn of the early 1990’s has been resurrected to describe the trend for drinkers to stay at home to entertain family and friends rather than eat out or go to a bar to socialize. In some markets smoking bans and increased duty have contributed to amplify the level of abstinence. Nowhere is this best illustrated than the Netherlands where an excise duty increase and a smoking ban in cafés has triggered a considerable nine percent decline in beer sales in the first half of 2009.

The dissection of Scottish&Newcastle by the Heineken-Carlsberg “consortium” was a further milestone in the “beer monopoly” bringing the BBH-Group into the Carlsberg fold.

Employing some 600 people, Loos generated sales revenues of approx. EUR 130 million in the past financial year. The takeover means that Bosch continues its strategy of strengthening its Consumer Goods/Building Technology and Industrial Technology business sectors. In organisational terms, the company will become part of Bosch’s Thermotechnology Division.

The centre of the celebrations is – of course – Dublin, Guinness’s birthplace. The celebration party begins here and features performances of international musicians and local artists. They are working the crowd in numerous pubs, bars, clubs and the St James brewery itself, where Hop Store 13, one of the most traditional buildings of the brewery, functions as live music studio with room for more than 2,000 special guests from all over the world – among others Sir Bob Geldof, Guy Ritchie, Carson Daly, Jerry Hall and Sophie Dahl.

At the end of July, the financial news services reported a rumour that the field of potential bidders for AB-InBev’s central European breweries had narrowed in the weeks running up to the submission deadline set by AB-InBev. Apparently, potential buyers like Cinven, Warburg Pincus and KKR had all dropped out of the proceedings.

In 2001, the EU decreed that "Bayerisches Bier" or “Bavarian beer” is considered a protected geographical indication (PGI), putting it in the same elite group as Greek feta cheese, Italian Parmesan cheese or French champagne.

According to widely copied news agency reports, people close to the action said at the end of July that CVC, a London-based leveraged buyout firm, offered USD 2.1 billion for AB-InBev’s central and eastern (sic) European assets.