Czech Republic | Over the past decade, the Czech Republic has seen a veritable upsurge in small breweries. There are now about 500 minibreweries operating across the country, with more than 30 being established in 2020.

Russia | The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposes to start compulsory labelling of beer and low-alcoholic drinks from 1 September 2022. It is assumed that from this date mandatory electronic labels will need to be put on kegs, and from 1 December on the other types of beer packaging. A trial is currently underway, which will end on 31 August. The move is to dry out counterfeit beer.

United Kingdom | Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company closed its London Fields Brewery in December 2021, with an eye to selling the craft beer brand just four years after buying it for a reported GBP 4 million (USD 4.9 million).

Prestigious award | A Scottish family business has been honoured with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade. PureMalt Products Ltd is one of 205 organisations UK-wide to receive the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2021.

Denmark | It has been a busy year for Royal Unibrew, a mid-sized Danish multi-beverage company, serving markets in the Nordics, Baltics, Italy, Germany, and France.

Sweden | In Sweden there is only one company that is allowed to sell full strength beer, wine and spirits: Systembolaget. Actually, the state monopoly does not want to make it too easy for its compatriots to drink alcohol. But now the company is offering a nationwide delivery service for the first time.

Denmark | Perhaps Danish craft brewer Mikkeller should have followed BrewDog’s example, when it too faced accusations of sexism and a toxic culture in May this year. Like BrewDog’s CEO James Watt, Mikkeller’s founder Mikkel Borg Bjergsø should have communicated through traditional media that he was so sorry and would immediately enter into direct talks with his accusers.

Belgium | AB-InBev’s new CEO, Michel Doukeris, set the company’s first earnings target on 6 December 2021, forecasting 4 percent to 8 percent in organic growth over the next four years, based on rising beer sales and expansion into other drinks and even food.

Germany | That was swift. In November, the Munich craft brewer Crew Republic parted ways with AB-InBev after only two years and repurchased AB-InBev’s 20 percent stake in it. On 3 December 2021, the brewery’s founders, Mario Hanel and Timm Schnigula, announced they had sold a stake to Bitburger Group for an undisclosed sum.

United Kingdom | JD Wetherspoon has signed a new 20-year supply deal with AB-InBev's Budweiser Brewing Group UK&Ireland, marking the end of a four decade-long arrangement between the pubco and Heineken.