Europe | Looks like the US culture wars have spread to Europe, turbocharged by social media. BrewDog became the first target. But Danish craft brewer Mikkeller was not far behind. On the morning of 12 June 2021, an anonymous group put up several posters outside Mikkeller’s Copenhagen headquarters and accused the brewer of sexism and racism via an Instagram account.

Germany | The European Patent Office (EPO) has rejected a joint appeal filed by NGOs against a patent on barley owned by Carlsberg (EP2373154). This was reported on 8 June 2021. The Board of Appeal will publish its reasons for the judgement at a later stage.

Belgium | The AB-InBev connection is spurious at best, but this has not stopped Belgian media to sell a bizarre story about tax planning gone wrong as a love and crime story, involving the late Amicie de Spoelberch, her heirs, a corrupt lawyer and finally the Belgian tax man.

Belgium | It was a big event by any standards. Though conducted virtually over four days, the Brewers of Europe Forum (1–4 June 2021) attracted an unprecedented number of delegates: nearly 2 500 industry members attended the Forum’s 19 sessions, which covered a wide range of topics, from recycling and recovery to innovative brewing techniques, beer styles, marketing and packaging.

Belgium | In a rare interview with the press, Michel Moortgat, the CEO of beer group Duvel Moortgat, admitted that its beer sales dropped 12 percent to 1.94 million hl in 2020, but that buoyant sales in the remainder of 2021 could make up for a lot.

Ireland | The maker of Magners and Bulmers cider, the Irish C&C Group, unveiled plans to tap shareholders for cash, as it swung to an annual loss because of the pandemic.

Europe | There is only so much you can say when the CEO of AB-InBev steps down after 17 years. And it seems Heineken said much of it in February 2020, when its CEO Jean-Francois van Boxmeer announced his departure after 15 years at the helm.

United Kingdom | The world’s major drinks company, Diageo, is sitting on GBP 9 billion (USD 12.8 billion) of cash. How best to spend it? According to Ivan Menezes, Diageo’s long-serving CEO, it is on Diageo’s shares.

Belgium | They have been a long time in coming and the covid pandemic certainly delayed rollout plans, but finally hard seltzers, which are an alcoholic drink containing sparkling water and fruit flavour, are hitting Europe’s shelves.

Belgium | For a decade the Trappist monks of Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy in Rochefort, southern Belgium, have been fighting with a quarry owner over the purity of the local spring water.