Ireland | Only in 2022 had the Killarney Brewing & Distilling Co. expanded to become Ireland’s largest independently owned beer and whiskey producer. In July, it closed down, the latest casualty of a short-lived whisky boom.

Carlsberg gloomy on 2025 consumer sentiment

Denmark | Carlsberg missed half-year profit and volume forecasts on 14 August and warned it did not expect the consumer environment to improve during the remainder of 2025. This sent the Danish brewer's shares down almost 7 percent in early trading, Reuters reported. The latest half-year figures by the world's third-largest brewer - behind AB-InBev and Heineken - was received with similar pessimism to those of its rivals in recent weeks with investors sending shares declining.

Diageo to cut more costs as tariffs bite

United Kingdom | Profit at leading drinks firm Diageo has fallen far short of analysts’ expectations as high costs hammer the drinks giant. Net sales fell 0.1 percent to USD 20.24 billion in the 12 months to the end of June compared with a year earlier, Diageo reported on 5 August.

AB-InBev hikes profits despite volume dip

Belgium | Shares of AB-InBev plunged as much as 11 percent on 31 July, after the world’s major brewer posted a worse-than-feared decline in second-quarter volumes. The Budweiser maker said volumes declined 1.9 percent (-3 million hl) year-on-year over the three-month period, well ahead of the 0.3 percent dip forecast by analysts. The volume decline was attributed to weaker demand for its beers in China and Brazil. In the first half of 2025, AB-InBev sold a total of 6 million hl less beer than in the same period last year.

Heineken’s revenue down 5 percent in first half of 2025

The Netherlands | Heineken reported a 5 percent decline in revenue for the first half of 2025, totalling EUR 16.9 billion. The Dutch brewer, on 28 July, attributed the drop primarily to the stronger euro, which reduced the value of its foreign earnings when converted to euros, particularly from markets such as Mexico, Brazil, and Ethiopia.

Deposit on cans disrupts Austria’s beer market

Austria | Major changes to Austria’s beverage container deposit scheme on 1 January have led to “structural changes” in the beer market. Although there are no data available yet, observers suspect that sales of canned beer and beverages have declined significantly, especially in Austria’s regions which border Hungary and Slowenia. Cross-border shoppers liked to stock up on deposit-free beer. No longer, apparently.

How private equity swallowed the BrewDog Unicorn

United Kingdom | Analysing BrewDog’s 2017 deal with private equity outfit TSG Consumer Partners (TSG) that established James Watt as the founder of a unicorn (a company worth USD 1 billion) and made his fortune, the Financial Times, on 17 July, concluded that the 130,000 or so “Equity Punks” are sitting on worthless shares, unless a generous buyer suddenly appears for the lossmaking BrewDog.

Germany’s Oettinger closes another brewery

Germany | Domestic beer consumption is in decline. And that has consequences. Having shuttered its brewery in Gotha three years ago, the budget beer producer Oettinger is now also closing its brewery in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, the company announced on 21 July. Both sites had a capacity to produce beer and non-alcoholic beverages in excess of 1 million hl each.

United Kingdom | It does not happen often that the CEO of a major listed company resigns three weeks ahead of posting annual results. The departure of Diageo’s CEO Debra Crew on 16 July must have been so sudden – albeit by mutual agreement – that Diageo’s Chief Financial Officer Nik Jhangiani is taking over in the interim as the board searches for a successor.

WHO wants prices on sugary drinks, booze and fags raised by 50 percent

Spain | The World Health Organisation (WHO) is back in the headlines, pushing countries to raise the prices of sugary drinks, alcohol and tobacco by 50 percent over the next ten years through taxation. This is its strongest backing yet for taxes to help tackle public health issues. The initiative, dubbed “3 by 35”, was launched at the United Nations Finance for Development conference in Seville, Spain, media reported on 4 July.