France | The world’s number two drinks group, Pernod Ricard, is preparing for battle against the US investment fund, Elliott Management Corporation. Having gradually built up a stake of 2.5 percent – that’s a ticket of USD 1 billion – in Pernod Ricard, the activist investor launched its attack on 12 December 2018, calling Pernod Ricard’s governance “inadequate” and performance “inferior” to competitors such as Diageo.

Israel | Three 13,000-year-old stone mortars found in a cave near Haifa may be the earliest known physical evidence of an ancient beermaking operation. But it does not mean that present-day Israel has a beer culture. Average beer consumption has hovered around 14 litres for many years.

Israel | The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the world’s ongoing tragedies. Over the past two years, the southern border area between Israel and Gaza has become a new conflict zone.

Belgium | Disposable plastic items, such as straws and polystyrene cups, will be banned in the European Union by 2021, EU officials agreed on 19 December 2018, as they passed measures to cut plastic use in a bid to reduce marine litter.

Portugal | Danish brewer Carlsberg has acquired 28.5 percent of the shares in Viacer, the controlling shareholder of Portuguese brewer Super Bock Group, which holds 56 percent of the shares in the company. This was announced on 13 December 2018.

Belgium | After the share price sag, the cut in dividends and the downgrading of its credit rating by Moody’s, you cannot say that AB-InBev had a jolly good year. But it was not all their fault. The Money Men, who ganged up on AB-InBev in the past quarter and told the world’s number one brewer to pay down debt pronto by cutting dividends or else, can be real hypocrites, sometimes. I could not help thinking that their show of furrowed brows and clenched teeth had a comic book quality to it. Fact is, the Money Men would have known all along that AB-InBev had no intention to reduce its debt pile quickly. 

The new sugar tax on soft drinks has raised GBP 153.8 million (USD 196 million) since it was introduced in April 2018, the BBC reported on 20 November 2018. Covering the period from April to the end of October, it looks as if the tax is on track to raise the estimated proceeds of GBP 240 million (USD 306 million) for the full year. The levy is collected from manufacturers, whether they pass it on to consumers or not. There are 457 producers registered for the levy.

Global consumption of wine rose by 2 million hl to 244 million hl in 2017, according to the German Wine Institute (DWI), based on estimates by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).

With over 130 breweries and contract breweries in Greater London, the UK’s capital has become Europe’s undisputed craft beer capital. Many breweries also run taprooms, which are becoming as important as local pubs. Nationally, pubs continue to close at an alarming rate, but in London, at least, punters are in a fix as to where to spend their money if they hanker after a craft beer.

Few are blessed with such a long life and such a major achievement. It may have taken him several decades but Friedrich Schadeberg still managed to turn Krombacher from a village operation, doing about 50,000 hl in the early 1950s, into one of Germany’s largest privately-owned beer and beverage groups.