Ireland | Third time lucky? Competition among cider brands is set to intensify, as Diageo has launched a new brand to challenge C&C’s Bulmers and Heineken’s Orchard Thieves.

Germany | A change of mind? AB-InBev has called off the sale of two of its breweries – Diebels and Hasseröder. All discussions with interested parties have been terminated, AB-InBev announced on 20 March 2019.

France | After Elliott Management announced it had spent about USD 1 billion to build a stake of more than 2.5 percent in drinks company Pernod Ricard at the end of 2018, the New York-based hedge fund called for improvements to Pernod Ricard’s margins and governance, which it claimed needed more outside influence.

Germany | It is a confusing system. Why do retailers charge a deposit EUR 0.25 (USD 0.28) for beverage containers that can be returned for recycling, whereas beer bottles that are returned to be refilled only command a deposit of EUR 0.08 (USD 0.09)? The explanation is to do with who determines the deposit.

Italy | It must have been a labour of love. Or why would anybody spend years to write a three-volume (over 1,000 pages in total!) compendium on beer? As the authors are Italian and the books are written in Italian, you cannot rule out a pedagogic purpose.

Belgium | No-alcohol and low-alcohol (“NOLA”) beers are considered a boom category and not just during “Dry January”, when people are urged to abstain from alcohol after the assumed excesses of the previous month. But they are still small fry.

Belgium | Whatever interpretation is offered for AB-InBev’s recent refinancing round, the whole agitation boils down to this: Can AB-InBev run its shop as it pleases or will it have to do as told by the Money Men?

Belgium | In the battle of wills between the Money Men and AB-InBev, it appears that the world’s number one brewer is further caving in to pressure. To alleviate concerns over its mountainous debt pile, AB-InBev in early January announced that it was refinancing some of its debt while it muses floating its Asia-Pacific business on the stock market.   

Denmark | Danish brewer Carlsberg’s revenues rose last year for the first time in three years, helped by the long, hot summer in northern Europe and Russia. Net revenues were DKK 62.5 billion (USD 9.4 billion), up 3.1 percent over 2017, but still short of the DKK 64.5 billion in 2014.

Netherlands | Heineken saw sales of its flagship brand rise 7.7 percent to 38.7 million hl last year, the highest increase in a decade, the company said on 13 February 2019.