Danish brewer Carlsberg reported 2017 profit well below analysts’ expectations, hit by a fall in sales and a large write-down in its key Russian market.

Norwegian Farmhouse Brewing at the Lindheim Ølkompani (Part 2)

Flora of the Fruktbygda | In the previous installment, we became acquainted with the “Fruktbygda”, the fruit-growing region around Gvarv, Norway, and the Lindheim Ølkompani, the family farmhouse brewery located there. In this installment, we take a closer look at the research presently underway at the Lindheim farm.

The German Sonderweg

Beer in Germany | Have a guess: how long do you need to work for a bottle of beer in Germany? Even on minimum wage it’s only four minutes. Our spectacularly low beer prices in the off-premise are great for consumers, but catastrophic for brewers. Nearly all brewers battle with declining volumes, aggressive retailers and dwindling profits. Premiumisation would be a way out but few have the courage to go down that path.

Data provided by Morgan Stanley shows that the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia this summer could lift beer consumption. It estimates football fans’ impact on beer consumption at two percent. As a result, it expects that Russia’s beer market would grow during 2018, for the first time in a decade. Recently Anadolu Efes reported that beer consumption dropped in the low single digits in 2017.

It may be the world’s oldest brewery and owned by the Bavarian state government, but this does not mean that its people are retrogressive codgers. Weihenstephan Brewery, located outside Munich since monks began brewing there in 1040, has a new hefeweissbier. It’s a collaboration between the state-owned brewer and California’s major craft brewer Sierra Nevada.

Allegedly, Russians are consuming 80 percent less alcohol than five years ago. This figure was put out by the Minister of Health, Veronika Skvortsova, recently. The BBC did a reality check and published its own findings on 27 January 2018.

Global drinks company Diageo recently announced that its operating profit rose by over six percent to GBP 2.2 billion (USD 2.97 billion) in the six months to 31 December 2017. Net sales were GBP 6.5 billion (USD 8.77 billion), an increase of 1.7 percent, with all regions contributing to the company's sales growth.

Elvis Presley’s estate has lost a trademark dispute with Scottish craft brewer BrewDog over the brewer’s use of the name “Elvis” for one of its products. The case hit the courts in October 2016. BrewDog celebrated the ruling on 29 January 2018.

The decline was only two percent, but beer production still dropped to 93 million hl in 2017, the German Brewers Association reported. This was partly due to a drop in beer exports. Full year 2017 figures for beer exports are not available yet. In 2016 beer exports stood at 16.7 million hl.

AB-InBev has sold its breweries Hasseröder and Diebels to the German financial investor CKCF for an estimated EUR 200 million (USD 245 million). The deal is to be completed during the first half of 2018. AB-InBev started sales proceedings in mid-2017.