Perhaps if Carlsberg had invited analysts to its Easter special pop-up chocolate pub in London, in which everything from the dartboard to the bar stools was made from actual, edible chocolate – the beer taps were real though –, the money guys would have been put into a sweeter frame of mind.

Who would have thought that the British beer revolution would catapult the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) into something akin to soul searching?

The UK’s 2016 budget is a mixed bag. While the Chancellor George Osborne decided to freeze duty on beer, cider and whisky, he announced a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages during his speech on 16 March 2016. Under the plan, by 2018, sugary drinks will be taxed on the amount of sugar they contain, with some exemptions for fruit juice and milk.

You cannot fault them for taking advantage of easy money. Ever since the European Central Bank announced in March 2016 that it will start buying corporate debt later this year – despite there being few details for the plan –, companies have flocked to Europe’s corporate bond markets. This would mean lower borrowing costs for European companies

You cannot fault them for their perfect timing. On 25 February 2016, when the German parliament was to cast a vote on whether to extend approval for the use of glyphosate, the world’s most widely used weed killer, media screamed that a Munich environmental institute had found traces of the pesticide in 14 of Germany’s most popular beers. All the same, parliament voted in favour of the extension.

With over 900 new breweries opening since 2013, the European beer industry has bounced back from the financial crisis. This is one of the key findings of a study released on 23 February 2016 by the Brewers of Europe, a lobby group.

Looks like the global beer party is over. AB-InBev on 25 February 2016 issued a warning that a slowdown in markets such as Brazil and China will weigh on the brewer this year.

Why do Russians prefer local beer brands? Because some of them are cheaper than the foreign owned ones. Over the past five years, the share of local brands in the Russian beer market has increased from 15 percent to 25 percent, the Turkish brewer Efes reported in January 2016.

Let’s see how it goes. The maker of Punk IPA is planning to run an “Equity for Punks” crowdfunding campaign in the U.S. in May this year, although admitting that its latest crowdfunder in the UK is still a few million bob short of target it set for April.

Acknowledging that some brands still require local ties, AB-InBev’s CEO Carlos Brito symbolically broke ground in Leuven on 22 February 2016. At its Artois brewery AB-InBev will expand brewing capacity to 12 million hl by 2017. That’s an increase of 30 percent over today and represents an investment of EUR 55 million.