The alcohol escalator is causing grief. As of 1 January 2015 the Swedish government hiked the excise on beer to SEK 1.94 per litre for each degree of alcohol. That’s an increase of SEK 0.16. The tax applies to beer in excess of 2.8 % ABV.

Thank goodness, there was the Football World Cup in 2014. Its effects made Heineken’s group revenues rise 0.1 percent to EUR 21.2 billion, the brewer reported on 11 February 2015.

Would the Kremlin know or care that its politics made a Danish CEO lose heart? Carlsberg announced on 18 February 2015 that its CEO Joergen Buhl Rasmussen, 59, will retire on 15 June this year and be replaced by Cees ’t Hart amid reports of a weakening Russian ruble plus declining beer sales in Russia and the Ukraine, which led to a sharp drop in the brewer’s fourth-quarter profits.

What’s become of Pippi Longstocking? In case you are not watching Scandi noir TV series, you would not know that there are only two kinds of Swedish women around: grumpy female cops or anxious female victims.

What has happened here? Polish brewing group Zywiec saw a 41 percent decline in 2014 net profits to PLN 159.4 million, following an 11 percent drop in revenues and a 3.6 percent fall in volumes to 10.7 million hl, it was reported on 11 February 2015.

U.S. packaging group Ball Corporation wants to buy its UK competitor Rexam, a move that would combine two of the world’s biggest can makers.

Looks like craft brewers are about to set new benchmarks for going international. “Have suitcase, 8,000 followers on Twitter, will travel”, is today’s modus operandi.

Bavarian brewers and how they like to see the world. When asked when craft beer hit Germany, officials of the Bavarian Brewers Association like to respond: 500 years ago. That’s when the Bavarian Purity Law for beer was implemented (1516).

Is this a sign how bad things have become? Vodka production in Russia has fallen dramatically in the past year. According to figures released by the statistics office Rosstat, 660 million litres of vodka were produced in 2014, a decline of 22.3 percent over 2013. In November and December the drop was most marked: in December, there was a decline of nearly 47 percent.

The good news first: Belgian brewers sold more beer in 2014. The volume growth in 2014, although not spectacular, could run into several thousands of hl, the Belgian magazine Trends reported on 28 January 2014. The increase in volumes should not be surprising at first sight because 2013 was a bad year, with a very long and cold winter and spring. On the other hand the summer months of July and August 2014 were very wet and often cold.