In May, Schincartiol agreed to buy the Cintra brands that market leader AmBev had been forced to divest following a competition authority ruling.

For a few weeks now the world’s financial centres have been abuzz with a possible USD 45 billion bid by InBev for Anheuser-Busch.

You thought that with running a brewery you were in the beer business? Apparently not. Goose Island’s brewpub closure proves that you are in the retail business. Because should your neighbourhood suddenly become hip you can fall victim to rising rents.

No, it’s not called a hattrick but the Trumer Brauerei is certainly aiming for it. At the World Beer Cup 2008 Trumer Pils was awarded a gold medal for Best German-Style Pilsner. This is an extraordinary accomplishment for Trumer Pils following the Gold medal win at the World Beer Cup competition in 2006.

It was a big bash. On 19 April more than 1,500 guests attended a formal beer dinner at the World Beer Cup in San Diego when the winners were announced.

SABMiller is to launch a craft-style Miller Lite. You read correctly: a craft-style Lite by Miller. All marketing...little sense. Craft is flavour and intensity. Lite is Miller. Many craft brewers hope the launch will fall flat.

My oh my, they either bank on the Baby Boomers’ early senility or on their laid back sense of humour that comes with age. In any case, Pabst Brewing has re-launched Schlitz beer, the erstwhile largest-selling beer in the U.S. which infamously went under in the 1970s.

How is Grupo Modelo’s U.S. importer Crown going to explain a whopping 13 percent decline in export sales in the first quarter? Well, they are not. All they do is blame it on the economy and a price hike that took place in the first half of 2007. Who are they fooling?

The next act in the takeover battle of Anheuser-Busch has just begun. While SABMiller let it be known that it has conducted informal talks with Grupo Modelo and InBev as concerns a partial or complete acquisition of the Mexican brewer, sources close to Anheuser-Busch said that the American brewer is planning to reject InBev´s offer.

Things are finally moving on. Although the Board of Anheuser-Busch at its Friday 20 June 2008 meeting did not come out in favour of selling the largest brewer in the U.S. to InBev, it did not rule out a sale either. Which can only mean one thing: The Board wants to drive up the price and see how much InBev is willing to fork out for Anheuser-Busch before it commits itself, one way or another.