Brazil | Heineken has refuted a Brazilian newspaper report, which said that Coca-Cola Brasil had filed a lawsuit seeking to void Heineken’s 2017 acquisition of Brasil Kirin. This was reported by esmmagazine.com on 27 January 2020.

USA | Having shifted some of Lagunitas’ export production to The Netherlands and Brazil, the Petaluma-based brewer has said it is cutting “under 5 percent” of its workforce, as part of a restructuring strategy. Lagunitas is estimated to employ under 800 people these days.

USA | There goes another one. Detroit’s Atwater brewery has sold itself to Tenth and Blake Beer Company, the US craft beer division of brewer Molson Coors, for an undisclosed sum, media reported on 22 January 2020.

USA | Driven by the phenomenal growth of its brands Mike’s Hard Lemonade and White Claw in 2019, the privately owned firm will invest USD 385 million in two breweries. The first to open in June 2020 is an USD 250 million plant in Glendale, Arizona.

Canada | In the first full year of cannabis legalisation, the nation’s domestic beer production fell 3.9 percent over 2018, according to data from Beer Canada, a trade body. The drop in consumption was less pronounced, though, as beer imports grew 1.4 percent.

USA | Constellation Brands will spend USD 40 million, its biggest-ever single-brand investment, to launch its Corona brand hard seltzer this spring, marketwatch.com reports.

USA | Molson Coors will cease production at its Irwindale brewery, California, in September, unless Pabst Brewing takes up the option to buy the facility, The Los Angeles Times said on 8 January 2020.

USA | Is this some elaborate blame game? MillerCoors has announced the closure of its Irwindale brewery, while granting rival brewer Pabst the option to buy it. But Pabst does not need the capacity.

USA | Even with New Belgium’s volumes deleted from the Brewers Association’s table, the industry organisation expects craft beer volumes to have grown about 4 percent or 1 million barrels in 2019.

USA | New Belgium is no longer employee owned and can no longer be considered an independent craft brewer, after employees/shareholders approved of the sale to Australia’s brewer Lion on 17 December 2019.