Canada | So AB-InBev has jumped on the pot waggon too. As Canada prepares to legalise the highly anticipated consumable cannabis market this year, AB-InBev and Canadian cannabis company Tilray have set up a USD 100 million joint venture to study cannabis-based beverages, the companies announced on 19 December 2018.

USA | Mad Money rules again. In December 2018, AB-InBev’s shareholder, the cigarette company Altria, paid USD 12.8 billion for a 35 percent stake in e-cig maker JUUL. This makes the San Francisco-based start-up worth USD 38 billion, more than other Silicon Valley start-ups, such as Airbnb, Pinterest, and Lyft. Many analysts thought the deal pricey, as JUUL’s turnover is estimated at only USD 2 billion.

USA | Constellation Brands, which is the number three brewer in the US, saw its stock decline about 30 percent from its 30 April 2018 high of USD 236.62. At the end of December 2018, it stood at only USD 162.86.

Canada | After the hype came the fall. Shares in Canadian cannabis companies have been on a tumultuous ride as of late. Since peaking in the days before the country’s legalisation of cannabis (17 October 2018), there has been a near-steady decline in many a company’s stock price.

USA | As has been expected, the Brewers Association’s board of directors has revised its craft brewer definition at its December 2018 meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona.

What is ACERMEX?

Collaboration and independence | If there is a lesson to be learned from the international craft beer movement, it is “United we stand, divided we fall”. Brewers know that fighting to open up new opportunities for craft beer might follow a lonely and arduous road. That is why, 10 years ago, seven Mexican brewers decided to come together and set the foundation for what is now the largest brewers association in the country.

How a California Craft Brewer Weaves It All Together

Close-Knit Community | The youngest of three daughters with three daughters of her own, Lynne Weaver, left a lucrative career as a tax accountant to be a full-time mom. However, the driven mother of three knew she wanted to do more. So, in 2013, she combined her background in finance with her passion for home brewing to start Three Weavers Brewing Company, named for her three girls.

For the time being, the Brewers Association (BA) restricts its membership to craft brewers which are small, independent and traditional. This means that brewers’ annual production must be 6 million barrels of beer or less; that Big Brewers can only own less than 25 percent in them, and that the majority of their total sales volumes must be beer. Flavoured alcoholic beverages are not considered beers.

Brewers Pabst and MillerCoors are currently seeing each other in court. MillerCoors has been brewing Pabst beers under a 1999 contract, and seems reluctant to renew the contract, which reportedly expires in 2020. Pabst has asked the Wisconsin court to award it USD 400 million in damages and force MillerCoors to renew the contract.

The wheels of justice grind slowly. Three years after AB-InBev jumped on rival SABMiller, the acquisition got approved at last. In October 2018, the US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan signed what is called a Modified Final Judgment, which means the Department of Justice, or DoJ (which is in charge of anti-trust issues), and AB-InBev managed to hammer out a consent, albeit with some modifications, which are meant to limit the deal's impact on the US beer market.