I suspect that the somewhat sneering title of Josh Noel’s book “Barrel Aged Stout and Selling Out” (Chicago Review Press, 2018), which charts the rise of Chicago’s famous brewpub Goose Island to AB-InBev’s global craft beer brand, was chosen to make the book more sellable. Going for a rhyme – stout and out – might help too.

While Coke goes “naughty” with its Japanese alcopop, rival PepsiCo goes “healthy” with the acquisition of Bare Foods, a food company that makes snacks like salt-and-vinegar beet chips and Granny Smith apple chips. PepsiCo did not disclose any financial details of the acquisition, announced at the end of May 2018.

No doubt, the Three Tier System is being hollowed out. As more and more states grant craft brewers the right to open taprooms and even sell their beers to-go they are turning into serious competitors for distributors and retailers.

Molson Coors has expanded its portfolio of soft drink brands with the acquisition Clearly Kombucha for an undisclosed sum. The fermented tea product clearly taps into the healthy choice hype in soft drinks, while being fair-trade, non-GMO, gluten free, dairy free, vegan and kosher. According to the data site Crunchbase, it is distributed in California, Colorado, Texas, Washington, Oregon and Montana.

AB-InBev has cancelled its financial support for a study overseen by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the US Department of Health & Human Services, that aims to assess the health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption, according to various US media.

Is Molson Coors entering the blame game? Beer sales in the US fell nearly six percent in the first quarter 2018, a bigger drop than in Canada and Europe, where Molson Coors also does business.

In an open letter to the Brewers Association, Molson Coors’ Chairman Pete Coors complained about the “cheap shots and insults” made by the BA’s top brass during the opening session at the Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville. In his view, the BA undermines its credibility “by pitting us against one another to the ultimate detriment of the entire beer industry.”

In December 2017, US Congress passed legislation that includes a two-year provision of the Craft Beverage Modernisation and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA), which lowers the federal excise tax for breweries, wineries and distillers.

AB-InBev has filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission that Heineken’s bag-in-bottle beer dispenser, introduced in 2015, infringes the company’s four US patents covering the concept, media reported in early May 2018.

US brewers big and small prefer not to be drawn out over recreational cannabis’ impact on beer consumption, once it is legal across the whole of the US. So it was remarkable that Deschutes Brewery CEO Michael LaLonde told media that in his opinion cannabis has hurt sales.