VLB Symposium in Guatemala City

The 8th Ibero-American Symposium, organized by VLB Berlin, was held from October 23rd to 25th of 2017 in Guatemala City. The conference program included presentations on a wide range of topics, starting with the raw materials used in beer production, moving on to bottling and packaging, and culminating in a more global note with topics such as sustainability. VLB Berlin was supported by Cervecería Centro Americana and by the market researchers at Euromonitor International.

Tequila remains in demand. Bacardi has agreed to buy out Patron Spirits International in a deal valuing the high-end tequila maker at USD 5.1 billion. Bacardi, the world’s largest private spirits business, already owns 30 percent of Patron, which it purchased in 2008 from businessman founder John Paul DeJoria, 73, who is equally famous for co-founding the shampoo company John Paul Mitchell Systems.

It’s probably called flexibility. For the second time in as many years, Pabst Brewing Company has undergone a major restructuring, announcing on 18 January 2018 that it has eliminated a total of 70 positions or 18 percent of its workforce.

Don’t you sometimes marvel at the stories that are sold to the public to explain a deal’s rationale? The US soft drink maker Dr Pepper Snapple is to merge with coffee company Keurig Green Mountain to form Keurig Dr Pepper. The transaction was announced on 29 January 2018.

The distributor of Corona in the US had the best performance of any brewer in 2017, media say. While craft beer sales have slowed and the overall beer industry remains stagnant, if not in decline, Constellation Brands has continued to grow its business regardless.

The federal tax on domestic and imported beer rose by two percent last year as part of the 2017 budget. It will continue to increase every year in line with inflation starting this April, it was reported.

As Mr Mallya sat trial at a UK Magistrate Court, over accusations that he defrauded a government-owned bank relating to the 2012 collapse of his Kingfisher Airlines company, his two US breweries brought down the shutters.

In December 2017 the German transport packaging producer signed a purchase agreement for 100 per cent of the shares of Envases y Laminados, S.A. de C.V. (ELSA). Closing is expected to take place in early 2018, subject to the pending approval of the Mexican antitrust commission COFECE.

US craft brewers are becoming more global, but not in a way you would have thought: it’s through takeovers or buy-ins by AB-InBev, Heineken, Mahou San Miguel, Sapporo, Duvel Moortgat, and FIFCO.

Over 6,000 breweries operated in the US in 2017, according to the Brewers Association’s (BA) count. About 900 craft breweries operate in the largest state alone, California. Across the country, “83 percent of the population lives within 10 miles of a local brewery,” the BA reports. This number rises to almost 92 percent in California. That’s a lot of communities directly impacted by craft beer businesses.