We are pleased to report that The Beer Monopoly by Ina Verstl and Ernst Faltermeier and published by Brauwelt International made it on to the Forbes List “Best Booze Books of 2017”.

AB-InBev may be out of the picture as a shopper of craft brewers, but this does not stop others from clinching deals. Colorado’s Avery Brewing on 29 November 2017 announced the sale of a 30 percent stake to Mahou San Miguel, a Spanish brewing company founded in Madrid in 1890.

Lo and behold, AB-InBev’s lawyers have a sense of humour. After the small craft brewer Modist from Minneapolis, Minnesota, started selling a Double IPA called “Dilly Dilly” on 1 December 2017 – which mocks the recent Bud Light ad campaign wherein medieval monarchs toast while uttering (the copyrighted phrase) “dilly dilly” in unison – AB-InBev felt compelled to issue a cease and desist order at around lunchtime the same day.

In 2017, the overall beer market is to see a 1.5 percent decline in volume, but craft should enjoy five to six percent growth, according to the Brewers Association (BA).

Who thought that size matters in brewing? Apparently, in Mexico they do. Sporting some fairly large breweries already, the country will get another superlative-beating one when Grupo Modelo’s new brewery in Apan, located in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo, will go on stream in the first quarter of 2019.

Following an USD two million recall of its Milk Stout Nitro and IPAs last year, the Coloradoan craft brewer Left Hand Brewing is suing its yeast supplier, local media report.

Heineken and the Brazilian Coke distributors will begin arbitration in February 2018 regarding a distribution contract that the Dutch brewer decided to terminate as of 1 November 2017. The contract was to run until 2022, according to Brazilian media.

On 16 November 2017, the House of Representatives passed its version of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”. No Democrats voted in favour of the Republican bill, which – if passed – would mark the most significant overhaul of the federal tax code since 1986, it was reported.

Craft beer, spirits and wine seem to have munched into Molson Coors business. During the third quarter 2017, net sales for Molson Coors Brewing fell 2.1 percent to USD 2.88 billion, compared to USD 2.94 billion in the same period last year, the company reported on 1 November 2017.

Will brewers soon have to defend their share of throat against wine, spirits and pot? It seems likely. Already there is talk in the industry that legalized pot could become the new craft beer. Legalized marijuana is expected to be a USD 50 billion business by 2026, up from USD six billion in 2016.