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.

No one seriously believed that the Brewers Association (BA) would reach its lofty goal of collecting over USD 200 billion to buy the industry behemoth AB-InBev.

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).