Just when everybody thought that Colorado’s New Belgium, the brewer of Fat Tire Amber Ale, was safe after its founder Kim Jordan in 2012 had sold a 41 percent controlling interest to its employees, word leaked in late December 2015 that the company is considering selling.

It is no secret that the U.S. craft beer industry has boomed. But what of the craft brewery situation elsewhere? Are other countries experiencing a similar rise in craft brewing? As data are scarce, the yeast expert Alltech did its own research and discovered that there are more than 10,000 craft breweries worldwide.

In case you wondered why AB-InBev shortly before Christmas last year clinched deals with two more U.S. craft brewers – Four Peaks in Arizona and Breckenridge in Colorado – the answer is: “It’s the geography, stupid!

It was only a matter of time. Due to the decline in beer sales, MillerCoors, the joint venture between Molson Coors and SABMiller, decided to close down one of its eight U.S. breweries. The decision was made public in September 2015 and will affect the Eden brewery in North Carolina, which has 520 employees. It is to shut in September 2016.

It was a sight to behold: the two major players in the U.S. beer market, AB-InBev’s CEO Carlos Brito and Molson Coors’ CEO Mark Hunter amicably side by side at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing in Washington on 8 December 2015. Well, not quite.

This proves to show how tough the U.S. alcohol market can be. The Irish-based drinks group C&C, the maker of Magners cider, announced on 11 December 2015 that it has signed a long-term relationship with Pabst Brewing Company to distribute C&C’s cider products throughout the United States.

The total number of U.S. breweries reached a record level in 2015, according to a year-end review from the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers. As of the end of November, there are now 4144 breweries in the country, topping the historic high of 4131 breweries in 1873.

So much for the Three Tier System allegedly protecting smaller brewers. Thanks to their financial muscle, the Big Brewers always seem to find ways and means to get around it.

Here’s the remarkable story of how JE Siebel, a feisty German immigrant and founder of one of the most renowned international brewing schools, finally received a marker on his grave, nearly 100 years after he died. The story is told by Keith Lemcke, Vice-President of the Siebel Institute, in his typical humorous fashion (iv).

As in “here today, gone tomorrow”, Heineken USA is ending its tequila-flavoured beer experiment. Desperados, a lager with tequila that launched in the U.S. only in 2014, will be discontinued, U.S. media reported on 18 November 2015. Heineken USA will focus instead on its four priority brands: Heineken/Heineken Light, Dos Equis, Strongbow and Tecate. Desperados is sold in 85 international markets and is especially popular in France.