Within the scope of a capacity expansion, Ziemann Holvrieka GmbH, Ludwigsburg/Germany installed one “Lotus” lauter tun with a diameter of 7.6 meters and 12 cylindro-conical tanks with a height of 15 meters, 5 meters in diameter and a fermentation capacity of around 2,000 hl at the Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits Company from San Diego, California.

Are we right in detecting a new strategy here? When in 2011 AB-InBev began its craft shopping spree, it bought out Chicago’s Goose Island brewery except for one thing: the brewpub where it all started in 1988.

While the expansion of the Compañía Cervecera de Coahuila, Mexico, to 25 million hectoliters is in full swing, Ziemann Holvrieka GmbH, Ludwigsburg, Germany has already been awarded the contract for the next step: a capacity expansion by another 2.5 million hectoliters to a total capacity of 27.5 million hectoliters.

Clever AB-InBev. With consumer interest for U.S. craft beers rising in many parts of the world, they did not wait for their competition to fill the shelves, they did it themselves. After launching the Goose Island craft beer brands in The Netherlands and Belgium last year, they are now taking the Hawaiian Kona beer to Australia and Latin America.

Should Jim Koch, the founder and public face of Samuel Adams beer ever seek a career change, he should consider becoming a motivational speaker.

BrewDog is building a new location for its production plant in Ohio, USA, where it plans to produce all top-fermented and bottom-fermented BrewDog beer brands for the US market.

They are wowing the world. As of 1 December 2015 there were 4144 breweries operating in the U.S., the most ever, says the Brewers Association. According to historians, the previous high-water mark of 4131 was back in 1873.

It’s so easy to get hoodwinked by the big guys. When shortly before Christmas 2015 AB-InBev picked up two U.S. craft brewers – Breckenridge in Colorado and Four Peaks in Arizona – the craft beer commentariat around the world screamed “oy vey”.

These guys have a great sense of humour. The soon-to-be opened Lincoln’s Beard Brewing Company from Miami, Florida, at the end of December 2015 made an offer for the world’s major brewer. They did not stint. They offered the grand total of USD 26,000 dollars. Incidentally, they have not had a reply from AB-InBev yet. We wonder why?

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.