As was expected, a federal judge on 2 June 2014 dismissed lawsuits that claimed AB-InBev had watered down several of their beers. Many observers had commented that the issue was a non-starter right from the beginning – or why would AB-InBev do anything so daft as to break labelling laws?

The Argentinian beverage producer Refres Now has invested in a Sidel Combi for filling carbonated soft drinks and achieved a reduction in energy consumption of some 17 %, as well as significantly improving bottle stability. Part of a complete line, the Sidel Combi was installed at the company’s bottling plant at La Matanza, in the Greater Buenos Aires province in Argentina, as a high-tech solution for bottling family pack sizes, which are in great demand in Argentina at the moment.

The good news first for craft brewers: the city of Portland, Oregon, has become the craft beer capital of the United States. During the first quarter 2014, Portlanders drank more craft beer than one of Anheuser-Busch’s or MillerCoors’ big-name brands combined.

A new destination on the Bourbon Trail: The world’s number one drinks group Diageo plans to build a new distillery in Shelby County, northern Kentucky, media reported on 30 May 2014. Finalization of the plans is still subject to approval by local government, though.

After a jury in St. Louis had decided that brewer Anheuser-Busch did not engage in gender discrimination when it determined how much Francine Katz, a former senior PR executive with the company, was going to be paid, the St. Louis Business Journal on 23 May 2014 ran a piece that looked at the wider implications of the pay gap trial.

Anheuser-Busch did not discriminate against their former executive Francine Katz even though they paid her significantly less than a male predecessor, a jury in St. Louis decided on 16 May 2014.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that the city will continue Michael Bloomberg’s fight for a ban on sodas over 16oz per serve, U.S. media reported in early May 2014.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo said on 5 May 2014 they’re working to remove a controversial ingredient, brominated vegetable oil (BVO), from all their drinks, including Mountain Dew, Fanta and Powerade, following petitions on the website Change.org by a 17-year-old Mississippi teenager who wanted it out of PepsiCo’s Gatorade and Coca-Cola’s Powerade.

Mr Buffett wasn’t going to do anything about the Coca-Cola executive compensation plan, which, according to some detractors, might dilute Coke’s shareholders up to 16.6 percent and hand Coke’s executives up to USD 24 billion worth of stock at today’s share price.

Altria Group is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, the largest U.S. tobacco company, and of the smokeless tobacco and wine manufacturer UST. The company formerly owned Miller Brewing, Kraft Foods and Philip Morris International, which housed its international tobacco business. Although considered a “sin stock”, the company is known for its high dividend pay-out, averaging at about 80 percent of profits.