It’s a provocative thesis, but there’s a lot to be said for watching demographic shifts as businesses forge their long-term strategies. An article by MarketWatch.com on 23 June 2014 argued that younger Americans don’t like cars, cable TV, or soft drinks – which made Harry Schumacher, the editor of Beer Business Daily write on Twitter “Should we add light beer to this list?”

Light beers are as American as apple pie. After all, they were “invented” by American brewing companies in the 1970s. However, the category seems to be well past its prime. Volumes have been in decline although no one has a single and satisfactory explanation as to why this is so.

It’s no big secret, really, what goes into their beers. Still, the country’s two major brewers, AB-InBev and MillerCoors, on 13 June 2014 decided to respond to a food blogger’s online petition and update their websites to include a fuller list of the ingredients used in making their beers, U.S. media reported.

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.