Seems like the FEMSA acquisition is already giving Heineken’s executives a headache. Just a few days after Heineken CEO Jean-François van Boxmeer had to admit to analysts that FEMSA is losing market share in Mexico, the man in charge of improving FEMSA’s domestic business, Michiel Herkemij, left the company to join the coffee company Sara Lee. Coincidence or consequence?

Who’s more concerned about U.S. beer production having declined about 2.3 million hl each year since 2008? Not the craft brewers. While beer production dropped 1.1 percent in the first six months of 2011, the small and independent craft brewers saw dollar sales rise 15 percent and volume sales grow 14 percent to an estimated 6 million hl (compared to 9 percent volume growth in the first half of 2010). The U.S. now boasts 1790 breweries – an increase of 165 breweries since June 2010.

A great gem of wisdom by Boston Beer, the maker of Samuel Adams. “I want Sam Adams to be the freshest beer in town, whether you’re in Boston or Quincy or Los Angeles or Seattle,” Jim Koch, the founder of Boston Beer, boasted last November. While consumers enjoying the benefits of Boston Beer’s “Freshest Beer Programme” blew Jim a kiss, investors rolled their eyes. Especially, when Boston Beer released its 2011 second quarter earnings in August 2011. They were not bad, but they did not meet analysts’ forecasts either. Several bankers have already told their clients to sell their shares in Boston Beer because they think its momentum is starting to flag.

PepsiCo is receiving a lot of criticism from investors these days for its insistence on continuing as a snacks and beverage company. In early August 2011, PepsiCo’s shares were down 1.4 percent in the past 12 months, compared with a gain of 18 percent for its archrival, The Coca-Cola Company.

What a week it was, the first week in August 2011! As stocks tumbled, Europe’s sovereign debt problems spun again out of control and Standard & Poor’s took the unprecedented step of downgrading the U.S. government’s sovereign credit rating, Molson was the first among the world’s biggest brewers to report second quarter earnings.

Well, great. That’s exactly what brewers needed. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing their beers, pollster Gallup comes along and tells them: “sorry guys, consumers have gone off beer.”

The rumour mongers were gob-smacked. Not Heineken, not SABMiller – it was Japan’s brewer Kirin that managed to clinch a deal with privately-owned beer and beverage company Schincariol.

First Virgin Cola went pfffff. Now Red Bull Cola. Why is it that brand extension colas rarely seem to work? The latest to acknowledge defeat is the Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz, the founder of the Red Bull energy drink company. Thinking that the world was waiting for yet another cola band, this time a “strong & natural” one, Red Bull Cola had its debut in 2008 in the U.S., the home of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. In mid-July 2011 U.S. media reported that Mr Mateschitz had finally pulled the plug on both Red Bull Cola and Red Bull Energy Shot.

The Siebel Institute of Technology/World Brewing Academy is looking for qualified candidates to join their web-based training team.

The world’s number one wine company Constellation Brands and maker of Robert Mondavi Wines and Svedka vodka said on 30 June 2011 that it plans to cut about 100 jobs, or 2.3 percent of its workforce, as part of a business realignment meant to save money, following the sale of its Australian and U.K. wine businesses.