Over-paid managers will throw themselves on their swords. Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, said he rates businesses on their ability to raise prices and sometimes doesn’t even consider the people in charge. His cynical view on corporate suits and flunkies clashes with AB-InBev’s Carlos Brito, who likes to hammer home the message that the success of a corporation hinges on its managerial elites. ”Great companies are formed by great people,” not by popular products, cash flow or assets, Mr Brito told Stanford University graduates in November 2010. Who’s right? Mr Buffett or Mr Brito?

Mr Busch must have gone through a version of hell while he was being chewed over by the world’s press following the death of his girl-friend just before Christmas 2010. On 9 February 2011 the St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch said that cocaine and oxycodone were found in Adrienne Martin’s system as a result of an accidental overdose. However, no charges will be filed. Some relief for August Busch IV.

It could have been worse. Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo reported on 18 February 2011 that its net sales for the full year ended 31 December 2010 rose 3.9 percent to MXN 85 billion (EUR 5.1 billion; USD 7.0 billion), thanks to an increase of 4.0 percent in domestic sales. However, operating income dropped 0.2 percent to MXN 21.6 billion (EUR 1.3 billion; USD 1.7 billion) because of higher costs.

The World Brewing Academy partnership (WBA) of the Siebel Institute of Technology and the Doemens Academy are adding several of their advanced-level brewing courses to their web-based training offerings.

PepsiCo, Coke’s arch-rival reported on 10 February 2011 that last year net revenue grew 34 percent, while net income rose 6 percent.

“Why should I care about the rubbish I said yesterday?” Germany’s first post-war Chancellor Konrad Adenauer allegedly retorted when asked why he had done a U-turn on certain policies.

What have we been saying for months? That SABMiller is a likely takeover target. Coincidentally, the beverage economist Germain Hansmaennel and I discussed this possibility in our presentation at Rüdiger Ruoss’ Bündner Runde, a German beverage industry summit in Davos (report out next week in this newsletter), while two days later, on 2 February 2011, over in New York, analysts at Credit Suisse threw the idea into the open that AB-InBev could merge with SABMiller.

Having divested its non-tobacco and international segments, Altria now operates primarily in the challenging U.S. tobacco industry.

Carlos Laboy, in a November 2010 note on Molson Coors, wrote that Molson and Coors Brewing’s first major response to industry consolidation pressure was to merge in 2005. The cost reduction programme of 2005 served both companies well. In 2007, with the looming threat of AB-InBev’s formation, the companies merged their U.S. Coors business with SABMiller’s U.S. unit.

Mr Patiño has held leading technical roles in the areas of Quality Assurance, Research & Development, Technical Services and Brewing Engineering at Molson Coors Brewing Co. (Colorado) and Cervecería Cuauhtemoc (Mexico).