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).

Frank Abenante, the company’s global Vice President of Brands and Insights, will lead the marketing function in the U.S. until a permanent replacement is found for Mr Levy. Mr Abenante, though a marketing veteran, is new to beer. It was reported that he joined the pre-merger InBev in 2007, previously working for Unilever and E&J Gallo Winery. He is currently based in New York.

Damn those Brits and their sarcasm. What did the Sunday Times call Mr Busch? “Unlucky in love”. If he’s unlucky, what about the women he has been courting? Most unfortunate?

Fortune has come under pressure to restructure since October, when activist investor Bill Ackman revealed that his fund, Pershing Square Capital, had built an 11 percent stake.

“This was always a flexible vehicle and we decided it was a good time to unwind it at a profit,” Mr Swinburn told analysts in London.

To rule out any misunderstanding: We do not think that SABMiller is even remotely interested in buying Germany’s Warsteiner Brewery. Why should SABMiller invest in the low-margin German beer market which has already bogged down its rivals AB-InBev and Heineken?

Argentina has proven tough going for Germany’s privately-owned Warsteiner Brewery, which produces the eponymous Warsteiner pils. Lured into the market by its phenomenal growth prospects – per capita consumption of beer is only 44 litres compared to Brazil’s 57 litres – CASA Isenbeck has gradually expanded production capacity to 1.2 million hl.

Construction of Diageo’s 20 million proof gallon rum distillery began in August 2009, and was completed on time and on budget. The distillery will generate an estimated USD 130 million in new tax revenue for the Virgin Islands Government, in addition to the USD 139 million that the construction has already brought to the community, it was reported.

How did Anheuser-Busch (A-B), with a dominant market share in the world’s largest beer market, a legacy of marketing brilliance, a strong distribution system and generations of family management, suddenly seem so powerless to resist a buyout in the summer of 2008? In “Dethroning the King: The Hostile Takeover of Anheuser Busch, an American Icon” Ms MacIntosh provides several answers.

For the better part of a year, trade associations and lobbyists for alcohol manufacturers have been fighting with their wholesale distributors over a bill that would strengthen states’ ability to regulate alcohol and make it harder to challenge state alcohol laws in court.