Comprehensive documentation | The international hop specialist BarthHaas has just published its Hop Harvest Guide 2022, a comprehensive documentation of the quality of the most recent hop crop. It helps brewers to adapt their processes and recipes to the changes identified in the respective crop year.

Majority share | At the end of February 2023, Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP) announced it has acquired a majority share in innovative digital can printers Nomoq. This further extends AMP’s industry-leading support of newcomers to the beverage market. The Switzerland-based start-up Nomoq, founded in 2021, promises printed cans with short lead times and “No Minimum Order Quantity” – hence the name.

Strong growth | Krones improved all financial key performance indicators in 2022 and forecasts further revenue and earnings growth for 2023. Revenue went up by 15.8 % year on year to EUR 4,209.3 million from EUR 3634.5 million. Krones has thus exceeded its growth target of 10–12 per cent (originally 5–8 per cent).

Reviving historic barley variety | The Heidelberg-based family business Palatia Malz GmbH, in a joint effort with Saatzucht Josef Breun GmbH & Co. KG, has revived the traditional German malting barley variety Alexis. The malt produced exclusively by Palatia from this time-honored barley variety will now be marketed under the brand name “Best A-XL”, the A standing for “Alexis” and the XL (“extra large”) for the exceptional foam stability of a beer brewed with it.

Two component cap | The can is the only liquid container on earth which cannot be re-sealed once it is opened. Why have none of the previous solutions made it permanently onto supermarket shelves? Christian Paul Sooth, Co-founder of Re-cap solutions from Hamburg thinks, “they all compromise design and function and sound of may be the most iconic packaging on earth. Marketing people don't like it. The technical people in the canning infrastructure neither. This is why we decided to develop an application which will not touch the can as it is.”

New yeast strain | LalBrew NovaLager™ is a true bottom fermenting Saccharomyces pastorianus hybrid from a novel lineage that has been selected to produce clean lager beers with distinct flavor characteristics and superior fermentation performance. This robust lager yeast strain with ideal brewing properties, including fast fermentations and high attenuation, has recently become commercially available.

Anniversary | Anton Paar, renowned supplier of full-range beverage analysis systems, celebrates its 100^th anniversary.

New project | As part of the modernization of its Golden Brewery, Molson Coors Beverage Company, USA, has placed a major order with Ziemann Holvrieka GmbH. The Ludwigsburg-based company will manufacture 118 tanks and install them at the historic Golden, Colorado brewery. In addition to the tanks, the project includes further components, such as their insulation and walkway systems. Ziemann Holvrieka will handle these projects for Molson Coors on a turnkey basis.

KHS | Trendy craft beers, lifestyle beverages such as hard seltzer, plus wine, sparkling wine, still water and soft drinks: the range of beverages the Innofill Can C can filler from KHS can process is vast. Its flexibility is just one of many reasons why the machine has become a real success story, however. Since its launch a few years ago, over 100 have been sold to date worldwide. Customers like British craft brewer Tiny Rebel are convinced by its high level of efficiency, reliability and optimum hygiene systems. Thanks to a new addition to the series that boosts capacity to up to 60,000 cans per hour, the filler can now also be integrated into lines with higher outputs even more effectively.