Interpack to take place in May

Packaging trends | Exhibitors and visitors from all over the world will be coming together at the interpack from 4 to 10 May 2023 to present their premières, and celebrate the long-awaited reunion of the global packaging industry. The focus is on packaging materials, packaging machines and related process technology for the food, beverage, confectionery, bakery, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, non-food and industrial goods sectors.

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Axel Zügel joins management board at Ziemann Holvrieka

New COO | On 1 January 2023, Axel Zügel took over the management of the operational areas of Ziemann Holvrieka GmbH as COO. In his new function, he relieves Klaus Gehrig, who was both CEO and COO of the company until the end of 2022. As COO, Axel Zügel is responsible for the operational business areas of order processing, purchasing, project management, assembly, logistics and engineering at the Ludwigsburg site.

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BestBrewChallenge 2023: Terms announced

Simultaneously brewed | The BestBrewChallenge is an international brewing competition where brewers from all around the world will brew simultaneously, with similar grain bills, in different countries. The competition beer is to be brewed between 20th and 23rd April 2023. The period will thus be extended from one to four days as opposed to previous years. The final day will be German Beer Day on the 23rd of April 2023. The closing date for shipping competition beers is 5 July 2023.

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Prof. Ludwig Narziß, FIBD, 1925–2022

The brewing industry mourns Prof. Ludwig Narziß, who passed away on November 29, 2022 at the age of 97. He was a passionate brewing scientist who had been involved in the brewing industry throughout his life.

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Alpha clause is used to ensure fair distribution

Poor hop harvest | Faced with climate change and the prospect of increasingly frequent extreme summers, the hop industry sought a way to enable particularly low crop volumes to be distributed equally and fairly among all customers.

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Cost pressure continues to weigh on the German brewing industry

Germany | German brewers will need to raise prices. But with so much budget beer sloshing around – will they be able to push price hikes through?

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Emmanuel Rurema becomes Africa representative for Doemens

In December 2022, the time had come: Doemens Managing Director Dr Werner Gloßner and Emmanuel Rurema, Managing Director, Advanced Helios Process Solutions Ltd, Kenya, signed the representative contract for the Africa region.

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Sustainability and circular economy at Filtech 2023

Scientific exchange | Lectures, presentations, poster sessions: Scientific exchange is traditionally the focus of the international filtration show Filtech, which will take place at the Cologne Exhibition Center from 14–16 February 2023. Numerous research institutes stand with their contributions for a program that guarantees valuable information from all areas of the industry.

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Irish craft brewers: Rye River sold, Eight Degrees still looking for buyer

Ireland | It may be a cliché that the Irish have a way with words. But it is hard to deny that some do have the gift of the gab. Take the craft brewer Rye River.

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Truth or lie? AB-InBev may brew Corona Extra in Germany

Germany | How could a fairly vapid German industry rumour suddenly become a hot topic for a Russian trade publication - unless Russia’s hybrid warfare now includes spreading half-truths about beer and brewers?

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Hop specialist awards research prize to scientists

BarthHaas Grants | Hop specialist BarthHaas has announced the research prize winners of its BarthHaas Grants 2022. One grant goes to the scientists Natalia Svedlund and Dr. Frederico Magalhães of the Department of Brewing and Beverage Technology at Technische Universität Berlin, while another has been awarded to support the project run by Dr. Mathias Hutzler, Dr. Hubertus Schneiderbanger and Dr. Martin Zarnkow of the Research Center Weihenstephan for Brewing and Food Quality at the Technical University of Munich.

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3rd VLB International Brewing Web Conference (IBWC) just around the corner

Sustainability and other trends | The VLB International Brewing Web Conference is just around the corner now: It is about to take place online from 7 to 8 December 2022.

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Who will buy AB-InBev Germany?

Germany | A year ago, in October 2021, Bloomberg reported that AB-InBev was seeking a buyer for its German unit, as the world’s number one brewer sought to “prune less profitable businesses and trim debt”. The asking price: USD 1.2 billion.

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3rd VLB International Brewing Web Conference announced

Virtual journey | From 6–8 December 2022, the 3rd VLB International Brewing Web Conference will take place online at the VLB Virtual Campus. The conference is aimed at sharing brewing knowledge, establishing new relationships and discussing best practices for the brewing industry. It addresses technical managers, brewers and leading technical staff from production, filling/packaging and quality assurance of breweries.

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Costly overcapacities – Radeberger Group closes Frankfurt brewery

Germany | It is well known that German brewers sit on too much capacity. But it still came as a shock when Radeberger announced, on 29 September, that it will shutter its Binding brewery in Frankfurt. Over the next twelve months production will be relocated to other breweries and 150 people will lose their jobs.

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3rd VLB Africa Brewing Conference to take place online

Varied program | Africa is very important for the beer sector. For this reason, VLB organizes a conference dedicated to the particularities of this continent, offering an extremely varied program. Since the possibilities of mobility in Africa are still limited, the 3rd VLB Africa Brewing Conference (ABC) will take place from 27–29 September 2022 as an online event at “VLB Virtual Campus”, the VLB’s exclusive platform for virtual conferences.

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2nd VLB Packaging Conference

Packaging trends | What are the current trends in beer and beverage packaging? What will be next? Further, who drives the marked changes and customer demand? These are some of the questions, that will be discussed on the 2nd VLB Packaging Conference (VPC), taking place from 30 August to 1 September 2022 online at the VLB Virtual Campus – just 2 weeks before the drinktec (12 to 16 September in Munich).

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The Spezi war: two German breweries meet in court

Germany | A Munich court is to decide over the summer if Munich’s Paulaner brewery may continue to call its cola+orange lemonade mix “Spezi”, or whether it will need to pay royalties to the trademark owner, the Augsburg brewer Riegele.

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Germany’s value beer producer Oettinger closes one of its four breweries

Germany | Anyone wanting a 1.3 million hl brewery, which is located slightly off the beaten track and only suitable for export production? If interested, please apply to Oettinger brewery, Germany’s major producer of value brands.

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Storytelling matters

Creative beers | At its premiere at the European Beer Star competition held in 2021, the new specialty beer category “Free-Style Beer” immediately evoked an outpouring of excitement and enthusiasm. More than 60 breweries submitted their beery creations for consideration, which otherwise would not have fit into any other category. Along with beer quality, aspects such as the concept behind the beer and its story were part of the evaluation. But what is it exactly that makes this particular category of specialty beers so special? This article provides insights and background information to the new style category at the European Beer Star, in which storytelling plays a central role.

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European Beer Star 2022: Registration ends July

Beer competition | The registration deadline for the European Beer Star 2022 is approaching: Breweries can still submit their beers until 1 July 2022.

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Kombucha and other acidic-fermented beverages

Exciting topic | VLB Berlin invited attendees to the International Symposium for Acidic-fermented and Non-alcoholic Beverages taking place on 24 and 25 May 2022 in Berlin. This is the third time this gathering has been held, and compared to the inaugural event in 2019, the number of participants has steadily increased each time.

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Carlsberg’s patent on malting barley upheld

Germany | Danish brewer Carlsberg may continue to claim its patent EP2575433 on malting barley. The European Patent Office, on 10 May 2022, overruled an objection submitted by the Munich-based NGO “No patents on seeds”. The NGO called the decision “incomprehensible” and said it will lodge a complaint against the decision.

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New Head of Sales Key Account Management at Ziemann Holvrieka

Staff news | Alexander Lenz has taken on the newly created position of Head of Sales Key Account Management at Ziemann Holvrieka. In this role, Alexander Lenz is the main contact for international key customers from the brewing, beverage and liquid food industry.

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3rd VLB Symposium on Acidic Fermented Non-Alcoholic Beverages (SAFB) to take place in May

Latest research | The 3rd VLB Symposium on Acidic Fermented Non-Alcoholic Beverages (SAFB) will take place at the VLB Berlin from 24th to 25th May 2022. Through a program of selected experts and representatives from science & industry, the participants are to be brought up to date with the latest research and relevant aspects of acidic fermented non-alcoholic beverages.

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Number of German breweries declines during pandemic

Germany | The covid pandemic has hit the German brewing industry hard. Not only have millions of hl in volume sales been wiped out, the total of operating breweries has also declined – the first time in a decade.

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European Beer Star 2022

In search of the best beers | This year, the European Beer Star expert tasting will take place from 4–5 August 2022 at the Doemens Akademie in Gräfelfing for the 19th time. Interested breweries can register for the important beer competition from 1 April 2022.

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BarthHaas releases Hop Harvest Guide 2021

Comprehensive documentation | The internationally operating hop specialist BarthHaas has just published its Hop Harvest Guide 2021. Brewing and hop professionals all over the world value the guide for its 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.

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KHS and Ferrum: Hygienic machine design

Combined expertise| In the future KHS and Ferrum will further intensify their cooperation. “Our machines are already very well coordinated with one another. However, we want to offer our customers even more integrated systems,” states Marc Zubler, head of Sales and Product Management at Ferrum. Manfred Härtel, filling technology product manager at KHS, nods in agreement and adds that this also applies to the extensive range of consultancy and other services, where the two partners aim to function even more strongly as a unit in the years to come.

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German brewers post huge losses again in 2021

Germany | The covid pandemic also led to massive losses for the German brewing industry in 2021. According to the German Brewers' Association, beer sales dropped 3.4 percent in 2021, compared to the previous year's record decline of 5.5 percent.