Absolut Vodka halts exports to Russia after backlash

Sweden | Too clever by half, Pernod Ricard was forced to stop exporting its Absolut Vodka to Russia after a backlash in its home country, Sweden. The company had ceased exports in March 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, but had recently resumed them.

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Molson Coors launches Barmen 1873 Bourbon

USA | Molson Coors has continued its foray into the whiskey category with the release of its first bourbon, Barmen 1873 Bourbon, in April. The initial roll out covers 13 US states, and the suggested retail price is around USD 40 per bottle.

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Vietnam’s Sabeco earns USD 235 million in after-tax profit in 2022

Vietnam | The beer and beverage industry was hit hard by the pandemic, when restaurants, bars and hotels were forced to close. However, the brewing industry has seen a rapid recovery.

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Diageo: price increases more than offset cost inflation on gross margin

United Kingdom | Diageo shares dropped to their lowest in seven months on 26 January, after the company said sales volumes fell in three of its most important markets at the end of 2022.

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AB-InBev India to branch out into whiskey

India – The Budweiser brewer expects India to be among the top three markets for its brand in the next three years, led by double-digit growth in the premium beer segment, Indian media reported on 9 November.

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drinktec 2022 opening with the VDMA press conference

Innovations and personal interaction | The beverage industry has been meeting again this week in Munich at drinktec, the leading international fair for the beverage and liquid food industry, from 12–16 September 2022. 65,000 visitors from 170 countries met 1000 exhibitors from more than 55 countries.

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Sales overflow for Diageo and AB-InBev

Europe | The easing of covid restrictions has driven punters back into bars, despite soaring inflation in the US, Europe, and other parts of the world.

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Russia’s electronic beer labels go live in September 2022

Russia | The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposes to start compulsory labelling of beer and low-alcoholic drinks from 1 September 2022. It is assumed that from this date mandatory electronic labels will need to be put on kegs, and from 1 December on the other types of beer packaging. A trial is currently underway, which will end on 31 August. The move is to dry out counterfeit beer.

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Royal Unibrew not done with shopping yet

Denmark | It has been a busy year for Royal Unibrew, a mid-sized Danish multi-beverage company, serving markets in the Nordics, Baltics, Italy, Germany, and France.

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Many hurdles for Heineken’s deal with Distell and NBL

South Africa | No wonder Heineken and Distell were a bit vague about financials. The three-way transaction between Heineken, Distell and Namibia Breweries (NBL), which will create a total beverage alcohol firm in southern Africa, could take a year to complete.

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Bell’s sale to Lion: Is this the end of Lion’s US shopping spree?

USA | Good grief: Is it really a worry who will legally own Bell’s brewery after the sale? The announcement in early November 2021 that Bell’s owner Larry Bell had sold his firm to Australian brewer Lion did not illicit the usual sneers (“shame on you for selling out to a Big Brewer”) that accompanied craft brewery sales in the past. Instead, a commentator on vinepair.com wondered who would legally own Bell’s as of now.

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Merger rumour: Monster and Constellation to create total beverage firm

USA | The maker of energy drinks, Monster Beverage, is said to be exploring a deal with beer and drinks company Constellation Brands. The megadeal, first reported by Bloomberg on 21 November 2021, would potentially bring together beer, energy drinks, spirits, RTDs, and even cannabis, thus reactivating the concept of a total beverage company, which went out of fashion more than a decade ago.

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AB-InBev expands into Beyond Beer and buys Hoop Tea

USA | So it is hard tea now for AB-InBev. On 15 November 2021, it purchased Hoop Tea, a Maryland-based beverage company known for its tea-infused malt beverages and seltzers, which are sold in cans and pouches.

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Beviale Moscow 2022: the stage is set

Getting ready | It’s that time again, and Beviale Moscow is getting ready to launch. Russia’s first trade fair to cover the entire beverage production chain will take place from 29 to 31 March 2022 in Pavilion 57 at the VDNH Exhibition Centre in Moscow.

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Thailand reopens to vaccinated tourists but most bars remain shut

Thailand | Tens of thousands of tourists, escaping the northern winters, are expected to arrive in Thailand as the country reopened to tourists on 1 November 2021 after 18 months of covid restrictions. Vaccinated visitors from more than 60 “low-risk” nations are allowed to enter without having to quarantine.

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Diageo to make whisky in China

China | In early November 2021 drinks company Diageo broke ground on its first, USD 75 million whisky distillery in China. It hopes to turn more local drinkers into whisky lovers, in a market that has long been dominated by baijiu makers like Kweichow Moutai.

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Heineken agrees to buy Distell and Namibia Breweries

South Africa | In one fell swoop Heineken has widened and re-organised its interests in southern Africa. On 15 November 2021 it reported that it has agreed to buy drinks firm Distell as part of a plan to create a new Southern African business.

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Brewers warn against another alcohol ban in South Africa

South Africa | No jobs, no electricity and no booze? South Africa is facing a joyless festive season. In late October, the energy supplier Eskom laid out its load shedding forecast for the next 18 months. It expects rolling blackouts to feature heavily in South Africa for the foreseeable future.

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Big Brewers report mixed results for third quarter 2021

Europe | All things considered, AB-InBev had a good third quarter. It sold 3.4 percent more beer in the July-to-September period compared with 2020, which led it to revise its forecast upwards: It now expects annual EBITDA to grow between 10 percent and 12 percent, compared with an 8-12 percent growth forecasted earlier.

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Prices for beer in South Africa have risen modestly despite excise hike

South Africa | Official data, published in August 2021, show that white wine has seen the biggest price increase, rising by an average of 12.8 percent between June 2020 and June 2021. This was followed by whiskey (+8.1 percent), red wine (+6.7 percent) and spirit coolers and ciders (+4.5 percent). The average price of beer has increased by only 3.3 percent over the 12-month period, the statistics body said.

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Boston Beer ties up with Pepsi to resurrect hard soda

USA | Pundits are shaking their heads. Why would Boston Beer together with PepsiCo launch an alcoholic soda under the banner of Pepsi’s brand Mountain Dew? Don’t they remember that only a few years ago hard sodas were a “boom-splat phenomenon” (Jim Koch) that faded as quickly as it arrived?

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Hottest beverages best served cold brewed

Ready-to-drink | Cold brew has become the fastest growing segment of the ready-to-drink coffee market in the past three years, according to a research conducted by food and drink experts Zenith Global in June 2021.

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Dr Oetker split in two: beer and bubbly go their separate ways

Germany | All families quarrel. But none more viciously if a business is involved. The five children from the first and second marriage of Rudolf-August Oetker, grandson of the eponymous founder of a custard powder dynasty, and the three offspring from his third have been at each other’s throats for years.

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Pepsi sells Tropicana and other juice brands to private equity firm PAI

USA | What to do with a business unit that spoils your results? Get rid of it. This is what PepsiCo did by selling a 61 percent stake in its juice brands, which includes Tropicana and Naked, to the private equity firm PAI Partners for USD 3.3 billion. The sale is part of the company’s broader efforts to focus on faster-growing beverages as customers increasingly ditch sugary drinks. This was reported on 3 August 2021.

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Molson Coors to sunset eleven economy brands

USA | Budget tipplers beware: Brewers and drinks companies want you to trade up. The number two brewer in the US, Molson Coors, said on 30 July 2021 that it will slash 11 economy brands from its portfolio, representing about 100 SKUs.

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AB-InBev exceeds pre-pandemic turnover in second quarter 2021 results

Belgium | Michel Doukeris, AB-InBev’s new CEO, will be pleased. The brewer drove second-quarter turnover to above pre-pandemic levels and sharply boosted profit as drinkers took advantage of eased restrictions in its major markets.

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Heineken hikes profit in first half but sees costs rising

The Netherlands | Dutch Heineken said on 2 August 2021 that its first-half turnover grew by 14 percent to EUR 12 billion. But it is still trailing more than 10 percent behind the first half of 2019.

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Heineken achieves turnaround in Brazil

The Netherlands | How to knock a low margin business into better shape? During Heineken’s investor call on 2 August 2021, CEO Dolf van den Brink explained the recent transformation of its Brazilian business: one is a portfolio shift, the other is a route to market shift.

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Boston Beer: Has the hard seltzer boom gone flat?

USA | Boston Beer’s investors are given to violent mood swings. After hitting record stock prices on high hopes for hard seltzers, Boston Beer’s shares dropped 18 percent on 22 July 2021, following the release of the brewer’s second quarter results, which fell short of analysts’ expectations, and the company admitted it had “overestimated the growth of the hard seltzer category”.

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BrewDog et al slammed by watchdog over hard seltzer claims

United Kingdom | BrewDog is in hot water with the advertise watchdog again, this time over misleading nutritional claims for its Clean & Press hard seltzer. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), on 7 July, took objections to hard seltzer ads which appeared between December 2020 and January 2021, including BrewDog’s Clean & Press range, London-based brand Drty Drinks, and Wild Drinks Group’s Whisp.