Constellation goes from FOMO to frustration over its cannabis investment

USA | Looks like the number three brewer in the US bet on the wrong horse. Constellation Brands’ investment into the Canadian cannabis producer Canopy Growth has proven a calamity and is bleeding money.

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Ireland introduces minimum unit pricing for alcohol

Ireland | Following the introduction of minimum unit prices for alcohol on 4 January 2022, some alcohol has almost doubled in price at Irish shops and supermarkets.

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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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Sweden’s monopolist alcohol retailer Systembolaget offers home deliveries

Sweden | In Sweden there is only one company that is allowed to sell full strength beer, wine and spirits: Systembolaget. Actually, the state monopoly does not want to make it too easy for its compatriots to drink alcohol. But now the company is offering a nationwide delivery service for the first time.

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Diageo working to improve pay practices

United Kingdom | Prompt payment (or rather the lack of it) is a hot topic in all industries, so much so that the UK government set up its “hall of shame”, aka its Prompt Payment Code (PPC) in 2008. On 1 November 2019, Johnnie Walker owner Diageo was among 20 companies to be suspended from the PPC, since it failed to comply with the Code’s terms of payment. Businesses signed up to the voluntary Code pledged to pay 95 percent of all supplier invoices within 60 days. Recently, the rules were tightened. As of 1 July 2021, signatories to PPC are obliged to pay small firms within 30 days.

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Minimum unit pricing could see alcohol in Ireland twice as dear as in NI

Ireland | More trouble brewing on the island of Ireland. The Republic is reportedly planning to introduce Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol before the North. This could result in beer being up to twice as expensive in the Republic than in Northern Ireland. Guess what will happen? Irish retailers will cry into their beers while smugglers will laugh up their sleeves.

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Coca-Cola CEO wants Congress to act after Georgia’s voting law

USA | Republicans passed and signed Georgia’s new voting law on 25 March 2021, which is aimed at scaling back early voting and other options that became popular during the pandemic.

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Molson Coors rumoured to make cannabis move

Half drew she him, half sank he down. The lure of the weed seems to make Molson Coors weighing an entry into cannabis. Originally slated for September 2018, Canada will now legalise the recreational use of the drug on 17 October 2018. Several cannabis producers have declared an interest in cannabis-infused beverages but still lack a beverage industry partner. Although edibles, including “drinkables” will not be legal initially, polls suggest a huge interest in these products. According to a report by Deloitte, six out of ten consumers would probably choose to consume edible cannabis products.

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What’s “Probably” doing at the UEFA championship?

You may have been wondering, while watching television during the Euro 2016 soccer tournament, what the word “Probably” – posted on the perimeter advertising boards in all nine stadiums in France – refers to. Is it a mistake? And who’s behind it?

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A victory for the Puritans

Is saying something “agrees with you” actually the same as saying “it will do you lots of good”? That’s what a German law court thinks and in its verdict on 25 August 2015 prohibited a small brewery from using the word “bekömmlich” (“agreeable” and derived from the toast “wohl bekomm’s”) on its beer bottles.