Given that in Italy, a country of about 60 million drama queens, bad news tend to be greeted by loud screams of “the end is near”, the quasi silence which followed the announcement that the beer brand Peroni was to be sold, still appears remarkable.

Trust Australian journalists to go snooping after Lion’s figures as soon as the market-leading local brewer submits its financial results with the corporate regulator. On 26 January 2015 media revealed that the Lion-Heineken joint venture suffered a 16 percent fall in annual profits in its latest financial year (ended 30 September 2015) as net profit after tax dropped to AUD 10.5 million (USD 7.5 million) from AUD 12.5 million a year earlier. However, sales increased 2.5 percent to AUD 67.4 million (USD 47.7 million) in the financial year 2015.

They are wowing the world. As of 1 December 2015 there were 4144 breweries operating in the U.S., the most ever, says the Brewers Association. According to historians, the previous high-water mark of 4131 was back in 1873.

Karl Josef Eden from Lauingen passed on unexpectedly and much too soon shortly after his 60th birthday.

The investment vehicle of the Swiss Jacobs family is rumoured to be interested in buying the beer brands Grolsch and Peroni from AB-Inbev, Belgian media reported on 22 January 2015.

It’s so easy to get hoodwinked by the big guys. When shortly before Christmas 2015 AB-InBev picked up two U.S. craft brewers – Breckenridge in Colorado and Four Peaks in Arizona – the craft beer commentariat around the world screamed “oy vey”.

These guys have a great sense of humour. The soon-to-be opened Lincoln’s Beard Brewing Company from Miami, Florida, at the end of December 2015 made an offer for the world’s major brewer. They did not stint. They offered the grand total of USD 26,000 dollars. Incidentally, they have not had a reply from AB-InBev yet. We wonder why?

Tut, tut. Was Jasper Cuppaidge, founder of Camden Town craft brewery, so hard up that he had to take a loan from his company before its sale to AB-InBev, UK media huffed and puffed in early January 2016.

Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp has signed a four-year contract to become an ambassador for the German beer brand Warsteiner.

It was only a matter of time. Due to the decline in beer sales, MillerCoors, the joint venture between Molson Coors and SABMiller, decided to close down one of its eight U.S. breweries. The decision was made public in September 2015 and will affect the Eden brewery in North Carolina, which has 520 employees. It is to shut in September 2016.