Australia's biggest brewer, Foster's Group Ltd, is less likely to hive off its $3.5 billion wine business, the world's second largest, early next year as there are few obvious buyers and funding is hard to find, Reuters posted on December, 18.

Speculation has been rife that international brewers are circling Foster's beer business if it unhitches the struggling wine unit from a reliable earnings stream generated by an Australian beer market share of more than 50 percent.

However, the chances of the maker of Crown Lager and Victoria Bitter being swept up in a global brewing industry consolidation are decreasing as expectations grow that the wine unit will stay.

Analysts say the A$5 billion wine operation, which ranks behind only Constellation, will be tough to sell as potential buyers are few and harsh debt markets make funding a deal difficult. Returns from selling wine are also under pressure as supplies are plentiful but consumer demand is slowing.

"In this type of market it's going to be very difficult to do anything. My guess is we'll get an internal restructure story," said Theo Maas, investment analyst at Fortis Investment Partners.

The lure of Foster's beer operations, worth A$10-A$11 billion, may not be enough to convince an ...More Info

The European court's ruling that Anheuser-Busch should not have rights to the brand throughout the EU is a blow to the US firm but a positive for Budvar, which has gained good publicity over the years from its Bud battles, Drinks Business Review communicated on December, 17.

Anheuser-Busch has been fighting for trademark exclusivity of the Budweiser name for a number of years, with varying degrees of success. The company claims to have used the Budweiser name for longer than Budejovicky Budvar, having been founded in 1876 while the latter was formed in 1895. However, the Czech company claims that the Budweiser name has been in use for much longer, as it refers to a type of beer that has been brewed in a specific region of the Czech Republic since 1260, predating the American claim by 616 years.

The latest ruling means that unless Anheuser-Busch decides to appeal the decision, it will have to battle it out with Budvar on an individual country basis, which could be costly. This is something it may wish to avoid, given the company's recent acquisition by InBev and subsequent cost cutting exercises: indeed, the firm has slashed 1,400 jobs in the US alone since the ...More Info

Wen-xue Zhang, Zong-wei Qiao, Yue-qin Tang, Cheng Hu, Qun Sun, Shigeru Morimura and Kenji Kida

Abstract

ABSTRACT J. Inst. Brew. 113(1), 21–27, 2007 Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and 18S rRNA gene analysis were carried out to analyze the fungal community in Zaopei during the production of Chinese Luzhou-flavour liquor. Two pairs of primers (EF4 /Fung5 and EF4/NS2-GC) were used for the DGGE. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for clone analysis was preformed with the primers (EF4 /EF3). The results of the DGGE analysis showed that the fungal 18S rRNA genes taken from the Zaopei sample of the pit had high diversity. Gene clone libraries containing 120 clonal sequences of 18S rRNA were constructed. The fungal diversity shift showed that the fungal genera changed with increasing fermentation time and four genera of fungi (Issatchenkia, Talaromyces, Aspergillus and Eurotium) were the main dominant communities during the fermentation of Chinese Luzhou-flavour liquor. The clonal sequences of the genera Rhizopus and Saccharomyces were found with difficulty from the clone libraries of Zaopei, suggesting that the genera Rhizopus and Saccharomyces perhaps are not necessary for saccharifying and fermenting grains during the production of Chinese Luzhou-flavour liquor. Key words: Chinese Luzhou-flavour liquor, clone analysis, DGGE, fungi, 18S rRNA gene, Zaopei. Load full article, 7 pages, 676 Kb, PDF file