Europe's highest court issued on September 8th a ruling that could end attempts by Czech state brewer Budejovicky Budvar to stop Belgian beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI.BT) - the brewer of the iconic Budweiser brand - using the brand name "Bud" in Austria, Dow Jones Newswires communicated.

It could also open the doors for AB InBev to challenge Budvar's trademarks in other countries.

Budvar, which has brewed Czech Budweiser beer since 1895, has registered the "Bud" or "Budweiser" trademarks in 37 countries, including Austria.

The Czech company brought a case before the Austrian court against the distributor of AB InBev's Budweiser beer, which was marketing "American Bud" in Austria.

The Austrian court sought advice from Europe's highest court, the European Court of Justice. In its ruling Tuesday, the ECJ said the Austrian court must determine what sort of protection the Czech company's Austrian trademark accorded to "Bud."

If the trademark just relates the beer to the Czech Republic then its trademark can be protected, it said. But if the protection includes specific characteristics, like brewing conditions, ingredients or taste, then it will have no protection under Austrian law as this sort of protection is now provided under E.U.-wide law, it ...More Info

World’s major brewers are planning to raise beer prices in the coming months. Analysts, however, express doubts about the ability of some companies to implement these planned increases, while others point to the concentration of some markets, like the U.S., as a favourable factor to a more aggressive price policy.

During the first half of the year, the ability to impose higher prices or at least keep them in the levels of previous quarters helped compensate the impact of falling sales caused by the economic crisis.

In the U.S., MillerCoors InBev and AB - joint venture (partnership) between SABMiller and Molson Coors - are hoping to raise prices starting at the end of this month.

The total volume sold by the AB InBev, the parent of AmBev in Brazil fell 1.1% in the second quarter compared with same period of 2008.

Even in European markets, where concentration is lower than in the U.S., breweries seem to find room to think about new adjustments in the near future, although they also keep registering weak sales.

Consumer sector-focused China Resources Enterprise, which posted a 22.2 percent fall in first-half profit, hopes to see growth in store sales in its supermarket operation in the second half, the company said on September 3, according to Reuters.

"We believe there will be a significant improvement (in store sales) in the second half, hopefully returning to positive territory," managing director Long Chen told reporters.

Chen said store sales in its supermarkets in China and Hong Kong fell about two percent in the first-half period. He said the company has no plan to seek a listing in the mainland.

China Resources said its profit for January-June fell to HK$1.16 billion, compared with HK$1.49 billion in the year-ago period, due to a decline in profits in its retail, food processing and distribution, and investment property, while its textile business was also took a hit in the global financial crisis.

Revenue increased to HK$35.05 billion in the six-month period, from HK$31.81 billion a year ago, of which the contribution from retail operations accounted for more than 54 percent of its revenue during the period under review.

"Future expansion will be carried out mainly through new store openings supplemented by same-store growth and mergers and acquisitions," chairman Qiao Shibo ...More Info

A better than expected European Union malting barley harvest this summer means brewers will benefit from falling prices for a key ingredient in beer production, Reuters cited analysts and industry observers on September 9th.

Good malting barley crops are shaping up in France, Germany, Scandinavia and Britain.

"Malting barley prices are falling just about everywhere in Europe as it is becoming clear that the crop is larger than expected," one German trader said. "It is probably too early to say if beer prices will fall but lower barley prices will certainly be good for brewers' earnings."

Initial indications are that favourable summer weather helped boost yields and crop quality.

France, the EU's largest malting barley producer, should gather a total barley crop this year of 12.6 million tonnes, up 3 percent from a previous record in 2008, France's farm ministry estimates.

Analyst Strategie Grains expects 71 percent of the country's spring barley crop to be malt quality.

The large crop has sent French malting barley falling to around 100 euros a tonne, the same level as animal feed barley.

Malting barley is usually 30 to 40 euros a tonne more expensive than feed barley. "We're seeing the malting and feed barley markets merge into one," said Remi ...More Info

The hop harvesting in the Czech Republic has reached its peak. Compared to the last year, the yield could go slightly below average; the quality, nevertheless, remains high. For the Czech hop farmers Pilsner Urquell is one of the most important purchasers - in the last year, for example, it processed 30 percent of Czech hops that was sold to national beer producers, SABMiller published on September 7. This year the hop supplies of Czech sorts, such as Žatecký poloraný červeňák, Sládek and Agnus, are already secured. In addition, Gambrinus master brewer, Jan Hlaváček, went out himself to hop fields to check the quality of this year's production.

Beer malting of the Czech beer sorts keeps consistently high above the world average. Thus, the specific dosage of hop in one hectolitre of beer amounts to 7.3 g alpha bitter acids. "The higher acerbity of beer and an intensive hop flavour resulting from the use of Czech hop sorts is a typical note of Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus, and other Czech beers. Together they contribute to their rounded-up savour and make them extremely drinkable," says Gambrinus master brewer Jan Hlaváček.

- With the total amount of 10.7 million hectolitres (235.4 million gallons) sold in ...More Info

Filip Van Opstaele, Koen Goiris, Evelien Syryn, Luc De Cooman and Guido Aerts

Abstract:
Hops (Humulus lupulus L.) are an essential raw material for beer preparation, mainly on account of the typical bitterness and hoppy aroma of beer. A fine, harmonic, non-lingering bitterness and a pleasant hoppy aroma are key elements of high flavour quality and drinkability. However, by applying conventional hopping using pellets and/or non-isomerised extracts during wort boiling, the intensity and the quality of beer bitterness and, in particular, hoppy aroma are difficult to control. In this paper, high tech hopping, i.e. the use of highly advanced hop products containing bittering principles, hop aromas or hop polyphenols is discussed on the basis of practical brewing research carried out at KaHo-St.Lieven. The emphasis is put on the sensory aspects of different types of pre-isomerised hop extracts, hop aromas, and hop polyphenolic fractions. In respect of hop aromas, a novel hop aroma technology for the production of varietal total hop oils and highly enriched hop oil fractions with distinct organoleptic properties, is presented. It is concluded that fully advanced hopping, i.e. advanced bittering in combination with appropriate hop oil and hop polyphenol preparations, has high potential to improve beer drinkability due to enhanced control of bitterness intensity and quality, hoppy aroma, and mouthfeel, in accordance with the beer style, type, and brand. Descriptors: high tech hopping, drinkability, bitterness, hoppy aroma, hop polyphenols Cerevisia, 33(1) 2008 Load full article from site www.cerevisia.eu