Dutch brewing giant Heineken has stated that it has stopped the production of beer at Stepan Razin brewery in St. Petersburg, FoodBizIntel communicated on September 14th. All the brands of this company will be transferred to another production site. Instead of the production site the company is planning to establish a logistics center. Analysts believe that this move will help Heineken to reduce the cost of production of Heineken beer in a stagnant market.

Stepan Razin brewery is part of the Heineken group since July 2005. Currently its major regional brands are Kalinkin, Stepan Razin, Peter, Stepan Razin Admiralty, Stepan Razin Special, Stepan Razin Strong, as well as national brands Ohota and Three Bears. In addition, it produces a kvass brand named as Stepan Timofeyevich. According to official data currently Heineken holds a 13% share of the beer market of Russia, while the market share kvass "Stepan Timofeevich" in 14 major cities is 8%.

Most of analysts were skeptical about the prospects of Stepan Razin brewery in Heineken’s ownership, predicting the cease of production. In late 2008, Heineken ha started a reorganization of the site in a logistic terminal with the area of 6 thousand square meters. Now, this ...More Info

Winter cropping regions in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria received average to above average winter rainfall. Conversely, most of Queensland and northern New South Wales received below to very much below average winter rainfall, with August being a particularly dry month across both states. The lack of rainfall, combined with above average temperatures, have resulted in crops in many areas of the two states (including southern and central New South Wales) suffering moisture stress in the critical spring growth phase.

Total winter crop production in 2009-10 is forecast to be around 36 million tonnes. This is an upward revision from ABARE’s June 2009 forecast of 34.8 million tonnes. Dry seasonal conditions have resulted in a downward revision of forecast production for both New South Wales and Queensland. However, this has been more than offset by upward revisions for Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. The total area sown to winter crops in 2009-10 is estimated to have increased by 2 per cent to slightly more than 22.2 million hectares

Barley production in 2009-10 is forecast to be around 7.9 million tonnes, a 16 per cent increase from the previous season, ABARE stated in its latest Crop Report.

New South Wales Barley production in ...More Info

Climatologist Martin Mozny of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute and his team have found that the quality of Saaz hops - the delicate variety used to make pilsner lager - has been decreasing in recent years, New Scientist cited Agricultural and Forest Meteorology on September 13th. They say the culprit is climate change in the form of increased air temperature.

Mozny's team used a high-resolution dataset of weather patterns, crop yield and hop quality to estimate the impact of climate change on Saaz hops in the Czech Republic between 1954 and 2006. Best-quality Saaz hops contain about 5 per cent alpha acid, the compound that produces the delicate, bitter taste of pilsners.

The study found that the concentration of alpha acids in Saaz hops has fallen by 0.06 per cent a year since 1954, and models of hop yields and quality under future global warming scenarios predict bigger decreases.

But this isn't an isolated case, the hop growing regions of eastern Germany and central Slovakia have noticed similar changes in their crops.

It's not just Czech hops that are at stake here, says Francesco Tubiello, a crop specialist at the European Commission and a lead author of the agriculture chapter of the IPCC Fourth ...More Info

Hans Christian ALLER, Jeppe KIELDSEN and Carsten Wijngaard JORGENSEN

This article has been published courtesy of the European Brewery Convention (EBC). Abstract:
Experience shows that in day-to-day brewery operation, improvements in fresh flavour and flavour stability are often the result of several minor process adjustments. Due to the large number of variables involved in producing beer it can be difficult to demonstrate the influence of individual adjustments in full-scale production, and it can be difficult to conclude what are the most relevant factors that cause variation in beer quality. A powerful method to overcome this problem is to use Multivariate Statistical Analysis (MVA) to analyse data with the purpose of taking qualified decisions regarding modifications in process and raw material specifications. In the method described, data from full scale trial and control beers are evaluated by multivariate analysis with the aim of finding the key process changes influencing flavour stability. Our results show an improvement in fresh and aged beer flavour and a reduction in concentration of several staling descriptors e.g. Trans-2-Nonenal (T2N). The outcome of such flavour improvement projects using MVA will to our experience enhance the potential for a stronger position in the market due to improved flavour stability and thereby drinkability. We propose that the method described is used as an active tool to support marketing in promoting premium brands. The following material is based on data from 9 flavour improvement projects carried out by ALECTIA Brew over the past 6 years. Load full article from site www.cerevisia.eu