Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2006 increased 141% to $316,909 from revenue of $131,390 in the comparable period of the previous year. The Company had a net loss for the three month period ending September 30, 2005 of $46,505 or $.01 per share.

"We met our sales targets again this quarter” said Andrew Harris, President, COO. “This is our seventh quarter of consistent growth at a rate which we believe is far ahead of anyone else in the craft segment of the beer market in Canada. We believe this growth is remarkable considering that we only supply our beer in draught at this time.”

Russell Brewing Company produces premium draught beer for fine pubs and eateries located in the greater Vancouver area and Whistler Village. Products include: Russell Cream Ale, Russell Pale Ale, Russell Honey Blonde Ale, Russell Extra Special Lager plus the two seasonal brews, Russell Lemon Ale and Russell Winter Ale. Russell Brewing Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Russell Breweries Inc .

Lion Nathan Ltd ,46 % owned by Japan's Kirin Brewery ,stated it has waived key conditions attached to its 420 mln A$ bid Coopers Brewery, AFX announced on November 30. Lion Nathan chief executive Rob Murray said the offer is now only subject to conditions which are regulatory.

The CEO said the offer of 310 A$ per share is substantially above all past pricing benchmarks for Coopers shares and is at the midpoint of an independent expert's valuation range.Murray stated it is now in the best interest of Coopers' 117 shareholders that their board recommend acceptance of the offer.

1 US$ = 1.36 A$

International Malting Company - US plans to close its Chicago malt plant.The Company expects that manufacturing activities will conclude by December 31, 2005, with shipping to continue into the early part of 2006, after which all activity will cease. The closure is expected to affect 35 hourly and salaried employees.

This was a very difficult decision for the Company to make, and the decision in no way reflects upon the quality of the workforce. Several factors made the closing of the Chicago plant necessary to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the Company. The Company appreciates the hard work of all employees over the years at this facility.

The Company has negotiated a shut down agreement with the Union and will be extending severance and outplacement services to all of the Chicago employees.

The Chicago malthouse produced about 125,000 MT on an annual basis. IMC will continue to produce and market over 500,000 MT of barley malt products from its three facilities located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Winona, Minnesota; and its new plant in Great Falls, Montana.

South Australian barley growers state they are getting the lowest cash prices for their crop of any state in Australia. In the past week, ABB Grain has quoted $171 a tonne for the state's malt barley - $21 below the WA price, ABC announced on December 1.

The grain growers are accusing ABB's single desk, which is the only one left in Australia, as well as a lack of competition.

"I'd like to see what's happening with WA, there's some fantastic prices coming out of of WA, albeit in fairness to ABB there many be a freight advantage out of Fremantle but there's more than that at issue, where there's competition there's higher prices, I'm getting sick of it," a grain grower said.

"I was all for the single desk but I think they're underperforming that much that I think everyone will have another look at it and change their mind on the single desk," another grower said.

ABB did not release any comment to this.

With 8 hop-growing cooperatives discontinuing hop production, only 78 hop farms remained in crop year 2004. The average hop acreage farmed by each production cooperative fell from 7.3 ha to 7.1 ha , according to the Barth Report of June 2005.

The hop acreage declined by 12%. The average yield for the aroma varieties rose slightly year on year, while the bitter varieties produced a significantly better yield. The predominantly grown aroma variety Ranny yielded an alpha content of 3.8%, well below the yield produced in 2003 (4.2%). The bitter varieties Smolisty, Podvyazny, and Istrinsky were on a par with the previous year, averaging 5.6%

At the end of April 2005, it was reported that 30 mt from the 2004 crop remained unsold. A reduction in acreage of about 10% to approx. 500 ha is expected for 2005.