Southeast Asia's largest food and drinks group, San Miguel Corp., said it had signed a definitive agreement to sell its Tasmanian brewer J. Boag & Son Pty. Ltd. to Australian alcoholic beverage company Lion Nathan Ltd. for A$325 million ($286 million), Philippine Daily Inquirer posted on January 3rd.

San Miguel's sale of Boag to Australia's second-largest brewer, comes as it aims to push into heavy industry, such as power, mining, infrastructure and real estate, to drive growth after dominating the home market for beer, liquor, dairy products, processed food and poultry for decades.

J. Boag makes Australia’s second-largest selling premium beer under the flagship brand James Boag’s Premium Lager. Its annual sales revenue grew to A$92 million in 2006 from A$61 million in 1999 before San Miguel’s acquisition.

San Miguel’s sale of J. Boag followed its sale of Australian dairy and juice manufacturer National Foods Ltd. to Japanese conglomerate Kirin Holdings Co. for A$2.8 billion (P101.44 billion).

Kirin owns 19.9 percent of San Miguel and 46 percent of Lion Nathan.

San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said proceeds of the J. Boag sale could be used for San Miguel’s plans to enter new businesses.

San Miguel has said it plans to venture into ...More Info

Molson Coors Brewing Co. and the largest Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo - owner of the Corona brand - have created a joint venture to import and sell Modelo's beer in Canada, The Canadian Press posted on January 3rd.

The 50-50 venture will be called Modelo Molson Imports L.P. and based in Toronto. Robert Armstrong, previously CEO for Modelo's office in Canada, will lead the new venture. Financial details about the establishment of Modelo Molson Imports LP were not disclosed Wednesday in a release.

As of 1 January 2008, the companies, through the 50/50 joint venture Modelo Molson Imports, will ship, distribute and market the Mexican firm's products throughout the country in a bid to boost respective sales.

Modelo, which owns the Corona brand, is Mexico's No. 1 brewer, controlling 63 percent of the Mexican market. It operates seven breweries there and distributes 13 brands, including Corona Extra, Modelo Especial, Victoria, Pacifico and Negra Modelo.

Molson's Canadian division, based in Montreal, already imports, distributes and markets Modelo brands in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

The 50/50 joint venture will have its headquarters in Toronto and be led by Robert Armstrong, previously CEO for Modelo's office in Canada, called Canacermex.

Grupo Modelo, founded in 1925, ...More Info

The number of pints served in Britain's pubs and bars in the run-up to the busy festive period declined by almost 10% as chilly smokers, no longer allowed a cigarette inside a pub, cut short their drinking time or stayed at home, The Guardian posted on .

In the first winter since the UK-wide ban on smoking in public places was imposed in July, pub beer consumption for November fell 9.7% against the same period in 2006, according to industry figures.

Pub bosses expected the ban to hit hardest in winter but the November decline is by far the steepest since the restrictions were extended from Scotland into Wales and England last year. UK beer sales in August, the second month of the nationwide ban, were down just 2.5%.

The November figures followed falls of 8.2% and 7.7% for September and October respectively and appeared to hit every type of beer. "All categories fell - there was nowhere to hide," said Mark Brumby, an analyst at Blue Oar Securities. "Premium ale was down 6.9%, standard ale 9.6%, standard lager 10.4%, premium lager 8.3% and stout 10.6%."

He suggested that smaller, tenanted pubs and free houses were likely to be among the most exposed to ...More Info

IVAN BOHAČENKO(1), JOSEF CHMELÍK(2) and VRATISLAV PSOTA(3) (1)Food Research Institute Prague, Prague, Czech Republic; (2)Institute of Analytical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Brno, Czech Republic; (3)Research Institute of Brewing and Malting, Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract
BOHAČENKO I., CHMELÍK J., PSOTA V. (2006): Determination of the contents of A- and B-starches in barley using Low Angle Laser Light Scattering. Czech J. Food Sci., 24: 11–18. A method was proposed for the determination of the contents of A- and B-starches in barley and for the use in plant breeding stations and brewing/malting laboratories. A combination was used of classical methods (incl. crushing of barley kernels by a roll crusher, steeping in 0.02M HCl, repeated rubbing and filtering through the sieve of 0.08 mm), and novel pieces of know-how (treatment with β-glucanase and cellulase, alkalisation at pH = 10.0 and centrifugation of crude starch suspension through the layer of CsCl). In this way, barley starch of high purity was obtained at a very low loss, using Low Angle Laser Light Scattering for the determination of the size distribution of starch granules. The boundary of the particle size between the peaks of A-starch and B-starch (7 μm) was evaluated from the distribution curves, while the contents of A- and B-starches were calculated from the cumulative curves. As a whole, the method was internally validated and for its repeatability and uncertainty of measurement the stimates of standard deviation s = 1.56 and confidence interval L1,2 = x ± 1.9% were established, respectively. Taking into account the generally well known difficulties associated with the extraction of substances from biological materials, in this case the separation of starch from barley kernels, we believe that the proposed method will bring satisfactory results in practice. Keywords: barley; A-starch; B-starch; starch granules; Low Angle Laser Light Scattering
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