Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said on July 22 that the Czech state-owned brewery Budejovicky Budvar NP is not likely to be sold by the current government, whose term in office is to end in mid-2010, according to the Associated Press.

Last year, as a result of the brewery’s long legal battle with U.S. beer giant Anheuser-Busch over the Budweiser brand, the Czech government announced it would work to prepare Budvar for privatization.

However, the brewer hasn’t been transformed from the current national enterprise into a joint-stock company yet, which makes legal privatization impossible.

Budvar considers itself the maker of the original Budweiser, but it has exported its lager to the U.S. under the name Czechvar since 2001 due to trademark issues. Budvar has fought with Anheuser-Busch in several countries over use of the famous Budweiser brand, to which both companies claim a historical right.

The company said InBev’s purchase of Anheuser-Busch earlier this year will have no effect on the legal battle.

"A different owner does not change anything," said Petr Samec, a Budvar spokesman.

According to the Associated Press, Trade Minister Martin Riman has put Budvar's value at up to 30 billion koruna (euro1.3 billion; US$2.1 billion).

Carlsberg announced on July 23 that it has sold its 95.6% stake in Türk Tuborg Bira ve Malt Sanayi A.S. (“Türk Tuborg”) to CBC Group. Through Israel Beer Breweries CBC Group is the partner of Carlsberg in Israel and Romania.

The selling price is USD 80 m minus interest bearing debt and plus/minus adjustment for the difference between working capital as of end June 2008 and closing.

Türk Tuborg was established in 1967 through a partnership between Tuborg and Yasar Holding. Production started in 1969 with the first locally produced Tuborg brand. Carlsberg took over the majority shareholding of Türk Tuborg in 2001. Türk Tuborg is number two in the Turkish market.

As part of the deal between Carlsberg and CBC Group Türk Tuborg will on license basis continue the production of Carlsberg and a number of Tuborg brands.

The deal is subject to approval from The Competition Authority and The Tobacco, Tobacco Products and Alcoholic Beverages Market Regulatory Authority.

“All parties will benefit from this deal. By selling our stakes in Türk Tuborg Carlsberg is optimizing its business portfolio. And we are confident that CBC Group will build on the momentum already created by Türk Tuborg and its highly skilled employees and thereby further ...More Info

According to Rosstat data, beer production growth rate has made just 2.3 % over the first quarter of 2008, Kommersant informed on July 22. This is the minimum growth since the post-crisis period. Analysts forecast that the market’s year results will show 5 % at best. Previously, the smallest growth was registered in 2005, when government cracked down on beer advertising. Production and consumption of beer in Russia have come closely to European volumes and in future the growth rate will only be falling, experts explain.

Rosstat’s last week publishing states that 58.3 mln he of beer were brewed in Russia in the first half of this year. Production in June grew just by 0.3% compared to that of June 2007, and expansion of production in comparison with the first half-year of 2007 constituted only 2.3 %. The declared growth rate is the lowest over last several years. For instance, in 2006 beer production grew by 5.8 % over the first half, and by 9.8 % over the whole year, and in 2007 these showings amounted to 29.8 and 16 per cent respectively.

“Annual growth rates of 15 – 20 % during the post-crisis period are explained by the initially low ...More Info

Major Japanese brewers are targeting women to increase beer sales in an effort to overcome sluggish sales of alcoholic beverages, JapanToday reported on July 23.

Kirin Brewery Co has assigned female employees to develop cocktails tailored for young women while Sapporo Breweries Ltd. has set up a team composed of seven women to create a new product.

Suntory Ltd placed advertisements for its ‘‘happoshu’’ low-malt beer called ‘‘Diet Nama’’ (draft) in women’s magazines in May and June. A 350 cc can is priced at around 152 yen.

Sales of beer, including ‘‘happoshu’’ and third-category beers brewed from peas and soybeans, have been on the decline since brewers raised prices earlier this year.

Kirin began marketing ‘‘two dogs cocktails’’ in 350 cc cans on June 18—one called ‘‘cassis navel’’ in a pink can and another called ‘‘salty bulldog’’ in a green can—for around 148 yen.

The products were developed by Sakurako Yoshino, 26, and Natsu Mori, 24, who are both in their third year with Kirin. The pair were given the assignment as the company wanted to come up with beers and cocktails that women of the same generation as Yoshino and Mori would enjoy.

‘‘I wanted to develop a product that would be more of a ...More Info

Anheuser-Busch Cos., the brewer being bought by InBev NV for $52 billion, may announce soon that second-quarter profit fell because of rising costs for barley and packaging materials, Bloomberg.com stated on July 22.

According to a Bloomberg survey, the net income of the biggest U.S. beermaker may have declined 2 percent to $664.3 million. Earnings per share probably rose after the St. Louis-based company bought back stock.

Grain, packaging and energy expenses rose almost 4 percent this year, the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob said in June. Anheuser-Busch said it will increase prices for each barrel of beer at a faster pace in coming quarters, which may help InBev pay off the $45 billion in loans it plans to take out when it buys Anheuser-Busch later this year.

``They haven't been able to raise prices until recently, and that takes time to pass through,'' Sachin Shah, a merger analyst at ICAP Securities Ltd. in Jersey City, New Jersey, said yesterday in an interview. ``Almost everything from grains -- barley, hops -- to transportation costs have increased.''

Anheuser-Busch spokeswoman Maureen Roth didn't immediately return a call seeking comment after regular business hours.

Analysts estimated average sales of $4.7 billion for the ...More Info

Heineken NV has invested $11 million in the modernization of the Babruysk-based Sabar brewery, Syabar CEO Ela Klinyuk said at a news conference in Babruysk on July 22, informs naviny.by.

The modernization has been carried out on a tight schedule since the acquisition of Syabar by the Dutch brewer in December 2007.

The project included the modernization of the salt furnace, the construction is a new gas boiler, the launch of a new PET plastic bottle bottling line, the replacement of finished beer tanks and the modernization of the CO2 recuperation system.

Heineken hopes to increase the brewery's annual capacity from the current 1.2 million hectoliters to two million hectoliters in 2009.

The CEO said that Syabar made 285,900 hectoliters in the first six months, with the target for the entire year set at 668 hectoliters.

Syabar's share in the domestic market reportedly amounts to 13 percent at present.

The Danish brewing force Carlsberg A/S announced on July 23 that has sold its 20% stake in Israel Beer Breweries which was founded in 1992 by Carlsberg and its Israeli partner with CBC Group as the majority owner. The Buyer is CBC Group. Trough Israel Beer Breweries CBC Group is the partner of Carlsberg in Israel and Romania.

The selling price is USD 36 m.

As part of the deal between Carlsberg and CBC Group Israel Beer Breweries will on license basis continue the production of Carlsberg and Tuborg brands.

The HGCA Planting Survey shows that compared to last year the area sown to wheat and barley has significantly increased, Farmers Guardian said on July 21.

Since the set-aside area has sharply decreased due to the zero per cent set-aside policy, the total wheat area made 2.068 million hectares - an increase of 262,000 hectares (14 per cent) on last year. The spring barley area is estimated to occupy 565,000 hectares for this season, while winter barley area is set at 416,000 hectares, which makes an increase of 14 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. Total barley is estimated at 981,000 ha, an increase of 12 per cent on last year the HGCA states.

“The results indicate that the wheat and barley area is sharply up this year, after increases in price and changes to the set-aside policy allowing for more land to be planted. The total cereal area is estimated to have increased by 13 per cent to 3.18 million hectares in Great Britain for the coming harvest,” said Icaro Rebolledo, HGCA economist.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted Montana wheat and barley growers a permanent approval of an inexpensive and effective fungicide, Western Farmer-Stockman informed on July 21.

A Section 3 full registration label was sanctioned for tebuconazole, which fights fusarium head blight in wheat and barley – a disease commonly known as "scab" that can render crops unsalable.

If it is cool and wet when grain flowers, "grain in a field with a history of scab is at very high risk for the disease," Mary Burrows, a Montana State University Cooperative Extension plant pathologis says.

The new registration, which includes commercial product names including Folicur, Orius and TebuStar, effectively controls scab if applied either at or slightly before flowering of the crops, she says. The cost of this fungicide has historically been much less than alternatives.

Scab produces a toxin on grain called DON (deoxynivalenol) which is strictly limited in human and animal food. If the toxin is detected at levels toxic to users, buyers reject the grain.

This means a total failure. Getting this fungicide approval through the EPA was pivotal for Montana Grain Growers Association.

According to specialists, best management practices to minimize scab are to use a resistant variety when they ...More Info

According to Barth-Haas Report, in crop year 2007 world alpha acid production increased by slightly more than 500 mt year on year. In 2007, as in the previous year, fine aroma hops suffered in terms of production volume due to unfavourable weather conditions. The prevailing climatic conditions worldwide had an even more unfavourable effect on the high alpha varietal group.

The data shows that together, Germany and the USA produced 74.3 % of total world alpha in crop year 2007 (previous year 73.3 %). Although the USA‘s share declined, it remained the largest alpha-producing nation, with 38 % (previous year 42.1 %). Germany improved from 31.1 % in the previous year to 36.3 % in 2007, thus taking second place, followed by China with 8.1 %, down from 9.5 % the year before.

Although some 617 mt more alpha acid was available after the 2007 harvest compared with 2006, the total volume produced came nowhere near to meeting demand. For the third year in succession less alpha was harvested than was required. This amounted to a shortfall of more than 2,800 tons in the last three years. Once again breweries’ stocks were used to make up for the shortfall, although they ...More Info

Pieter J. Verbelen, Sebastiaan Van Mulders, Daan Saison, Stijn Van Laere, Filip Delvaux1 and Freddy R. Delvaux

Abstract

J. Inst. Brew. 114(2), 127–133, 2008 To improve the productivity of the beer fermentation process, several strategies can be adopted. One of these promising strategies could be the increase of suspended yeast cells in the reactor. Therefore, the fermentation characteristics of 11 lager yeast strains were studied in normal pitched worts (20 × 106 cells/ mL) (LD) and in worts with a four-fold higher pitching rate (HD). The fermentation rate was 2-4 times increased when high initial cell levels were used. The net yeast growth was somewhat similar between the LD and the HD fermentations, although the FAN uptake level was about 35% higher in the HD fermentations compared with LD. High viabilities were observed throughout the fermentations with high cell loadings. HD fermentations resulted in higher concentrations of all the measured fusel alcohols and higher maxima and residual concentrations of total diacetyl were observed. In contrast, higher levels of most of the esters were found at the normal pitching rate, although the results of isoamyl acetate were not significant. With the help of “Principal Component Analysis”, it became clear that the cell density had an important influence on the flavour profile, but that yeast specific preferences could not be overlooked as they determined the sensitivity of the yeast to the application of higher cell densities. Key words: Fermentation, flavour compounds, high gravity brewing, pitching rate, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, yeast metabolism... Load full article, 7 pages, 478 Kb, PDF file