Seems like some US Republicans are betting they can win the Midterm elections in November on beer. The “Trumpworld pollster”, John McLaughlin, in a poll published on 13 August, reported that “likely voters” support tariffs on Mexican beer by 65 percent to 23 percent. Even when voters were told that tariffs could raise the price of beer, support for the duties remained roughly the same: 67 percent to 23 percent. The survey also found that 89 percent of voters were in favour of policies that protect American beer jobs and businesses. Another 64 percent reportedly “prefer drinking beer brewed by American workers”. Could this be the same two-thirds, or 66 percent, of Americans who said in other recent polls that they found the cost of groceries as unaffordable? Mr McLaughlin’s poll comes as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union, is lobbying the Trump administration to impose tariffs on Mexican beer. To date, beer is exempt from duties under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
In 2025, imported beers had a 24 percent share of the US beer market, with Mexico supplying about 80 percent of all imported beer. Putting tariffs on Mexican beer would do nothing to protect American jobs, the economist David Ozgo said, since most of the jobs it supports, like distribution, wholesaling and retailing, are in the US already. He estimates that out of roughly 1.74 million industry jobs only 5 percent are directly involved in beer production. In fact, tariffs on Mexican beer would squeeze the most profitable segment of the market, Mr Ozgo argued. The Trump administration has not outlined a final policy regarding Mexican beer imports yet. But the Midterms aren’t far off.
Shares in Carlsberg fell on 19 August after the brewer reported first half results which underwhelmed. First-half revenue rose by just 2.6 percent to DKK 47 billion (USD 7.3 billion), while adjusted operating profit increased 4.5 percent to DKK 7.45 billion (USD 1.16 billion). Both results were slightly below forecasts. Beer volumes declined 1.0 percent, mainly due to weakness in Poland, China and Ukraine, although soft drinks, non-alcoholic beer and other beverage volumes grew 7.8 percent organically. Total organic volumes increased 1.7 percent over the same period last year, less than the 1.9 percent analysts expected. Soft drinks contributed 30 percent to Carlsberg’s volume sales. Mainstream beer contributed 49 percent, premium beer 16 percent, alcohol-free beers 3 percent and Beyond Beer 2 percent.
Warsteiner is facing an existential crisis. It is an open secret that Warsteiner’s owner Catharina Cramer is keeping the Haus Cramer Group afloat with her personal fortune. The recently published 2024 annual report reveals that she has issued a so-called letter of support and subordination agreement totalling EUR 20 million (USD 23 million), which is valid through September 2027. If the cash has not been used up yet, much of it will probably go towards the severance payments the group will need to pay to the 220 employees at its Herford and Paderborn breweries. The Herford site is slated to close at the end of August, while the the Paderborn facility will be wound down later this year if no buyer is found. The closure of these two sites will cut the group’s production capacity by 30 percent. In late July, the restructuring expert Bodo-Joachim Wendenburg took the helm at the Haus Cramer Group in a dual role as CEO and Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO). One of his first acts as CRO was to sack the General Manager for marketing and distribution, Raphael Rauer, 50, who only joined the firm two years ago. This leaves Haus Cramer with just one General Manager for Technology, Jens Hoffmann, 50, but he will depart for rival brewery Bitburger in January 2027.
Werner Brombach, the cosmopolitan Bavarian and owner of Erdinger brewery, known for his iconic eyewear, died 8 August, aged 86. His funeral on 19 August was befit of brewing royalty. After a memorial service at the Erdinger brewery the funeral procession carried his coffin past his home and across Erding’s downtown to St. Paul’s Cemetery. Afterwards some 1,500 mourners were invited to free beer at the Schrannenplatz. He would have been pleased with the turnout for his final send-off. But then this is what he had planned for. The funeral procession upheld the ritual of respect, honour, and finality. All these mattered greatly to him. He may have been a businessman who had been forced to adjust to the flow of time. Deep down, though, he was a believer in tradition and honour, the bedrocks upon which he built his legacy.
Singapore court rejects Castel CEO’s appeal over board suspension. In the widening family and governance dispute which is now stretching across several countries, Gregory Clerc, a former Swiss tax adviser to Pierre Castel and now a director of the French-African wine and beverages Castel Group, suffered a setback. On 30 July, the High Court of Singapore rejected an appeal by Mr Clerc against his suspension as a director of Investment Beverage Business Management, or IBBM, a Singapore company that is one of the group’s main holding entities. Mr Castel’s daughter Romy and his nephew Alain accuse him of wanting to grab power over the Castel Group. Legal proceedings are also ongoing in Geneva and Luxembourg. The dispute has become one of the most serious internal crises in recent years for Castel. The group employs about 40,000 people and reported revenues of EUR 6.5 billion (USD 7.5 billion) in 2024. The governance battle is far from settled. Even so, the Singapore ruling matters because it weakens Mr Clerc’s position in one part of the group’s holding. The legal pressure on the group does not stop with the family dispute. Castel Vins said the company also faces a possible tax reassessment in France that could cost it as much as EUR 1 billion (USD 1.16).
Australia’s trustbuster blocked MicroStar’s proposed takeover of Konvoy, finding the deal would likely substantially reduce competition in Australia’s keg pooling market. MicroStar, which operates as Kegstar in Australia, and Konvoy are currently the only two suppliers of keg pooling services in the country. The regulator also found there was not a sufficient likelihood of a new competitor entering the Australian market quickly enough, or at sufficient scale, to constrain MicroStar from increasing prices or reducing service quality following the acquisition. Konvoy has been in receivership since March 2025. If no other buyer can be found its assets could ultimately be liquidated. However, the ACCC believes that there is a realistic prospect of another buyer acquiring Konvoy and continuing to operate the business, thus preserving competition in the keg pooling market.
Australia’s illicit alcohol trade may soon rival tobacco black market. Excise tax on spirits in Australia climbed to AUD 110.15 (USD 77.50) per litre of pure alcohol after the country’s latest 2 percent inflation hike on 3 August. Australians now pay AUD 30.84 (USD 22) in excise on a 700 ml bottle of a 40 percent ABV spirit – twice the New Zealand rate and more than six times the US rate. On top of excise, Australians also pay GST on booze – a flat 10 percent tax which applies to the final retail price of the product. The Spirits Council of Australia, an industry body, fears that the high prices of taxed spirits could see demand grow for cheaper, illicit alternatives, as it has done in the tobacco industry. An estimated 80 percent of cigarettes consumed last year were illegal, according to the Bureau of Statistics, up from 12 percent in 2017. Other estimates put the share of illegal cigarette consumption at 60 percent of the total. Prices for legal tobacco have almost tripled since 2016. The excise is now more than 80 percent of the total cost, pushing the price of a packet of 25 cigarettes well over the AUD 50 mark (USD 36). Under-the-counter cigarettes sell for around AUD 25 (USD 17) a pack.
Diageo to nearly double Guinness production and cut jobs in turnaround plan. Diageo released its highly anticipated turnaround plans on 6 August, which will see the world’s major drinks group nearly double Guinness production, while cutting back a “significant” proportion of its 30,000-strong workforce. It declined to give a figure for the expected reduction in the worldwide headcount. However, it incurred USD 514 million in charges relating to employee severance. The firm promised to deliver USD 1 billion of annual savings over two years through a restructuring that would cost USD 1.2 billion. Diageo will also invest USD 1 billion to harness the rising popularity of Guinness, particularly in North America. Production capacity in Ireland is slated to increase from 8.2 million hl today to 15.7 million hl by 2031. For the full year 2026, ended June, the company reported that pre-tax profit fell by 26 percent to USD 2.6 billion. Group sales were down by 2 percent to USD 19.6 billion.
Row over Tory plan to stop Soho pub goers standing up. Puritans are on the march: Westminster Council, the now-Conservative-run local authority that covers London’s most popular drinking spots, has set out its ambition to radically limit “vertical drinking” (drinking while standing up) under a revision of its licensing policies. A consultation document proposed to either forcing venues to provide a “minimum number of seats at all times” or “requiring sales to be by waiter or waitress service only”. Another policy proposal was to refuse new alcohol licences in an area known as the “West End cumulative impact zone”: an area roughly between Oxford Street and Trafalgar Square, taking in Leicester Square and Soho. All this is to prevent crime, disorderly behaviour and reduce noise levels. By 1 October, Westminster City Council, which has jurisdiction over some 4,000 licensed venues, needs to update its current licensing policy from 2021. Guess what, the proposals have been met with a wave of criticism.
Belgian families sell EUR 731 million worth of AB-InBev shares. Through their investment vehicle Eugenie Patri Sebastien (EPS), the Van Damme, de Mevius, and de Spoelberch families offered about 10 million shares (the equivalent of 0.5 percent of AB-InBev’s outstanding shares) at EUR 73.10 apiece in a block trade in early August. Commentators say that this is not a distress sale. After all, since 2015, more than 73 million AB-InBev shares have disappeared from EPS’s portfolio. The families must have looked at AB-InBev’s 37 percent stock surge since the start of the year and the Football World Cup-fuelled growth and decided to take EUR 731 million (USD 828 million) off the table. Many think that the AB-InBev story right now is marked by tension. The World Cup is providing a near-term tailwind for Michelob Ultra in the US and Mexican brands in host markets. Its canned cocktail brand Cutwater is on track for USD 1 billion in revenue. AB-InBev’s pivot towards spirits, including its purchase of BeatBox Beverages in February, is producing results. And yet beer volumes in the world’s largest beer markets – China and the US – are declining. Probably a good time to sell some shares.
German beer sales decline 2.2 percent in first half of 2026. From January through June, 38.5 million hl of beer were sold. That was 2.2 percent, or 855,000 hl fewer than in the same period last year. The drop was particularly pronounced in taxable domestic sales. These fell by 3.1 percent in the first half of the year to 31.2 million hl, representing a loss of just under one million hl. The overall result was somewhat cushioned by international sales, as beer exports rose by 2 percent to 7.2 million hl. At least one brewery per week is forced to shutter, and these are often family-run businesses with a history stretching back centuries. According to the Federal Statistical Office, there were 1,415 breweries operating in 2025. Compared to the previous year, this represented a decline of 53 breweries.
Vietnam’s beer market cools. Heineken boasted that in the first half of 2026 the Vietnam beer market grew 6 percent. That is a good sign because in previous years beer consumption tended downwards. However, the industry’s consumption outlook remains cautious as the first-half momentum benefited from a strong festive season, while inflationary pressures, rising costs of living and not least the government’s clampdown on alcohol make consumers reluctant to part with their cash. The country’s Beer and Alcoholic Beverage Association said in June that industry revenue has declined for the past three years. In its efforts to curb alcohol consumption, the government has introduced excise tax hikes. Under the Law on Special Consumption Tax, an ad valorem tax, new tax rates took effect on 1 January 2026, initiating a roadmap which will see rates rise to 90 percent by 2031, from the current 65 percent. Under the legislation, the tax rate on beer and strong liquor will rise to 70 percent by 2027, a year later than initially proposed.
Nigerians spend over USD 1 billion on beer and spirits in first half 2026. The figure was compiled from the results of Nigerian Breweries (Heineken), International Breweries (AB-InBev) and Guinness Nigeria (Tolaram Group), which together account for about 90 percent of Nigeria’s formal beer market. Nigerian Breweries remained the market leader, reporting NGN 803.7 billion (USD 590 million) in revenue, a 9 percent increase from a year earlier. Guinness Nigeria posted an 11.8 percent rise in revenue to NGN 265 billion (USD 195 million), while International Breweries generated NGN 342 billion (USD 250 million), broadly unchanged from the same period last year. The brewers attributed their performance largely to price increases, introduced in March, to offset rising raw material, energy and operating costs.
Mexico’s beer industry still pays the covid bill. Even six years after the start of the covid pandemic, the Mexican brewing industry fails to regain the pace of production rises it maintained before 2020. The sector faces an environment marked by lower consumption, inflationary pressures, trade uncertainty and a weaker economy that keeps one of the most relevant manufacturing industries in the country stagnant. In 2025, beer production fell 3.5 percent to 136.9 million hl year-on-year, compared with 2019, the last year before the pandemic, when it had grown by 2 percent. The negative trend has continued this year. During the first five months of 2026, the industry saw production decline 2.7 percent to 55.3 million hl beer and exports drop 4.2 percent. Mexico is the world’s fourth-largest beer producer, accounting for 7.5 percent of global production, behind China (18.2 percent), the United States (9.8 percent) and Brazil (8 percent). The Mexican Ministry of Agriculture reported that the country was the major exporter of beer in 2025 with exports valued at USD 6.5 billion. The US remains the biggest buyer of Mexican beer.
Heineken’s first-half 2026 profit rises but is thisthe first sign of a turnaround? The Dutch brewer reported forecast-beating first-half profit after cutting about 3,000 jobs, roughly half of the up to 6,000 reductions targeted under a two-year restructuring plan, which shall help the brewer tackle weak beer demand across the industry and catch up with AB-InBev in areas such as efficiencies and shareholder returns. In the first half of 2026, net revenue was EUR 14.8 billion (USD 17.1 billion), up 2.7 percent organically, supported by the growth in focus markets like Vietnam, Ethiopia, India, Brazil, and the UK. Net profit reached EUR 1,125 billion, up 51 percent. Total volume sales grew 1.6 percent to 143 million hl, with growth in Asia Pacific and Africa and the Middle East more than offsetting a decline in the Americas. In the Americas consolidated volume sales declined by 3.2 percent to 44 million hl. Volume sales in Europe were down 0.6 percent to 42 million hl in the first half.
AB-InBev hikes profit, revenue with World Cup assist in second quarter. AB-InBev said the soccer world championship and a focus on its more premium labels helped lift revenue and earnings above expectations in its second quarter 2026, but a weakness in China tempered results, which were released on 30 July. Shares in the world’s largest brewer slipped 1 percent in early trade that day. They had risen around 37 percent since the start of the year as investors grew more optimistic about the beer sector following a difficult 2025. AB-InBev’s overall revenue rose 5.6 percent to USD 16.7 billion, beating analysts’ expectations. The Budweiser maker reported a 5.8 percent rise in second-quarter organic operating profit. Underlying profit rose 6.2 percent to USD 2.4 billion year-on-year. Net debt to normalized EBITDA ratio stood at 2.86x on 30 June, compared to 3.27x on 30 June 2025. Most importantly, however, AB-InBev saw volumes grow for a second consecutive quarter after years of declines. Total volume sales rose 0.9 percent, while beer sales were up 1.1 percent.
Boston Beer Company’s stock is back in focus after the brewer reported second quarter 2026 results, which showed lower sales, revenue and earnings. Net revenue declined 3.3 percent over the same quarter last year to USD 568 million. Net income stood at USD 51 million, down from USD 60 million a year ago. As concerns its supplier dispute litigation with Ardagh Metal Packaging, in which Boston Beer was found guilty in April, pre-tax litigation expenses plus related fees total USD 198.1 million year-to-date, Boston Beer said. The firm intends to pursue all post-trial motions and appellate remedies that are available. The firm cannot estimate when or if damages or interest will ultimately be paid, but it does not expect this issue to have a material impact on its operating plans. Boston Beer’s depletions dipped 6 percent in the quarter, while shipment volume declined 4.5 percent to about 2 million barrels. Growth in its Sun Cruiser and Angry Orchard brands could not offset lower shipments of Twisted Tea, Truly, Samuel Adams, Hard Mountain Dew and Dogfish Head.
Tilray Brands’ revenue growth clashes with persistent losses. In its 2026 financial year (ended May), the cannabis-to-beverage group Tilray Brands delivered USD 915.5 million in revenue, up 11 percent, and USD 61.1 million in adjusted EBITDA. Its beverage segment contributed about USD 254 million, thanks to the BrewDog acquisition. Otherwise, full year beverage revenue would have declined over 2025. However, Tilray also reported yet another annual net loss – this time of USD 121.4 million. So the path to self-funded growth is not yet in place. Investors were not impressed: The USD 12 million debt-for-equity swap, which issued 2.64 million new shares, reinforced concerns about ongoing dilution. This is reflected in the stock price, which stood at USD 3.99 per share (29 July), down from USD 146 per share on 30 July 2020. Management expects over USD 1 billion in annual revenue for fiscal 2027, driven by continued momentum across all segments. The multi-year US licensing agreement with Carlsberg, covering brands like Carlsberg and Kronenbourg 1664, will officially commence on 1 January 2027. Tilray plans to make Carlsberg and Shock Top – a brand it acquired from AB-InBev in 2023, which then sold 170,000 barrels – its two nationally available brands in the United States. This is an ambitious move as Carlsberg’s brands are relatively niche in the US, representing less than 0.1 percent of the Danish brewer’s global sales of 99 million hl (2025).
Dutch beer industry under heavy pressure as sales continue to fall. Brewers again sold less beer in the first half of 2026. According to the trade association Nederlandse Brouwers, the beer sector is “under heavy pressure”. The announced increase in beer excise duty, effective 1 January 2027, will probably exacerbate the decline. Sales of alcoholic beer from January through June were nearly 3 percent lower than a year earlier. Compared to the first half of 2024, beer sales dropped by over 5 percent. The association did not release full figures. Alcohol free beer, on the other hand, is increasingly popular. In the first half of the year, about 8 percent more alcohol-free beer was sold year-on-year. However, the rise of alcohol-free beer still involves smaller volumes and does not make up for the lagging sales of regular beer.
A Wisconsin brewery, whose owner in January promised to give away free beer if “he” dies, was set to lose its alcohol permit on 4 August. Minocqua Brewing Company is owned by the controversial “progressive activist” Kirk Bangstad. The action is not related to his tasteless or even inflammatory promise, though. It follows a June raid in which Wisconsin officials seized canned beer from Mr Bangstad’s premises, alleging it had been transported into Wisconsin from Illinois without the required permits and taxes. At the last minute, Mr Bangstad appealed the decision and can therefore continue to operate while undergoing the legal appeal process. He has frequently made headlines for blending political activism with his brewery business, often using his internet platforms to criticize Mr Trump and other Republicans. The permit fight is the latest chapter in a dispute with state regulators that has played out in courtrooms, government offices and the public arena for years. In September, Minocqua brewery had its licence revoked, but since Mr Bangstad appealed against the decision, his licence remains operational and an appeal hearing is scheduled for 18 November.