Pierre Castel, who brewed up a fortune in Africa, turned 100 on 17 October. It’s surprising that someone, who built a billion dollar business from scratch and has provided good jobs for thousands of people, is not getting a mention on his own company’s website ahead of his birthday. Perhaps he did not want any adulations. Perhaps his family and his executives could not agree on any wording. Some of his old friends complained that they can’t even send him a greeting card because they don’t know where to.
Being the sixth of nine children in a family of Spanish agricultural workers who had emigrated to France in 1914 and settled in the vineyards of Bourg-sur-Gironde, he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. In 1947, aged 21, he set up a small wine trading firm that supplied local grocers and wine merchants in the Bordeaux region. In 1949, he and his siblings founded Castel Frères, which later became a unit of Castel Group. He ventured into Africa in the 1960s, starting with wine exports to French-speaking West Africa before establishing his first local brewery in Gabon. But it was only in the 1990s, after the purchase of the Société des Brasseries et Glacières Internationales (BGI), that he could significantly scale up operations across the continent. Today Castel Group is the third-largest wine producer globally and the second-largest producer of beer and soft drinks in Africa, operating in 22 countries, excluding South Africa. Reportedly, it generates annual sales exceeding EUR 6.5 billion (USD 7.3 billion).
A fiercely independent self-made man, he has fobbed off all suitors. Heineken CEO Van Boxmeer negotiated for years for a preliminary agreement in case he ever wanted to sell, but with no luck. The old SABMiller did slightly better. They signed a “non-aggression pact” in 2001, which entailed a cross-shareholding to prevent profit-destructive competition between the two.
For a while he became known as France’s wealthiest tax exile. In 1981 he had relocated to Switzerland after the election of France’s first Socialist president, “tax-the-rich” François Mitterrand. Over the years, he also erected a sprawling, multi-tiered corporate structure, including a Liechtenstein Foundation, a Singapore fund and a Luxembourg holding. Alas, the Swiss taxman called it tax evasion and a few years back his tax affairs made headline news. As a centenarian, he finds himself at the centre of a Shakespearean-style feud over his empire. Like King Lear, who tried to secure his legacy by dividing his kingdom, Mr Castel attempted to engineer his own succession by splitting benefits across several family branches, while keeping management independent – only for it to spark a bitter, multi-continental legal battle. That’s kind of tragic.
Beware of recruiters offering jobs with XXL salaries: it could be a scam. A warning to all in the brewing community: Within days, two of Brauwelt’s readers in Australia received flattering emails from two different US recruiters. Feigning interest, one reader replied and subsequently received the pitch: an exceedingly well-renumerated brewing industry job Down Under. The snag: he should first engage with an “Executive Mandate Strategist” (against a fee, of course) to do better during the recruitment process. Being friends, they told each other about the emails they had received independently and noticed that there is a pattern. Having seen the emails, it becomes apparent that the alleged US recruiters had clearly used their respective LinkedIn profiles and AI-generated writing for the pitch. The obvious purpose of the scam is to make people fork out thousands of dollars to get some “executive coaching”. However, this type of scam does not make any money unless it is large-scale.
Macedonian Thrace Brewery, a family-owned Greek brewer, on 21 October won EUR 111 million in damages from Heineken for its abuse of its market power in the Greek beer market. Heineken’s defence has now been rejected in nine different legal forums in three jurisdictions: Greece, The Netherlands and the European Court of Justice (CJEU). The Hellenic Competition Commission found in December 2015 that Athenian Brewery, Heineken’s Greek subsidiary, had abused its dominant position for 16 years. MTB sued Heineken in the Netherlands in February 2017. Heineken contested Dutch jurisdiction, denied liability for its subsidiary and challenged MTB’s evidence of harm, and lost on each point. The present judgment from the Amsterdam District Court settles what Heineken must pay. The outcome of this legal case matters beyond the beer industry. A claimant can now pursue a parent company in its own home court for a competition breach committed by a subsidiary anywhere in the EU, wherever the evidence shows the parent exercised decisive influence.
Consumers will not be pleased. Following the agreement between the coalition partners, the German Cabinet introduced a sugar tax bill on 14 October. If parliament approves it, a two-tier model based on sugar content will take effect on 1 July 2027. With this, the federal government is implementing “what associations in the fields of health, science, child protection, and consumer protection have long been calling for,” the Ministry of Finance said. It expects that the new tax will generate approximately EUR 690 million (USD 775 million) in revenue in 2027 and EUR 925 million in 2028. Specifically, the plan calls for a tax rate of EUR 0.26 (USD 0.29) per litre to be levied on sugar-sweetened beverages with a sugar content of 5 g or more per 100 ml. For beverages containing 8 g sugar or more, the rate will be EUR 0.32. The question is: Will the tax be passed on fully?A one litre bottle of classic Coke (at 10.6 g sugar per 100 ml) currently costs about EUR 1.80 on average. This would result in a tax of EUR 0.38 per litre, including VAT.
Crisp Malt is reportedly preparing to close its malting plant in Hamburg, one of Germany’s largest, by the end of March 2027. If going ahead, the move would deepen the pressure already facing Germany’s malt industry and underline how weaker Scotch whisky demand is spreading across the European supply chain. The report, published by the German trade publication Inside (10 October) and attributed to industry sources, said the planned shutdown would affect the former Tivoli malthouse in Hamburg with an annual capacity of about 110,000 metric tons. A key reason is the marked downturn in Scotch whisky. The Hamburg plant used to export a significant share of its malt to Scotland. But weaker sales and rising inventories have led many whisky distillers to idle plants and cut output, leaving the Hamburg facility operating well below capacity.
US drinks giant Sazerac wants to buy German legacy distiller Berentzen as it broadens its presence in Europe. The deal is not a done deal yet as it still requires regulatory and shareholder approval (until 20 November). And here trouble looms. One of Berentzen’s shareholders, the Swiss pension fund Aevum, which has raised its stake to 10 percent stake and is Berentzen’s third-largest, considers the cash offer of EUR 5.55 (USD 6.31) per share to be too low. Sazerac’s offer already represents a premium of 68 percent to the average price during the three months prior to the announcement. Sazerac, the maker of Fireball, Southern Comfort, and Buffalo Trace, is offering a total of EUR 53 million (USD 60 million) for Berentzen. The offer is valid only if Sazerac receives tenders for more than 50 percent of the shares. In 2025, Berentzen had a net revenue of EUR 163 million (USD 183 million) and an EBIT of EUR 8.5 million. In its first half 2026 it reported a sharp drop in revenue and profit due to weakened consumer demand. The beauty of the deal is that Sazerac would be getting a large-scale bottling facility in Germany with a capacity of 80 million bottles per year, for a modest sum. This should allow it to cost-effectively ship its products in bulk from the US for local bottling.
Warsteiner to shed 125 jobs at its main brewery and headquarters. In addition to the cost-cutting measures already approved – such as the closure of the Herford brewery and the planned sale of the Paderborn brewery with the loss of some 200 jobs – the firm plans to cut 125 positions at its brewery in Warstein by year’s end. The number of employees in Warstein is to drop from 725 to around 600. Management is holding talks with employee representatives to find socially responsible solutions for those let go.
AB-InBev is pushing Budweiser in Germany. Concern is growing in Bremen over the future of the Beck’s brand after AB-InBev increased its push behind Budweiser in Germany. Employees and union officials say support for the Bremen beer brand has faded. Marketing money and commercial incentives are now aimed more heavily at “Anheuser-Busch Bud”, as the Budweiser brand is called in Germany because the state-owned Czech brewery Budějovický Budvar holds the legal rights to the “Budweiser” name across most of Europe. The brand was launched in late 2025. Reportedly, AB-InBev has internally set a target of 400,000 hl for the new brand within a year. If it reached that level, this would constitute one of the strongest debuts the market has seen. But many remain doubtful, considering that German beer consumption has been declining for 30 years – from 117 million hl in 1995 to 78 million hl in 2025.
Japan raids Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory in beer price-fixing probe. The investigation reaches into a market worth more than JPY 1.1 trillion (USD 6.9 billion) a year. Reportedly, some officials admitted to collusion during the raids, media said on 7 October. The four brewers dominate Japan’s beer business, controlling more than 90 percent of the market. The Japan Fair Trade Commission suspects that sales executives from the companies met separately after regular gatherings of the Brewers Association of Japan and discussed how much to lift prices charged to wholesalers. Authorities are now looking into whether those moves pushed up costs for retailers and restaurants, with the burden ultimately passed on to consumers.
Carlsberg ordered to shut its brewery in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan over emissions breaches. According to The Economic Times (12 October), the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board has revoked Carlsberg India’s consent to operate the facility in Alwar, citing particular emissions nearly eight times above the permitted limit. The order also said the brewery transmitted only 35 percent of its required pollution-monitoring data to the central regulator, below the mandatory threshold of 85 percent. Citing a senior industry official, the Economic Times said supplies in Rajasthan could be disrupted. However, the commercial impact is likely to be limited as the closure comes after the peak summer sales season.
PepsiCo faces a major growth and profitability crisis in North America, where sluggish domestic sales continue to drag down overall performance. It does not help that an aggressive investor, Elliott, is breathing down its neck, pushing PepsiCo to streamline SKUs, shed underperforming assets, and reconsider its capital-intensive bottling model to improve profits. Reporting its third quarter 2026 financials (10 October), the snack-and-beverage firm said that growth and margins in North America are recovering more slowly than it had anticipated. Management’s own read is that consumers will stay under financial strain for another 12 to 18 months. PepsiCo has already tried both directions on price. In February, it cut prices on snacks brands Frito Lay’s and Doritos by as much as 15 percent to lure back shoppers. By September it announced price increases on selected snacks. Alas, the third quarter of 2026 showed how little either approach has moved the needle so far.
Stone’s founders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner plan to take over Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens in Escondido, California, and reopen the huge restaurant under a new name, media reported on 15 October. The venture will operate independently of the brewing company they founded 30 years ago. The restaurant’s final day under its current operator is scheduled for 13 November. The new restaurateurs intend to preserve much of what people love about the destination, while making improvements to the menu, service and atmosphere. Its 36 beer taps will showcase a broader selection from the craft brewing community. A new name and reopening date have yet to be announced.
When cutting costs cuts deep: Diageo announced that it will close its Baltimore Guinness Open Gate Brewery on 1 November with the loss of reportedly 175 jobs. Opened in 2018, at the height of the craft beer boom, the USD 90 million brewery was the first Guinness brewery location in the US since 1954 – although it never brewed Guinness stout. Spanning a massive indoor-outdoor space with a taproom and restaurant, it was mainly designed as a Guinness brand experience, with the beer imported from Ireland, which has drawn over 2 million visitors to date. The site originally included a 100-hl brewhouse for the production of Guinness Baltimore Blonde, a lager designed for national US distribution. It also featured a 10-hl system for experimental, limited-edition beers. In 2023 already, Diageo called the large production facility underutilized and closed it, laying off about 100 people. Since 2023, the Baltimore site has served as a craft beer and retail destination.
The “Great Convergence” in US alcohol distribution. Even after the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) wrapped up its annual conference (11-14 October) in Orlando, Florida, many in the industry have continued to discuss the fallout from the spectacular collapse of the wine and spirits distributor RNDC this summer and the wave of deals it triggered among wholesalers. It has already led to the merging of wine and spirits wholesalers with traditional beer wholesalers. The trend was referred to as the “The Great Convergence” at the NBWA conference. It has stimulated a renewed focus on state laws that govern licensing for the two types of business and how producers can change distributors. Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC), formerly the second-largest wine and spirits distributor in the United States, filed for bankruptcy on 26 July. Prior to and during the bankruptcy, RNDC sold off multiple regional markets. The Reyes Beverage Group, the country’s largest beer distributor, acquired RNDC’s operations across eleven markets (including Texas, Florida, Colorado, and Virginia), while Columbia Distributing, already pursuing a “total beverage strategy”, took over distribution rights in Oregon and Washington.
Because of the long-term decline in beer consumption, the middle tier of beer market has already seen massive consolidation over the past three decades. The total number of beer distributors has fallen to 3,000 in 2020, from 4,600 in 1980, according to the NBWA. Small distributors (under USD 10 million in annual revenue) dropped from 2,691 in 1990 to just 502 in 2021.
The next big legal battle over distributor franchise rights looms. Denver-based Coors Distributing Company (CDC), owned by Molson Coors, has asked a court to stop two of its biggest suppliers from walking away. Constellation Brands (Corona, Modelo) and Mark Anthony Brands (White Claw, Mike’s Hard Lemonade) notified the company in September that they want to end their distribution agreements within 30 days. Most likely, they will want to join the far bigger Reyes Beverage Group. CDC said losing them would cut roughly 40 percent of its volume overnight. Constellation’s proposed exit alone puts around 6 million cases of annual distribution volume at risk for the distributor. On 28 October, District Court Judge Adam J. Espinosa granted a preliminary injunction, as requested by CDC, and ordered that Constellation Brand’s announced exit cannot proceed until arbitration between the two companies takes place.
Carlsberg Britvic’s announcement (10 October) that it plans to shut the iconic, nearly 200-year-old Marston’s Brewery in Burton on Trent together with its logistics centre by next summer caused an outcry all across the country. Not only will 310 people lose their jobs, the future of a number of historical brands also hangs in the balance. Certain priority ale brands, including Hobgoblin, McEwan’s and Brooklyn, will remain in the company’s multi-beverage portfolio – they will probably be brewed elsewhere – while the company actively seeks new homes for other cask and regional ale brands. This suggests a piecemeal car boot sale of brands rather than a sale of the Burton site as a going concern. The reason given for the closure is that UK cask ale volumes have more than halved in less than a decade, and that this trend looks set to continue. But as the beer writer John Porter argues, one reason for the decline of cask ale is the reluctance of the big global brewers to support a beer style they see as marginal to their core business of making lager and fizzy pop. In that context decline becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Forgive me for saying – but what else would you expect from a company that calls itself Carlsberg Britvic? The message is in the name. A commentator described them as “a soft drinks company first in the UK, lager brewery second and ale a distant third”.
UK brewer Shepherd Neame reviews beer division as volumes fall. Is the “review” a first step towards exiting brewing? The family-run Shepherd Neame, Britain’s oldest brewer established in 1698 which operates 280 pubs across Kent, London and the South East, reported on 30 September that its revenue declined 1.1 percent to GBP 162.6 million (USD 215 million) in its financial year ended 27 June 2026 over the prior year. The firm reported strong pub trading but declining performance in its brewing division. Brewing revenue fell 4.6 percent to GBP 42.8 million, divisional operating profit declined to GBP 100,000, while total beer volume dropped 5.4 percent and own-beer volume 9.6 percent. CEO Jonathan Neame said the company is reviewing its brewing strategy as logistics costs rise, volumes decline and margins tighten. He also said its brewery in Faversham, Kent, is near the end of its useful life, creating a need for investment.
Shepheard Neame has since unveiled a GBP 15 million plan for new, smaller brewery in its existing bottling hall. Bottling will be outsourced, which could result in a small number of job losses. The bottling hall will close in mid-2027 with construction completed by the end of 2029.
CAMRA demands legal protections for Cornish beer similar to those safeguarding the famous Cornish pasty, after Molson Coors confirmed it will close the Sharp’s brewery in Rock, Cornwall, in December with the loss of 40 jobs. Production of Sharp’s Doom Bar beer will be moved to Molson Coors’ brewery in Hartlepool 680 km away, media reported on 30 September. Since 2011, a Cornish pasty holds a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status, meaning only a pasty produced in Cornwall which follows a traditional recipe and shape can legally be called a “Cornish Pasty”. CAMRA is now demanding a PGI for “Cornish beer”, which would prevent beers produced outside of Cornwall from being marketed as Cornish products. Doom Bar has long been promoted as a “Cornish original”.
Seems like spiked “Ade” RTDs are becoming the next big thing. Only introduced last year, the segment of spirit-based, sports drink-inspired RTDs is already attracting big money and new entrants. Ahead of White Claw maker Mark Anthony’s launch of RefreshAde, scheduled for next spring, Constellation quickly clinched a deal with SpikedAde, a spirit-based RTD with 4.5 ABV. The acquisition was announced on 6 October. The deal values SpikedAde at up to USD 353 million and includes a USD 75 million payment at closing for 100 percent ownership, plus up to USD 278 million in additional payments over five years based on the business’s future performance.
In an effort to push further into soft drinks, Carlsberg agreed to buy PepsiCo bottlers Iberia Refreshments in Georgia and JI Pepsi Cola Bottler in Armenia from their current owner Revery, the brewer announced on 5 October. Carlsberg already operates a brewery in Azerbaijan and will bottle PepsiCo products in that market as of January 2027. The southern Caucasus region is home to an estimated 17 million people, with Azerbaijan being the largest country (10 million), followed by Georgia (4 million) and Armenia (3 million). The latest additions extend Carlsberg’s bottling tie-up with the US firm to 17 markets. Carlsberg described soft drinks as an “integral” part of its portfolio. In 2025, soft drinks contributed 30 percent – or nearly 50 million hl – to group volume sales.
France’s wine production nears a 70-year low in 2026, marking the third year of reduced output, as a record-hot summer and severe droughts hit the country’s vintners hard. Production is forecast to drop to 34 million hl in 2026, 6 percent below last year and 17 percent below the average for 2021 to 2025, according to the French agriculture ministry. If the forecast, set on 1 September, is confirmed, the crop would be the smallest since 1957 in the log kept by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine. Two factors contributed to the drop. The area of vineyard in production is estimated to have fallen by 2.5 percent this year under a government-supported programme to pull up vines permanently. The other factor is that vines felt the effects of a particularly hot and dry summer. Conditions were so bad that the ministry abandoned its usual early-August harvest forecast altogether. The impacts of climate change have triggered a debate around the rigid appellation (AOC) rules – which include irrigation restrictions, planting densities, and permitted grape varieties among others – which have prevented vintners from adapting quickly to the changing climate.
Gladfield takes on Malteurop’s Ashburton site in New Zealand. Gladfield Malt owners and fifth-generation barley growers Doug and Gabi Michael said (2 October) the purchase of the 3.2 ha site is about securing an important grain-handling asset for New Zealand growers and brewers. No financials were disclosed but the property has a rating value of NZD 2 million (USD 1.3 million). All staff will retain their roles. Malteurop announced in July it was winding down its New Zealand operations, expecting to cease general operations at both its Marton Malthouse (North Island) and the Ashburton barley storage site on 30 September 2026 with full closure by 1 December 2026. It is not clear what will become of the Marton Malthouse.
AB-InBev targets 5 percent to 9 percent EBIT growth. The firmis shifting its primary financial metric from EBITDA to EBIT as part of its newly launched “Reignite” growth phase to provide a more accurate picture of its operational efficiency, structural discipline, and true capital returns. During its 2026 Capital Markets Day in St. Louis (23 September), the company announced an annual organic EBIT growth target of 5 percent to 9 percent, which is realistic and not too ambitious for a Big Brewer in the current consumer staples environment. Besides, AB-InBev is only following Carlsberg and Heineken, which have been communicating growth targets based on EBIT growth (commonly referred to as “organic operating profit growth”).