The latest deceptive buzzword in the brewing industry is digitalisation. Like all terms it can mean a whole lot of different things. Take the Drizly app. It is a piece of technology which was bought by Uber in February 2021, whereas Flaschenpost (message in a bottle), which was acquired by Germany’s major brewer Radeberger in December 2020, is fundamentally an old-economy type of beverage retailer that uses an app where people can order stuff. The world of shopping is undergoing an upheaval. For consumers the benefits are obvious: they will gain greater convenience from being able to shop either physically or virtually. But for retailers and producers the challenges are immense.