DALIAN, China — China’s top brewer is diversifying as beer sales shrink in China. It is homing in on the baijiu white liquor market, which it sees as having huge growth potential. In October, China Resources Beer (Holdings), known for its Snow brand, announced that a unit of the company had agreed to buy a 55.19% stake in Chinese colorless liquor maker
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With a near infinite supply of whiskey, vodka, gin, and tequila on hand, the major spirits conglomerates — Diageo, Beam Suntory, Pernod Ricard, et al. — arrived in the burgeoning spirits-based ready-to-drink (RTD) market in recent years and have ruthlessly dominated the competition ever since. Actually, that’s not true at all. Instead, E&J Gallo’s High Noon is the dominant force in the spirits-based RTD world,
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South African Breweries (SAB), the local subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, has reportedly objected to Heineken’s takeover of Distell. SAB voiced its opposition at a hearing at the Competition Tribunal into the deal on Wednesday (18 January), according to South African news outlet News24. The Castle Lager brand owner is said to want Distell to sell cider brands such as Hunter’s or Savanna as part of any agreement.
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