Not much mention of Heineken USA in yesterday’s analyst conference call, though their new Femsa business got plenty of play. Overall, the parent company’s revenues also grew 9.7% to over $16 billion, and organic profits were up nearly 9%…

That is the question vexing international analysts this week. On the one hand, as Foster’s has formally committed to spinning off its wine business, leaving the Carlton & United Breweries division (Fosters) ripe for an acquisition, SABMiller would be the natural suitor. On the other hand, CUB operates in a mature or declining market and perhaps SABMiller isn’t keen to put up capital for a soft business. Plus you’ve got Asahi and Coca-Cola Amatil waiting in the wings…

Kirin Holdings Company Limited is planning to sell its 25% stake in Dalian Daxue Brewery Co., Ltd., a China-based beer producer, to Anheuser-Busch InBev. The move comes as part of Kirin’s efforts to reorganize its Chinese beer operations, but the company will keep holding two other beer production companies in China, Kirin Brewery (Zhuhai) Co. and Hangzhou Qiandaohu Brewery Co., says the WSJ. With annual capacity of 280,000 kiloliters of beer, the Chinese brewer operates in Liaoning Province in the northeast, one of the regions with the highest beer consumption in China…

It’s been a tough road for imported beer the last few years. Dominated by Corona and Heineken, imports were up about 5.8% in December, lead by Mexican shipments up a huge 37%, even though the Netherlands (Heineken) were down 16%. So for the year, imported beers were up 4.9%, the first increase in two years. That total total US beer shipments down around 0.9%, which is a little better than most people anticipated…

Let’s talk about culture. Most consumers don’t, but the industry knows Tenth and Blake’s Blue Moon as MillerCoors. But to understand the way this segment of the global brewer will evolve, one must realize that this division is in fact different, and on its one-year birthday, it’s evolving. Big time…