The World Beer Cup competition was introduced in 1996 to celebrate the art and science of brewing by recognizing outstanding achievement.

People love to drink beer. Some take this passion even a little bit further. They are willing to defend and promote their local beer culture, with no other motive than their passion for beer. They are neither brewers nor publicans – although many support the cause. They are consumers with no financial gain involved. On a European level, these consumers are organised in the European Beer Consumers Union (EBCU). EBCU is a federation of thirteen independent national beer consumer organisations across Europe.

Döhler has won the “Food Innovation Award 2014” as part of the “12th World Food Technology & Innovation Forum” in London. Again this year, representatives from world leading companies within the food and beverage industry, from fields of research and development, innovation, marketing and technology, met with one another in order to discuss what will move the food market of the future. This top-class audience honoured Döhler with the Innovation Award for its breakthrough in the area of “gluten-free malt extracts”.

The International Centre of Brewing and Distilling (ICBD) was inaugurated at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK in 1988. A series of events will take place in 2014 to celebrate the anniversary, such as an industry conference, special lectures and beer competitions.

It’s that time of year again: In April, the Craft Brewers’ Conference and BrewExpo America opens its doors. The Brewers’ Association is the organizer of the event and will welcome craft beer enthusiasts from around the world to the Colorado Convention Center in Denver from April 8th to 11th, 2014. Like-minded individuals will be exchanging ideas and becoming acquainted with the exciting beers on tap at the World Beer Cup Awards, an event held at the conclusion of the CBC. As a sponsor of the CBC, BRAUWELT International will be in attendance, since events of this type are not merely a means for making and maintaining contacts in the industry but also serve as an excellent platform for disseminating information.

“food & drink technology Africa” is the title of a new event which premieres on March 18 and 19, 2014 in the South African city of Johannesburg (see also BRAUWELT International no. 6, 2013, pp. 395-396). This marks a further phase in the internationalization of drinktec, the world’s leading trade fair for the beverage and liquid food industry.

That’s courageous. Kirin plans to produce its Ichiban Shibori draft beer in Brazil as of March 2014, Japanese media report. The Japanese probably hope to benefit from increased demands for beer forecasted for the 2014 World Soccer Cup to be held in the country.

Casting a glance through the MEBAK Collection of Brewing Analysis Methods, it is almost impossible not to stumble across the abbreviation AACC, which stands for the American Association of Cereal Chemistry, the world’s largest research organization on topics concerning cereals. The organization was founded in 1915 by US millers with the goal of developing standardized and thus comparable analysis methods. One hundred years on, what was once a partnership of convenience has now become an international organization boasting close to 2500 members. European brewers also make substantial scientific contributions, especially the laboratory at the Carlsberg Research Center. In order to acknowledge the international nature of the contributors, an “I” was added to the abbreviation for the organization (AACC-International).

On September 18, 2013 MBAA-members attending drinktec in Munich met at the Krones-booth for a photo session. MBAA-President Horace Cunningham personally welcomed the group. He was very satisfied with the growing number of members, especially the still young MBAA-District Europe with its MBAA-District Europe chairman, Prof. Jens Voigt, University Trier. This group is comparatively small, but is growing fast and already shows 74 members since the exhibition.

The European Beer Star (EBS), Europe's leading beer competition, keeps on breaking one record after another. This year's EBS saw another significant increase in popularity with 1,512 beers entered from 40 different countries, up from 1,366 last year. In late August an international consortium of connoisseurs consisting of 102 master brewers, beer sommeliers and expert journalists from 25 countries gathered for a blind tasting held at the Doemens Akademie, Gräfelfing, Germany to select the best beers in the world, now in 51 separate beer categories (previous year 50).