Beer drops to fourth place in Belgium In a shock report from the Belgian national statistical office, average consumption of beer has dropped by a quarter in the last 20 years such that beer now comes behind coffee, water and soft-drinks. According to the Reuters story your average Belgian now only drinks 168 pints a year compared to 232 pints in 1980 (although your average Czech is still putting away a healthy 280 pints a year). I must admit however, that given the strength of some of the belgian tipples 168 pints is still no mean feat.

Biodiversity through beer. Canadian microbrewery RJ Brewers has released a beer called Rescousse (also known as SOS - Save Ontario Species) which carries environmental information on the label, and also the brewery makes a contribution to Wildlife Habitat Canada. It's obviously a nice bit of PR for the brewery, and both the cash and the publicity will be gratefully received by the biodiversity organisations involved, but the whole programme has doubtless been helped along by the $20,000 which the federal government's environmental budget has contributed to the project - or am I just being cynical.

It's official - beer is good for you. According to a team of Canadian scientists, drinking beer (in moderation, of course) not only reduces the risk of heart disease but also makes it less likely that you'll develop cataracts. This article on the BBC News site makes much of the point that whilst too much beer can result in blurred vision (Shurely not - Ed), a smidgin of beer can help prevent it.Unfortunately if you read to the end of the article it does point out that similar levels of antioxidants can be gleaned from drinking tea or grape juice :(

Next month's Budget in the UK is likely to include £6m of concessions for breweries as part of the Chancellor's package of measures for small businesses. By reducing the duty on beer by 3p for small breweries, the Treasury hopes to offset some of the advantage which the multinationals enjoy through economies of huge scale production. It's unlikely that this will mean cheaper beer for consumers though, as the small breweries will need to absorb this cost reduction just to ensure their continued survival, with the money being channelled into better marketing and continued investment in rural pubs.

It's also unlikely to appease MPs who wanted a sliding scale of taxes for small brewruns and complete abolition of duty for those brewing less than 100,000 gallons a year.

Bass (now trading under the snappy name of Six Continents) have decided that Real Ale is the new Lager ! Despite the fact that they've been brewing since 1777, the marketing droids at Bass (sorry SixC) have just cottoned on to the idea that Real Ale is a marketable commodity. According to an article in the Guardian, the target for this push is due to be the estate of Firkin pubs which have undergone mixed fortunes since the David Bruce days.

The Firkins are now part owned by SixC, and part by pubCo Spirit, formerly part of Punch Taverns and they are hoping to use the Firkin brand to 'pilot' cask ales, apparently in an attempt to win over the new generation who don't want to drink lager like their 80's generation Dads did.

The UK Government have finally backed down on their series of promises to ensure that when you buy a pint of beer that's what you get served. Apparently all the consumer legislation which ensures that you get what you paid for with any other product doesn't apply to the sale of beer where, apparently, 95% of a pint is close enough. This story is being carried in many places including here and here.

Incidentally, the Labour Party's own web site was showing this as a policy statement right up until January this year - the line about “We will also tighten legislation to ensure consumers are protected from small measures and get a full pint” has now been quietly amended to remove the last five words.