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Diageo opened the £73 million Guinness Open Gate Brewery London, a working microbrewery and visitor experience in Covent Garden's Old Brewer's Yard, to the public on 11 December 2025, returning brewing to a site first used for beer over 300 years ago.

Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates forecast first-half EBITS of A$225-235 million, cancelled its A$200 million buyback and launched a A$100 million-a-year cost programme as weaker US and China demand left distributors overstocked.

Former Tesco chief executive Sir Dave Lewis took over as Diageo's CEO on 1 January 2026 on a £1.5 million salary, ending Nik Jhangiani's six months as interim chief after Debra Crew's exit.

Suntory Global Spirits halted distillation at the main James B. Beam distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, for all of 2026 amid a bourbon glut, keeping bottling, warehousing and the visitor centre open.

Heineken's chief executive Dolf van den Brink said he would leave the job on 31 May 2026 after almost six years in charge and more than 28 years at the brewer, and the supervisory board began searching for a successor.

About 500 staff of Moët Hennessy Champagne Services, the LVMH unit behind Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Krug, Ruinart and Mercier, struck at Veuve Clicquot's Reims site after the company skipped the profit-sharing bonus for the first time since 1968.

All UK alcohol duty rates, including the reduced draught rates, rise by RPI inflation of 3.66%, taking duty on spirits above 22% ABV to £33.99 per litre of pure alcohol and on standard-strength beer to £22.58.

A Royal Gazette notice from Thailand's Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee sets alcohol sales hours at 11am to midnight nationwide, making the trial end of the 2pm-5pm afternoon ban permanent, with exemptions for airports, hotels and entertainment venues.

Constellation Brands' beer business grew net sales 2% to $2.28 billion in the quarter to 31 May 2026 while depletions slipped 0.3%, as Modelo Especial fell about 2% and Corona Extra more than 5% and Pacifico rose about 21%; comparable EPS was $3.43.

Sapporo Breweries agreed to pay Carlsberg $643 million for 25% of a new joint venture holding Carlsberg's businesses in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, with perpetual exclusive rights to Sapporo Premium Beer there and a UK licence for Carlsberg.

France's second vine-pull scheme opened for payment claims on 7 July 2026, paying a flat €4,000 per hectare of vines grubbed up for good after 27,926 hectares were put forward as wine consumption, especially of reds, keeps falling; claims close on 1 March 2027.

The UK-India free trade agreement entered into force on 15 July 2026, halving India's tariff on British whisky from 150% to 75% at once, with a path down to 40% over ten years.

Scotch and other UK whisky entered the US tariff-free from 24 July 2026, ending the 10% duty imposed in April 2025 on a market worth about £1 billion a year to UK distillers.

Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman said Sazerac's unsolicited offer, reported at $32 a share or about $15 billion, was 'not actionable' after the Brown family's majority holding said it did not fit their vision.

AB InBev's revenue rose 5.6% to $16.66 billion in the second quarter of 2026 as beer volumes grew 1.1%, with record second-quarter volumes in Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador and underlying EPS up 23.4% to $1.21.

Heineken's operating profit (beia) rose 6.7% organically to EUR 2,170 million in the first half of 2026 on net revenue of EUR 14,834 million, up 2.7%, as total volume grew 1.6% and Heineken-brand volume 5.3%; it kept its 2% to 6% profit growth guidance.

Diageo's reported net sales fell 3.0% to $19.6 billion in the year to 30 June 2026 as North America dropped 8.4% and Chinese white spirits slumped, and new CEO Sir Dave Lewis unveiled about $1 billion of savings over three years.

Picking of the 2026 Champagne vintage began on 6 August in Montgueux, the earliest harvest ever observed in the appellation and about 14 days ahead of 2025, with the marketable yield set at 8,800 kg per hectare.

Treasury Wine Estates' fiscal 2026 EBITS fell 36.1% to A$492.3 million, ahead of guidance, while US asset impairments produced a statutory net loss of A$1,078.7 million and no dividend; it expects F27 EBITS at least equal to F26.

Gallup's 2026 Consumption Habits poll finds 54% of US adults drink for a second straight year, a record-low 13% say they sometimes drink too much, and 17% have had non-alcoholic beer, wine or spirits instead of a drink in the past year.

A 50% US duty on Canadian beer, wine, cider and spirits took effect after a three-day pause, in retaliation for provinces' boycott of American alcohol, and Canada suspended trade talks and vowed dollar-for-dollar countermeasures.

Pernod Ricard's sales fell 3.9% organically to €9.4 billion in the year to June 2026 as the US dropped 14% and China 19%, with profit from recurring operations down 5.2% to €2.4 billion and India overtaking China as its No. 2 market.

Brown-Forman's first-quarter net sales slipped 1% to $911 million as the Korbel exit, lower used-barrel sales and a 13% tequila slide offset New Mix's growth, and the Jack Daniel's maker reaffirmed flat organic sales for fiscal 2027.

The 191st Oktoberfest runs on Munich's Theresienwiese from 19 September to 4 October 2026, with a Mass of beer costing EUR 14.80 to EUR 15.90; by the halfway point 3.8 million visitors had come and festival beer sales were down 1.4% while alcohol-free beer rose 4.5%.

Canadian spirits, wine and malt beer are barred from entering the US from 29 September 2026, escalating the 50% tariff into a near-total import ban over provinces' boycott of American alcohol.

Former JDE Peet's chief executive Rafael Oliveira becomes chair of Heineken's Executive Board and CEO on 1 October 2026 for a four-year term, after shareholders approved his appointment at an extraordinary general meeting on 5 August.

The minimum price of a unit of alcohol in Wales rises from 50p to 65p, matching Scotland, after the Senedd voted to keep minimum pricing beyond its March 2026 sunset.

Constellation Brands, the US importer of Corona and Modelo, reports results for its fiscal second quarter to 31 August 2026 after the US market close on 6 October 2026, and discusses them on a call at 8:00 a.m. ET on 7 October.

The Brewers Association's Great American Beer Festival runs on 10 and 11 October 2026 at Levitt Pavilion in Denver's Ruby Hill Park, its first year outdoors after decades at the Colorado Convention Center, with the GABF competition medals awarded during the Sunday session.

Penfolds owner Treasury Wine Estates holds its 2026 AGM at 10am on 15 October 2026 at the Park Hyatt Melbourne and online, its first under CEO Sam Fischer's TWE Ascent reset.

Pernod Ricard publishes first-quarter sales for fiscal 2027 on 15 October 2026, after warning that US and China inventory adjustments and the Middle East conflict would weigh on the quarter.

Heineken publishes its third-quarter 2026 trading update at 7:00 a.m. CET on 28 October 2026, its first under new CEO Rafael Oliveira, after a first half in which operating profit rose 6.7% and volume 1.6%.

Carlsberg publishes its third-quarter 2026 trading statement on 29 October 2026, after narrowing its 2026 organic operating profit growth guidance to 4-6% on faster-than-expected Britvic synergies.

AB InBev publishes its third-quarter 2026 results at 7:00 a.m. Brussels time on 29 October 2026 and holds its earnings call at 2:00 p.m., after a second quarter in which revenue rose 5.6% and underlying EPS 23.4%.

Diageo reports first-quarter trading for fiscal 2027 and holds its annual general meeting on 5 November 2026, the first test of the broadly flat sales guidance Sir Dave Lewis set in August.

The 166th Hospices de Beaune charity wine auction takes place on Sunday 15 November 2026 at 14:30 in the Halles de Beaune, selling the 2026 vintage of the estate's 60 hectares by the barrel to fund the Beaune hospitals.

The 2026 Beaujolais Nouveau and Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau go on sale on Thursday 19 November 2026, the third Thursday of November, with launch events in the Beaujolais, Lyon, Paris and the roughly 110 countries where the wine is drunk.

Brown-Forman is expected to report second-quarter and first-half fiscal 2027 results in early December 2026, the next check on its flat-sales outlook as it searches for a new CEO after rejecting Sazerac's bid.

The new federal hemp definition, capping finished products at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container, starts on 11 December 2026 after Congress pushed it back a month from 12 November.

Alcohol Change UK's month-long Dry January challenge asks people to go alcohol-free for all of January, a campaign that began with 4,000 people in 2013 and drew over 200,000 sign-ups in 2025.

Vinexposium's Wine Paris trade fair for wine and spirits runs from 15 to 17 February 2027 at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles; the last edition drew 63,541 trade visitors from 169 countries and 6,537 exhibitors.

ProWein, Messe Düsseldorf's trade-only wine and spirits fair, runs from 7 to 9 March 2027 with exhibitor numbers capped at about 4,000 under new director Frank Schindler's 'Focus. Proximity. Industry.' format.

The 59th Vinitaly, Italy's international wine and spirits exhibition, runs from 11 to 14 April 2027 at Veronafiere in Verona, after the 2026 edition drew 90,000 attendees from 135 countries and 4,000 exhibiting companies.

The Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux holds En Primeurs Week from 19 to 22 April 2027, when the Bordeaux châteaux show barrel samples of the 2026 vintage to the trade and press before it is sold as futures.

The 192nd Oktoberfest is due to run on Munich's Theresienwiese from Saturday 18 September to Sunday 3 October 2027, following the festival's rule of starting on the first Saturday after 15 September and ending on the first Sunday in October.

Cancer, liver-disease and pregnancy warnings become mandatory on every alcohol container sold in Ireland, after the government pushed the start from 22 May 2026 to 3 September 2028 citing economic circumstances.