Heat threatens craft beer hops, Nestlé’s naked baristas, and more beverage bites

Heat threatens craft beer hops​​

The hop harvest in US and Europe is being threatened by hot weather, in turn causing concern for the craft beer industry, reports the Financial Times.

The Yakima Valley in the US (known for its aroma hops for craft beer), has seen continued temperatures over 100F (38°c) in the past month. Other major hop growers Germany and Slovenia have seen hot weather too.

Craft beers use somewhere between four and 10 times more hops than an average lager, and demand for the beverages continues to grow.

Spreading hop growing over more regions would help the market resist shocks such as hot weather, suggests the US Brewers Association.

Krones collects new orders​​

Krones released its half year results this week, seeing revenue from January 1 to June 30 grow 4.8% to €1.5bn ($1.6bn).

New orders for the German packaging and bottling machine manufacturer were up 4.3%, compared to the same period the year earlier.

Krones saw EBT margin improve from 6.2% to 6.9%, and has now raised its EBT margin target for 2015 to 7% (up from 6.8%).

European challenges for SABMiller​​

SABMiller is pleased with its performances in its Latin American and African markets – but has seen a ‘challenging quarter’ in Europe.

Releasing its trading update for the first quarter (ending June 30) yesterday, the beer and soft drink company saw group net producer revenue (NPR) grow by 3% on level beverage volumes.

Europe saw its NPR decline by 4%, beverage volumes decline by 6% and lager declines of 8%. Poland was particularly affected with NPR down by 17%.

Also releasing results this week were Coca-Cola​ and Dr Pepper Snapple​.

Calling all wine researchers​​

Wine Australia is inviting proposals for research, development and extension (RD&E) projects.

Research areas will support Wine Australia’s two priorities for sector: increasing the demand and premium paid for Australian wine, and increasing competitiveness.

The first round considers consumer insights (why customers choose Australian wine and what influences their decisions) and digital viticulture (such as accurate, real-time measurements of key crop parameters, and rapid transfer of information to growers and wineries).

The second round will look at climate adaptation, sustainability, quality and provenance.

The deadline for preliminary project applications for the first round is Friday August 14, with successful projects expected to commence in January 2016. The application process for round two will begin in October 2015, with projects expected to start in July 2016.

In other news​​

Yesterday Bulletproof Coffee creator Dave Asprey launched FATwater​, an energy drink made by mixing oil and water.

Crown Holdings expects to see more craft brewers using cans​, while Ball’s bid for Rexam has raised competition concerns​ with the European Commission.

And a ‘Smart Wine Bottle’​ is being trialled in China to address the problem of counterfeit goods in the market.  

And finally…​​

A Nestlé campaign for a new line of coffee creamers features naked baristas to emphasise the all-natural positioning of the product.

A pop-up coffee shop (named The Natural Bliss Café) was run for a day – ‘with actors wearing little more than body paint,’​ explains the ad agency behind the campaign.  

The coffee shop created a video from the day, featuring customers and their reactions.

Nestlé Coffee-mate Natural Bliss partnered with ad agency 360i for the campaign and is running the video on digital channels such as YouTube.