Hopper, Pilsner Urquell, Anheuser-Busch, Scottish & Newcastle & Tiger Beer, Majestic Wines, Stag brewery

Hopper, a natural brewed fruit drink currently being trialled by UK-based manufacturer the Juice Brewery, at smaller retail venues in the country, hopes the drink, which combines various extracted fruit flavours with hops and malt, can fill a growing niche for ‘sophisticated’ beverage alternatives to alcohol, juices and carbonated brands in the year ahead. More on this story

Czech beer Pilsner Urquell has agreed a five-year deal to become the official beer of golf's Open Championship. The deal starts in 2009 at Turnberry and will then take in confirmed future Championships at St Andrews, Royal St George’s and Royal Lytham and St Annes. "The heritage, authenticity and premium nature of The Open Championship offer fantastic synergies for Pilsner Urquell," said SABMIller brand director Vinod Giri.

InBev has signed a deal to become the official beer of Wembley Arena until December 2010. The two-year deal gives the Stella Artois brewer exclusivity over beer supply at all Wembley Arena events. InBev already supplies another live music venue — the O2 arena.

Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch has increased the wholesale price of a draught pint by 7p and added 6p to its bottled products. The hike, which came into effect on 1 January, mirrors the 7p a pint increase introduced by parent company InBev from 2 February. The increase applies across all Anheuser-Busch brands including Budweiser, Bud Ice, Michelob, Michelob Ultra, Harbin and Estrella Damm.

Majestic Wines said that a drop in corporate spending on entertainment was a major factor for the decline in sales of almost 3% for the key Christmas trading period. The UK’s largest wine supplier said like-for-like sales had fallen by 2.9% over the 10 weeks between 28 October, 2008, and 5 January, 2009.

The UK arm of Inbev has confirmed that it intends to close the Stag brewery in London, owned by recently-acquired Anheuser-Busch.