just the round-up - The week in drinks

The top ten most visited stories on just-drinks this week:

Champagne sales in Q1

FRANCE: Champagne sales plateau in first quarter - figures

Champagne sales were flat in the first quarter of 2008, marking an end to the strong growth trend of recent years, figures from the Union des Maisons de Champagne (UMC) have shown.

Molson Coors Q1

US/CANADA: Molson Coors toasts soaring Q1 profits

Molson Coors has declared itself "very pleased" with its strong showing in the first quarter of this year.

PepsiCo's plastic revolution

US: Pepsi performs "plastic surgery" on bottles

Pepsi is launching a reduced plastic non-carbonated beverage bottle in the US in a bid to eliminate approximately 20m pounds of waste from the environment.

Carlsberg Q1

DENMARK: Slower Western Europe, S&N buy hampers Carlsberg Q1

Carlsberg has posted a slower start to 2008, in what the brewer has described as a "modest" quarter traditionally.

Boston Beer Q1

US: Product recall hammers Boston Beer in Q1

The Boston Beer Company has seen its voluntary product recall turn profit to loss in the first quarter.

Diageo trading update

UK: Diageo year so far trading "in line"

Diageo has reported that organic net sales growth for the nine months to the end of March were in line with the company's performance in the first half of the year.

Tax rise proposal in Australia

AUS: 300% beer, wine tax hike on Australian horizon?

Following a 70% tax hike on the ready-to-drink category (RTDs) in Australia, an even higher increase on beer and wine duties is thought to be in the pipeline.

InBev Q1

GLOBAL: Brazil, Russia, China drag on InBev Q1 volumes

InBev has reported that weak performance in three out of four BRIC countries has brought total volumes down in the first quarter of 2008.

Diageo unveils Guinness plans

IRELAND: Diageo invests in new brewery at cost of two closures

Diageo is to invest EUR650m (US$1bn) in its brewery infrastructure in Ireland, including the building of what will be its largest brewery. However, the company also said it would be closing two other breweries as a result.

Coca-Cola Co. in Kenya

KENYA: Coca-Cola to invest US$50m in Kenya

Global soft drink giant Coca-Cola has announced it is to invest US$50m in the expansion and up-scaling of its bottling lines across Kenya.