Dutch brewing giant Heineken has struck a deal to acquire the beverage unit of Switzerland’s Eichof Holdings for $279 million.

Eichof operates a Lucerne brewery, which has production capacity of 400,000 hectoliters (about 320,000 barrels) and 2007 domestic beer sales volumes of 361,000 hectoliters.

Heineken said the latest acquisition will give it a 10-percentage-point boost in its Swiss market share, bringing it to nearly 25%.

Heineken’s also getting Eichof’s wine, mineral-water and soft-drink operations in the deal; they represented 45% of total volumes.

The Boston Beer Company announced a voluntary recall of select 12-ounce bottles of its Samuel Adams beer which may contain small grains or bits of glass.

The precautionary recall comes after routine quality control inspections at the company’s Cincinnati brewery detected defects in certain beer bottles, manufactured by a third-party glass bottle supplier that might cause small bits of glass to break off and possibly fall into the bottle. The affected bottles come from only one of the five glass plants that supply the company with bottles.

The affected products are embossed on the base of the bottles with the following marking: The letter “N” followed by the number “35” followed by the letters “OI.”

Boston Beer has set up for website for consumers where they may enter bottle codes to see if they have bottles that have been recalled.

The St. Louis-Dispatch reports Anheuser-Busch is creating Michelob Brewing Co., a new unit that will encompass A-B’s fuller-flavored beers, such as Michelob, and spin-offs such as Michelob Porter and AmberBock as well as newer beers that have not yet been released.

This “formally gives new autonomy and creative license to its 112-year-old Michelob brand family.” Keith Levy, vice president of brand management at the company’s domestic beer division, said the company expects it will elicit appreciation of Michelob’s “authenticity.”

The P-D reports Michelob’s march toward autonomy started about a year ago, when A-B reintroduced Michelob Lager as an all-malt beer — which it was in 1896, when it was introduced as a “draught beer for connoisseurs.”

Now, the brewer is trying to wrap Michelob in the mantle of fast-growing specialty beers. Its new advertising tagline, for example, is “crafting a better beer.” Television commercials featuring brewery employees — Steve “the barley guy” and “Mel the maltster” — tout the care that goes into selecting and testing Michelob’s ingredients.

The story says A-B soon will introduce Michelob Dunkel Weisse — the company previously brewed a dunkelweizen only for the Colorado market — and expand Michelob Pale Ale into a year-round offering.

The Michelob family also includes Porter, Marzen, Wheat, Honey Lager and AmberBock — on top of the basic Michelob and Michelob Light. All of those beers, plus seasonal brews such as Sun Dog Amber Wheat, Beach Bum Blonde Ale and Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale, will be wrapped into Michelob Brewing Co.

Dutch brewing giant Heineken has struck a deal to acquire Czech brewer Drinks Union, which will boost Heineken’s share of the Czech market from 9% to 12%.

The company cites “considerable growth opportunities in the Czech market” as the reason for the acquisition.

Drinks Union owns the popular Zlatopramen brand and three regional brands, Breznak, Louny and Dacick. Heineken already operates Starobrno, Hostan, Zlaty Bazant, Krusovice and the Heineken brand in the Czech market.