New data has revealed the precarious business of investing in celebrity backed brands; for while they tend to outperform their total category, celebrity involvement doesn’t always guarantee success.
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Edinburgh-based Holyrood Distillery has reported strong export growth as mid-year sales already exceed that of 2023 by 15% thanks to an exclusive partnership with Dutch importer and distributor High Spirits.
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Spirits giant Pernod Ricard has forecasted that its sales will grow again next year after suffering a post-pandemic slump.
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What do you think of when you hear the word ‘vodka’. Not much, right? Where the word ‘whisky’ evokes images of sipping from a glass next to a roaring fire and ‘rum’ transports you to tropical climates grasping a glass filled with amber liquid on ice – vodka just doesn’t deliver the same dreamy (if clichéd) scenarios. But vodka is estimated to have a global value of $40.25 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 5.6% each year until then (IWSR Vodka Innovation Trends report). So, the category has to be doing something right, surely?
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We continue our series with Joshua Castle, group head buyer, Keeling Andrew, Noble Rot and Shrine to the Vine.
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Flavour. When it comes to food and drink – it’s the most important thing. As a producer, you can be entirely carbon neutral, use the finest ingredients, have the sharpest packaging – but if your liquid isn’t up to scratch, you won’t last long. But beyond that, producers are now using flavours to expand their ranges, tap into new markets, and attract new demographics of drinkers to their brands. As a man who has sampled thousands of liquids and has reasonably good taste (although I’m sure my colleagues might not agree, especially when it comes to taste in music or fashion!) here’s my reckonings about flavour trends in the spirits industry.
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Following a decline in global beverage alcohol sales in 2023 and tough trading conditions so far in 2024, IWSR has predicted a gradual recovery from 2025.
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Bacardi has announced two new major appointments, with Steve Young taking on the newly created role of business unit director for the UK & Ireland, while Amanda Almond becomes MD of northern Europe.
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Andrew Catchpole catches up with an ex-Wines of Argentina marketing director now launching his own mezcal to the UK, Zacal.
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The UK government recently announced that it would create 20,000 new apprenticeships by reforming the complex, paperwork-fuelled, resource-thirsty apprenticeship levy system for SMEs. A move that should benefit hospitality businesses up and down the country by bringing in new blood at the beginning of their careers. Phrases like ‘cut red tape’ and ‘regulatory burdens slashed’ appear throughout the government’s official, grand announcement – but forgive me if I retain my cynicism for now. This is coming from a government that has done nothing but increase the burden on business. And I’ll come back to that shortly.
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Prices for agave are currently in a tailspin as sales of premium products slow in key markets like the US and years of zealous plantings finally catch up – and outstrip – demand.
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After over one hundred years of being a wine-front merchant, a spirits fascia bearing the name Berry Bros. & Rudd (BBR) is days away from opening to the public on the hallowed pavements of St James’.
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Enotria & Coe’s new CEO has spent the months since his inauguration working on honing a back-to-basics approach while refocusing parts of the business which “felt a bit unstructured”.
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Pernod Ricard has announced what it is calling a robust performance in the first half of the 2024 financial year despite declines in its organic sales – a performance which the company is putting down to the normalisation of the spirits market following two years of outstanding growth.
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Bladnoch, Scotland’s southernmost distillery, has partnered with leading wine and spirits distributor Enotria & Coe to accelerate growth of the single malt whisky brand across the UK.
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If you’re an avid agave fan or have been subject to any of my previous tequila musings of the last few years, you might have heard the phrase – ‘the tequila timebomb’. For a few years now, the boom in tequila’s popularity has been well documented, as have the numerous voices warning that, to keep up with this demand, producers are irresponsibly damaging Mexico’s agricultural and civil landscapes. In 2022, my article on the subject talked about monocropping practices of enormous agave cultivations, cloned plants, and the dangerous effect these were having on biodiversity, agriculture, and even water availability for local communities. So, 18 months later, have we managed to dispose of the tequila timebomb?
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Jo Gilbert catches up with Stef Holt on her new role as the first curator of world whisky for Mangrove Global.
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A group of award-winning small distillers have penned an open letter to Jeremy Hunt calling for a cut to alcohol duty in the Spring Budget.
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Izzy is a twenty-year-old student at York University. Many decades ago I was one there too. In my time students received grants for living costs and tuition fees were paid by the Government. Today those are dealt with by repayable loans. But the loans may not be enough to allow access to all. Like Izzy, for example.
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Manchester-based Boutinot has become the latest company to sign up to Harpers Sustainability Charter.
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