Cheers! City Beerfest returns to Guildhall for 11th year June 10, 2025 City Beerfest will return to Guildhall for its 11th year this July, bringing together food, drink and live music on the site of London’s second-century Roman Amphitheatre. The festival, which has become one of the City of London Corporation’s most popular events, will have over 40 different beers on offer in the Guildhall’s courtyard. It [...]
Cricketing star Ben Stokes takes stake in alcohol-free Cleanco May 18, 2025 Cricketing star Ben Stokes OBE has taken a stake in reality tv star Spencer Matthews’ alcohol-free spirits brand Cleanco. Stokes partnership with the firm comes as part of a $5m fundraising round for the brand as it hopes for its first year of cash-flow positivty. Cleanco is also gearing up for global expansion with ambitions [...]
Why Tasmania is Australia’s overlooked wine destination February 26, 2025 It was only four years ago I was served a glass of House of Arras, an exceptional sparkling wine, full of crystalline precision and refined fizz. I was surprised to hear it was from Tasmania. Before then, I knew very little about wines from this region. London is the most exciting marketplace for wine in [...]
Founder of UK’s favourite alcohol free beer: ‘I’m mindful of talking about alcoholism and addiction’ January 27, 2025 Lucky Saint is Britain’s favourite alcohol free beer. Its founder on how they became a success, the future of flavour in low-and-no and why he’s mindful of talking about addiction Look at it from the outside and the Lucky Saint pub in Fitzrovia looks like any other boozer, with its traditional facade and its name [...]
The secrets behind the Kylie Minogue wine brand’s meteoric success January 15, 2025 When Kylie Minogue went to the ProWein industry fair in Düsseldorf, hospitality professionals were stunned to find her on the sales floor rather than in some backstage dressing room. Minogue was fitting in up to 18 meetings per day, sitting down with distributors to discuss deals for her Kylie Wine range. The relentlessness of her [...]
Bacardi: Martini maker shaken as UK drinkers move away from spirits January 7, 2025 UK drinkers ditching spirits in favour of wine, beer and non-alcoholic drinks has hit the sales of Bacardi, it has been revealed. The division of the Bermuda-headquartered drinks giant has said its performance has also been impacted by “a combination of post-Covid challenges, ongoing global conflicts and a tough economic environment marked by rising living [...]
Why Dry January is just another month for this alcohol-free beer brand January 3, 2025 Highlighting a year of growth, we take a look at some of the biggest and most recent achievements of the rapidly-growing alcohol-free beer brand, Days Brewing. Two friends, one pandemic and a few cold (alcohol-free) beers later – a long-lasting business was created. In 2020, former AB InBev man Mike Gammell and ex-Propercorn marketing chief [...]
A wine-lover’s guide to sober October October 15, 2024 I may be biased given it is my career and passion, but wine really is an incredible drink. Even given my love of the drink however, I can fully support and applaud (if often from a distance) those choosing to curb their intake. In the recent report by KAM it was revealed that 74% of [...]
Asahi: Peroni and London Pride brewer slips further into the red October 7, 2024 Japanese beer maker Asahi, whose brands also include Peroni, saw its UK division slip further into the red during its latest financial year. The London-headquartered arm posted a pre-tax loss of £14m for 2023, having also lost £6.3m in the prior 12 months. Asahi UK last reported a pre-tax profit when it achieved a total [...]
Competition watchdog takes interest in Carlsberg-Britvic merger September 10, 2024 The competition watchdog announced this morning that it had opened the first stages of an investigation into the tie-up between Carlsberg and rival drinks brand Britvic. Danish brewing giant Carlsberg agreed to acquire the British soft drinks maker for £3.3bn in July, in a significant push into the UK non-alcoholic drinks market. The CMA has [...]