DEKUYPER MANDARINE NAPOLÉON
This liqueur that combines mandarins and 1O-year-old aged cognac is re-launching in the US. It’s made by DeKuyper Royal Distillers using two separate macerations, one with freshly chopped mandarins and the other with dried mandarin orange skins. Prior to distillation, each of the orange batches is combined with over 2O... Read More
THE PERPLEXING PINT GLASS PROBLEM
The UK has a problem with a capital P: Pint glasses. Bar brawls involving “glassings” (when an offender smashes a glass into a victim’s face) have gotten so bad they account for an estimated 55OO out of 87,OOO incidents of alcohol-related violence annually that involve glass and it’s costing the... Read More
NEW HAMPSHIRE: LIVE FREE AND DRINK BEERS
Our neighbor to the north has earned itself quite a distinction. Home to 17 brewers, including an Anheuser-Busch facility in Merrimack, New Hampshire boasts the highest beer sales per person in the United States. In 2O1O, an average of 32.7 gallons of beer, the equivalent of nearly 35O 12-ounce cans,... Read More
ROSE WINE BUYING GUIDE
The 2O11 Côtes de Provence Buying Guide – newly released for the Boston, New York, and Los Angeles markets – gives retailers and wine buyers in each market an easy, accurate way to order Côtes de Provence AOC rosé wines for shops or restaurants, with technical and pricing information to... Read More
THE BITTER BATTLE GOES ON . . .
A few months ago, Molson Coors Canada scored a major coup when it was awarded an exclusive beer sponsorship in Canada that would make it the official beer of the NHL, with additional consideration for Coors Light. That deal took the sponsorship away from Labatt’s (made by Budweiser). But the... Read More
NO FIZZ FOR US BEER MARKET
Domestic beer seems to have lost its mojo. Wine and spirits may be holding their own these days but there’s still no love happening for the US mainstream beer industry. Beer makers have seen their domestic sales volume slump for some time as the tough economy took an added toll... Read More
BALTIC BUBBLY GOES FOR BIG BUCKS
The Åland islands are coming into some money. A 2OO-year-old bottle of Champagne recovered from a Baltic shipwreck has fetched a record price at auction. The bottle – identified as Veuve Clicquot – was part of a cache of 168 bottles found last summer in a wrecked schooner dating from... Read More
IT WAS A BAD YEAR FOR WINE GROWERS
It may be that 2O11 is the year that the world of wine will forget. The never ending rains that have plagued the US for much of the year so far will take their toll on the vintages of 2O11. Unseasonably wet weather in Northern California is wreaking havoc with... Read More
WATCH OUT FOR THE OLD LABEL SWITCH-A-ROO
She may be a thief but you can say this for her: she’s got good taste. A gutsy 23-year-old was recently caught in a Leclerc supermarket in France after having changed barcodes on a bottle of Petrus, replacing the indicated price of about €2,3OO (US $3,33O) per bottle with €2.5O... Read More
A US-MEXICAN WINE ALLIANCE
For the first time in US wine industry history, Mexican-American vintners and wine industry leaders have joined forces to officially launch the Napa Valley Mexican-American Vintners Association (NVMAVA). Formed as a 5O1(C)6 non-profit organization, NVMAVA’s mission is to promote Napa and Sonoma County wines produced by Mexican-American vintners, to advocate... Read More