BEAM SUNTORY
BRETT HALE has been appointed Vice President for global public affairs. He replaces MATT STANTON, who left earlier this year for another position. Previously Hale was with Yum! Brands, where he was VP of global government relations and was responsible for conducting global government relations on behalf of the KFC,... Read More
DIAGEO
SOPHIE KELLY has been named Senior Vice President of marketing for whiskey brands in North America. Kelly, the former CEO of The Barbarian Group, will be the company’s first senior VP to oversee marketing for its North American whiskey portfolio, which includes Bulleit and Crown Royal. The drinks company has... Read More
MR. BOSTON ON THE WEB
THE “BIBLE OF BOOZE” has entered the digital age, with the launch of the mrbostondrinks.com, which contains more than 1O,5OO drink recipes, each of them entered into a drinks database as originally found in the printed books. Visitors are given the option to look for a specific cocktail, or explore... Read More
HAUNTED HAPPENINGS AT BUFFALO TRACE
DISTILLERY TOURS are extremely popular these days but if you’re thinking of taking a tour of the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky, be forewarned: it’s seemingly haunted. Visitors touring the distillery recently experienced a first-hand haunted happening. Kristie Wooldridge an employee with the distillery stated that during a tour a... Read More
MIXOLOGIST APES
APPARENTLY APES could make for decent bartenders if they ever felt the need or want to have a job. According to a recent study, an ape in Sweden has demonstrated human-level flavor prediction abilities by memorizing cocktail ingredients. By providing a captive orangutan with its own personal cocktail bar, researchers... Read More
OBADIAH IS NO PHOENIX
THE HARD DECISION has taken a year. The Obadiah McIntyre Farm Winery at Charlton Orchard Farm in Charlton, Massachusetts, will not be rising, like the legendary bird, from its ashes to provide us with the pleasures of its fruit and grape wines and hard ciders. Recall that the winery was... Read More
CHIANTI CLASSICO THE SEARCH FOR TUSCANY’S NOBLEST WINE
CHIANTI CLASSICO THE SEARCH FOR TUSCANY’S NOBLEST WINE Bill Nesto, MW + Frances di Savino hardcover THIS BOOK TELLS the story of the ancient land named Chianti and the modern wine appellation known as Chianti Classico. In 1716, Tuscany’s penultimate Medici ruler, Cosimo III, anointed the region of Chianti, along... Read More
U.S. SALES ARE STRONG
IT WAS A good summer for wine sales in the US, according to the latest findings by Wines Vines Analytics. Total US sales increased 3% in July to reach $2.9 billion, and direct-to-consumer (DtC) shipments rose by 23% to $82 million. The DtC growth is coming off a small base,... Read More
BULK WINE IS BIG
THE GROWING bulk wine category now accounts for 38.6% of global wine exports, with 39.49 million hectoliters exported around the world last year. In comparison, bottled wine accounted for 54.3% of global exports and sparkling wine just 7.1%. Since the year 2OOO, bulk wine has grown its total share of... Read More
BAD WEATHER BLUES
THE WEATHER has not been kind to France. Wine production is likely to be 1O% lower this year than in 2O15 because of bad frost in the spring and a late summer heatwave. A production of 42.9 million hectolitres (944 million gallons) is forecast for 2O16, down from last year’s... Read More