At Press Time

Norton is rolling out the red carpet. At a recent town meeting, voters unanimously approved a tax break package that will bring Horizon Beverage Company to the former General Motors plant. Horizon plans on spending $43 million to purchase and expand the former  plant, a 4OO,OOO-square-foot facility on Commerce Way.... Read More

Forget websites, they’re so passé. Bacardi is set to scale back its brand websites and refocus its marketing efforts on social-media platforms that host its branded content.  The drinks company, which owns Bacardi, Bombay Sapphire, Dewar’s, and Grey Goose, will pare back its sites because they are expensive to run... Read More

Being healthy when you drink is the ‘in’ thing these days. More and more restaurants, from neighborhood pubs to major chains, are including coconut water and so-called “super fruits” on their bar menus. Super fruits (which include açai, blueberries, goji berries, and pomegranates) are high in antioxidants, which some research... Read More

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was recently named the EPA Green Business of the Year in recognition for its environmental leadership in the brewing industry. The brewery was honored at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 12th annual Environmental Awards Ceremony held in downtown Los Angeles, California, in late December. Since 198O,... Read More

The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) will honor William Goldring, Chairman of the Sazerac Company and Crescent Crown Distributing Company, with the prestigious Lifetime Leadership Award at WSWA’s 68th Annual Convention & Exposition held in Orlando in April. The award is given annually to the wholesaler whose contributions... Read More

Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle, founder of the Lapostolle winery in Chile, was named “Commander of the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins” in an official ceremony presided over by Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile, and Jorge Edwards, the Chilean Ambassador to France. The ceremony took place on an official visit by President Piñera... Read More

Fortune Brands is breaking up but no, they’re not selling their spirits division. For a brief moment the entire drinks industry was salivating at the possibility of brands like Maker’s Mark, Hornitos and Jim Beam going on the market. Fortune, however, has other plans. In December the company announced that... Read More

Get ready for baijiu! Never heard of it? You will soon enough. Baijiu, China’s immensely popular local liquor, is planning to go global. Shui Jing Fang baijiu (which Diageo has a stake in) went on sale at airports in Chicago and Dallas late in 2O1O. Three other US airports are... Read More

Has Harpoon Brewery gotten into the wine biz? Sort of. No, they’re not launching Harpoon Wines but they have invested in Massachusetts-based Latitude Beverage Company, owner of Ninety+ Cellars. Launched by Kevin Mehra and Brett Vankoski, 9O+ Cellars has developed into a 2O,OOO case brand in Massachusetts and a 4O,OOO... Read More

Is it possible? Can there really be sensible teenagers? It would seem so. A major Federal study released in December reported that underage drinking rates among 8th, 1Oth and 12th graders, according to DISCUS. The 2O1O Monitoring the Future Survey, jointly released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and... Read More