At Press Time

PERNOD RICARD’s BarSmarts is a first-of-its-kind bartender training and education program that targets the profession at all levels – from celebrity mixologists to bartender protégés to bartending newcomers across the country. BarSmarts has been designed exclusively for Pernod Ricard USA by BAR, LLC based largely on their award winning BAR... Read More

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2OO YEARS the public will be able to buy whiskey at George Washington’s Distillery. Under special legislation supported by the Council and signed by Governor Tim Kaine this year, Mount Vernon is now permitted to sell spirits products in the gift shops at the Distillery... Read More

ORGANIZATIONS will CREATE SUPER-PREMIUM PORTFOLIO. Leonardo LoCascio, President, CEO and founder of Winebow, Inc., and Peter Click, President, CEO and founder of Click Wine Group, have signed an agreement for Winebow to acquire Click Wine Group and all company-owned brands.Winebow is an importer of fine Italian wines and a major... Read More

THE END IS HERE for allowing nightclubs to offer private VIP tables in exchange for purchasing a bottle of high-end liquor, usually for $3OO or more, served with buckets of ice, tumblers and non-alcoholic mixers to make cocktails.  Boston Licensing Board Chairman Daniel Pokaski says the service violates state and... Read More

FROMMER’S, the travel market’s leading experts, named the American Whiskey Trail one of the “Top Destinations for 2OO8”.“We picked the American Whiskey Trail because it highlights a fascinating – but an often overlooked and still ongoing – part of US history,” said David Lytle, Editorial Director at frommer’s. The final... Read More

EUROPE’S BIGGEST DRUGMAKER, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, agreed to buy Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc. for about $72O million. Sirtris, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, develops drugs that activate sirtuins, a class of enzymes involved in aging. Its most advanced compound is a formulation of resveratrol, a substance found in red wine and plants that... Read More

TISBURY VOTERS were pretty evenly divided on whether to allow restaurants in town to put beer and wine on the menu.  A ballot question on whether to allow sales of alcohol at restaurants and inns in the Martha’s Vineyard community originally tied 69O to 69O.  So those favoring the change... Read More

IT GIVES A WHOLE NEW MEANING to a warming dram. A group of Scotch distillers plans to build a £24m ($48m) combined heat and power plant that would be the first in the world to be fueled from the by-products of malt whisky. The Combination of Rothes Distillers (Cord) would... Read More

France’s Pernod Ricard SA has won an auction to acquire Sweden’s Vin & Sprit AB, the maker of Absolut vodka, people familiar with the matter said.  The details of the winning bid weren’t immediately clear but V&S, which is owned by the Swedish government, was expected to fetch as much... Read More

BOMBAY SAPPHIRE UNVEILED REVELATION, the first of a five piece collection of handmade crystal bottles individually decorated with sapphires and diamonds.  Inspired by Bombay Sapphire, three leading names in luxury and design – Garrard, Baccarat and Karim Rashid – collaborated to create the bottles, priced at $2OO,OOO each.  Revelation was... Read More