Sales of alcohol online are increasing: but findings from a new report suggest that online retailers are ‘failing in their responsibilities’ to ensure alcohol is not being delivered to minors.
The alcohol industry in Japan is concerned over the impacts of the country’s latest rounds of COVID-19 restrictions on the sector’s growth, with many businesses in a stake of flux and uncertainty and even major traditional breweries looking to expand...
Online alcohol sales in the US have grown 131% since 2019, outpacing overall online grocery sales by a wide margin, according to a new report from Rabobank.
Taiwan-based Kavalan Distillery has predicted that the whiskey sector in Asia is set to be driven by premium and ready-to-drink (RTD) products in 2022, while also revealing its secret to winning over 100 international awards last year.
People who consume red wine between one to more than five glasses a week had a 10 to 17% lower risk in contracting COVID-19, but beer drinkers had a heightened risk, according to a recent study.
Total beverage alcohol ecommerce sales across key global markets are expected to grow by 66% over five years, reaching more than $42bn, according to new data from IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.
The Alcohol Health Alliance wants to see the UK’s Health and Care Bill – which will restrict advertising and promotion on high fat, salt and sugar products – extended to include alcohol.
Locally-produced wines, beers and spirits are currently on the up-and-up in India’s alcohol industry, with millennial consumers in particular preferring these over international brands – but drinks not in the premium or low price categories continue to...
Almost half (47%) of alcoholic drinks in the UK feature calorie information on labels, says the Portman Group, as it calls for such labelling to remain voluntary.
Lockdowns prompted consumers to treat themselves to premium drinks at home: and even now people continue to embrace the idea of entertaining loved ones with special drinks in their own house, according to UK supermarket Waitrose.
New Zealand start-up Terps & Co believes it has created the world’s first non-alcoholic terpene spirits to help people ‘lose the booze but not the feels’.
The alcohol industry in India has slammed Delhi’s new liquor excise policy as ‘disruptive’ and argues that new measures risk creating the very ‘cartels’ it aims to prevent.
Kirin-owned brewery Lion is urging the wider industry to increase commitments to recycle glass and aluminium, particularly in countries with less-advanced sustainability infrastructures, as these packaging materials are ‘here to stay’.
Researchers at the National University of Singapore have found a way to transform spent coffee grounds into alcoholic beverages rich in bioactive phytochemicals and amino acids.
Alcohol has emerged as the sector with the largest number of counterfeit cases in India in 2020, with experts attributing this to a lack of enforcement as well as high profits available for counterfeiters during the COVID-19 crisis.
This week, the UK’s advertising watchdog has pulled up four hard seltzers for making - or simply implying - health or nutritional claims on their products. So how should such brands navigate this territory?
The UK’s advertising watchdog has taken issue with a BrewDog Instagram post for its hard seltzer: saying the tongue-in-cheek advertising implied a nutritional claim on an alcohol drink. It also ticked off the craft brewer for implying the 5% ABV drink...
South Korea consumers are drinking more alcohol alone at home amid COVID-19, a trend which has driven fruit wine imports up but not managed to stop a downward slope for imported beers.
The trend of people consuming 'less but better' in their homes opens up exciting innovation opportunities for food NPD and products that pair well with beer and other alcohol, say firms.
The UK’s Discarded Spirits has just unveiled a grape-based vodka, made using waste-products recovered from the wine making process, in an attempt to tap into consumer desire for zero waste ingredients.
Global beverage alcohol is showing positive signs of recovery: expected to grow 2.9% in volume by the end of 2021; and return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023.
Singapore-based Lion Brewery Co has tapped its e-commerce business and new concepts including subscription services to drive craft beer sales amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
UK’s premium mixer brand Fever-Tree is ramping up its Asia-Pacific expansion with a launch into South Korea this year, and rolling out its low-calorie range into more markets.
Product names or descriptors such as ‘CBD gin’ or ‘rum infused with CBD’ could prove problematic in the UK, says the Portman Group, as it sets out guidance on marketing CBD.
Japanese brewery giants Asahi and Kirin are reacting cautiously to the government’s push to include alcoholic content by gramme on product labels, though both will be implementing changes which experts believe will be emulated by the rest of the industry...
By Dan Hooper, co-founder, YesMore alcohol marketing agency
As the UK prepares to ease restrictions, brands and venues face the challenge of finding a celebratory yet responsible and realistic tone in their marketing and communications. Dan Hooper, co-founder of YesMore marketing agency, gives his five top tips...
Uber Technologies will acquire US e-commerce alcohol marketplace Drizly for $1.1bn, which will see the service join the Uber Eats app as well as maintaining a separate Drizly platform.
A new partnership between alcohol brands, online retailers and delivery platforms pledges to create robust global standards for responsible online sales and deliveries of alcohol: with AB InBev, Molson Coors, Asahi, Drizly and Uber Eats all part of the...
South Africa will now allow limited sales of alcohol, lifting its third ban on alcohol sales. “This is a welcome step to helping the industry begin its long journey back to recovery,” say alcohol industry bodies.
Australian kombucha specialist firm Bucha of Byron is looking beyond its traditional health conscious clientele to also target consumers seeking alcoholic beverages with a better-for-you twist.
In the first decision of its kind, The Portman Group has upheld a complaint against CBD gin ‘Colorado High’ in the UK for both creating a link with an illicit drug and implying therapeutic qualities. But the craft distiller behind the gin argues adults...
2021 is likely to be a transition year for the US beverage alcohol category, predicts online retailer Drizly. Pandemic trends will persist amidst a slow return to pre-COVID life, while up-and-coming categories such as RTDs and mezcal will continue to...
Australia’s alcoholic drinks sector has started the year with a fight on two fronts, leading industry leaders to give both barrels to new government drinking guidelines and accusations from academics that it provides a ‘distorted view’ of scientific evidence’...
The South African alcohol industry has pledged to withdraw support for, or association of brands with, major entertainment events over the festive period: saying they will not associate themselves with activities that have the potential of attracting...
Brands which copy successful innovations will forever be playing catch up. Instead, they should understand why an innovation has succeeded and use those insights to carve out their own path, writes Stephen Firth, senior partner, Vivaldi London, in this...
While total beverage alcohol is expected to see an 8% decline in 2020, that’s a lot less than the double-digit losses predicted earlier this year. But the long term recovery is still expected to be slow.
Coca-Cola European Partners' Topo Chico Hard Seltzer launch in Europe signals the start of a new strategy in alcohol. And the bottler hopes its proposed acquisition of Coca-Cola Amatil will give it insights for success in the category.
New RTD vodka soda brand Two Days is debuting its 3% ABV drinks: which are designed to be lower in alcohol than other hard seltzers. The brand is the brainchild of entrepreneurs Elise Marks and Brendan Bennett – who came up with the idea during lockdown...
The South African alcohol industry is welcoming the government’s decision to lift its coronavirus ban on alcohol sales, with the trading and distribution of alcohol again permitted from today.
Alcohol industry organisations are calling on the South African government to provide a clear timeline of its coronavirus alcohol ban: not only because of the effect on the local economy, but also because of the constraints placed on international trade.
New Zealand’s premium gin company Scapegrace Distilling is set to export its naturally coloured black gin in Asia, with the first shipments expected to land in Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Japan this month.
The alcohol beverage industry has taken a hit from the coronavirus pandemic. But shifts in consumer behavior are also opening up new opportunities: for example in RTDs, local products, and low/no alcohol drinks.
Sales of alcohol-flavoured sweets rose by 20% in the UK while the country’s pubs were shut due to Covid-19, manufacturer Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls has revealed.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) recently announced that it would be making industry-friendly changes to the text requirements for pregnancy warning labels on alcoholic beverages – but its insistence to mandate coloured labels has left industry...
The labelling of alcoholic beverages with consumer information such as ingredients, nutritional values and potential harm from alcohol is ‘not consistent or even considered’ in many countries in Europe, according to a report from the World Health Organization...
Campari Group will acquire a 49% interest in Tannico S.p.A, an Italian e-commerce platform for wines and premium spirits: noting the online channel is set to grow strongly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
