Drinks Sector News

With the rollout of covid-19 vaccines taking on a fresh sense of urgency, hospitality businesses have offered to turn their unused premises into vaccination centres to support the government’s vaccination programme. Brewdog is in talks with the UK and Scottish governments over using its bars for deployment of the vaccine, while the #SaveNightclubs campaign, a…

When is a drink really alcohol-free? It’s a debate that has bubbled up now and again but with no- and low-alcohol (No-Lo) drinks in fashion this time it could get serious. “The misinformation and confusion created by inaccurate and misleading labelling of some no- and low-alcohol drinks threatens to undermine consumer confidence in the No-Lo…

Carlsberg is putting health at the heart of its growth strategy with plans to expand its range of non-alcoholic drinks and flavoured alcoholic sparkling waters. The brewer’s chief executive Cees ‘t Hart told the Financial Times Carlsberg was stepping up its efforts in alcohol-free beer, where annual sales in most countries were increasing by 20-25%.…

Imagine if you could age whisky in a few days rather than years: consumption of wood and energy would shrink, as would waste. Well, Bespoken Spirits reckons its new technology can do just that – and still go toe-to-toe with traditionally-aged spirits in taste tests. The Silicon Valley start-up, which made the front page of…

The judging has concluded and we are delighted to announce the shortlist for the 2020 Footprint Drinks Sustainability Awards, revealing the sustainability initiatives of the on-trade drinks sector's leading responsible businesses.     SHORTLIST 2020: ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY AWARD Barn Farm Drinks Collectiv Food FAIR.Drinks SUSTAINABLE USE OF RAW MATERIALS AWARD Foxhole Spirits Good Living Brew…

Sales of alcohol-free and low-alcohol spirits are up 19% year-on-year, according to new data from Nielsen. Supermarket shoppers have spent more than £5.4m on 170,500 litres of low- and no-alcohol spirits so far this year. Some £3.5m of that has come since the beginning of lockdown. In the past year there had been “a shift…

Drinks manufactured locally are set to benefit from the covid-19 pandemic, gaining popularity as consumers “rally behind symbolic and job-sustaining producers”, according to IWSR. The latest analysis of how the crisis is shaping the alcohol industry also suggested that new drinking habits were forming. Regular drinking occasions are changing due to bar closures and restrictions,…

The government has launched a new fund to help UK distilleries “go green and cut emissions” by switching to low carbon fuels such as hydrogen, biomass and re-purposed waste. The support will help cut emissions by half a million tonnes a year, said the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. In 2019, the UK…

Heineken UK said it was on track to eliminate plastic rings on supermarket packs of beer by the end of 2021 after announcing plans to roll out its 100% plastic-free cardboard topper across thousands of UK retailers this summer. The topper, dubbed Green Grip, will feature on Heineken, Foster’s and Kronenbourg 1664 multi-pack cans before…