Queena Wong of Curious Vines and Vicky Ilankovan of Equal Measures UK discuss some common misconceptions about enacting inclusion within business A common theme is that, when we speak about inclusion within our industry, we are immediately directed to the PR or marketing department. Most organisations lack a core permanent budget for change management, indicating that inclusion is not…

Want to know what’s going to happen to wine? Just ask an indie, says Jason Millar Independent merchants’ fragmented representation and local footprint mean they are often overlooked, but they tend to see what’s coming down the tracks: the wines that are gaining momentum, which regions are rising and falling and where price fatigue is setting in, even among their relatively…

You don’t need a crystal ball to see that there are challenges ahead for the drinks industry, but there are ways to weather the storm. Former MD of Proof Drinks and drinks alcohol consultant Jeremy Hill talks about the best way to ride out this economic cycle and why it’s not all a bad thing.  Whether you are an optimist or a pessimist about the future of the…

By Jeff Evans, chair of The International Beer Challenge Stroud Dark Skies, 8%Stroud Brewery is 20 years old in 2026 and this is an impressive beer with which to kick off the celebrations. Dark Skies is an imperial stout brewed – like all the Gloucestershire company’s output – with organic ingredients, then aged in oak whisky casks. The flavours…

The start of a new year is when merchants take stock, debrief Christmas trading and look ahead. The prospects for 2026 don’t look good. Global wine consumption is declining and mature markets are becoming harder work for everyone. On-trade data suggests cocktails are gaining share, beer is holding steady and wine is increasingly squeezed. While the preferred strategy for many is to blame…

Euan Duncan, partner in intellectual property and commercial law at Morton Fraser MacRoberts, discusses what businesses need to know about protected terms in the drinks industry Dry January once again highlights how low & no alcohol brands test the boundaries of how drinks can be described. The total UK low & no market is understood to have more than doubled in…

Tom Khan-Lavin, CEO of YesMore drinks agency, sums up what‘s hot and not for the coming year Let’s be honest, the world feels a bit fractured right now. Whether it’s political division, the noise of social media echo chambers, or the creeping feeling that AI is about to take our jobs, consumers will be increasingly looking for something real and human. For drinks…