In the first of a new series, our beer expert Jeff Evans appraises four recently-released beers. SIMPLE THINGS FERMENTATIONS TWISTED PILSNER, 4.8% In 2016, Phil Sisson won a home-brewing challenge organised by Thornbridge Brewery and Waitrose. His winning beer, a Belgian wit laced with rose petals, gave him a launch pad to start his own business and Simple Things Fermentations in Glasgow was born. Sisson…

For many indies, the start of the year is about taking stock, literally and figuratively, as the dust settles on the most frantic month of the wine merchant’s calendar. After we’ve analysed the data and debriefed on the activities of Christmas past, we go into the new year armed with a sense of clarity and purpose. That’s the theory. But no matter how thoroughly we…

Christmas week was huge. Alcohol sales in the week ending December 25, 2021, topped £756 million, making it by far the biggest week for sales in the past three years – more than £60 million higher than last year. Self-isolation, consumer caution before Christmas and an extra trading day all contributed to a bumper seven days. This was even more impressive against a decline of…

This month, online low/no alc retailer the Dry Drinker partnered with designer Anya Hindmarch to open a low- and no-alcohol off licence. The opening follows that of mindful drinking organisation Club Soda’s alcohol-free off licence, which opened in December. For now, both sites are pop-ups. The question is, will bricks and mortar low- and no-alc shops become…

Blockchain expert Max Kantelia shares his vision for virtual luxury retail and looks at the role blockchain and NFTs can play in preventing wine fraud An element of wine fraud has always existed within in the wine industry. It’s not just the well-known and high-profile cases, such as Rudy Kurniawan, but it also exists at all levels especially given the significant increase in online sales…

NielsenIQ’s client team leader Rob Hallworth looks at the imapct of the pandemic on new legal age drinkers.  We talk a lot about how consumer habits have changed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Will consumers go back to “normal” and what will that look like? Of course, the importance of understanding changing consumer dynamics is clear, but remember some habits are also being formed during these…

Today more than ever, successful beer retailing relies on good product knowledge. This rather simplistic, but fundamental, analysis lodged itself in my mind during this year’s International Beer Challenge judging. As chairman of the judges, I have privileged access to them during their deliberations and, once again, I found the expertise and passion around the table seriously impressive. Whether it was forensically dissecting the technical…