If you’re hanging on to a rising balloon, you’re presented with a diffi cult decision — let go before it’s too late or hang on and keep getting higher, posing the question: how long can you keep a grip on the rope?” I was reminded of Danny’s sky-high meditation towards the end of Withnail & I by — of all things — the establishment of a…

At the end of May, news that Roger Ryman had died was met with an outpouring of shock and deep sadness. Roger was head brewer at St Austell Brewery and was admired and liked by everyone who knew him. His passing, at the all-too-young age of 52, is a tragedy for his family and colleagues but is also a huge loss to the wider brewing industry.

A solitary tasting note sits on the shelf-edge of a promotional fixture. It’s for Estrella Damm lager and it stands out because it’s the only such piece of POS throughout the whole of the 100,000sq ft Tesco Extra store in Sussex. I can be pretty certain of this because, for 13 weeks under lockdown, I covered every inch of the store over and over, picking…

Since lockdown began in March, the off-trade has absorbed around half the alcohol volume lost from the on-trade, compared to the same period last year. With the on-trade gradually reopening since July, the off-trade should be looking at ways to maintain some of that spend. There are some big changes in consumer behaviour that have impacted spend and will continue. Given the unprecedented impact on the economy…

It goes without saying that few sectors of the British economy will emerge unscathed from the current crisis, but brewing will undoubtedly suffer badly. The warning lights have been flashing from the moment the lockdown was enforced and the Society of Independent Brewers since predicted widescale hardship in the trade. In a survey of members it discovered that, despite breweries working to develop their mail…

On Monday, March 23, independent merchants across the country faced an uncertain future. For many who found themselves not classified as essential in the first version of the government’s lockdown guidelines issued on Tuesday 24, the only responsible thing to do was to fulfil what orders they could, close their doors and place their staff on furlough, hoping their customers would still remember them after…

One of the most common questions we’re being asked by our clients is: what are the immediate and longer-term impacts of the on-trade closure on the off-trade? We’ve been working with our partners at CGA to take a closer look and these are the four biggest issues we think brands and retailers should consider. OVERALL DECLINE ACROSS THE TOTAL TRADE Though the off-trade has seen significant increases, the total alcohol trade has declined by around 25% since the UK went…