The low and no-alcohol category has continued its off-trade momentum into 2023, growing in value by 11% against the backdrop of a total alcohol category which declined by 2.5%. The drinking occasion for low/no is wider than ever, with more people choosing to moderate their drinking more regularly than ever before. In our recent NIQ State of the Nation survey we found…

Back in 2016, I was met with a mixture of ridicule, astonishment, disdain and – sometimes, but less often – admiration when I started talking about how I thought there was a gap in the market for alcohol-free craft beer. Fast forward to today and I suspect no one in the drinks industry thinks low/no is anything other than a fast-growing trend and a category…

Portugal’s Comissão Vitivinícola Regional do Tejo, (CVRT) has launched a new category of wine for the region, as it looks to tap into consumer trends towards lighter styles.  Campo do Tejo features an “easy drinking” range of Tejo white wines made from the region’s most famous white grape varietal, Fernão Pires, with a lower abv of 11.5%.  The category will initially launch with…

Richard Corbett examines how gin producers are looking to NPD to maintain interest in the category through 2023 and beyond New flavours, cocktails, no-alcohol and high-end brands will shape the fortunes of gin in 2023. According to the IWSR, the UK gin market nearly trebled in the decade to 2020, but this now looks to have been the high water mark, with consumption declining ever…

Edrington UK has launched a podcast series, as it looks to explore opportunities for dark spirits. The Stillhouse Podcast, hosted by Our Whisky founder Becky Paskin, features guest appearances from figures across the drinks industry. The company said the content is based on insights from its 2025 category vision, which features results from a usage and attitudes consumer survey, combined with research and insights from…

Prosecco famously captured the hearts and minds of UK consumers following the 2008/2009 recession. But what are the key trends during the current cost-of-living crisis? Which sparkling categories are bubbling up? And which are losing their fizz? Recent Circana (formerly IRI) off-trade data, shared with Drinks Retailing by Freixenet Copestick, shows some interesting developments. While Prosecco dominates the share of value sales (52%) in the…

Off-trade growth has been hard to come by for the cider category in the past year, according to Westons category manager Emily Jenkins, but there are opportunities for retailers.  Speaking at the launch of the annual Westons Cider Report yesterday, she explains that penetration peaked at 48.6% during the on-trade lockdown period in July 2020, and it has now dropped back to 43.9%. Overall, off-trade…