Mezcal is the latest spirits trend set to excite discerning drinkers in cities across the UK, according to retailers. Nick Bell, manager of Amathus’s Soho store, told OLN: “Specific mezcal bars and restaurants are opening up and that is pushing it into the public eye. A lot more consumers are coming in requesting mezcals and wanting to try new mezcals, and a lot of…

Australia’s Barramundi is targeting younger drinkers after a brand overhaul to position the brand as “the beach in a bottle”. The new-look wine is set to launch in Sainsbury’s and aims to encompass the Australian way of life as young people see it – “sun, fun, sea, surfing and travel”. The range includes a Chardonnay, Shiraz, Chardonnay/Viognier and Shiraz/Petit Verdot, rrp £8.

Heineken has declared that its new Strongbow cloudy cider will be the biggest alcohol launch in 2015 after allocating a £8 million marketing budget to promote it. It is the most Heineken has ever spent on promoting a new product and will include advertising on TV, billboards, mobile and social media. It will spend £1 million on a national sampling campaign that will hand out…

Gallo has brought in TV presenter Laura Whitmore to promote Gallo Family Vineyards Spritz in a £1 million marketing campaign called Spritz your Summer. The Californian producer will aim to hand out 300,000 samples of the 5.5% abv fruity, wine-based drink at festivals and other outdoor events. Whitmore, a producer on MTV and ITV2, doubles up as a DJ and will offer drinkers advice on…

Crimes committed under the influence of alcohol have spiked across Portsmouth after it introduced a Reducing the Strength scheme in October 2013, OLN can reveal. Retailers in the city were asked to strip shelves of beer and cider with an abv of 6.5% or over in a bid to eradicate street drinking and alcohol-related crime. Many retailers told OLN they felt bullied into joining the…

Tesco has teamed up with Marston’s and the Campaign for Real Ale to launch a bottle-conditioned golden ale. Stores across the UK will have shelf-edge stripping in the beer aisle that features the “Camra says this is real ale” logo. Beer buying manager Chiara Nesbitt said: “Tesco has been in discussion with Camra for some time, and so we are delighted to be the first…

Members of the Campaign for Real Ale have decided to stop criticising drinkers for choosing different types of beer and have instead pledged to get behind the entire category. Camra was formed in the 1970s to fight back against “bland, processed, mass-produced beers” and the homogenisation of the category by big brewers. But at a meeting of 1,200 members in Nottingham, they voted in support…