By Steve Spice, Regulatory Manager at Ashbury Labelling
'Alcohol-free' in the EU means drinks with 0.5% ABV or below - and yet in the UK 'alcohol-free' drinks must be below 0.05% ABV. Steve Spice, Regulatory Manager at Ashbury Labelling looks at the different low and no alcohol descriptors...
After just a year and a half in business, Surreal Brewing Company sells five varieties of alcohol-free craft beer out of northern California. They exhibited at this year’s Winter Fancy Food Show, sampling the latest release.
Hard seltzers dominated the alcohol conversation in 2019, and there’s been an uptick in flavored malt beverage (FMB) launches in response. Loverboy brings a healthier option to the small but growing hard tea category.
Popular RTD cocktails and pre-mixed spirits contain ‘unnecessarily high and hidden sugar and calories’, according to UK campaign group Action on Sugar. It says such drinks should reformulate in line with the parameters set out by the sugar tax - or else...
Introducing a minimum unit price (MUP) of $1.30 per standard drink across Australia could dramatically reduce alcohol consumption, claim researchers who argue that the affordability of booze has remained unchanged in 30 years.
The Pabst Brewing Company (PBC), best known for its Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) beer, is launching a new IPA. The Seabird beer is exclusive to the midwestern US region.
Following the summer of hard seltzers in 2019, White Claw’s popularity is expanding in 2020. It announced plans for a new facility to keep up with demand for the drink, and the brand will sponsor one of the biggest American festivals of the year.
Sake originated in Japan and is made alcoholic from fermented rice. Hiro Sake wants to make the trend portable and accessible with smaller, on-the-go portions.
US consumers spent $2.6bn buying alcohol online last year, but experts say it could be billions more. Alcohol ecommerce penetration is ‘abysmally low’ which Rabobank believes could have 'profound consequences' on the industry.
The United States Association of Cider Makers (USACM) was officially renamed to the American Cider Association (ACA) on December 31. It called 2019 ‘a year of resilience’ for cider in the face of flavored malt beverage (FMB) popularity.
The non-alcoholic beer industry is growing steadily in North America, anchored by risk-taking brewers like Partake in Toronto. Wider acceptance has zero-proof IPAs cropping up in taprooms, bars and restaurants on both sides of the border.
Craft brewers and importers will not face a $130m tax increase in 2020 thanks to a one-year extension of relief from the the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act.
US hard seltzer consumption is set to triple by 2023. But will consumers be able to support the stream of new launches? And can other global markets mimic the success of seltzer in the US?
Zero-proof and low-ABV drinks are on the rise, but traditional craft beer is still tracking growth. The Brewers Association (BA) has industry highlights from the year, including a record 8,000 breweries operating in the US.
New York-based LIQS Cocktail Shots is taking its growth international with November’s launch into Japan. Its lines of liquor-based and wine-based shots build their audience first on-premise at concerts, stadiums and festivals.
Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur is delving into the craft side of coffee in Australia with its first limited batch sourced from single-origin beans. More releases are to come, made from coffee of different global regions.
A US start-up has created vodka quite literally from thin air – using solar power to convert carbon from the air and convert it into alcohol. It’s now working with NASA to look at other opportunities for capturing carbon.
A new partnership with spirits and wine company Brown-Forman will bring classic liquors like Jack Daniels, Herradura and Chambord to the Drinkworks pod system in 2020, furthering at-home cocktail personalization.
The Brewers Association (BA) announced its first Small Brewery Sunday in the US, a campaign designed to support the more than 7,500 local craft brewers across the country.
At the recent Cerveza México 2019 event, it was revealed that the country’s craft beer market is nearly up to 1,400 independent breweries with a 29 million litre output. The industry relies heavily on exports to the US and Europe to keep up with annual...
In a new deal inked with JetBlue, Truly Hard Seltzer will be the first official alcoholic seltzer of a US airline. Starting this fall, the Wild Berry flavor will be available on all JetBlue flights.
Online sales represent less than 1% of alcohol’s total US sales, but it’s a fast-growing category that retailers are still trying to crack. A clean digital presence with simple navigation is key, experts say.
In the land of CBD alcohol alternatives, beer holds the most market share. Mirth Provisions is working to expand the US industry with its CBD-infused apple cider, available soon in 19 states.
The low alcohol movement is spurring a new category: session wine. Saturday Session’s 5.5% ABV cans hope to make wine more accessible in daytime drinking occasions.
Third quarter results for Molson Coors Brewing Company this week revealed major restructuring plans for its North American business. Relocations and job cuts will occur in order to ‘revitalize’ the company.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has issued a statement calling for public comment on the draft pregnancy warning label, which is to be included as a mandatory requirement on packaged alcoholic drinks with 1.15% alcohol by volume or more.
Truly has reformulated its 13 flavors of hard seltzer to make them ‘crisper and more refreshing,’ and will add four new SKUs with a flavored lemonade line.
After years of Coors Light popping up on the social media pages of the Jonas Brothers, MillerCoors has made the relationship official. Limited edition Jonas Brothers Coors Light will launch next month.
The Philippines Senate panel has recommended that a bill to increase taxes on alcohol and other ‘sin’ products under Phase 2 of the controversial TRAIN law be passed, amidst government lauding of the first phase’s success.
Binge drinking has fallen by 18% or more across the Americas, Europe and Africa, according to figures from the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking.
What would happen if alcohol and sugary drinks had to introduce plain packaging? A report from Brand Finance estimates the potential value loss to beverage businesses could reach around $430bn.
Minimum unit pricing appears to have reduced the amount of alcohol purchased by Scottish households by 7.6%, according to a study published in the BMJ this week.
An advert for a Scottish gin brand, which depicted a group drinking gin after reaching a mountain peak, has been banned by the UK’s advertising watchdog.
Following the landmark success of George Clooney’s tequila brand Casamigos, a crop of celebrities have tried to mimic its popularity with their own labels in the US. But can the trend last and hold up against small label, craft tequilas?
Most food and beverage categories direct their marketing strategy toward millennials and the upcoming Gen Z generations, largely disregarding everyone older than 40. Experts say it’s the wrong move.
By Steve Perez, founder and chairman, Global Brands
A new report from the Social Market Foundation for reforming alcohol duty in the UK is welcome. However, Brexit won’t create a realistic opportunity for changing alcohol taxes to encourage more responsible drinking. This requires a change in Government...
Should alcohol cost more in supermarkets? Should duty be determined solely by alcohol strength and not by product type? A UK think tank is exploring how alcohol duty could be reformed to focus taxation where health and social harms from alcohol are the...
The Bardstown Bourbon Company has opened new facilities for locals, tourists and bourbon enthusiasts, featuring tours, cocktail classes, exclusive tastings and private event spaces.
Gen Z-ers of drinking age are more traditional than they are given credit for, showing strong interest in IPA craft beers and wine moving into the autumn season, despite the noise and popularity of flavored malt beverages (FMBs) and CBD products.
Wine Australia will put on a national campaign in the US this month, featuring a six-city roadshow and more than 900 wines from Down Under. The ‘Far From Ordinary’ tour kicks off on September 19.
After 175 years of perfecting its beer, Pabst Brewing Co. has expanded its flagship Blue Ribbon (PBR) brand in 2019 with hard coffee, hard seltzer and whiskey launches.
Two Roots Brewing Co. launched THC-infused beer alternatives last summer. It also has a traditional craft beer line, and now debuts non-alcoholic counterparts.
Though not quite a wine and not quite a flavored malt beverage (FMB), the line of hybrid alcoholic drinks from BeatBox Beverages is proving useful and popular at warm-weather events like concerts and festivals.
Consumers still prefer bottled wine over canned wine - but only by a small margin, according to a blind taste test conducted by WICresearch, a group tracking the canned wine industry.
